-By Anubhawananda
(Lanka-e-News -08.Oct.2024, 10.10 pm) The date is September 23, 2023. It’s the fourth day of the United Nations General Assembly session. On that day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while addressing world leaders, proudly stated that Israel is stronger today because of the Arab states that have accepted its existence, displaying a large map of the Middle East. He claimed that the “Abraham Accords” had ushered in a new era of peace that no one could challenge. He also revealed that Israel was set to form a historic peace agreement with Saudi Arabia in the near future.
Netanyahu emphasized that the Palestinians should not be allowed to veto the peace agreements with Arab nations, making it clear to world leaders that the Palestinian issue was no longer a decisive factor in Middle Eastern politics. The “Abraham Accords,” which strengthened Israel, were the cornerstone of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East policy during his 2016-2020 tenure. Trump’s Middle East policy aimed to strengthen Israel by getting Arab countries in the region to recognize the state of Israel, pressuring the Palestinians to accept the conditions for “peace” dictated by Israel. On September 15, 2020, under the Abraham Accords, four Arab countries—United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan—established diplomatic relations with Israel.
Israel’s next target was to establish relations with Saudi Arabia, the strongest state in the Middle East. By September 2023, as Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly, Israel and Saudi Arabia had already reached an agreement, set to be signed in the coming weeks. This was confirmed by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), to the media. Thus, Israel’s goal was to build a Sunni Muslim front against Iran.
Donald Trump was a far-right nationalist and fascist leader. His power doctrine was submission to the conditions of the strong. Hitler and Mussolini followed this doctrine when they conquered nations in Europe and Africa in the name of “peace.” In the discussions surrounding the Abraham Accords, no attention was given to the Palestinian issue. Their method was to impose Israel’s peace terms, the terms of the stronger, on the weaker Palestinian people.
Trump’s discussions on withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan were also based on this fascist doctrine. Ignoring the elected Afghan government led by Ashraf Ghani, Trump reached an agreement solely with the Taliban. Trump, yielding to the conditions of the stronger Taliban, imposed those conditions on the Afghan government, which was not even part of the talks. President Biden, who succeeded Trump, blindly followed through with this agreement without reviewing it, leading to the disastrous outcomes we witnessed, which need no further explanation.
However, the “Oslo Peace Accords,” signed under U.S. President Bill Clinton’s mediation, included both Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization as equal parties. Just two weeks before Netanyahu’s proud talk about resolving the Palestinian issue by signing a peace deal with Saudi Arabia, Hamas launched a massive attack against Israel on October 7. This turned the peace deal with Saudi Arabia into a distant dream, bringing the Palestinian issue back to the forefront of Middle Eastern politics. It confirmed that the fascist power doctrine, submitting to the stronger party’s conditions, would not work in the Middle East.
On October 7, Hamas’s terrorist attack killed 1,200 Israeli citizens, and over 100 others were taken hostage. We condemn Hamas’s terrorist attack. However, the Hamas attack on October 7 was not an isolated event. It was a response to the long-standing repression Israel had inflicted on the Palestinian people. This was the reaction to Trump’s “Abraham Accords.”
In response to Hamas’s terrorist attack, Benjamin Netanyahu’s fascist government carried out a genocide in Gaza, killing 42,000 Palestinian civilians. According to UN reports, the majority of those killed were children and women. Over 100,000 people were injured. 90% of the population of Gaza has been displaced, with 80% of the buildings destroyed. Over 70,000 homes in Gaza were destroyed, and 1.9 million people were displaced. Israeli attacks have killed 885 Palestinian medical personnel. There has been no destruction of this magnitude in recent history.
According to UN reports, a famine-like situation has arisen in Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reports that 223 of their staff have been killed in Israeli attacks, and two-thirds of their buildings have been destroyed. Never before has such a large number of UN workers been killed in a single conflict since the organization’s inception.
According to reports from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), by October 4, 128 journalists had been killed in Israeli attacks, 125 of them being Palestinian nationals. Most of these journalists were killed in targeted Israeli military attacks. This is the highest number of journalists killed in a single year in Gaza’s recent history.
