For Israels, seeing peace is seeing the end of the occupation

(This article first appeared in the Times of Israel on November 7, 2015)

In my last blog on this site, I made a profound statement. While I said that Israelis and Palestinians need to see the conflict from each other’s eyes, that is not the statement I am referring to. I said, believing that I would evoke some stark heartfelt emotions:

“Israel needs to have its first day  of peace.”

I was expecting a reality check from Israelis.  Seeing none amazes me.

No one said anything  to me or replied in a comment about this profound statement which I say again in a more humanistic way:

No Israeli citizen has ever seen a day peace.

No one has questioned me about this statement because in reality and fact, it is a true statement.

Since May 15, 1948, Israel has been in a perpetual state of war. It has not had one day of peace. In fact, in Israel, no day is free from the fear of war as even on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973 Israel had to go to war, once again. For over 67 years, no Israeli citizen can say that he or she has lived through one day of peace.

This should be shocking to the conscious, at least I thought it should be to Israelis.  I do not know if most Israelis realize the stark reality of this statement.

The question that should be on every Israeli mind is, when will an Israeli child be born on a day of peace in the Holy Land?

By the same token, over 90% of Palestinians living in Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza), having been infants or born after the 1967 Six Day War, know nothing but the Israeli occupation of their land.   And if we can look at those who are older than 67 years old, having been born prior to 1948, I would venture to say that 99% or greater of the people that make up the Palestinian/Israeli conflict have no recollection of what peace resembles in the Holy Land.   Those who have migrated to Israel, having come from peaceful countries may believe that they are living in peace, but in all reality, the atmosphere is one of war–a war that can escalate at any moment and for any provocative reason.

This leaves only a very minute percentage of individuals in all of the Holy Land that have ever seen a day of peace or have not been ruled by occupation and those minute people are Palestinians who are 55 years old or older.

This also is a profound statement for Palestinians. I do know that Palestinians whether they live in Palestine or beyond realize the reality of this statement.

The constant question on Palestinian minds is when will the Israeli occupation end.

Having the first day of peace in Israel while Israel occupies Palestine is not a mutually exclusive reality.   Israel cannot have peace while it occupies Palestine. Peace comes with the end of occupation. It does not come while the occupation endures decade after decade.

Thus the only opportunity for an Israeli child to be born in a peaceful environment is for Israel to end the occupation of Palestine.  This is the reality that Israelis must face.

If Israel wants peace, it must end its occupation of Palestine.

As a Palestinian, I cannot express this reality in more clearer terms to Israelis.  In case I have not gotten my message across, allow me to try a different means of expressing the reality.

The status quo of no peace and continued occupation cannot endure endlessly.  Like water that reaches its boiling point, the occupation of Palestine has reached that point.

The reality is that the population growth of Palestinians is such that Israelis will be the minorities in the Holy Land by 2016. Currently, the population of Israelis and Palestinians in Israel and in Palestine is said to be about equal.  With the birth rates of Palestinians greater than Israelis, it takes no great mathematical genius to calculate that the population of Palestinians will, in the very near future, be greater than the Jewish population.

Thus, how can Israelis, a coming minority, rule over the Palestinians, an emerging majority.  While Israelis do not like to be compared to the White rule era of the country of South Africa, the stark reality is that the same concept of a minority suppressing the fundamental human rights of the majority is again being played out before our eyes.

Israelis can put on blinders and not accept the coming reality. Israelis may want the status quo to endure perpetually. However, the reality is that Israelis cannot have a day of peace without coming to terms with their occupation of Palestine.

If Israelis want to live in peace, they must end the occupation of Palestine.

Can Israelis and Palestinians See Each Other's Concerns?

This article first appeared in the Times of Israel website on November 4, 2015.

In a Times of Israel blog post, Aaron B. Cohen wrote about a Chicago mock mediation event that involved a small part of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and a dinner I had with him last week. In the article, he quoted what I wrote to him in an email as a prelude to the dinner. He challenged me, in the article, to post this statement on my Facebook page, which I accepted.

The statement which Aaron quoted was:

"Something went wrong along the way. Without putting blame on anyone — because each of us can point to atrocities committed by the other — we need to find common elements that bind us together. We can and should be able to find a solution to this mess but only if we leave our emotions at home or if we both understand each other’s emotions. What is missing is the human element. Each side is not seeing the tragic divide from the other side’s eyes.”

Saying that each side needs to see the conflict from the other’s eyes is not a hard statement to make.

If we are ever going to come to a peaceful resolution, we need to see the conflict from each other’s perspective. Rather, politicians on both sides are trying to appease their respective political base and thus statements which neither advance the peace nor calm the boiling tensions are made in the heat of passions and thus flame an already tenuous situation. This, of course, has tragic consequences.

The current crisis is a situation where the extremists on both sides of the conflict have, once again, ultimate control. The extremists on both sides continually destroy any hopes for peace, while the silent majority in the region composed of both Israelis and Palestinians in Israel and Palestine are standing idly by as mere spectators. This majority needs to recognize itself as the majority in Israel and Palestine and needs to join forces in order to isolate the extremists; and need to demand of their leaders to finally conclude a peace — not talk endlessly to no end.

Enough is enough!

I can say categorically that rockets launched at Israel are wrong. But can Israelis say that the siege of Gaza, Palestine is also wrong?

I can say categorically that when a Palestinian killed Israeli parents on October 1, 2015, it was wrong and I condemn it. But can Israelis say that the “price tag” attack by the settlers who burnt to death the infant, Ali Dawabsha and his father and mother in Durma, Palestine while sleeping in their home on the night of July 31, 2015, is also wrong and also to be condemned?

Can we not see that the “price tag” attacks by Israeli extremists settlers are terrorist acts just as the stabbing of Israelis on a bus by a Palestinian extremists?

Can we not see that the burning of Palestinian Christian churches is just as wrong as the burning of Joseph’s Tomb?

No one can deny that Israel needs security. But can Israelis deny that within the context of peace there is security?

Israelis need to have their first day of peace. Palestinians need an end to the decades old occupation and need their freedom.

Can both sides see the humanity in these statements?

Seeing the conflict from each other’s eyes is a must in order for peace to have any chance. The Palestinians know that the conflict was, is and will always be about the occupation of Palestine by Israel. The Israelis know that Israel needs to be a safe haven for Jews around the world after centuries of worldwide persecution.

The Palestinians have a fundamental right to acquire their freedom. Israelis need to understand this.

