The Priority of Obama: the Palestinian Statehood

"I tried to form a government as large as possible in the last four weeks," - Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu and Obama

(São Paulo, Brazil) - If the news in Israel and in Washington is confirmed, the Zionists have to leave Palestine, which will become an independent state in 2014, under the auspices of Barack Obama.

The objectives of Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, on March 20, are limited to two. One, already announced, is Iran. The other, unexpected, is the end of the Zionist occupation of Palestine. At least that's the news the U.S. newspaper World Tribune.com published on Sunday, March 3.

World reported that, according to Israeli sources, Obama will demand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a detailed plan for the withdrawal of the Zionist army and of the half a million settlers living illegally in the West Bank. The measure is being considered a "U.S. initiative for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank" in 2014. Surprisingly, the sources do not mention Gaza.

Simple forgetfulness?

"Obama has made it clear to Netanyahu that the visit’s agenda is Iran and the State of Palestine," said one source, based in Jerusalem. "The implication is that, if Israel does not give him what he wants, Obama will act on his own."

Yesh Atid

Jewish Home

Tzipi Livni

Obama's decision, according to the sources, has caused concern in the office of the Prime Minister, unable so far to form a coalition for the future government – as the result of a boycott of the Left parties and also due to an alliance between the two new Israeli political forces, Yesh Atid [There is a future] and Jewish Home. Together, they have 31 of the 120 seats in the Israeli Knesset (parliament). Both oppose the return of the West Bank to the Palestinians.

"The ties between Yesh Atid and Jewish Home are narrowing," said Uri Ariel, who is number 2 of Jewish Home.

Those stronger ties makes Netanyahu unable to attract any party to form the new government, except for The Movement, from Tzipi Livni, the former Foreign minister, which is supported by the United States. Therefore, president Shimon Peres granted two more weeks to Netanyahu to compose his new cabinet.

Surprise and Betrayal

The alliance between Yesh Atid, which has the majority of votes in January’s Israeli parliamentary elections, and the Jewish Home, was a surprise to Netanyahu. More than that, it was a betrayal. On one hand, it is because the Prime Minister has always favored the settlers living illegally in Palestine and hoped, in exchange, to get thousands of votes. However, he received a blow when he saw them forming the basis and the electorate of Jewish Home. On the other hand, when the elections closed, Yair Lapid, founder and leader of Yesh Atid, promised full support to Netanyahu, but ended up not honoring his word.

Naftali Bennet, nationalist right-wing settler and strongman of Jewish Home, never hid his intention to influence Israeli government decisions - and almost got it. He nearly exceeded Netanyahu in voting intention surveys, leading analysts to take for granted the victory of his party. It could bring settlers to the top of Israeli politics. In the end, though, they had to accept the third place, behind the Yesh Atid and the coalition between Likud and the far-right Yisrael Beitenu [Israel is our home], founded by the controversial former Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, now prosecuted by fraud and corruption.

"I tried to form a government as large as possible in the last four weeks," said Netanyahu. "But the task is not completed and this is due to the boycott of certain sector," he lamented, referring to Yesh Atid.

End the occupation of Palestine?

The swap did not take long. But it is an unthinkable swap in the current context of Israeli politics, and it would only be possible by heavy external pressure. The Obama’s one? Maybe. On March 1, the Israeli diary Makor Rishon reported that the first measure of the next Netanyahu’s government would be to dismantle a large number of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Those who follow Israel day by day know that Netanyahu never would even consider something like that – mainly because his party, Likud, opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state and advocates the annexation of what remains of historic Palestine to Israel.

Anyway, according to the Makor, this project would depend on the Yesh Atid breaking the agreement with Jewish Home, but not for preventing the dismantling of settlements, as it may seem at first glance. The goal is to get help to enforce the measure. The commentary from a Likud’s negotiator to a Yesh Atid’s parliamentarian reinforces the impression that there are powerful external forces acting on the Zionist government: "We will have to make difficult decisions," said the negotiator. "If you do not break the pact with Bennett, we will not be able to take the colonies out [of West Bank] if we need to make tough choices. But together we can do it."

