By Kenneth J. Theisen
VP Joe Biden visited the Middle East this week to encourage the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian “peace” talks. But the kind of peace envisioned by the U.S. imperialists is one of continued Israeli domination of Palestinian land and of the Palestinian people under U.S. auspices.
Biden continued his trip even though the Israelis recently announced that Israel plans to build 1,600 new homes on Palestinian land in Jerusalem. These new homes are on top of already massive Israeli expansion of housing in the West Bank that has occurred in recent years. Israel even officially annexed east Jerusalem, even though the annexation is illegal under international law. But since Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza; as a result of the 1967 war; it has virtually treated these lands as an Israeli colony, or in some cases, as part of Israel.
About 480,000 Israeli Zionist settlers live in the West Bank and in east Jerusalem. Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that the Jerusalem housing committee is planning to build another 50,000 Jewish homes in occupied Jerusalem to join the hundreds of thousands already there or in progress. Many Palestinians who support the so-called “two state solution” want these areas and Gaza to make up the future Palestinian state. That is why Palestinian President Abbas stated, "We call on Israel to cancel these decisions. I call on the Israeli government not to lose a chance to make peace. I call on them to halt settlement building and to stop imposing facts on the ground."
On March 10 while standing beside Abbas, Biden told Palestinians that the U.S. supports their desire for statehood and, in a mild indirect criticism of Israel, stated that both sides should refrain from moves "that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks. It’s incumbent on both parties to build an atmosphere of support for negotiations, and not to complicate them."
Some Palestinian leaders had reluctantly assented to resume indirect U.S.-brokered talks in the near future with Israel. The Israeli announcement has jeopardized these “talks.” Biden said, "The United States pledges to play an active as well as a sustainable role in these talks." Biden even arrived late to a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show his displeasure with the latest Israeli action because it puts the talks in jeopardy.
Israel apologized for the timing of the expansion announcement, but continues its plan to build the homes. This is part and parcel of past Israeli U.S. interactions around Israeli expansion in the area. Israel will take some sort of blatant expansion action which contradicts international law. The U.S. will then make some mild critical statement about how this is not helpful to the “peace” process. Israel will then go ahead with its action, and the U.S. will pretend it has played the honest broker. The U.S. will also then continue with supplying billions in U.S. aid to Israel which includes arming the Israeli military to the teeth.
Even the occasional U.S. mild critical statements only come when necessary. One of the reasons that the U.S. rebuked Israel this time is that the U.S. imperialists fear that long-stalled “peace” negotiations will fail to occur. The same day that Biden made his remarks the 22-nation Arab League recommended withdrawing support for the talks. Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi stated that, “This is a global message of American weakness and Israeli arrogance."
It is certainly true that Israeli leaders are arrogant. But the U.S. is not weak in regard to Israel. If it really wanted to put a stop to Israeli expansion it could do so. Israel is heavily dependent on U.S. aid which amounts to about $3 billion a year, on top of additional billions worth of U.S. military aid. Cutting off this aid or even threatening to do so would stop Israeli expansion. But do not hold your breath waiting for the Obama administration to take these actions.
The Israelis are well aware of this. They are not deterred by mild rebukes or the late arrival of the VP for dinner. Look at the “apology” of the Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai. He stated, "I am very sorry for the embarrassment … Next time we need to take timing into account." Notice he uses the words the "next time." In effect he is saying Israel will continue its actions in the future, but it will be more careful about its timing of announcements.
After listening to the Obama administration’s mild criticisms of Israeli expansion, the only thing that Israeli leaders have done is to agree to a construction slowdown. They have pointedly refused a freeze in construction and have never even considered abandoning the tens of thousands of houses already illegally built. The slow down also does not apply in east Jerusalem. In addition to the contentious settlement expansion, Israel has also continued to build its apartheid wall separating Israeli areas from Palestinian areas, while at the same time seizing Palestinian lands to build the wall.
Does the U.S. really care about the Israeli construction? It does to the extent that opposition to the expansion interferes with its plans to continue its domination of the Middle East. Failure to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian issue makes it much harder to co-opt other leaders in the area, much less win the support of the “Arab street.” U.S. leaders would love to bring an imperialist “peace” to the Israel/Palestine conflict. But do not expect U.S. leaders to be “honest brokers” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Past statements of the current U.S. leaders makes this clear. Compare Biden’s mild criticisms of Israel this week to past statements of his about Israel. In August 2008 he called Israel "the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East."
During an interview conducted by ‘Shalom TV’ Biden said, "I am a Zionist. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist."
In another statement he referred to Israel as a valued ally of U.S. imperialism when he asked, "Imagine our circumstance in the world were there no Israel. How many battleships would there be? How many troops would be stationed?"
How about these statements from President Obama?
In a June 4, 2008 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Obama stated, "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." In theory the status of Jerusalem is supposed to be a subject of negotiations. Despite this knowledge, Obama made this statement.
In the same speech he said, “I will bring to the White House an unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security. That starts with ensuring Israel’s qualitative military advantage. …I will ensure Israel can defend itself from any threat, from Gaza to Tehran.”
In another speech before AIPAC on March 2, 2007 Obama in talking about peace in the Middle East stated, “That effort begins with a clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel: our strongest ally in the region and its only established democracy. That will always be my starting point.”
In a speech before the National Jewish Democratic Council on April 24, 2007 Obama described his commitment to Israel as "unwavering" and stated that “Those who have worked with me in Chicago, in the state Legislature, and now in the United States Senate, I think will testify that I haven’t just talked the talk, I’ve walked the walk when it comes to Israel’s security.
American imperialist leaders have long viewed Israel as a strategic ally in the Middle East. That is why the U.S. has provided billions of dollars of aid and billions of dollars of weapons to the state of Israel. Israel has in turn served as a military outpost to the U.S. empire. But continued
Palestinian resistance to the Israelis has interfered with U.S. hegemony. This resistance has made it harder for other Middle East leaders to go along with the U.S. imperialists because they fear the reaction of the “Arab street.” They fear that too obvious capitulation to the U.S. and Israel will endanger their rule. At the same time Palestinian resistance has inspired millions to resist U.S. domination.
Because of this the U.S. hopes to impose “peace” between the Israelis and the Palestinians to quell the resistance. But the U.S. does not seek a just peace, but rather a peace where a Palestinian “state” is dominated by the Israelis with limited “independence” for the Palestinians. But even this is too much for many Zionist leaders which is why the Israelis often derail “talks.” This latest move was one such roadblock thrown up by hardliners within Israel.
But we can expect the U.S. to continue to pursue “peace” by pressuring some Palestinian leaders to capitulate further and also by mild pressures on Israel to make minor concessions to make that capitulation easier to sell. But an imperialist peace will not stop the resistance of the Palestinian people. Oppression breeds resistance.
As an indication of what an imperialist peace will bring all we have to do is look at what happened just as Biden was leaving the area. Israel imposed a full closure of the occupied Palestinian territory on the West Bank for 48 hours on March 12th. In addition to the closure, hundreds of men were prevented from entering al-Aqsa mosque on Friday. Muslims refer to the mosque as the Noble Sanctuary. Israel defense minister Ehud Barak announced this move despite, or maybe because of, the Biden visit. Of course these moves were justified as security measures to protect Israeli citizens. This is the same Israeli security Obama has pledged to protect.