Keeping the Momentum Going - Seek ICC Membership

By: Fadi Zanayed

The momentum towards achieving a Palestinian State is swinging in favor of the Palestinians. With increased activity by Palestinians and supporters on social media sites with the Boycott;Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS); at college campuses, and in international diplomatic levels, the momentum has shifted. The question facing Palestinians is whether they can keep this momentum going? 

The momentum in the social media is increasing. The video showing how Israeli soldiers killed 2 Palestinian children, who posed no imminent danger to the soldiers, during Nakba commemorations has gone viral--so much so that the UN and US State Department have independently called for a transparent investigation. To increase social media activity, the Palestinian authority should require internet and cellular companies in Palestine to install video cameras at major confrontational areas with the occupying Israeli army. Additionally, the Palestine should employ the children of jailed Palestinian political prisoners and pay them for video and picture evidence taken on the atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers. This will justify the payments that are going to families of imprisoned political Palestinians lingering in Israeli military jails.

The momentum with the BDS Movement is also increasing. The actions of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are getting widespread media coverage as they bring forth resolutions before the US universities' student governments to divest from corporations who profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Many US university student body governments are taking up the issue of divestment. These university student body governments are engaged in a non-violent peaceful and democratic activity to bring public awareness of the Israeli apartheid practices and the US corporations that help Israel continue the occupation.

While the SJP students may not win every vote, the public discourse and awareness generated by these student's efforts are to be praised.

Israel is pulling all stops to swing the momentum back toward its favor and divert attention to its apartheid regime. University faculty are being provided junkets to Israel to persuade them against supporting divestment movements. Public relation firms are behind advertisement campaigns against the divestment movements on university campuses. Despite all the advertising and junk money, the BDS movement is growing stronger every day.

The momentum on Facebook, Twitter and other social media are also increasing. Each day more and more Palestinians and supporters are posting and sharing stories that bring to light what the Israeli occupation is doing to everyday lives of the Palestinians. Statements, articles, news stories, videos and pictures are being posted.  A recent photo-shopped picture of Salma Hayek displaying a "#FreePalestine" message went viral with the message "Perception is Reality."

The momentum in Palestine is growing stronger and it must continue. The momentum generated by the brave Palestinian youth who daily confront the Israeli terrorist soldiers with rocks is growing--nothing can stop them for their human spirit to be free is insurmountable.

Neither Israel nor her supporters can stop this momentum. Sheldon Adelson's billions thrown at Republican candidates cannot stop this momentum. 

The momentum on all fronts needs to continue to grow, especially the political front.

April, 2013 was a great month for the Palestinian cause, especially on the political front, despite the faltering of the "talks". The Palestinians sought membership in 15 nternational agencies and a unification agreement was signed by Fatah and Hamas, the two leading parties in Palestine. Even American officials blamed Israel for the faltering of the talks. 

To keep this momentum going, a great majority of Palestinians now desire that Palestine seek membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The momentum for seeking international organization membership and seeking to hold Israeli officials accountable for war crimes is now during President Barrack Obama's second term. Waiting to take action during a first term US president in 2016 will not be as effective as the new president, wishing to be re-elected in 2020, will then have to appease the supporter's  of an entrenched Israel in return for the political contributions..

Now is the time for Palestine to seek membership in the ICC. President Abbas' must be under tremendous pressure as he recently stated that Palestine is not seeking such application. He did leave some encouragement when during the swearing in of the new unity government in Palestine he stated that any Israeli punitive action for the reunification between Fatah and Hamas will be countered on the international level. 

The will of the Palestinian people in Palestine and in the Diaspora is to seek membership in the ICC. The pressure from a new US president in 2 1/2 years will be much greater as the political momentum will shift if action is not taken now.

President Abbas needs to strengthen the political momentum by seeking membership in the ICC and by bringing to justice those Israelis who have committed war crimes against Palestinians.

President Abbas can use the Nakba Rememberance Day killing of Nadime Siam Abu Nuwara, 17, and Mohammed Awad Salemeh Abu Thaher, 22, by the Israeli soldiers as a justification to seek membership in the ICC. He can use the video which shows that these martyrs posed no imminent threat to the soldiers and thus are criminally liable. This move will give great hope to the Palestinian people, especially in Palestine and it will give the Israeli leaders and soldiers pause before they fire another bullet aimed at Palestinian children.

