Long assumed before, but blatantly evident today, the United States has proven that it cannot play the part of an honest broker of peace in the Middle East. The last vestiges of a just and honourable policy expected from this administration have recently all but evaporated.
By declaring that the US Embassy would be moved to occupied Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, and thus adding weight to Israel’s illegal occupation of that city, President Donald Trump has shed layers of smooth talk about reaching a consensual agreement between Palestinian and Israeli factions and awarded an undue privilege to the Israelis.
This move was engineered by a growing faction of Zionists among Trump’s inner circle, with his son-in-law Jared Kushner leading the brigade. It is a calculated move to deprive Palestinians of all legitimacy over their lands and what better way to do it than to deny them their rightful ownership of their piece of Jerusalem — the third holiest city for Muslims all over the world.
For decades, talks of bringing about peace to the region by the US have been followed by actions that would regretfully prove otherwise. From documented events of Israeli troops callously firing at peaceful demonstrators with US supplied tanks, killing and maiming scores of people, and US supplied helicopters firing missiles at a Palestinian family gathering on a beach, the US has not surprised with its veto of Israeli practices in the United Nations. Actions such as these leave no one to expect any credibility in the present foreign policies of America.
Israel has long learnt to play the game craftily. It started by portraying itself as a victim as it began its journey in a strange land and slowly began pushing out the lawful residents, albeit with massive support from western nations who were continually garlanded with the collective guilt of the holocaust during the Second World War, and who were goaded to make amends for past deeds by defying all democratic norms and side with this monster. It did not matter that their victims — the Palestinians — had nothing to do with events of the past. It was simply an expedient solution.
The Arabs have tried to battle and even reason with this growing menace, but to no avail. Realising the growing arsenal of nuclear weapons in the Israeli armoury, and given Israel’s aggressive land-grabbing policies, a resolution was initiated by Egypt to declare the region nuclear-weapon free and called on Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The resolution would have applied less stringent supervisory conditions on Israel in comparison to those recently agreed upon with Iran.
But the monster was not having any of that. It did not want any of its nuclear weaponry programme come under any sort of international monitoring. Instead, it began an earnest campaign of lobbying and arm-twisting to ensure that the resolution did not see light of day. Predictably enough, with the Zionist lobby working overtime, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference voted down the resolution that called for international supervision over Israel’s nuclear facilities.
Unquestionably, the single-largest collection of human rights violation by any country in the region is being carried out by Israel, and in broad daylight, and yet the US fails to rebuke its golden child.
The war on Iraq — in reality — was never about the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York or Saddam Hussain. It was to safeguard the interests of Israel. To ensure that Israel remained the dominant military force in the region. And to pursue their policies of killing and expansion, protected by US vetoes against any sanctions in UN. The Israeli lobbyists had long argued for a strike against Iraq. As it is obvious, the US has historically been only too eager to comply. That explains the muted silence when the Israelis carry out their brand of terrorism. And with implicit US consent.
The Zionist machine engineered factions in the Arab countries gradually, by sowing the seeds of distrust between them. The situation today for the Israelis and their Zionist hosts in the US Government is much easier to proceed with their vision that encompasses land beyond what remains of Palestine. Such a Machiavellian design remains unchecked as long as Uncle Sam has Israel’s back.
At every annual conference of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) that is held in the US, president after president tells the gathered Aipac delegates: “By defending the freedom and prosperity and security of Israel, we are also serving the cause of America.”
By their explicit recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump has indeed served that cause — but only of the Israelis and not of all Americans.
Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Twitter: @talmaeena.