Many countries around the world have called for an end to Netanyahu’s fascist government’s genocide in Gaza. However, powerful nations like the U.S. and Britain continue to support Israel unconditionally. The U.S., in particular, provides billions in military and financial aid to Israel. Just days after the Hamas attack, U.S. President Joe Biden visited Israel, embraced Netanyahu, and declared his support.
However, President Joe Biden’s ultimate fate will be losing his 2024 presidential candidacy. In key swing states such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada, Biden will not be able to secure enough support, forcing him to pass the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris. The main reason is Biden’s foreign policy in supporting the genocide of Palestinians.
Biden won the 2020 presidential election by attracting the support of young people and minorities. However, this time, many young voters and minorities have rejected Biden. The primary reason is his support for Netanyahu’s far-right government’s genocide against Palestinians. According to polls, 70% of young Americans aged 18 to 34 reject Biden’s Gaza policy, and 56% of all voters are against the genocide in Gaza.
Significant Muslim populations reside in states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Since October 7, 2023, American Muslims have urged Biden to intervene and stop the genocide in Gaza by establishing a ceasefire. Biden ignored all such requests and continued to support Netanyahu’s genocidal campaign.
The U.S. used its veto power to block six ceasefire proposals at the UN Security Council. The U.S. claimed that Biden would negotiate a ceasefire between the two parties. However, more than a year has passed since Biden’s talk of a ceasefire, with none achieved so far.
Many political analysts suggest that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stabbed President Biden in the back. Netanyahu has worked throughout the past year to prevent a ceasefire, aiming to defeat the Democratic Party in the upcoming November elections and ensure Donald Trump’s victory.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, has consistently stated on her campaign platform that she and President Biden are working quickly to implement a ceasefire to halt the conflict in Gaza. With less than a month remaining until the presidential election, there has been no visible agreement on a ceasefire. Many American Muslims, deeply concerned about this situation, have declared that they will not vote for Kamala Harris. Additionally, the youth, outraged by the ongoing massacre in Gaza, are turning away from the Democratic Party. Many political analysts point out that this trend could contribute to her defeat. Accordingly, it appears that Netanyahu’s strategy to disrupt ceasefire negotiations has been highly successful.
Netanyahu has transformed the Gaza massacre perpetrated by his fascist government into a broader regional Middle Eastern conflict. This regional conflict is essential for his political survival. Countries that support Israel, including the United States, aimed to keep the conflict confined to Gaza. However, Netanyahu expanded the offensive from Gaza to the West Bank, forcibly taking tens of thousands of acres of Palestinian land. Subsequently, the war was extended to Iran and Lebanon. At this moment, Israel’s military is actively engaged in ground combat in southern Lebanon. The West, led by the U.S., is now striving to prevent the conflict from spreading. To that end, the U.S., France, and Britain are engaged in diplomatic efforts.
Yet, all of them have fallen into Netanyahu’s trap. Faced with the global dominance of Jewish media, financial, and political power, neither President Biden nor the West can avoid supporting Netanyahu’s government. Notably, in a U.S. election year, the votes of the Jewish community, which makes up 2% of the population, are crucial. Secondly, the U.S. and the Western bloc, which stand against Iran, cannot afford to abandon Israel, their primary Middle Eastern ally. Netanyahu is exploiting this dilemma to the fullest, ensuring his political survival.
It should come as no surprise that Netanyahu is currently utilizing all available strategies to ensure Kamala Harris’s defeat in the upcoming November election. If Donald Trump wins the presidency, Netanyahu would be able to continue his aggressive military actions without any hindrance.
A fundamental condition for resolving the Palestinian conflict is the removal of Netanyahu’s right-wing, fascist government from power. At the very least, achieving a lasting ceasefire would require a political shift within Israel. The only way to achieve that is through elections. Over the past year, Israeli citizens have been demanding that Netanyahu’s government dissolve the parliament and hold general elections immediately. However, Netanyahu’s government, by expanding the conflict across the Middle East, has repeatedly rejected these demands. Given the high likelihood of Donald Trump’s return to power in November, it’s likely that the U.S.-Israeli right-wing fascist alliance will only strengthen. Unfortunately, the two-state solution for the Palestinian issue will remain a distant dream.
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by (2024-10-08 16:43:10)
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