Kerry's Israel/Palestine Vision

by Stephen Lendman

Kerry's vision for Israeli/Palestinian peace was too little, too late to matter after eight years of one-sided Obama administration support for the Jewish state.

His remarks included something old and something new - too much of the former, too little of the latter, lip service only, not an honest, equitable way to resolve longstanding conflict. 

America under Obama's leadership and all previous US presidents failed to do what's most important - grant official recognition to Palestinian statehood within pre-June 1967 borders, East Jerusalem as its capital, and its diaspora population having the right of return.

Kerry's address was a meaningless 11th hour gambit after eight Obama years of futility, accomplishing nothing toward resolving decades of Israeli/Palestinian conflict - rhetoric with no policy initiatives backing it. Talk without action is hollow.

Obama entered office two days after Israel's Cast Lead slaughter ended. He partnered in Israel's 2012 Pillar of Cloud and 2014 Protective Edge aggression. He endorsed Israeli state terror against defenseless Palestinians, blaming them for its high crimes.

He did nothing to advance an equitable and just peace, nothing supporting Palestinian self-determination based on pre-June 1967 borders, nothing denouncing merciless occupation harshness, nothing recognizing the right of oppressed people to resist Israeli tyranny, nothing holding the Jewish state accountable for decades of Nuremberg-level high crimes.

Claiming a "two-state solution is the only way to achieve a just an lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians" reflects long ago outdated thinking - unattainable today with Israel controlling over 60% of West Bank land, its most valued areas, while claiming Jerusalem as its exclusive capital and maintaining Gaza's blockade, solely for political reasons, not security ones.

One state for all its people is the only equitable and feasible way forward today. Nothing else can work. Nor can anything without international community punitive action against Israel for failing to treat Arabs and Jews equally.

Rule by occupation, colonization, apartheid and state terror assures endless conflict. Enforcing international law with teeth is the only way to change things. Peace talks are futile, stillborn each time announced, the greatest hoax in modern times.

They're an insult with one side holding supreme power, the other having none at all, along with Israeli-collaborative PA governance betraying its own people.

The only language Israel understands is force. It's time to exert it politically, economically and financially. Occupation harshness has no legitimacy. Palestinian self-determination is fundamental - free from Israel's iron-fisted rule. 

Arab rights are as sacrosanct as Jewish ones. Peace is unattainable without treating everyone in Palestine and Israel equitably.

Kerry's address was a worthless exercise a few weeks ahead of Trump succeeding Obama, perhaps intending to be more pro-Israeli than his predecessors.

Yesterday he tweeted "(s)tay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching," signaling whatever Obama and Kerry say or do in their waning days won't matter. 

Things will change when he enters office - maybe for the worst, Israeli interests served exclusively at the expense of what Palestinians deserve.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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