Irony of Ironies!!

While our young Palestinian prisoners go on a hunger strike every now and then demanding justice,  especially those who are under administrative detention without charge or trial, I was shocked to hear this morning that the Israeli settlers are staging a hunger strike in front of the offices of the Prime Minister in Jerusalem.   What was shocking is not the hunger strike itself, as we have been watching the Israelis for some time now, demonstrating against the Prime Minister demanding his stepping down.   What is  ironic about this hunger strike is that the Jewish settlers  are demanding the legitimizing of the illegal posts they have  in the West Bank, because they cannot  survive without water and electricity?”  Indeed  nobody can beat such impudence.  

 

However we have to remember that all the settlements are illegal according to international law because they are built on occupied territories, and they all started by being illegal according to the Israeli definition, meaning they did not get the permit of the Israeli government.  So the definition of being legal or illegal is determined by Israel itself, defying international law.  

 

It remains to be said that around 45  Palestinian villages in the Galilee and the Negev, that have existed before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948,  are still unrecognized and have no services, water, electricity, transportation, education, etc. whereas those new illegal Jewish settlements that have been mushrooming all over the occupied Palestinian territories of 1967 have the most modern services including swimming pools that have been  depleting the water resources of the Palestinian towns.  Indeed the irony of ironies.  Samia

A New Dawn?

The joy and relief at seeing an end to the Trump era reminded me of the story of the widow who was living in a very small and crowded house with her family.  She sought the help of her parish priest, and he advised her to get a goat? What a crazy suggestion she thought as I hardly have room for my children.   But she took his advice hoping for a miracle,  which the church keeps talking about.  She got herself a goat, and God knows what she went through for two weeks until the priest checked on her and advised her to remove the goat.  Ah she sighed with relief.  The house seemed so spacious and she was happy and ever so grateful for the advice of the priest, although the house was the same.  

 

The sigh of relief  at the end of the Trump era,  came from so many people as well as governments around the world,  However we cannot belittle the over   74 million votes that he got.  For us, Palestinians,  ever since the US approved the partition scheme of Palestine in 1947, and was the first to  recognize the State of Israel, we never had a fair deal, irrespective of who the president of the USA was.  Yes we had some who were more understanding and were keen to stop our demise, but the pro-Israel vote which has been so entrenched in the American legislative system has always been the obstacle for a fair and just solution for Palestine.  But we never had it as bad as we did during the term of Donald Trump.  So in Palestine it was also a great relief to see him go.

 

With so much damage done for our cause by the many free gifts that  Trump had offered  Israel on a silver platter, we should not expect Mr. Biden to retrieve all those gifts.  To start with,  his hands are already full trying to mend the situation in the USA itself,  and he is not going to be any different than other administrations for keeping Israel as a priority.  After all   he is  very familiar with the region as he had served as Vice President  during Mr. Obama’s term, so he is certainly more knowledgeable and more of an experienced  statesman than Mr. Trump.  However Mr. Obama’s term was one of the most disappointing, maybe because we had expected so much from him, especially   after his Cairo speech and after his courageous stand against the settlements.  Unfortunately, he was unable to deliver anything to the Palestinians, not withstanding his very generous financial commitment to Israel for the next ten years, shortly before the end of his term. 

Was that really necessary, or was he trying to mend matters with Netanyahu whose mutual animosity was so apparent.  And all that, at the expense of the Palestinians.  

 

Shielding Israel and turning a blind eye to all its violations in the occupied territories has always been the normal stand of  the US, locally and on the international arena.  But the most recent report of the B’tselem Israeli human rights organization, labeling  Israel as an apartheid state, should be a wake up call for  both Israel and the USA.  So dare  we hope that for a change,  Mr. Biden will launch a new dawn by realizing that justice for the Palestinians and ending the occupation will actually not only be the right thing to do, but will also benefit Israel and grant it the security that it  demands and which it  constantly uses to justify all its violations?