Israel has played the victim all along with sighs of sympathy and offers of support from Western governments and audiences. They declared themselves ‘the’ victim, not just The victim but the ‘only’ victim. As such, they are entitled to do to us, the Palestinians under their control, whatever they wish with Impunity.
Western governments, especially the USA, offered them and still offer them every possible means to ‘protect themselves’. Arms, money, logistical help, intelligence information, political and diplomatic cover; even, on occasion, taking an active part in the actual military operations against our civilian population. Even when the Israelis shouted, falsely “We don’t have a partner for peace” the USA and its acolytes agreed. Never mind that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) offered them in 1993 legitimacy, ownership of 80% of the land mass of historic Palestine, and denounced the arms struggle. Even then they had, they said, no partner in peace.And what did the PLO get in return?Nothing. Nothing at all.Just the acknowledgment that they are the ‘sole’ representatives of the Palestinian nation. And, of course, the birth of the Palestinian Authority (PA) almost thirty years ago. What did the PA achieve in thirty years of negotiations?Nothing.Israel, on the other hand, achieved almost all of its aims. More land confiscations. More house demolitions. More forcible removal of Palestinian villagers and Bedouin encampments. More theft of natural resources. More illegal settlements. More illegal outposts. The separation wall. Hundreds of checkpoints. Thousands of Palestinian prisoners, incarcerated illegally, without charge or due process. And the vilest crime of all, the siege of 2,300,000 Palestinians in Gaza for the last 17 years.
That is not all. Gaza has been attacked by the Israeli Occupation Forces every couple of years in what the operation the Israelis call “Mowing the grass’.2008 operation ‘ Cast Lead ‘ 1400 Palestinians killed.2012 operation ‘ Pillar Of Defence’ 171 Palestinians killed.2014 operation ‘ Protective Edge ‘ 2251 Palestinians Killed.2024 the ongoing genocidal operation so far is 29,000 Palestinans killed. 70,000 injured. 8000 buried under the rubble presumed dead. And 1,4 million, pushed into Rafa in the south, are under threat of annihilation. Despite all this carnage and Israel’s declared intention of pushing Palestinians in Gaza into the Sinai desert, the United States Of America is still vehemently against a ceasefire, or stop supplying Israel with arms, money and political cover and anything else Israel may demand. What they are actually doing is prolonging this vile game by trying to sell a dead horse, that is, the two states solution.Netanyahu and his far-right government has just, yet again, killed that idea stone dead. “Israel utterly rejects international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. A settlement, if it is to be reached, will come about solely through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions.”
And, of course, the compliant western governments are ‘disappointed’, would you believe?
This actually reminds me of another infamous Israeli leader, General Moshe Dayan, who once said, “Our western friends give us money, give us arms and give us advice. We take the money, we take the arms, we ignore the advice.” Some things never change.
Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer and political analyst, based in London, presently in Perth, Western Australia. He was born in Jenin in 1943 and was five years old when he and his family had to flee the terror of the Urgun and Stern gangs. Justice for the people of Palestine is a life-long commitment.
