Opinion Editorials, September 2011

The September Entitlement of the Palestinian Independence:  Behind the Headlines

By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, September 12, 2011

 
As it looks now, the Palestinian Authority (PA) seems fairly determined to formally ask the United Nations to recognize "Palestine" within the borders of the 4th of June, 1967, as a member-state of the international organization.
 
So far, as many as 140 states have signaled their willingness to support the Palestinian UN membership bid. This fact alone can be viewed as a great symbolic diplomatic victory for the Palestinians and a dismal diplomatic failure for Israel. How this victory will manifest itself on the ground is an entirely different matter.
 
Israel has been trying rather desperately to enlist as many countries as possible to thwart the expected Palestinian move at the UN. However, it seems that by now Israeli efforts are facing stiff resistance in so many capitals that Israeli diplomats, including the Israeli envoy to the UN, have conceded defeat in this regard.
 
This doesn't mean at all that the apartheid state will surrender tomorrow and come to terms with legitimate and internationally-recognized Palestinian rights to freedom and self-determination.
 
Far from it, Israel will try to manipulate and thoroughly exploit  every conceivable American leverage to force the PA, whose financial  survival  depends to a large extent  on American and  European  aid, to either reconsider  its plans at the UN or succumb to Israeli dictates and blackmailing tactics, e.g. by pledging  that  the final borders  of  the prospective  Palestinian entity would only be decided through peace negotiation with the Jewish state.
 
 Needless to say, such a pledge by the Ramallah leadership, regardless of how exactly would be worded,  would spell disaster for Palestinian aspirations and rights since it would effectively grant the Zionist entity a veto power  and a final say over the shape and character of the would-be state.
 
Israel, as we all know, considers the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip disputed rather than occupied land in contravention to international law and numerous UN resolutions.
 
Hence, giving Israel a right to decide the borders of the Palestinian state would be tantamount to accepting the Israeli narrative, at least de facto.
 
So far, the Ramallah leadership has successfully resisted American efforts to cajole or force the PA to reconsider its UN membership bid.
 
 This doesn't mean, however, that the Obama administration will finally decide to be level-headed and come to terms with Palestinian aspirations.
 
At the end of the day, President Obama realizes that his administration is being handcuffed by all sorts of Jewish shackles and clutches, and that in case he refrained from swallowing the Jewish bait, hook, line and sinker, he would be committing a pre-election political suicide and consequently presenting the Republicans, including the Nazi-like Tea Party what could be a decisive propaganda victory.
 
Hence, it is likely that Obama will go to any extent in order to demonstrate and reassert his loyalty to Israel, if only to enhance his re-election chances and ward off vitriolic attacks by the shipyard dogs of the Jewish-controlled media.
 
 Obama, like all other political animals, might even decide to sacrifice American national interests, such as alienating Arab revolutions and Muslim public opinions, for the sake of appeasing a few Jewish Robber Barons who would not hesitate to blackmail the American people to give Israel the last American dollar and shed the last American drop of blood for the sake of satisfying the vagaries of Jewish territorial expansion in the Middle East.
 
In light, the Palestinian people, including the Ramallah leadership, will have to show real determination to withstand and defy American and other pressure. I know this won't be easy especially when people's livelihood is affected.
 
 However, getting our freedom from a manifestly criminal occupying power that seeks our national obliteration and extinction from the face of earth ought to be our paramount priority.
 
Unfortunately, the PA leadership is not reputed for its iron-clad steadfastness and resilience, especially in the face of financial pressure. This is why the PA must be forewarned that backtracking is an ultimate red line as far as the Palestinian people are concerned.
 
As to Israel , it is obvious that the Zionist state will behave characteristically concerning a possible recognition by the UN of a Palestinian state and the granting of such a state full UN membership.  This, at least from the view point of international law, would transform the Palestinian cause from a people languishing under foreign military occupation to a UN member-state under foreign military occupation. Needless to say, Israel dreads this prospect very much.
 
Such a development would cost Israel a lot of diplomatic isolation and make the Jewish state look more a pariah state and less a legitimate member of the international community.
 
Non the less, with Israel having a decidedly fascist  government,  tightly controlled by the gurus of Jewish fascism and religious fundamentalism who would do the unthinkable for the sake of seeing Jewish nationalist and religious whims come true,  it is more likely that Israel will take draconian measures either  to  thwart Palestinian aspirations or torment and savage Palestinians for daring  to challenge Israel's mighty power, especially Israel's de facto hegemony over American politics and policies.
 
There are several scenarios that Israel could resort to in case the Palestinians showed unflinching determination to cross the Rubicon, once and for all.
 
First, Israel could re-impose its direct occupation all over the occupied territories by dismantling the PA government.  However, this is unlikely to happen since Israel would lose a strategically valuable asset, namely the existence of a quasi-national Palestinian authority carrying out the functions of the occupying power while leaving nearly all the basic assets of the Israeli occupation unscathed.
 
Second, Israel could take a rash decision to annex the West Bank. This scenario is also unlikely since the addition of several million non-Jews to Israel would be a demographic nightmare as the Jewish state would then lose its Jewish identity.
 
Israel could try to circumvent this prospect by instituting formal or informal apartheid (as is the situation now). However, maintaining apartheid would be a disastrous choice for the PR-conscious worldwide Jewish community.
 
The third and most likely scenario is that Israel will simply try to cling to the status quo for as long as possible in the hope of gaining more time to build more settlements and especially in order to frustrate the Palestinians into entering into open-ended negotiations with an insolent Israel which would lead to the Palestinians surrendering to Israeli dictates.
 
Never the less, and given the facts on the ground, it is nearly impossible for any prospective Israeli  government to agree to return to the borders of the 4th of June, 1967, which would necessitate the dismantling of numerous Jewish illegal settlements, viewed by large segments of Israeli Jews as the eye apple of  Israel and penultimate step before Jewish redemption.
 
This leaves us with the uncomfortable fact, namely that the Arab-Israeli conflict can't really be resolved without one side suffering a final historical victory while the other side suffering a final historical defeat.
 

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