Daily Times

Undeterred by a near unanimous international condemnation of its hostile actions, the far right Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu is continuing its assaults on the Palestinian people and is deliberately making the conditions for a two-state solution impossible. In its latest flagrant violation of international law, Israel has moved to appropriate a large tract of fertile land (covering around 380 acres) in the occupied West Bank. This constitutes the single biggest land grab by the Israeli government since August 2014 and is consistent with Netanyahu’s expansionist policies. The land is part of the Jordan Valley and in an area where Israel has already built many settlement farms and has put them under the control of its military. However, the area Israel intends to turn into its state land is contested and is part of the land Palestinians seek for their state. The Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon decried this move by the Israelis as counter to the Israeli government’s public pronouncements about being committed to the two-state solution. But he was certainly not the sole voice of discontent as traditionally staunch allies of Israel in the west, the US and EU, too were perturbed by the aggravating hawkish politics of Netanyahu that throw cold water all over the west-approved plans for forming two separate states. In an uncharacteristically sharp rebuke, the US State Department condemned settlement expansion as “incompatible with a two-state solution” while calling Israel’s commitment to the peace process into question. Israel also bulldozed six structures built by the humanitarian arm of the EU in the West Bank that were meant to provide shelter to the Bedouins living in the area, a move which will further exacerbate tensions.

However, despite rising discontent regarding Israel’s policies, its powerful allies can do little beyond verbal admonishment to stop it in its tracks. The fact remains that Israel is an important imperial outpost in the heart of the Middle East, and even though Netanyahu and Barack Obama have a poor rapport, the US government seems politically unwilling to impose its will on the Israeli government. So while the western powers remain married to the idea of a two-state solution and are frustrated by the reversal of progress on that front, the Israeli government is creating conditions on the ground that effectively preclude the creation of a Palestinian state by annexing lands claimed by Palestinians for their state (in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank) and displacing and marginalising swathes of people. When it does talk of two states, it brings in unreasonable and unacceptable preconditions like retaining large Jewish settlements blocs in areas earmarked for Palestine. In other words, the policies pursued by Israel are akin to a madman’s invitation to more chaos and conflict in an already volatile region. To avoid the increasing risk of war, the US and other Israeli allies should recognise the urgent need to intervene, lest the flickering hope for a solution to this decades-old problem dies out completely. *