https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/19/trump-is-systematically-ending-the-viability-of-a-future-palestinian-state
This is not the first time I have wondered if Trump is deliberately encouraging a terrorist attack so he can have an excuse to seize more power.
Joshua Leifer
Tue 19 Nov 2019 10.34 EST
Last modified on Tue 19 Nov 2019 10.51 EST
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement on Monday – that the US will no longer consider Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories a violation of international law – is, in many ways, a near-perfect encapsulation of the Trump administration’s approach to Israel-Palestine.
Couched in grotesque doublespeak, it claims to advance “the cause of peace” while signaling US approval of Israel’s brutal, perpetual military rule over the roughly 3 million Palestinians living in the West Bank. It is part and parcel of the Trump administration’s ongoing, concerted efforts to undermine international legal frameworks for addressing human rights violations (and not just in Israel-Palestine). And it is yet more proof, not that more was needed, that the Trump administration is actively pursuing a post-two-state-solution agenda.
"post-two-state-solution" - how diplomatic. In other words, pursuing a one-state Israeli agenda.
•••••
It would, however, be a mistake to view Pompeo’s announcement as a complete break with US policy precedent. Again, as with so much of what the Trump administration has done over the past several years, this, too, marks less a rupture with the status quo than its unmasking. While the US government has long considered Israeli construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories a violation of international law on paper, it has done little to hold Israel’s government meaningfully accountable in practice.
•••••
No comments:
Post a Comment