The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks

Monday 06 December 2010

by: Noam Chomsky, Op-Ed

The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel leave through the doorway in the Cabinet Room of the White House, as the president walks the prime minister to his car following their meetings, July 6, 2010. (Photo: Pete Souza / Official White House Photo)

Washington’s pathetic capitulation to Israel while pleading for a meaningless three-month freeze on settlement expansion – excluding Arab East Jerusalem – should go down as one of the most humiliating moments in U.S. diplomatic history.

In September the last settlement freeze ended, leading the Palestinians to cease direct talks with Israel. Now the Obama administration, desperate to lure Israel into a new freeze and thus revive the talks, is grasping at invisible straws – and lavishing gifts on a far-right Israeli government.

The gifts include $3 billion for fighter jets. The largesse also happens to be another taxpayer grant to the U.S. arms industry, which gains doubly from programs to expand the militarization of the Middle East.

U.S. arms manufacturers are subsidized not only to develop and produce advanced equipment for a state that is virtually part of the U.S. military-intelligence establishment but also to provide second-rate military equipment to the Gulf states – currently a precedent-breaking $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, which is a transaction that also recycles petrodollars to an ailing U.S. economy.

Israeli and U.S. high-tech civilian industries are closely integrated. It is small wonder that the most fervent support for Israeli actions comes from the business press and the Republican Party, the more extreme of the two business-oriented political parties. The pretext for the huge arms sales to Saudi Arabia is defense against the “Iranian threat.”

However, the Iranian threat is not military, as the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence have emphasized. Were Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capacity, the purpose would be deterrent – presumably to ward off a U.S.-Israeli attack.

The real threat, in Washington’s view, is that Iran is seeking to expand its influence in neighboring countries “stabilized” by U.S. invasion and occupation.

The official line is that the Arab states are pleading for U.S. military aid to defend themselves against Iran. True or false, the claim provides interesting insight into the reigning concept of democracy. Whatever the ruling dictatorships may prefer, Arabs in a recent Brookings poll rank the major threats to the region as Israel (88 percent), the United States (77 percent) and Iran (10 percent).

It is interesting that U.S. officials, as revealed in the just-released WikiLeaks cables, totally ignored Arab public opinion, keeping to the views of the reigning dictators.

The U.S. gifts to Israel also include diplomatic support, according to current reports. Washington pledges to veto any U.N. Security Council actions that might annoy Israel’s leaders and to drop any call for further extension of a settlement freeze.

Hence, by agreeing to the three-month pause, Israel will no longer be disturbed by the paymaster as it expands its criminal actions in the occupied territories.

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That these actions are criminal has not been in doubt since late 1967, when Israel’s leading legal authority, international jurist Theodor Meron, advised the government that its plans to initiate settlements in the occupied territories violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, a core principle of international humanitarian law, established in 1949 to criminalize the horrors of the Nazi regime.

Meron’s conclusion was endorsed by Justice Minister Ya’akov Shimson Shapira, and shortly after by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, writes historian Gershom Gorenberg in “The Accidental Empire.”

Dayan informed his fellow ministers, “We must consolidate our hold so that over time we will succeed in ‘digesting’ Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and merging them with ‘little’ Israel,” meanwhile “dismember(ing) the territorial contiguity” of the West Bank, all under the usual pretense “that the step is necessary for military purposes.”

Dayan had no doubts, or qualms, about what he was recommending: “Settling Israelis in occupied territory contravenes, as is known, international conventions,” he observed. “But there is nothing essentially new in that.”

Dayan’s correct assumption was that the boss in Washington might object formally, but with a wink, and would continue to provide the decisive military, economic and diplomatic support for the criminal endeavors.

The criminality has been underscored by repeated Security Council resolutions, more recently by the International Court of Justice, with the basic agreement of U.S. Justice Thomas Buergenthal in a separate declaration. Israel’s actions also violate U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning Jerusalem. But everything is fine as long as Washington winks.

Back in Washington, the Republican super-hawks are even more fervent in their support for Israeli crimes. Eric Cantor, the new majority leader in the House of Representatives, “has floated a novel solution to protect aid for Israel from the current foreign aid backlash,” Glenn Kessler reports in The Washington Post: “giving the Jewish state its own funding account, thus removing it from funds for the rest of the world.”

The issue of settlement expansion is simply a diversion. The real issue is the existence of the settlements and related infrastructure developments. These have been carefully designed so that Israel has already taken over more than 40 percent of the occupied West Bank, including suburbs of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; the arable land; and the primary water sources of the region, all on the Israeli side of the Separation Wall – in reality an annexation wall.

Since 1967, Israel has vastly expanded the borders of Jerusalem in violation of Security Council orders and despite universal international objection (including the U.S., at least formally).

The focus on settlement expansion, and Washington’s groveling, are not the only farcical elements of the current negotiations. The very structure is a charade. The U.S. is portrayed as an “honest broker” seeking to mediate between two recalcitrant adversaries. But serious negotiations would be conducted by some neutral party, with the U.S. and Israel on one side, and the world on the other.