Israelis need to feel secure. Palestinians need to understand this.

Can both sides see the other’s concern?

For peace to have a chance, the Palestinian/Israeli majority needs to understand the conflict from each other’s perspective. They need to come together. American Palestinian and Jewish leaders need to join forces to bring the majorities in Israel and Palestine together. It is imperative that these two groups break their silence because the alternative is the continuation of the status quo — which is not a sustainable option, especially given the Palestinian population growth;
the continuation of more children on both sides being killed — which means more bloodshed; and the continuation of playing into the hands of the extremists — which means no peace.

The Palestinian and Jewish peace loving majority in the US and in the Holy Land must come together for peace.

Those who will undoubtedly criticize me for taking this stance, and perhaps Aaron as well, are thinking through a limited view, a periscope aimed at a dark tunnel, when they should open their eyes and see the panoramic landscape of the human dimensions involved.

Those who truly want peace need to stand up and be counted. I believe there is a majority of Palestinians and Israelis who want peace.

Alone they are each overwhelmed by the extremists on their respective sides.

Together, they can isolate the extremists on both sides.

Peace loving Palestinians and Israelis need to join forces.

US/Israeli Interests Diverge as Palestinians seek UN agency membership

The implications of Palestine seeking membership in UN and international organizations are seismic for Israel, Palestine and the US.  The divergent interests of the US and Israel will come to a head in Congress as members will have to choose between US interests and the Israeli interests. For Palestine, it is now more at parity with Israel as the threat of seeking justice within these UN agencies makes Israelis shiver as the threats of international sanctions, economic boycott and international criminal trials for its current and former leaders loom in the horizon.

For the Palestinians, the decision to seek membership in UN agencies is a win-win move which was precipitated by Israel’s breach of its commitment to release the last of the 104 Palestinian prisoners it was holding before the Oslo Agreement.  Palestinians were enticed by Secretary of State John Kerry to restart peace talks with Israel in July, 2013 on condition that 104 Palestinians will be released and that final status discussions would be addressed. The Palestinians agreed not to seek membership in UN agencies.

When Israel breached its part of the agreement, the Palestinians, seeing no progress on the final status issues, applied to 15 UN agencies for membership.  Israel wanted Palestine to recommit to the talks beyond the April 29, 2014 deadline set out when the “talks” began but the Palestinians stated that the release of the prisoners was already agreed to and would not commit to extend the talks for the same agreement. The US then tried to sweeten the deal by considering releasing the notorious Navy spy Jonathan Pollard in exchange for the release of 400 Palestinian women and children prisoners held by Israel. (The reader should note very clearly that this is an admission by Israel that it is imprisoning Palestinian children.)

Additionally, Secretary Kerry elicited a show of “restraint” by Israel in new housing starts that did not include settlements in East Jerusalem and did not include housing starts already announced. On Tuesday, April 1, 2014, Israel, in what it thought was a cunning move before an agreement could be reached, announced over 700 new housing starts. This was the last straw for the Palestinians and the Palestinian Liberation Organization Action Committee unanimously voted to seek UN agency membership.

The divergence of US and Israeli interests was evident when Palestine was granted membership in the UN agency UNESCO in 2012.  The US had to stop paying its membership dues in UNESCO as two US laws, over 20 years old, compel the US to de-fund any UN organizations which approves Palestine’s membership. The laws were intended to keep Palestine out of these organizations as a way to protect Israel. The law, however, was ill conceived for it has and will hurt the United States while protecting Israeli interests.  Congress attempted to influence member nations of these organizations to vote against the acceptance of Palestine for fear of losing significant US funding.  Members of UNESCO were not easily bribed.

For two years the Obama administration sought a waiver from Congress without success, and last November the U.S. lost its voting rights at UNESCO as a result of being two years in arrears.  US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Powers urged Congress on April 2, 2014 to repeal or waive the law in its application to Palestine stating that defunding UN agencies that admit Palestine is not in the interests of the US. She stated that defunding these agencies would be a “double win” for the Palestinians. With US influence in these agencies diminished through losing its voting rights, Russia, China and even Cuba would take the lead.

UNESCO’s purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the UN Charter.  Some UNESCO sponsored projects include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programs; international science programs; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity; translations of world literature; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide. These are all within the interests of the US but with the loss of its voting rights, that influence has been negated—all because Congress has put Israel’s interests ahead of the interests of the US.

A pro-Israeli Congress would be reluctant to allow Congressional members to vote their conscience to grant a waiver or repeal these laws. The Israeli lobby, true to its history of championing Israeli interests over US interests, will not allow Israel interests to be hurt and therefore, its considerable power over Congress will restrain Congressional members from voting for US interests and against Israeli interests. The Israeli lobby has demonstrated on numerous occasions that it champions Israel’s interest over the US interests; most recently over President’s policy visa vie Syria and Iran. The lobby in both cases wanted the US to attack these countries over a reluctant American public’s weariness over two unfunded wars.

With the Israeli lobby ever threatening each member’s election over their loyalty to Israel, members of Congress will be in a quagmire trying to decide whether they should act in the best interest of the US or Israel—or more accurately whether they are willing to put their own re-election interests at the mercy of the Israeli lobby or whether they will do the very thing they were elected—protecting US interests.

Secretary of State John Kerry was perceptive in January, 2014 when he stated that if a peace agreement is not reached, Israel will be further isolated.  He must have foreseen that the US must now act in its own self-interest and cannot therefore base its international relations based on the interests of Israel.

The US cannot allow other nations’ political agenda to drive the US out of the UN and its agencies. The decision whether to fund these agencies must be based on the totality of US security, political, and economic interests served by the agencies. Congress will have to stand up for American interests and tell Israel that the divergence of US and Israeli interests is at hand. US foreign policy cannot be based on the interests of another nation.

U.S. diplomats have warned Israel that the United States cannot stop further Palestinian moves at the United Nations, especially if the current negotiations collapse—which they have despite the statement by Secretary Kerry to not write off the “talks”.

