23 May, 2011
Countercurrents.org
For all those Israeli’s who believed that Obama had introduced a new element into the rather stagnant peace process by mentioning the forbidden words “The 1967 Borders”, were well placated by Obama, who in sentence after sentence recieved thunderous applause from an fanatical audience braying for Palestinian blood.
Obama challenged every UN resolution & International law, that auctaully provide a basis for the solution of the Palestine-Israel conflict. He clearly restated Netanyahu’s position that “the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years, including the new demographic realities on the ground” need to be taken into account. He clearly stated that the two sides will negotiate a border “that is different from the one that existed on June 4, 1967.”
This is the precise position & words that Netanyahu has been scripting. Thus Obama has accepted the fact that the illegal Settlements that house 500,000 armed extremist settlers, that continue to be built on the Palestinian lands of 1967 & are to be part of a future Jewish state of Israel.
Thus we have Obama negating UN Resolution 242, which calls upon Israel to withdraw from the Occupied territories of the war of 1967 & for a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict so that a durable & just peace is ensured for all. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_242 ). This is true to his recent form at the UN, where the US vetoed the resolution condemning the Israeli Settlements as illegal ( http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37572&Cr=palestin&Cr1 ).
This is also in direct contravention of UN resolution 446 adopted on March 22, 1979 that stated “that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East”. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_446 )
There is a method to Obama’s seeming madness, where we see how he has undermined the UN & International Law to launch his very own war on Libya & the expansion of the conflict in Pakistan.
Obama went into his mundane ramble on Israel’s security & the total commitment of America, who despite a financial crunch have raised support & that the US will guarantee that Israel maintain the military edge with the latest weaponary ensured . . . to kill & maim more Palestinians, should have been added for good measure.
The next round of applause was guaranteed when Obama vilified Iran & said that the sanctions regime on Iran ensured it’s international isolation & the matter that Iran would be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons. Then came the demonization of Hamas & the Hezbollah & the crowd was on its feet.
Not once did Obama have the humanity (or is that too big a word for him) to even mention the 1.5 million Palestinians under siege in a Nazi-prison-cum-concentration camp called Gaza. Not once did he mention how US made, Israeli war planes & tanks killed thousands civilans (in a ratio of 1000:1), when he mentioned the Hamas rockets that killed Israeli civilains. He demanded that Gilad Shalit be freed, but never once though it right to mention the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails be freed as well. He mentioned how the Jews had a longing for their homeland, but never once mentioned that similarly, there are more than 7 million Palestinian refugees, who were ethnically cleansed from their country in 1948 & who have both the moral & the legal “Right of Return” to their homes & hearths. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly_Resolution_194 ).
Obama then shamelessly went through his AIPAC report card & said that his administration have gone to all lengths to defend Israel within the international arena. He proudly stated as to why he boycotted the Durban Conference against racism, then as to how he vetoed both the Goldstone Report (that dealt with the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza) & also how he recently vetoed the UN resolution on the Settlements & said that “Israel’s legitimacy is not up for debate”. Here Obama seems blissfully unaware & oblivious of the increasing levels of the pariah status that Israel is viewed upon by the overwhelming nations of the world.
Not once while he tried to speak eloquently about the Two-States living side-by-side, did he mention the core issue of Jerusalem, not once. Nor did he mention the issue of the Refugees, or the fact that the monstrous Aparthied Wall should be demolished, or that the 550 Check-points should be dismantled, or that the control of the water resources should not be used as an instrument of coersion, or that the Olive trees should not be uprooted & farms destroyed, or that the assassination & torture should end. That due to Obama’s own record in Guantanamo & Abu Gharaib, as well as the daily murder of civilans by the killer drones, we well understand.
He ended with two ominous warnings.
The first was that he rejected the participation of Hamas in the dialogue process & called upon Fatah to end the unity with Hamas. Here Obama is basically again trying to drive a wedge between the unity arrived at, so as to weaken the resistance movement, as well as the unity of the masses at the grass-roots & we have seen the disastrous consequences of that since 2007.
He never once mentioned that Hamas is willing to negotiate a 10 year truce in an offer by Khalid Mishal to Jimmy Carter in a meeting in Damascus. The political leader of Hamas made the offer along the same principles of the “1967 borders” & the “Right of Return”. Thus every peaceful overture by the Hamas leadership has been rejected by the Israeli junta. ( http://www.haaretz.com/news/meshal-offers-10-year-truce-for-palestinian-state-on-67-borders-1.244339 ).
The second was when he stated that “No vote at the UN will create an Independent Palestinian state”, which is scheduled for September. Here he once again reiterated Netanyahu’s position by stating that “only direct negotiations” can achive the same.
President Mahmud Abbas is confident that “We have more than 130 nations set to recognize the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and even if we make no further efforts, that number could be increased to 140 or 150” ( http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/abbas-britain-and-france-would-recognize-palestinian-state-1.356814 ). Both Obama & Netanyahu have clearly threatened President Mahmud Abbas with dire consequences, from following this path to the UN. It is utterly futile to belive that the US is an honest broker.
It is utterly futile to believe that independence can be won by only negotiations. And it is good that the chimera of Obama stands shattered for ever.
But the Arab Revolution presents new possibilities & the epic 94 year old struggle of the Palestinian people, a proud & ancient nation, which has inspired the world for generations, will finally see a new awakening & with it, a new hope, a new Intifada, the Third Intifada!!
It is only the resistance on the ground, within Palestine, across the Palestine diaspora, across the Arab nations & then across the entire world, will we finally witness the rebirth of a nation.
The people across the world are on the march. The millions at the Tahrir Square have inspired humanity to march again. And the teeming millions of Palestinians are on their way to the borders of the Holy Land & we will be marching with them, shoulder to shoulder, holding their hands as we walk to Jerusalem. Freedom is nigh.
Feroze Mithiborwala is a peace activist in Mumbai. He led the Asia to Gaza peace flotilla.