Despite Israel's whitewash of this video, President Abbas needs to capture the moment to keep the political momentum going. He has a duty to protect the Palestinian people. Israeli soldiers are killing innocent Palestinians and they need to be brought to justice. ICC membership by Palestine is the next step to keeping the momentum going. 

Palestinian Exasperation - Israeli Desperation

In July, 2013 United States Secretary of State John Kerry brought the Palestinian and Israeli parties to the negotiating table to discuss peace yet again. The deadline for those talks was set as April 29, 2014. To entice the parties to the table, certain agreements were made by both sides.  But the alluring factor for many Palestinians was that final status issues would also be discussed.  With less than a month before that deadline, we are entrenched in a dispute not over those core issues but about whether side issues will be met or whether the Palestinians will seek justice at international forums.  Another 9 months have been wasted and the status quo has gone from exasperation to desperation.

There was a great reluctance among the majority of Palestinians to begin yet another chapter of talks with the Israelis. Many Palestinians felt and continue to feel that they do not need to endlessly talk to no real end and that talking to Israel served Israel’s interest to perpetuate the decades old cruel military occupation of their land and their people and preventing the Palestinians from seeking justice through international forums.  Israel, instead of agreeing to stop all settlement building activities, agreed to release 104 pre-Oslo prisoners in four installments, the latest of which has been breached. The Palestinians agreed not to go to United Nations forums to seek international justice against the Israelis—and Palestinians have thus far kept their end of the bargain.

Now the talks are at a juncture which is not aimed at resolving the issues of the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the border issues or even water rights—a fundamental issue to any peace agreement but which has not been given much consideration by the parties and the media.  Instead the topic of discussion is whether the Israelis will release the last batch of Palestinian prisoners and who will decide which prisoners will be released but only for extending the talks.  

During the last 9 months of “talks” Palestinians have witnessed

•          over 60 Palestinians being killed and over 900 wounded by Israeli soldiers.
•          an increase in housing starts in the illegal settlements

o   August 12, 2013."Israel approves 900 additional homes in East Jerusalem". http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-approves-900-additional-homes-in-east-jerusalem/

o   On 10 January 2014. Israel approved plans for 1,400 settler homes. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/10/us-palestinians-israel-settlements-idUSBREA090KW20140110

o   January 21, 2014. Peace hopes fade as Israel plans 381 more settler homes http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140121/peace-hopes-fade-israel-plans-381-more-settler-homes-0

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•       reports of olive trees being cut down are rampant in the media. Here is but a sampling:

o   March 27, 2014 Settlers cut down 50 olive trees near Nablus http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=685271

o   October 5, 2013 Palestinian farmer: West Bank settlers destroyed 129 olive trees http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.550637

o   October 21, 2013 Israeli Settlers Chop down more Palestinian Olive Trees (having destroyed 800,000 since 1967) http://www.juancole.com/2013/10/settlers-palestinian-destroyed.html

o   October 19,  2013 ISRAELI SETTLERS ACCUSED OF DESTROYING PALESTINIAN OLIVE TREES http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/19/israeli-settlerschopdown100treesinwestbankvillage.html

o   March 3, 2014  Israeli settlers destroy olive trees in West Bank http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/03/03/352980/israelis-destroy-olive-trees-in-wb/

The results of the talks have been a step forward for Palestinians, not in terms of achieving a State anytime soon, but in terms of positioning in negotiations.  While it is the Palestinians who were and continue to be exasperated, it is the Israelis who are desperate. The Palestinians have been exasperated by 20+ years of endless talks that have led to no end. Palestinians are no closer to a State then in 1993 or the last 9 months. The Israelis are desperate to prevent the Palestinians from seeking justice at UN forums, especially at the Human Rights Commission and at the International Criminal Court. Additionally, Israelis are deathly afraid of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement which is growing by leaps and bounds.  Secretary of State Kerry has warned Israel of a third Intifada and further isolation.

Continuing the “talks” without any real progress to date is an exercise in futility for Palestinians and will only serve Israel’s interests.  By agreeing to the continuation of the talks, Palestinians will allow Israel to buy additional time to continue building more settlements; continue building the apartheid wall; continue to murder, wound and imprison more Palestinians; and continue to uproot more and more Palestinian olive trees.  Additionally, the abusive Israeli military checkpoints will not be eased and Israeli dominance over Palestinian lives will go unabated.