Other Israeli newspapers published similar reports, citing sources from Likud. The problem is that the dismantling of Jewish illegal settlements in the West Bank lacks political support in Israel. This, however, is not new. But if the order for the withdrawal of the colonies actually comes from the U.S. government, Netanyahu will have to search for this support.

The Zionist lobby loses power

Another sword to weigh on the head of the Prime Minister is the possibility of Obama to cut considerable part of the financial and military aid from the United States to Israel. This fact has caused chills and frantic movements of U.S. Zionist lobby, particularly its flagship, the AIPAC (American Israeli Public Affairs Committee).

But no Zionist lobby, however wealthy it may be, can challenge the public opinion. And in the U.S. the public opinion is thickening their voice against the $ 3.1 billion approved by Congress as the U.S. aid to Israel in 2013, and against the usual positions of congressmen, accused of legislating in favor of Israel and not in the interests of the U.S. people, forced to carry the burden of the country's financial crisis. To U.S. combative sectors, the money to Israel should be invested in job creation, education and health services to Americans.

Activists from those sectors found a creative and direct way to show their position and their priorities. At the annual meeting of AIPAC, on the first weekend of March, members of this organization were forced to face street protests. In front of the meeting venue, militants "dressed" of apartment buildings criticized the Jewish settlements built on Palestinian territory, accusing them as the greatest obstacle to peace.

A blow in the one-state solution

The checkmate by Obama to Netanyahu was thus confirmed, regarding the withdrawal of settlers and army from the Palestinian territories, the supporters of the one-state solution will have to change their tactics. In Palestine, the agenda is to find ways to guarantee full rights to the indigenous people, which is only feasible with the end of the apartheid regime and the political neutralization of Zionism. In Israel, the proposal is formally annex Gaza and West Bank – or only West Bank, because there are differing opinions about that – and enforce the laws of apartheid, in order of preventing the Palestinians to vote in general elections and keeping the current policy framework.

In this proposal, they would be second-class citizens – as the Palestinians born and residents in Israel are –, so that the population growth, much higher among Palestinians than among Israelis, does not threaten the Zionism power. Furthermore, according to a law launched in 2011, they would be required to swear allegiance to the "Jewish State", which, definitely, no Palestinian would do.

If the U.S. government, probably supported by other superpowers, get ending the occupation and establishing the Palestinian state on the "borders" before the Six-Day War (June 1967) – the Green Line – the two-states solution will win and the single, democratic and secular state, with equal rights for all citizens, will have to wait better opportunity for show its face.

Netanyahu against the wall

If it is required to effectively destroy the Jewish settlements in Palestine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be paying the price of a boundless arrogance, the absolute disdain toward international law and UN resolutions, the deaf ear to the admonitions of the international community in relation to the terrorism committed against Palestinians by settlers and soldiers and to the expansionism of illegal settlements, and the support given to Mitt Romney against Obama in the U.S. presidential elections last year.

Relations between Netanyahu and Obama, which have never been good, went off after Obama's victory. U.S. President never spoke openly about it, but White House sources said that he would take revenge on the Zionist Prime Minister when the time came.

It seems that the time has come. Israeli government sources say that Obama's visit will be the litmus test for Netanyahu’s leadership and credibility. The White House has reportedly warned the Prime Minister that the climate and the decisions of the visit should characterize the relations between United States and Israel over the next four years. Obama's aides have made a point of emphasizing that the same Congress that approved the $ 3.1 billion to Israel also supports the establishment of a Palestinian state as "U.S. priority."

"Obama’s political basis in Congress sent to Netanyahu that same message," concluded the source of the World Tribune.

Now, let’s see if Barack Obama will go down in history as the man who managed – without prejudice to the heroic and daily Palestinian resistance – to achieve the end of the occupation in Palestine. And it’s good to remember that to expect the pacification of the Zionists only indicates excessive taste for fiction.

* Brazilian journalist, Middle East correspondent of Brasil de Fato newspaper and Carta Maior news website.

Baby Siqueira Abrão
Brazilian journalist - Middle East correspondent
*Brasil de Fato  -  Carta Maior*
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