The move to seek membership in UN agencies is yet another step toward legitimacy for the Palestinian State after having won “non-member observer state” status in 2012 from the UN General Assembly.  Legitimacy for the Palestinian Authority is also achieved from the Palestinian people who have been exasperated by yet another round of “talks” with Israel that are endless and lead to no end. A great majority of Palestinians, most of which are moderate and who were supporters of the Oslo Accords, have become frustrated with an endless state of talks that never end, that are always conditioned upon an agreement to agree on something else in the future.  They were also frustrated that as the Palestinian Authority was conducting “talks” with Israel, Israel killed over 60 and wounded over 900 Palestinians; Israel kept building and building more Israeli settlement housing; and the illegal Israeli settlers were cutting down more and more Palestinian olive groves. Thus, taking the step to seek membership in UN agencies is very much favored by the Palestinian people in Palestine and around the globe.

Once Palestine is a member of UN agencies, it can seek to address the Israeli violations. For example, Article 2 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that signatories are bound by the convention both in war, armed conflicts where war has not been declared, and in an occupation of another country's territory. In addition, the United Nations Security Council, in 1993, adopted a report that concluded that the Geneva Conventions had passed into the body of customary international law, thus making them binding on non-signatories to the Conventions whenever they engage in armed conflicts. 

The Fourth Geneva Convention clearly states the illegality of an occupying power moving its people to occupied areas. The International Court of Justice has given an advisory statement regarding the Israeli wall built deep on Palestinian land. The advisory ruling in 2007 states clearly that as an occupying power, Israel is forbidden to settle in Arab areas captured during the 1967 war.  Thus the status of the Israeli colonization (settlements as the press calls them) will be legally challenged through legal means once Palestine is granted membership in the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International Court of Justice.

Palestine will be in position not only to bring war crimes against Israeli officials but against countries and corporations who support or benefit from the occupation of Palestine. Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister during the War on Gaza in 2008-2009, was cautioned by legal experts not to leave Israel if the Palestinians resorted to the “nuclear option”, i.e. seeking membership in UN agencies. Corporations worldwide, like Caterpillar, can be sued for aiding in the Israeli practice of demolishing Palestinian homes, 27,000 since 1967. Legal precedents have been set by the case against former Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević and against Shell Oil--which had to make a hefty settlement to Nigerian farmers after being indicted for human rights violations in its efforts to extract oil. The tide is turning towards justice for the Palestinian people.

By applying for membership in UN agencies, the Palestinians are on the road to achieving parity with Israel. Parity is much needed. The latest action by the Palestinian Authority may be the action that achieves parity. Parity has been thwarted by the diplomatic shield that the US has been giving Israel for more than 6 decades. That shield is evaporating as Palestine’s admission into these agencies has caused a diversion of US and Israeli interests.

Demand Palestinian Reconciliation

I simply cannot understand the division within the Palestinian political makeup and I cannot understand why Palestinians are not speaking up against this division in our ranks.

Here we are a people struggling to free ourselves from the cruel and unjust chains of occupation and an apartheid system under the iron fists of a brutal Israeli army and we are more organized in our disunity rather organized against our oppressor.  One faction is being blackmailed by allowing the oppressor to collect the tax dollars that belong to the Palestinian people that it governs while the other faction is being retaliated against with US made weaponry with the goal of the oppressor to keep the two Palestinian factions from reconciling.  Both are playing into the hands of the collective oppressor.

Israel would like nothing better than to continue the division between Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.  By keeping these Palestinian factions split, Israel hopes to impose a three state solution (3SS) to the decades old conflict. Israel is working against a demographic time bomb that will unquestionably label the so called democratic Jewish (oxymoron) state an apartheid state, even if it does not agree with this label now.  Israelis will become a minority within the 1948 borders of Palestine by the year 2016; and as a minority it will collapse as a government as it cannot rule a Palestinian majority as did the apartheid regime of the minority White South Africa collapse as it tried to rule the Black African majority.  Keeping the Palestinian factions from reconciling through blackmail and military might, Israel hopes to overcome this demographic time bomb by imposing a 3SS. 

The division, ironically, started after democratic elections in 2006. Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislature and should have been allowed to govern. Israel and the US would not recognize the victor despite the fact that the world was told by President George W. Bush that the Iraqi invasion will lead to the democratization of the region. Instead of embracing democracy, blackmail and sanctions were imposed upon the Palestinians for having elected Hamas. The irony of the taunting democracies to not recognize a democratic election is beyond me.  What further irks me is that Fatah played right along with this devaluing of the democratic principles that the Palestinians are told they must have in order to establish a state.

The silence of Fatah during the 2008-2009 Israeli invasion and constant slaughter of Gaza was beyond belief.  Here was Israel bombarding innocent Palestinian women and children and Fatah leaders said nothing.  This was demoralizing to all of us diaspora Palestinians who demonstrated and organized against this massacre which was happening before our television screens for three weeks.  What we should have been demonstrating against was the silence of Palestinian Authority leaders.

Yet it was not enough that Israel was killing Palestinians, Palestinians died from bullets fired by Palestinians during 2008 and 2009 as the various clashes between Fatah and Hamas forces spilled Palestinian blood. While unfortunately we are all too familiar with seeing Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers, we are not accustomed to seeing Palestinians kill Palestinians. This is unbelievable the worst thing that Palestinians can do to each other.  Instead of having a unified front against the oppressor, the two factions started vilifying and attacking each other which lead to Fatah controlling the West Bank and Hamas governing Gaza.  Ultimately, this division is leading right into the Israeli plans to split, divide and impose its 3SS.

Reconciliation attempts have thus far been unsuccessful with the Doha Agreement signed by Fatah and Hamas in 2012 still far from being implemented. The agreement is described as “stalled” as no unity government is in sight. Legislative elections have been announced, delayed and rescheduled—this time for October, 2013, seven years after the last elections.  There are election law reforms which are in dispute. They were imposed by President Abbas because he states that he could rule by decree as long as the legislature is unable to convene.  From my readings, I am not sure whether Hamas will participate in the elections.

Both Fatah and Hamas need to go to the ballot box in October, 2013 and allow the Palestinian people to once again democratically vote their collective will. Whoever wins the election must be respected by both factions. If a unity government needs to be part of a ruling coalition, then the Palestinian people demand that such a ruling government be allowed to govern regardless what Israel, the US and Europe want, think, blackmail or impose.

If Hamas wins again, Fatah must stand up to the Israelis, the US and European leaders and state categorically that Hamas is the ruling party and that all Palestinians will stand unified behind Hamas.  The imposition that Hamas must first recognize Israel and denounce violence is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to keep the Palestinians from reconciling.  It is a diversion from getting to the crux of the conflict; it is another delay tactic by Israel to keep the status quo while it usurps more and more Palestinian land on the West Bank, land that Israel does not want to concede as it wants a 3SS. Israel wants to retain Area C and parts of Area B; wants the PA to establish a state on Area A and part of Area B that Israel is willing to give up; and it wants Gaza to be a separate state.  

