The Charade of Trump Backing Palestinian Self-Determination

by Stephen Lendman

For the past century, from UK Foreign Secretary Balfour saying "(h)is majesty's government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" to Trump, Palestinian rights never mattered.

They conflict with Anglo-Zionist interests. The White House saying the president will express support for Palestinian self-determination during his May 22 and 23 visit to Israel runs counter to longstanding US policy.

Western politicians consistently say one thing and do another. Nothing they say is credible. Trump perhaps is more one-sided for Israel than any previous US president.

His ambassador to Israel David Friedman, chief international negotiator Jason Greenblat, and son-in-law/chief advisor Jared Kushner are Zionist zealots - dismissive of Palestinian rights.

In an effort to launch another futile round of peace talks, Trump logically would publicly express support for what he, practically the entire Congress, and Israel reject. And if they forget, AIPAC will remind them.

Public pronouncements and policies usually differ sharply. Obama was a serial liar, entirely untrustworthy. Trump appears no better, called unpredictable for contradicting himself, making it unclear at times what he believes.

On Friday, National Security Advisor HR McMaster said his Middle East trip will promote Israeli/Palestinian peace talks, along with affirming his "unshakable" bond with the Jewish state. The latter comment says it all.

Throughout Israel's history since 1948, one US president alone forthrightly supported Palestinian rights while opposing Israel's nuclear weapons program - John F. Kennedy. On the right side of vital issues cost him his life.

Israel has powerful friends in Washington. Palestinians are political orphans. The only acceptable deal for Republicans, Democrats, the Trump administration, Netanyahu and his hardline regime is Palestinian capitulation to their demands.

The only type self-determination they'll permit is an isolated, cantoned Palestinian state surrounded by hostile settlements.

The only certainty ahead is Palestinians will be no closer to liberation by negotiating with anyone in Washington and Israel. Resistance alone may achieve what's virtually impossible any other way.

Ignore high-minded rhetoric from US and Israeli officials. Follow real-time events as they unfold. 

For an entire century, Palestinian rights never mattered. They don't now with Trump and Netanyahu heading their respective governments.

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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