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Peace talks really permanent delaying tactic to seize land

Morgan Duchesney, Feb. 28, 2011

The U.S. recently exercised its default UN Security Council veto to undermine Palestinian efforts to stop illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They have chosen to ignore the inconvenient fact that Israel’s West Bank/East Jerusalem expansions are a clear violation of international law under UN Resolution 242. Palestinian officials; frustrated by Israel’s continued illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem; recently abandoned peace talks they rightly consider disingenuous.

Interestingly, the Palestinians have also appealed to the UN General Assembly for recognition of Palestinian statehood although there is scant coverage of this strategy. The U.S. has no veto at the General Assembly and many nations, including influential Brazil, “…have officially recognized a Palestinian state inside the borders that were in place before the 1967 six Day War…” The Palestinians believe that this course may finally shame the U.S. and Israel into good faith negotiations.

The Israeli state is concerned that they are losing control of the so-called peace process, which is really just a permanent delaying tactic on the road to annexing all valuable Palestinian territory and transforming it into Israeli settlements. I am well aware the Israeli government is beholden to religious extremists bent on expansion and supported by fundamentalist U.S. Christian sects who see Israeli expansion as key to the fulfillment of some sort of Biblical prophecy involving Armageddon and “The Rapture.” Public analysis of these relationships is long overdue.

Allow me to address the hypocrisy of Israel’s magnanimous offers to “give” land to the Palestinians rather than correctly referring to the possibility of Israel returning Palestinian territory illegally seized at the conclusion of the 1967 War. In addition to UN Resolution 242, the Camp David Accord (agreed to by Israel and Egypt) states that the West Bank and East Jerusalem are to be the foundation of a future Palestinian state. Under the circumstances, why should Palestinians meekly accept Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and believe that these settlements are not part of an established Israeli policy of dividing and absorbing Palestinian territory?

No country on the face of the earth has an inherent right to exist. This concept is unknown in international law. Countries do have a right to live in peace and defend their borders but this so-called right to exist is a fantasy created to justify any and all oppressions perpetrated in the interests of state capitalism and state security ideology. This holds true for Israelis, Palestinians, Russians or any people concerned with survival and self-determination.

The seizure of Palestinian territory by the Israeli state has been accomplished by a well- established pattern of stealthy increments. It started long before the creation of modern Israel following the annexation of Palestine in 1948. “Those familiar with the history of Zionism will recognize the method, dating back to the 1920s: dunam after dunam, arousing as little attention as possible.” (Morris, B., 1996) The modern equivalent was expressed in the 1996 Israeli cabinet minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer’s description of Israeli expansion into the West Bank, “ I build quietly. My goal is to build and not encourage opposition to my efforts. What is important to me is to build, build, build and build some more.” (Ibid) The Israeli government, with full U.S. support, has traditionally chosen this subtle and gradual path of seizing Palestinian lands and perhaps more importantly, water resources. It continues to this day, again with full U.S. backing. This is the reality of what is euphemistically referred to as the peace process.

Since these illegal settlements are the crux of the “peace process”; perhaps Palestinian bulldozers might be justified in crossing the Israeli border to clear land for Palestinian settlements and barrier walls on Israeli territory? The Israeli advantage of overwhelming military superiority and U.S. financial and logistical support would negate such a course of action. Unfortunately, this advantage is often misinterpreted as some sort of moral high ground and is employed to negate the truism that one can’t peacefully enjoy what one seizes and holds by force. If the UN General Assembly could create the State of Israel in 1947, it can create a Palestinian state in 2011. That’s only fair.