This imposition upon Hamas is hypocritical as within Israel there are parties that want to either annihilate the Palestinians completely (as Hitler wanted to do to the Jews) or scatter them among the other Arab states.

Israel’s demand that Hamas recognize the State of Israel (not just as a state but a Jewish State) is absurd and will not result in any new round of talks.  “Hamas didn't come to power until 2006/07. Between 1993 & 2006 Israel had the more moderate, peaceful & pliant Palestinian authority (which recognizes Israel & renounces violence) to deal with as a partner for peace. What did Israel do? Did it make peace?” [see Michael Aydinian https://www.facebook.com/groups/321400271210048/permalink/622882407728498/)  

Israel cannot impose upon the Palestinians who can or cannot speak for them just as Palestinians cannot impose upon Israel who can be a part of their coalition government.  Since 1984 every Israeli coalition government included the Shas Party whose spiritual leader openly called for the annihilation of the Palestinian people without any repudiation by any Israeli leader, including Benjamin Netanyahu.  Could the Palestinians have said that they will not negotiate with Israel as long as this racist and Nazi-like party is part of the Israeli government?  Rightfully, Israelis would reject this precondition as should the Palestinians reject the imposition that Hamas cannot be part of any Palestinian government unless certain preconditions are met.

Before Palestinian elections are called, however, the Palestinian people, both in Palestine and in the diaspora, need to call upon both Fatah and Hamas to reconcile. We as a people need to impose upon our Palestinian leaders the wisdom of unity despite what the US and Israel want.  We can no longer be a house divided.  We can disagree with each other but when confronting the oppressor, we need to be united.

If the US and Israel want to impose economic and financial sanctions or want to withhold financial aid from the Palestinians, that should be the price of unity. The price of destabilization is what the Israelis and the US will have to consider for blackmailing the Palestinians.  Destabilizing economic conditions will lead to a third Intifada and Israel and the US will be to blame.   

I call upon all my Fatah and Hamas friends to speak up and communicate to Fatah and Hamas leaders that the time to stop this quibbling must end and now.  We need to demand that Fatah and Hamas reconcile now at all costs.

Celebrating: Day Of The Land in the Diaspora

ONE PEOPLE, OUR LAND

America is known as the melting pot—meaning that many people come to the U.S. and melt in the social and community fabric that makes up this great nation.  Yet, as we, the Palestinian  community in the U.S. become a part of that social fabric by becoming voters and active participants in what makes the U.S. great, we also need to keep the beauty of the Palestinian culture alive in our hearts, our minds and our souls.

As Palestinians, we know too well the many attempts to eradicate our culture; to uproot our roots in terms of people and our commercial epicenter—the olive tree; to steal our culinary meals—humos;   to confiscate our land—ever increasing illegal settlements; and to prevent the unification of our political parties—blackmailing one party to not reconcile.

We know too well that we need to be one people on our land—Palestine.  We know too well that our enemy wants to remove us from our land, our Palestine, and they will use any means necessary.  They have and continue to use the “divide and conquer” methods to attempt to destroy our will.  They employ religious tactics to pit Christians and Muslim against each other; and they employ blackmail, war and political incentives to pit Fatah against Hamas.

Our enemy can use all the tactics at its disposal.  It can use military tanks and war planes to destroy our buildings, our schools, our hospitals, our universities, and our commercial centers. They can build an Apartheid Wall which divides our people from each other; which separate us from cultivating our land; and which isolates our towns and cities into separate Bantustans.  

However, there is one thing our enemy can never destroy. They can never destroy our will, that innate human spirit that inspires every human being to be free.  The human spirit inside us, inside the collective will of the Palestinian people, cannot be destroyed; it cannot be separated from our culture; it cannot be stolen by claiming our food as theirs; it cannot be eradicated by military might; and it cannot be blackmailed with piecemeal political incentives that divide our people.

No, our human spirit to be free from the chains of occupation and apartheid cannot be destroyed. It lives in each and every Palestinian. The human spirit lives in the grandfather that still has the key to his house in Yaffa (not Jaffa as our enemy calls it). The human spirit lives in the Palestinian boy who faced down our enemy’s tank with a stone. The human spirit is rooted in our people who steadfastly remain strong and remain on the land.

So we celebrate the DAY OF THE LAND together to energize our collective human spirit; to cultivate the human spirit of our culture in our children and to state that we are ONE PEOPLE who remain defiant against any attempt to separate us from OUR LAND. 

Oppose The Israeli Three State Solution

I have written in previous articles that Israelis are excellent at using words to manipulate the thought patterns of world public opinion, especially in the United States. They have, through the use of the word “terrorist” against the Palestinians, been able to monopolize a negative opinion of Palestinians in the US, although the history of the creation of the State of Israel is not without horrendous terrorist acts against Palestinians.  I have countered that it is the Israeli soldier that is a terrorist because his/her primary job is to instill fear into the minds of Palestinians in order to get them to do what they would not ordinary do on their own, i.e. give up, leave their land.

Now the Israelis are trying to manipulate public opinion by redefining “checkpoints.” The Israeli soldier controls what Israel now calls “security crossings” to imbed into the minds of public opinion that the formerly called “checkpoints” is the border of the State of Israel.  United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that there were 522 roadblocks and checkpoints obstructing Palestinian movement in the West Bank in July, 2010.  This figure is up from 503.  There are other checkpoints called “flying checkpoints” that are unknown as to when and where they will pop up. On average per month in 2011, 495 of these random checkpoints sprung up, in addition to the 522 permanent roadblocks and checkpoints, to not only hamper, humiliate, harass but also to instill fear, frustration and fatigue into the lives of every Palestinian.

The use of the term “security crossings” and its manipulation and blackmailing of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank is what leads me to believe that Israel does not want a Two State Solution (2SS) but rather wants a Three State Solution (3SS). Israel is in a frantic mode to impose this 3SS upon the Palestinians before the projected demographics make Israelis the minority in 2016 to prevent the inevitable solution: One State Solution (1SS). Israelis believe that if they continue its policy of fear, frustration and fatigue, the Palestinians will ultimately succumb to the 3SS that Israel sees as a counter to the inevitable 1SS. This policy will fail.