It is hardly a secret that for 35 years the U.S. and Israel have stood virtually alone in opposition to a consensus on a political settlement that is close to universal, including the Arab states, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (including Iran), and all other relevant parties.

With brief and rare departures, the two rejectionist states have preferred illegal expansion to security. Unless Washington’s stand changes, political settlement is effectively barred. And expansion, with its reverberations throughout the region and the world, continues.

Truthout has licensed this article; it may not be reproduced or reprinted by any other source.

Noam Chomsky’s most recent book, with co-author Ilan Pappe, is “Gaza in Crisis.” Chomsky is emeritus professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license.

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Israel is the world's number

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 17:29 — Anonymous (not verified)

Israel is the world's number 1 problem; they are far worse than any Nazi regime and what they are doing is worse than any Holocaust. America, when do we shut them down?

Israel is to America what

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 18:10 — AH_Melb (not verified)

Israel is to America what the Gastapo was to the Nazis !!!

No, Israel is to the

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 18:45 — George Polley (not verified)

No, Israel is to the Palestinian Arabs what the Gestapo was to the Jews. To America Israel has become the mafia boss who is a close friend, who has us by the short hairs, treats us with contempt and lets everyone know it while we stand meekly by and let him.

It is disgusting, reprehensible and makes us meek co-conspirators in Israel's many crimes.

It will end ONLY when we the people demand it loudly enough.

These nazi analogies are not

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 18:45 — Anonymous (not verified)

These nazi analogies are not convincing, sorry folks. You are raising the dialogue to an obscene level. Do you understand nuance? Do you understand that the voters in Israel are not all in agreement? Does it bother you that the PLO has in its very existence the need to eliminate Israel and the Jews?

So Chomsky wants us to

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 19:08 — spider (not verified)

So Chomsky wants us to believe that the ancient split between Sunnis and Shiites has no relevance in the modern world, that Saddam's persecution of Iraq's Shiites ended with his death, that toxic ethnic rivalries so common everywhere else are not real in the Middle East - Persians, Kurds, Arabs, and even Jews, would all love each other if only Zionism was destroyed. And these ordinary Arabs who see far less threat from Iran than Israel do not share that regime's desire to destroy Israel, return the Palestinians to full ownership of the lands they lost since 1948, and drive the Jews into the sea.

Chomsky should have been flushed down the toilet long ago, along with all the lefty anti-semites who post here and elsewhere.

AND, if It's OBAMANIBLE,

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 19:11 — Vic Anderson (not verified)

AND, if It's OBAMANIBLE, what's Not a CHARADE?

The Nazi analogies are not

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 19:24 — Anonymous (not verified)

The Nazi analogies are not convincing..

Warsaw Ghetto - The Gaza Strip

Nazi expansion - Israeli expansion

Nazi (Racist) ideology - Zionist (Racist) ideology

Fanatical belief in race superiority - Fanatical belief in religious superiority.

Israel should be eliminated off the face of the Earth and every single Zionist shot dead on live prime time tv.

Jews lived in Palestine for thousands of year in peace. The Europeans were the people who were persecuting the Jews for nothing. Does it bother you that Israel is illegally annexing land the United Nations mandated (Stole) from Palestine in the first place? Does it bother you, that despite having nothing to do with Nazi Germany, Palestine had over half of it's land stolen in 1947 and then has gone through over 50 years of an repulsive and abusive not to mention illegal occupation?

It is incredible to me that

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 20:05 — Allene E. Swienckowski (not verified)

It is incredible to me that some people advocate the actions of Israel is permissible because the largely impotent PLO supposedly wants to destroy Israel. Oppression is never justified by any group. Being an America, the land in question, seems to be unforgiving.
Why can't human beings learn to share? That is the real issue...

I am certain that there is

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 20:31 — Anonymous (not verified)

I am certain that there is far more to fear from Israel's use of nuclear bombing than from Iran or whoever else has the capacity for nuclear attack. Until the Zionists are dispatched out of the government, then we cannot trust them for anything. The U S should get their support for Israel under control. The Zionists are a mirror image of the fundamentalists Christians. I do not understand the US government support for such a regime. Nor do I understand why US taxpayers stand for being totaled by the munitions/oil corporations to support such destructiveness.

what i want to know, is by

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 21:09 — Anon (not verified)

what i want to know, is by what means israel has america by the balls? what do they have on us? i am really just beginning to try to educate myself on the last 100 years of mid east history. Already i begin to see corruption and abuse of power within all factions. the brits, the palestinians, and the israelis have each taken turns violating treaties and fucking each other over. i personally cannot favor the human rights violations and the dictatorial government of israel. blockading gaza and keeping them barely alive. when you are starving and have no power, no work, no means of bettering your life other than to bow to one who despises you...well, i would fight too. i, personally, am mystified that a people so thoroughly persecuted is so willing to persecute and exterminate another culture. BUT WHAT I REALLY WANT TO KNOW...IS WHY WE ACQUIESCE TO THEIR DESIRES SO READILY?