Exasperated by another Israeli demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish State, Palestinians obtained the support of the Arab League in rejecting this demand.  This demand was not imposed upon the Jordanians or the Egyptians when Israel negotiated peace treaties with these countries. Additionally, this was not addressed in the Oslo Accords or any of its ancillary agreements. It is yet another demand creatively concocted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not for any altruistic purpose but for Israel’s selfish purpose—to kill the peace process. This is not Nethanyahu’s first attempt to redefine terms or impose new wordings in order to kill the peace process. In 1996 during his first stint as Prime Minister, he changed the Madrid Conference formula from “land for peace” to “land for security” which inevitably destroyed the Oslo movement towards a comprehensive peace.

Today, Netanyahu is concocting all sorts of schemes to maintain the status quo for as long as possible and to preventing the Palestinians from seeking justice at international forums. All the following proposals are aimed at eliciting a rejection so as to blame someone other than Israel for the failure of the “talks”:

·         Besides, the Jewish State recognition demand, Netayahu wants to maintain a military presence in the Jordanian valley thus eliminating a border between Palestine and Jordan.

·         March 2, 2014. Israel: Stop nuclear Iran and we’ll agree to Palestinian state http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Middle_East/article1381901.ece

·         March 23, 2014 Swap proposed over release of Palestinian prisoners and spy (Jonathan Pollard) http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/850216.shtml#.UzAZsPldWSo  Israel’s yet another attempt to have the notorious Israeli spy released from an American prison.

·         Netanyahu earlier tried to tie the Wye River Agreement to the release of Jonathan Pollard in October, 1998. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4461414.html

The one proposal that will win over hearts and minds for peace is not even suggested by Netanyahu—freezing settlement activity. While Netanyahu does not want peace, he wants the peace talks to endlessly go on to no real end. This duplicity in political posturing has caught up with him as the world understands his witty proposals are not aimed at furthering peace but at perpetuating the Israeli hegemony over the Palestinian people and land.

After nine months of “talks” there is a complete perpetuation of everything negative about the occupation. Palestinians are positioned at this time with a stronger negotiating power. They should use this power effectively.

The “talks” can go on for another 6 months but only if the Palestinians extract certain conditions from the Israelis. Palestinians should demand the following in exchange for not pursuing unilateral diplomatic actions in international forums, such as taking Israel to the International Criminal Court:

•         Demand that any further Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli soldiers be investigated by a trilateral Palestinian/Israeli/US tribunal.
•          Demand that all Israeli settlement building activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem be frozen, including but not limited to “natural growth.”
•          Release of additional Palestinian prisoners including Marwan Bargouti
•          Demand that a joint tribunal of Israelis and Palestinians will investigate and prosecute those responsible for destroying the Palestinian olive trees.
•          Demand that Israel arrests and tries Israeli settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians.

Should Israel not agree to these demands, Palestinians should walk away from the “talks”. There is no need to discuss anything with Israel while Palestinian rights, land and dignity are continually trampled upon.  

Should the Talks Collapse, Palestinians should then then employ the following (from my article Should the Talks Collapse—What Then?  http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2013/09/if-talks-collapse-what-then.html)  

•         Palestinians should demand that Fatah and Hamas reconcile.
•          The Palestinian police should be ordered to take their guns and give them to the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints. We need to be David using a rock against the military might of the Big Israeli Army.  We do not need the guns that are not effective against the Mighty Israel Army.  We should confront Israel with our stones from Mother Earth against the tanks and helicopter gunships.
•          The Palestinian Authority should no longer accept money from donor nations.  We cannot afford to be bribed into complacency and to accept the status quo of a continued brutal military occupation.
•        Palestinians should use their cameras, camcorders and cell phones to inundate Facebook, Twitter, blogs and all forms of social media with images of the atrocities of the Israeli army.
•        Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel
•        Palestinians need to organize a coherent message of non-violence that needs to be shared by thousands on these social media outlets.  Throwing stones against the military occupier is within the international right of Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
•        Palestinian youth need to understand the power of the land and use it against the military occupation forces.  This is not a call to arms but a call to repel the occupation. 

Additionally, Palestinians should do what the Israelis fear most—go directly to the International Criminal Court and hold Israeli officials accountable for its human rights abuses toward Palestinians.