Israelis argue that the Palestinians have negotiated away Area C in the West Bank by agreeing to give up control of this area to Israel in the Oslo Accords. Nonsense! Israeli intransigence in not agreeing to the final status matters in the so called “peace talks” and it’s continued expansion of the illegal settlements have rendered the Oslo Accords null and void. Israel refuses to discuss the final status of Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as the capital of a Palestinian State. Israel refuses to discuss the right of return of Palestinian refugees. And Israel refuses to discuss the borders between Israel and Palestine. Calling the checkpoints “security crossings” is part of the Israeli attempts to impose a 3SS.

Another blatant attempt to impose a 3SS is Israel’s blackmail of withholding taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority if the Palestinian politicians of the West Bank attempt to reconcile with the Palestinian politicians in Gaza. In essence, Israel does not want Fatah and Hamas to reconcile. It wants separate States for these two political rivals in the West Bank and Gaza. The stupidity of these factions in continuing the divisions between themselves is playing right into the Israeli plans to impose a 3SS.

I argue, in other articles, that this imposition will not be successful as the Palestinian human spirit to be free, innately a part of every human being, will overcome the Israeli aggression against them. However, Palestinians cannot rely on the burning desire inside themselves alone, they must have gumption; they must be shrewd; they must think outside the box.  

Palestinians need to understand what Israel is planning and they must counter the political manipulation of their land, their lives and livelihood. 

There are a variety of practical actions that Palestinians could advocate in their struggle to break the Israeli chains of oppression.

• ·     Palestinians need to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement . Mobilization and support for the BDS movement needs to part of the Palestinian agenda around the globe.  Supporting supporters of Palestinian Statehood is a must.
•  ·   Palestinians need to make the Israeli businessman suffer the consequences of the occupation. In my article, “Hitting Israel Where it Hurts—Economically”, I argue outside the box by advocating boycotting a single Israeli product imported into the West Bank and Gaza at a time. Read it at http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/hitting-israel-where-it-hurts.html
•  ·    Palestinian youth need to throw their stones. I advocate keeping the option of the stone alive in the following articles: “Romancing the Stone” and “Keeping the David vs. Goliath Option Open.”  http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/romancing-stone-option.html and http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/keeping-david-vs-goliath-option-open.html
•       Palestinians need to reconcile their divisions and present a unified front against the Israelis. I have written numerously in various articles about the need for Hamas and Fatah to reconcile. See “Palestinians Must Establish Parity with Israelis” at http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/palestinians-must-establish-parity-with.html. Opposing Israeli attempts to place obstacles to the reconciliation of these Palestinian political factions needs to be the goal of every Palestinian. Palestinian unity is a must!
•       Palestinians need to take their fight to the International Criminal Court and bring to justice those Israeli leaders who ordered and Israeli soldiers who committed human rights violations against Palestinians.

While the impending demographics will impose a 1SS, Palestinians cannot sit idly back and let the hope of events control their destiny. Palestinians need to be continuously active to make the inevitable human spirit within them blossom sooner than later.

Israeli Elections: Hegemony Over Homogeny

I have been trying to find something positive to write about the recent Israeli elections. I just cannot. There is simply nothing good about it. It simply is just the continuation of the status quo and that is not good for Palestinians and really not good for Israelis as well.  For the Palestinians, the status quo means the continuation of the occupation and the deprivation of the human spirit to be free. For the Israelis, it means that the lack of a clear expressive desire for peace in the election outcome ignores the ever increasing demographic boiling point which is turning Israel into the old Apartheid regime of South Africa.

The basic result of the Israeli election is that the right wing and center-right parties are likely to end up with 61 of the legislative seats in the Israeli Knesset, thus continuing the status quo of the Benjamin Netanyahu Government.

The status quo of domination over the Palestinians is what Israel wants for the region but this only exasperates and heightens the inevitable inner Palestinian human spirit to evolve towards the will to be free. Israel prefers hegemony over--instead of homogeny with--the Palestinians; it would rather dominate the Palestinians rather than treat them with equality. This is the crust of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The result of the Israeli elections elevated this inherent perplexity to the forefront; yet, Israelis seem oblivious to the fact that this clash between Israeli dominance and the Palestinian spirit to be free will come crashing down when the current trends in the demographics will result in an anticipated Palestinian majority in 2016. 

I have written about the human spirit to be free and my article can be read at http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6942645014941809001#editor/target=post;postID=7408208507238483659. In essence, I argue that inevitably Israel cannot suppress the will of 4.29 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who desire to be free of occupation and a relentless siege.  By 2016, it is projected that the Palestinian population in Israel, West Bank and Gaza will outnumber the Israeli non-Arab population.

Suppressing the Palestinian desire to be free perpetuates the status quo. Keeping the status quo is rooted in the aspiration of maintaining a Jewish homeland as Jews around the world feel secure in having Israel be a safe haven given world history of atrocities toward Jews. Thus, The Israeli election also tells me that Israelis are horrified of losing the concept of a Jewish homeland and therefore are clinging onto the status quo. Given the history of the Jewish people, that fear is warranted; but this aspiration driven by historical fear comes at the expense of the Palestinian people.  Finding a solution that would alleviate that fear while acknowledging the inevitability of the Palestinian human spirit to be free is what is needed to resolve the conflict.

The Israeli election did not shift Israeli politics to the left or right but rather left it smack where it has been—standing still.  Peace talks are standing still because Palestinians feel that there is no use in endless talks that lead to nowhere.  The Occupation of Palestinian land is standing still—continuing in its fifth decade.  Yet the fermenting Israeli suppression of Palestinian aspirations is about to boil over.  The Israeli elections did not alleviate this tension.

Israelis have consistently expressed security concerns in the 20 plus years of attempts at trying to negotiate a final solution with the Palestinians.  I interpret this security concern to mean a safe haven for Jews all over the world.  This security may ultimately be elusive however, if it comes at the expense of the Palestinians, for the natural course of human development is to be free from the oppressor’s chains that bind the collective individual conscience. 

This has been demonstrated time and time again with the thirteen American colonies breaking away from the British King; with the French masses overthrowing the absolute monarchy; with Black South Africans breaking the White Minority Rule apartheid chains; with Gandhi leading his people to overthrow the mighty British Empire; with the eventual American realization that slavery cannot long endure; and with many countless other examples where peoples all over the globe repelled imperialist colonial hegemony.

