United States lack of integrity is plunging Middle East into deeper turmoil

BY DISU KAMOR

In an assault on the occupied Gaza Strip in May 2021, Israel deployed hundreds of bombs, missiles, and shells, killing over 240 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,900 others. More than half of the dead were civilians, according to the Israeli think tank, Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. The vast majority of the weapons used during the military assault were either made, funded or subsidised by the US and in the aftermath of what the majority of US media referred to as “military incursion”, humanitarian projects, multiple hospitals and water treatment facilities and dozens of schools were all destroyed.

Although it was former US President Jimmy Carter who first referred to the Gaza Strip (what used to be Gaza City is now Gaza Strip due to land theft by Israel), as the “world’s largest open-air prison”, the blockade of the Gaza Strip by land, air, and sea (by Israel and Egypt), has made the Strip, the same size as Cape Town or Detroit, the most densely populated areas in the world. To restrict Palestinian movements, in 1995, Israel built an electronic fence and concrete wall around the Gaza Strip, virtually ending interactions between it and other Palestinian territories. In 2001, Israel bombed and demolished the Gaza airport, only three years after it opened.

In the midst of all these, the United States stores its largest stockpile of weapons in Israel and makes them readily available to Israel, which Israel has used at least twice. Also, the US maintains some military personnel in Israel, which periodically conduct exercises with the Israeli occupation army — the most recent of which was this past July. In addition, it provides at least $3.8 billion to Israel annually as military aid. Immediately after the first Hamas rocket fell on Tel Aviv during the current crisis, President Biden, reading a statement probably drafted in Tel Aviv, offered “iron-clad” support to Israel, while tacitly urging it to respond to Hamas’ “enough is enough” attacks with the same “shock and awe” strategy it, the United States, used in Iraq.

In breathtaking statements, the United States officials, from the Congress to the State Secretary, condemned Hamas’s “terrorist attack” on poor Israel. As usual, the routine statements apply the principle of cause and effect to immediately justify Israel’s need to “defend itself” in a manner that de-contextualises Palestinian militancy, thereby depriving the latter of any semblance of legitimacy. The nursery rhyme from Israel’s strongest ally was once again: Israel must defend itself. And Hamas must bear responsibility for the “unprovoked” attack on Israel and Israeli civilians. These statements rarely, if ever, consider Palestinian violence to be the effect — only the cause.

But let us be clear about something. Hamas is never the issue, or the problem here. Hamas was only founded in 1987 as an organisation to resist occupation that was already close to two decades old when it was founded. The problem is Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine which is nearly 60 years old, Israel’s inhumane treatment of the Palestinians, expansion of illegal settlements, settlers’ violence and provocation, desecration of holy sites, denial of the right of return, and policies of apartheid and oppression with absolutely no consequences or accountability. These are the problems. Once there is no occupation, there will be no resistance to occupation. But no one should delude himself that the oppressor is entitled to peace from the oppressed.

Everyone agrees that Israel is in violation of international law. This is not an ethnic issue, it is not a religious issue or even a difficult legal issue. The legality of settlements and the right of return of refugees are basic principles of international law.

When an honest person applies the basic principles of justice, equity and fairness to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you get unambiguous answers about who is right and who is wrong. Nevertheless, the problem is that when it comes to enforcing the law, the mechanisms of international law are weak. The United States vetoes international law despite international public opinion and, on countless occasions, has vetoed UN resolutions acting alone and lonely against the international consensus on the solution to the conflict.

Although nothing that Israel does is called terrorism by the United States and its Western allies, prior to these “enough is enough” attacks by Hamas, 49 Palestinians were killed during the three-day Israeli assault on Gaza between August 5 – 7, 2022, — 17 of whom were children. In February of this year alone, 30 Palestinians were killed in cold blood by Israeli occupation forces and settlers. Israel has refused to cooperate with any international investigation, including the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the US sanctioned the officials of the Hague-based court for opening the door to a probe into alleged Israeli war crimes. Crimes that these Western countries that are queuing up to condemn Hamas, with their supine media, refuse to highlight, talkless of condemn.

The US spent many years organising different roadshows it called “Peace talks” between the Israelis and Palestinians but as a dishonest peace broker, the only purpose the “peace talks” served was to provide opportunities and excuses for Israel to steal more lands. The periods provided the clearest proof that US is irredeemably compromised and incapable of acting with integrity. No country attacked Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and none today would dare — given its military strength, nuclear arsenal, and close ties to America and the West. The justification of Iran’s threat to Israel’s existence, which Israel and the United States use to continue to arm Israel, is therefore a lie. Iran has not attacked any of its neighbours in the last 200 years, even though the United States has incited, sponsored and armed many neighbours against it, including Iraq in the 80s. In comparison, Israel is occupying territories belonging to at least three countries, and the US according to the words of the late Rev Martin Luther King (Jnr), “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world”. The late reverend made this claim in light of the vivid images depicting the carnage inflicted on Southeast Asian civilians by America during the Vietnam War, which saw hundreds of thousands dead.

The US remains the most important destabilising force in the entire Middle East region, and its role and dominance in this region for decades continue to represent a major threat to peace and security in that region and the world.

Peace is possible in the Middle East and Israel has a choice. Going around persuading some Arab rulers to normalise relations with Israel is not going to normalise relations with the Arab street. The choice that Israel has is of accepting Palestinian rights under international law and jettisoning its exclusivist, racist and imperialist ideology, and militarism. The choice to secure its people’s future in a shared Israel/Palestine as equal sovereign nations to live in peace each seeking its own destiny.

This is also the international consensus on how to resolve the problem. If it continues its present policy of ruthless repression of indigenous Palestinians and denying them self-determination, it will only continue to cultivate an intensified and unyielding native resistance which the US’s vast military power will not be able to repress. The vast US military power could only spend 20 years and billions of dollars to replace the Taliban with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Kamor is the executive chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Centre. He can be reached via [email protected]

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