A question: Is Israel, though its right wing, peace rejecting government of Benjamin Netanyahu, trying, in spite of itself, to create, through its illegal land grabs, sympathizers with Hamas, the faction of Palestinians which remains at war with the state of Israel?
Because in spite of what the Likud Party apologists in Congress may claim, the state of Israel is now, clearly, an oppressor of the Palestinian people, through its grabbing of Palestinian land. It is doing so to satisfy the demands of its own religious extremists. And we also see, in Israel, increasing contempt for our government. We saw this when VP Joe Biden was humiliated, as Israel used the occasion of his visit to announce a plan for 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem. Israel knew full well that the US is troubled by this land grab policy, but it also calculated, perhaps correctly, that the US lacked the will to stop it.
Time magazine offers the following analysis.
Obama is expected to point out that U.S.-sponsored efforts to set up a professional Palestinian security force in the cities of Nablus, Hebron, Jenin and Jericho have restored a measure of calm. According to Israeli sources, Netanyahu will offer a familiar counterargument: with Hamas in control of Gaza and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' popularity on the wane in the West Bank, Israel has no responsible partners among the Palestinians. "Netanyahu will tell Obama, why should he risk civil unrest--Israeli soldiers fighting Jewish settlers--if the Palestinians can't keep up their end of the bargain?" says a source close to Netanyahu's Cabinet. But that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Abbas' credibility is sliding--and Hamas' gaining--because Israel is stalling on concessions to the Palestinians.
What is interesting, to me, is that the state of Israel keeps promising a peace deal with the Palestinians and then keeps renaging on the deal. Most recently, this has entailed the idea of land for peace and of an eventual Palestinian state. But Israel has not always backed its words with its actions.
And lately, we've seen land grabs. We've seen, for example, in East Jerusalem
what diplomats describe as their worst crisis in relations in decades, over Israeli construction projects in disputed East Jerusalem. The U.S. backs Palestinian demands that East Jerusalem should be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Mr. Netanyahu is standing firm against a building freeze there, despite intense U.S. pressure. And he has strong backing from his right-wing government. Parliamentarian Danny Danon of the Prime Minister's Likud party says Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of the State of Israel.
Of course, the state of Isreal continues to ignore United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 a resolution - adapted unanimously by the UN Security Council, which demands
(i) Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;
(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."
The UN followed this up with United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, which declared null and void Israel's claim of Greater Jerusalem as its capitol.
The Palestinians thus have the legitimacy of these resolutions, and other related resolutions, as well as much of the world's opinion, on their side.
And Israel has the U.S., Democrats and Republicans alike, grabbed and pulled into a position of unwavering support (in spite of Isreal's possible misdeeds) by the powerful Israeli lobby.
So, again, I ask the question, is the state of Israel, through its Lukud Party, trying to make the world, and in particular American progressives, more and more sympathetic to Hamas, which continues to stand up to Israel's bullying of Palestinians? Because like militant groups elsewhere, Hamas does indeed provide direct services to the Palestinian people, such as schools, health-care clinics, mosques, youth groups, athletic clubs and day-care centers, and does not have the same reputation for corruption as does its rival Palestinian party, Fateh.
In the United States, Hamas continues to be labeled a "terrorist" organization, and one linked to Al-Qaeda. This, in spite of the fact that Hamas has does not see itself at war with the United States. What it sees, and it sees this correctly, is that the U.S. is now a biased referee in any possible Middle East peace talks.
In the meantime, I would support a freeze on US financial support for Israel until Isreal demonstrated a more credibly serious commitment to a two state solution. Sadly, there are not enough members of Congress who will force this, so I realize that this is mere wishful thinking on my part.