The Palestinian human spirit is no different than the American colonists, the French masses, India’s masses and the Black South Africans.  The Israeli election did not negate the Palestinian spirit; in fact that spirit has regenerated and grows with each Palestinian generation. 

The social revolution which opens the world to all also opens the spirits of the Palestinian people. Palestinians are not oblivious to the freedoms enjoyed around the world and they desire that same freedom in their daily lives.  As Palestinians interact with the globe community on social network sites, their human spirit to be free grows. Social networks exponentially inspire the Palestinian youth to lift off the chain that suppresses their collective bondage that the Israeli occupation imposes upon them.

The Israeli election takes little note of this growing social internet revolution and shows that Israelis would rather continue to believe that the colonial aspirations of the past several centuries is still prevalent in today’s age. That belief is antiquated and it leaves Israel further isolated around the family of nations.

Recently, the Palestinian human spirit has gained from international recognition and international intervention.  The upgrade in Palestine’s status at the United Nations has inspired Palestinians in that it gave them faith in the world community, while the truce between Israel and Hamas,  brokered by the US and Egypt and international pressure against a ground assault, excited the Palestinian will to fight off Israeli aggression.

Again, the Israeli election results seemed oblivious to growing worldly sentiment that the Palestinian human spirit is on the road towards freedom. The question is will Israelis ride along with the Palestinians or will Israelis fate be that of the White Minority rulers of South Africa.

            Israeli’s fate is really in their hands—or more accurately in their right to vote.  Palestinian’s fate is in the natural evolution of their human spirit.

ARE ISRAELI SOLDIERS TERRORISTS?

Several days ago, a Palestinian youth turned 17 years old; he died on his birthday.  While at the Occupier's Checkpoint in ElKhalil, Palestine, the Occupying Soldiers shot him dead with numerous bullets. They then spewed the propaganda that the Palestinian youth had a toy gun and pointed it at them.  How implausible is this story by the occupiers? 

First, where is this toy gun? Wouldn't the occupiers show the toy gun with the story to make their case believable? Second, how can a Palestinian youth, born and raised with fear in his heart from the occupying soldiers, be that unsophisticated to allegedly brandish a toy gun against an occupying soldier?  The toy gun was conjured up by the occupiers as they stated he got it because of his birthday.  Now, had the occupiers said he brandished a real gun,  that may be more acceptable. Years of built up frustration against the occupying soldiers could lead a Palestinian youth to try to kill his occupiers. That I can believe, but to say he had a toy gun--that's crazy. 

Now in a discussions with various Occupying soldier supporters, I raised the hypocrisy of how the recent Oregon Mall shooting was not labeled a terrorist act but would have been so if that same act occurred in a Tel Aviv mall. The definition that was offered by the Israeli supporters for terrorism was "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act."  I suspect that this was copied from some authoritative source.

Using this definition, I raised the question can you agree that the purpose of the Israeli soldier is to instill fear in the civilian Palestinians?  Then I asked, given this definition, whether the Israeli occupying soldier that killed the Palestinian youth in ElKhalil, Palestine would be considered a “terrorist?” 

It is undisputed that in the 45 years of occupation of the West Bank and Gaza (I consider Gaza still under occupation) the Israeli occupying soldiers (and the Uzi taunting illegal settlers) have caused “death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants,” i.e. the Palestinian population. I challenge anyone to argue otherwise.

What is then the purpose of the Israeli soldier?

Before I answer this question, let me say that if Israel could have morally annexed the West Bank into Israel, they would have enacted such legislation decades ago. They have not because they have no legal standing to do so.   They want to annex the West Bank into Israel and have employed the systematic illegal policy of confiscation of Palestinian land, claiming that the land is “disputed.”  But no one is buying this argument.  

Another tactic that Israel is employing, and this is where the Israeli occupying soldier comes in, is to force the Palestinians to leave the West Bank—at least as many as possible.

What tactic does the occupier employ?

Fear! 

The intent of the Israeli occupying soldier of the West Bank is to instill fear, i.e. intimidating a population or compelling…to do or abstain from doing any act." The intent is to instill fear into Palestinians to control them and to make their lives so miserable that they would do an act that they would not normally do, i.e. leave the land.

Therefore, it is logical, given the definition of terrorist given to me by Israeli supporters, that the Israeli occupying soldier is a terrorist.  He/she is there to do one thing:  to control the Palestinian population, to intimidate them, to make their lives miserable. 

How is this accomplished?

The West Bank is dotted with hindering and dehumanizing military checkpoints manned by occupying soldiers that purposefully subject Palestinians to harassment and demoralization.  It is a systematic daily policy that is carried out 24/7, 365 days a year.  At any given time, even in the middle of night, Israeli occupying soldiers can knock down the front door of any Palestinian and search and seize whatever they want and haul away any Palestinian to jail under the pretext of administrative detention.  If this is not fear, a constant fear every second of every day of a Palestinian’s life, I do not know what fear is.

Thus, if fear is the purpose of the presence of the Israeli soldier in the West Bank, he must be a terrorist.  

MODERATE PALESTINIANS SORELY DISAPPOINTED

I have always been an optimist. I have always advocated peace. I was one of the first Palestinians to call for the recognition of Israel. I did so in 1980 on the University of Illinois - Chicago campus (although I attended Loyola University) and was ostracized by Fatah, Jabha and other Palestinian student groups.  I held my ground and was one of the few Palestinians in the Chicago area that could go to any group’s events.

I welcomed the Oslo Accords and attended the White House signing ceremony on September 13, 1993.  I witnessed the famous handshake between Arafat and Rabin and felt a sense of relief that the long hard nightmare for my people might soon be over. 

Since Oslo, however, I and many moderate Palestinians have been sorely disappointed.  

