the US never intended the peace process to help Palestinians achieve real self-determination - for that would inevitably constrain Israels exercise of military supremacy over its neighbourhood, attenuating Americas own drive for Middle Eastern dominance. The process has instead been conducted to empower Israel, to subordinate Palestinians and other Arabs into an increasingly militarised US sphere of influence, and to leverage Arab states buy-in to this scenario. These dynamics are vividly displayed in Israeli and US approaches to Gaza. The roots of Gazans current trials go back to 2005, when Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza. Widely credited with having pushed Israel to take these steps, Hamas won internationally supervised Palestinian elections the following year. But Gazas occupation was far from over. While Israel had withdrawn soldiers and settlers, it hardly let Gazans exercise anything approaching sovereignty: Israels military continued exerting strict control over their access to the world - whether by land, sea, or air - and over flows of food, medicine, and other essential goods into their territory. For nearly a decade, this siege has eroded living conditions for 1.7 million people. After becoming the elected governors of Gazas population, Hamas offered Israel a long-term truce, if Israel withdrew to pre-1967 borders. Instead of negotiating with Hamas, to consolidate a sustainable and truly self-governing entity in Gaza that could ground broader conflict resolution, Israel and the US rejected Palestinians electoral choice and worked in multiple ways to isolate Hamas and undermine its popularity by increasing civilian suffering in Gaza - including, in 2006, 2008-2009, and 2012, through military assaults inflicting thousands of Palestinian casualties.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 08:40:46 +0000
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