There is a lesson here. All

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 21:12 — Anonymous (not verified)

There is a lesson here. All but native Americans should leave North and South America immediately. These intruders and usurpers should go back to Europe (primarily) and even be tried for all their criminal acts like rape, pillage and massacre. The only problem with this is that if everybody is sent back to where they came from, there would be even more Jews in Israel than there are now. What to do?
Chomsky should chomp on that. And BTW, not all liberals and leftys are as anti-semitic as Chomsky and Co. Most are fair minded and and see the issue from both points of view.

Israel was not "stolen" from

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 23:34 — Anonymous (not verified)

Israel was not "stolen" from the Palestinians. Before the creation of Israel, the status of the area was in limbo for a short time, and prior to that it was governed by the Ottomans, not the local Arabs. The Ottoman Empire was defeated in WWI, and the League of Nations let Britain decide what to do with what we call the Palestine area, since they had been instrumental in defeating the Ottomans there. In the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the British had declared their intentions of establishing a Jewish state, and they had also promised Arabs an Arab country covering most of the Middle East. That is indeed what they did. It is fair.

My American Relatives see

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 23:41 — Maheanuu (not verified)

My American Relatives see this as a matter of the biblical future. They all strongly believe that if Israel can manage to gain control of the "Holy Land" then part of the prophecy of the return of their Christ will be complete. All of these people are crazier than a rat trapped in a coffee can. You are never going to be able to get rid of those knuckle draggers that believe in their various holy books and practice them like the nutters they are. Education for the good of the human race is not a factor in any of these peoples minds. Their religion leaves no room for anything other than blind obedience. Any one who says that he or she can talk to and receive messages from an imaginary being or who believes in any of the stone age crap that is handed out these days needs to be caged and protected from themselves for their own good. If the world were to tax religion as just another business and use that money to educate the masses, the whole world would be better off.

I have been raised in a so called Xtian home, and no thank you, give me my home of rational non xtian believers where science and rationality rule and truth is the law not the made up madness of some doofus who claims to talk to gawd and has a son born of a virgin etc, etc, etc!

Just this old Chief's 2 cents

It is a myth that prior to

Mon, 12/06/2010 - 23:54 — Anonymous (not verified)

It is a myth that prior to Israel, Muslims had treated the Jews well while the Jews were persecuted in Europe. Just looking at population figures shows the Jews flourished in Europe (up until the Holocaust, that is) while they were barely surviving in the Muslim world.

In the year 1900, the Jewish population in Europe was about 9 million. The Jewish population in all of Africa and Asia combined was well under 1 million. That was the result of heavy persecution that was far more severe than that experienced in Europe.

Those numbers are for the year 1900, and reflect how Jews had been treated for the previous 1200 years or so.

Google: jewish dhimmitude bat ye'or

Google: White Phosperous

Tue, 12/07/2010 - 04:17 — Anonymous (not verified)

Google: White Phosperous used in Gaza attack.

And then come back and inform the people that Arabs were gassing Jews in 1872! That's how you Zionist disinfo shills work init?

Zionism is criminal, it's repulsive and needs to be shut down abruptly. Jews have the right to live anywhere in the world, Israel or anywhere else, likewise the Arab people, but when a small cult takes over and starts ethnic cleansing it's criminal. It is not "fair" not by a long shot, the Israelis have a multi billion dollar army, a well established economy (Based in mostly America, or funded directly from) and continues to break international law, tell me what law the Palestinians have broken, come on, because defending one self in his own property is a constitutional right here in America!

And before the "anti-semite" comments start, I'm Jewish and proud.. But I despise Zionism and it's shills and forms.

Remind me Chomsky, just what

Tue, 12/07/2010 - 12:32 — brother_unknown (not verified)

Remind me Chomsky, just what were the Palestinians supposed to offer as a compromise?

"Tell me what law the

Tue, 12/07/2010 - 15:13 — Anonymous (not verified)

"Tell me what law the Palestinians have broken"? Simple. They attacked the State of Israel. They lost. Goodbye.

Arabs feel entitled to rule the entire Middle East. Too bad.

Religion, religions,

Wed, 12/08/2010 - 04:01 — Genklag (not verified)

Religion, religions, religionist. As long as religion has anything to do with politics in any form or way, sane debate cannot exist : worst it is anathema to peace.

Our (America's) "honest

Thu, 12/09/2010 - 02:15 — tomo (not verified)

Our (America's) "honest broker" status is all shot to hell. On about the same day he was nominated by the Democrats, Obama said "an undivided Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel," or words to that effect. What occurred to me at the moment I heard Obama speak was: "How is it the office of one nominated to become President of the United States to determine the fate of Jerusalem?" What was Obama thinking. Was he expecting to be elected God? Whatever he was thinking, he was squelching forever his chance of being an honest broker in any Middle East peace process. What I thought then has been confirmed. Obama should get out of the presidency and make room for a good man or woman.

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The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks

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