• We have seen the settlement expansion in the West Bank more than quadruple.  
• We have seen thousands of Palestinian agriculture acres (olive groves) destroyed. 
• We have seen a separation wall built around our towns and villages leaving isolated enclaves that basically imprison Palestinians especially men between the ages of 18 and 40. 
• We have seen a voluminous number of humiliating military check points that disgrace and dehumanize Palestinians. 
• We have seen democratic Palestinian elections whose results were not accepted by Israel and an American President who told us that one of the results of the Iraqi invasion of 2003 was a democratization of the Middle East. 
• We have also seen since Oslo, (unfortunately) the introduction of the Palestinian suicide bomber and the assassination of an Israeli Prime Minister (by an Israeli terrorist) which, in essence, killed the peace process.  
• We have also seen the right wing religious fanatic groups who have increased their power and because they have been and are part of the past and current coalition governments in Israel, in my opinion, hold the entire Middle East hostage.  
• We also see the continued marginalization of the Palestinians 
• because of inter-fighting; 
• because the world cannot accept that the Palestinian people have elected one party over another party that is repeat with corruption and that has not produced the liberation it has said it will deliver; and 
• because the power of the purse is used to blackmail the Palestinian West Bank leadership to accept what the people will not allow them to accept. 
• We have also witnessed in 2008-2009 and now again the barbarity of the Israeli devastating and disproportionate onslaught against our brothers and sisters and our children in Gaza as the continued Israeli blockade causes severe economic conditions of food, water and medical shortages for which, we are told, the Palestinians cannot repel and for which the world flotilla aid campaign cannot break.

Because we have seen all these demoralizing aspects of the conflict, I, as well as many moderate (if not all) Palestinians, have abandoned the two state solution.  

• It is inconceivable that the 600,000 settlers in the West Bank will get up and leave.  This is not the Gaza Strip where 21 settlements illegally inhabited by 21,000 extreme Zionist settlers can be disbanded and the settlers removed.  
• It is inconceivable that the right wing ultra-conservative/orthodox parties within Israel will agree to give up Areas C especially since their power is increasing and especially since the recent poll in Israel tells us that the majority of Israelis have no problem living in an Apartheid like state.  
• It is inconceivable that Israel will abandon its policy to allow a Palestinian limited state within Area A and parts of Area B, on the one hand and another Palestinian entity in Gaza, as the Liberman Plan has so stated for Gaza. 

Inconceivability is only in the political realm.  In realty however, the numbers (population growth of the Palestinians visa via the Israelis) will force Israel to rethink its position.  My doubts are in succeeding Israel requests to endlessly talk to no end. The Israeli policy is "let us agree to agree in the future" but the future never comes because Israel always finds ways to interpret agreements by defining terms as it defines them. My pessimism is in endless talks that attempt to fill the glass with water but the glass is always half empty.

For Palestinians, the concept of a two state solution is illusionary. Since Oslo, succeeding Israeli governments have allowed the ever expanding settlements on illegally confiscated Palestinian land, thus creating “facts on the ground.” Israel has played its hand too long. Israeli leaders thought they could exhaust us into submission; that as long as they continued to build illegal settlements and continued to appease the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank while driving a wedge between West Bank and Gaza leaders, they could frustrate the Palestinians into accepting two Palestinian entities, one in the West Bank with Area A and part of Area B; and the other in Gaza.  Thus in essence, Israel has been trying for a three state solution.  Palestinians cannot and will not accept this.

By playing its hand too long, Israel has lost the moderate Palestinians. 

Moderate Palestinians are seeking other means to assert Palestinian fundamental rights. Moderate Palestinians wholeheartedly support the Palestinian request to join the United Nations General Assembly with pre-1967 borders but understand that this is only a prelude to a one state solution to the conflict. We also support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Israeli occupation. We welcome the emergency of a new generation of Palestinians who will pick up their stone and fight for the dignity and well-being of future Palestinian generations.  We also call upon the Palestinian factions to reconcile their differences and believe that the Palestinian house needs to be united immediately.  

(© Copyright 2012, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.) 

Why Can't We Live Together

I have not written about Middle East affairs for several months.  I have been tending to the needs of my brother Munther who has since succumbed to the cancer that invaded his body.  His death certificate came in today and the place of birth that was inscribed therein stated “Israel.”  I was offended as I am sure my brother would also have been.  Even in death, the Palestinian identity is being eliminated. I'm having the death certificate changed.

When asked by the Funeral Director where my brother was born, I informed her that Munther, known as Mike, was born in Jerusalem.  That information was translated to being Israel.  Jerusalem is not part of Israel under international law and is subject to final status negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.  Negotiations have been unfruitful and the circumstances indicates that one day soon, all of the land now known as Israel and Palestinian Territories will be one state encompassing all Palestinians and Israelis.   Perception however has been painted in public opinion that Jerusalem is Israeli.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Palestinians have not and will not give up its claim to Jerusalem. 

Israelis are doing everything they can to ethnically cleanse Jerusalem by not only excluding Palestinians from returning to the place of their birth but also by making it difficult for Palestinian residence in ethe Holy City to remain.   This brings me back to my brother Mike and his perceptive insight on this matter.

My brother Mike did not discuss politics much.  In fact he had a convoluted logic and unreasonable thinking when it came to the Middle East.  Mike was a jokester and when he offered a solution to the Middle East conflict which was unreasonable and contained convoluted logic, it at first made me laugh. However, when I thought about it while preparing his eulogy, I realized his point.  First let me tell explain his solution.

He stated, several months before his passing, that an Arab man and woman and a Jewish man and woman should be selected and placed on an island.  Then he said, America should “nuke” the entire Middle East.  After the nuclear dust settles, he stated, “ Take the Arab man and Jewish woman and have them mate; likewise for the Jewish man and the Arab woman. And then start all over!”

Unreasonable?  Yes.   Convoluted logic? Yes.  But if you really think about it, I think my brother Mike was trying to tell us that we should all just live together.

            By the year 2016, it is predicated that Palestinians will outnumber Israelis in Israel and the Palestinian territories, i.e. West Bank and Gaza.  Israel cannot continue to govern as a minority entity for regardless of the Israeli position that the Palestinian Authority governs Areas  A & B in the West Bank and Hamas governs Gaza, the fact is Israel controls all the territory west of the Jordan River.   The apartheid practices of Israel will catch up with reality.  And then we will be faced with the reality that my brother Mike was trying to convey: Why can’t we all live together.  

(© Copyright 2012, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.) 

Pressure Upon Israel Could Resolve Iranian Nuclear Issue

             The crisis over the Iranian nuclear aspirations is really quite simple to resolve if there is political will to resolve it. The issue is not the threat of whether Iran will use a nuclear bomb against Israel but rather whether Israel will continue its hegemony over the Middle East, especially over the Palestinians.   Additionally, the hypocrisy that the West adopts visa via Israel and every other Middle Eastern country is overwhelming to the people of the region.  Putting a little pressure upon Apartheid Israel can solve many of the Middle East problems.

           

The belief that Iran will use a nuclear weapon against Israel as an offensive strategy is foolish.  It is inconceivable that any country will use a nuclear bomb against another in an offensive manner. President Harry S. Truman used the nuclear bomb against Japan because he perceived that an invasion of Japan will result in an excessive amount of US casualties. Additionally, President Truman used the atomic bomb knowing full well that there would be no retaliation as no other country had the capability to retaliate with nuclear power. This is not the case today.

            It is highly unlikely that Iran would strike Israel for several reasons.  First, Iran would be committing suicide as Israel has an enormous nuclear capability to strike Iran back with much more devastation. Thus it would be suicidal for Iran to strike the first blow.  Second, the proximity of millions of Muslims around Israel, including Iran, would cause such devastation from the atomic burst that Iran will not benefit strategically within the Muslim world.  Third, the proximity of Jerusalem, a holy site for Muslims, to any potential target within Israel makes striking Israel with nuclear weapons theologically impractical. 

            The hyperbole rhetoric emitting from Apartheid Israeli leaders against Iran is aimed to deflect news coverage about its apartheid practices against the Palestinians.  To seek the sympathies of the West, Apartheid Israel falsely portrays itself as a goldfish in a sea of piranhas. The real fact is that Apartheid Israel is the great white shark in a small pound of fat cat fishes.   As the only nuclear power in the Middle East, Israel continues its hegemony over the Middle East with unchecked arrogance.  In 1981 and 2007, Apartheid Israel attacked Iraq and Syria, respectively, in an unprovoked attempt to prevent them from developing nuclear capabilities.  Additionally, while the US and the West demand inspections of North Korea and Iran’s nuclear facilities, nothing is said about Israel’s nuclear power plants which, according to exports, have produced hundreds of nuclear weapon warheads.

            Apartheid Israel would like the West and Russia and China, as they are UN Security Council permanent members, to believe that Iran will use nuclear weapon to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth.”  In fact, Iranian President Ahmadinejad never said this statement and this translation is completely wrong.  But Israel knows that perception is reality and putting this perception into minds makes it the “perceived truth”—but this is not always the “truth”.

            President Ahmadinejad, during the speech in which he is accused of wanting to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth,” used the words words “rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods” which mean “regime occupying Jerusalem.”[1] Ahmadinejad was advocating a regime change in Israel.  But Apartheid Israel does not want the world to know this and the American press does not want to investigate Israel in fear of retaliation from the powerful Israeli lobby.  To be fair, this wrong interpretation came not from Israel but from Iran itself.  However, when Iran tried to correct the wrong terminology, the quote spiraled out of control.  Of course, Apartheid Israel made this wrongly translated term the center of its propaganda campaign to deflect coverage of its apartheid practices.

            The West’s domination over the Middle East through its proxy Apartheid Israel and the support of Arab dictators and kings who repress the people’s human spirit to be free and democratic continues to make the region unstable.  Further, the discrepancy in policy towards Arab countries and Apartheid Israel leads many in the region to wonder how America and the West could be so hypocritical.  Apartheid Israel can occupy Palestine for over 40 years and no military force is sent to remove the occupier.  Yet, Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait could not be tolerated for one day as the US and Britain rallied the world around Operation Desert Storm in 1990. Apartheid Israel has imprisoned over 1.6 million Palestinians in Gaza and bombed the population relentlessly in the 2008-2009 onslaught without a whisper from the US and the West.  Yet, the world comes to the aid of the Libyans during their Arab Spring revolution to oust Muammar Gaddafi.  The 1.5 billion Muslims cannot understand why they are treated different than the 15 million Jews.

            What further perplexes many Arabs is that Israel is a nuclear power that has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). While Pakistan and India have also not signed the Treaty, they have both publicly stated that they do have nuclear warheads.  Israel, on the other hand, has been purposely deceptive as to its nuclear capability.

India has pledged a no first use policy unless it is attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons.  Additionally, India has expressed its commitment to non-proliferation but stated that it considers the “NPT as a flawed treaty and it did not recognise [sic] the need for universal, non-discriminatory verification and treatment."[2]  India has cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by entering into agreements to inspect its facilities.

Israel will not cooperate with the IAEA. When called upon to open its nuclear facilities in September, 2009, Israel’s chief delegate to the IAEA conference responded “Israel will not co-operate in any matter with this resolution."[3]  Why haven’t Western countries called upon the UN to impose sanctions against Israel for its refusal to have its nuclear facilities inspected?  Why is this double standard for Israel tolerated?

Striking a balance between Iran and Israel can be one way to make Iran more cooperative and to abandon any military component with its nuclear ambitions. Having Israel submit to inspections of its nuclear capabilities and to make it pledge a no first use policy similar to India will give assurance to Iran and all Middle East countries that the West is willing to deal fairly with the people of the region. Additionally, the West needs to exert pressure on Israel to resolve Palestinian statehood aspirations by ending decades of occupation. Failing diplomatic pressure, sanctions upon Israel should be on the table.

Fair dealing in the Middle East is the only thing Arabs want to see. They do not want the West to adopt a pro-Arab policy.  Arabs want a fair policy in the Middle East that treats every country and every religion equally and with dignity.  If this was the policy, the issue with the Iranian nuclear ambitions would not be an issue.  The lack of fairness in Western Middle East policy, however, is driving the region into another major war.  Pressuring Israel to act the way the West demands Iran to act would solve the Middle East problems.

            The question is whether there  is a political will to pressure Israel?


2/25/2012 update:  I just read this article by Allan Hart, author, and found this statement quite interesting to this article: 


"From recently de-classified documents we now know that in a memorandum dated 19 July 1969, Henry Kissinger, then national security adviser, warned President Nixon that the Israelis “are probably more likely than any other country to actually use their nuclear weapons.” And as I mentioned in my post of 30 January with the headline Is Israel on the road to “self-destruction”?, Golda Meir said in an interview I did with her for the BBC’s Panorama programme when she was prime minster that in a doomsday situation Israel “would be prepared to take the region and the world down with it.”"

(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

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[1][1] ‘Wiped Off The Face of the Earth’ The Rumor of the Century, Arash Norouzi, May 26, 2007 http://antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025

[2] India seeks Japan's support, calls NPT 'flawed' By IANS, Sat, Mar 24, 2007

http://www.whereincity.com/news/3/15197

[3] Israel pressured on nuclear sites, Aljazeera, September 18, 2009, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2009/09/2009918173136830771.html