Challenge Israel's distorted 'peace' plans

Contradictory reports regarding the Palestinian Authority’s willingness to recognise Israel as a Jewish state keep infiltrating Israeli media. According to the Times of Israel, PA official Nabil Shaath declared the timing in raising the issue inappropriate and “suspicious”, given that other litigious issues pertaining to Israel’s withdrawal to the 1967 borders and the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails remain unresolved.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ensured discussion regarding the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state remained at the helm of Zionist propaganda. Shaath is reported to have said: “Had this come at the end, after having resolved all these issues, it would have become an issue that we could settle by simply asking practical questions … and if we get the right answers it could have been resolved then. But now, it’s very suspicious.”

The negotiations allegedly aiming towards establishing a semblance of a state for Palestinians have been embroiled within two issues that have relegated other difficulties to oblivion. The recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and the unconditional release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails have usurped all focus from the fact that bargaining over compromised decisions for Palestinians have been favoured over legitimate resistance.

The negotiations do not challenge Zionist settler-colonialism and international complicity; hence any agreement brought forward is flawed and inherently suspicious, regardless of when any purported discussion regarding the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state takes place. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has been emphasising compromise as “a courageous step” while acknowledging the disparate balance between the oppressor and the oppressed. However, Abbas’ framework is derived from the contentious concept of international legitimacy – a system which is filled with the equivalent hypocrisy of the imperialist actors and its subservient adherents spreading it.

The Palestinian political prisoners’ release has been accompanied by further settlement expansion, yet Abbas said that further release “will give a very solid impression about the seriousness of the Israelis on the peace process.” Despite rhetoric about the negotiations being deemed a stalemate, the continuous demeaning of Palestinian rights and memory by PA representatives has bolstered Israel’s expansionist plans.

It is impossible to view the release of Palestinian political prisoners as a noble gesture on either side. Israel enhances its gains through land appropriation while the PA bargains over the lives of resistance fighters incarcerated within Israeli jails and setting the precedent for the complete incarceration of the Palestinian nation.

The improper timeframe with regards to discussing a possible acceptance of Israeli demands does not constitute an element of suspicion. What should be perceived as sinister is the prevalence of negotiations destined to produce further instability for Palestinians, whose noble resistance is under threat of annihilation by the importance which the PA gives to alleged international legitimacy.

At least, the inefficient representation should make an effort to recognise the legitimacy of resistance under international law, as opposed to embracing malfunctioning diplomacy. Given the expected surrender of Palestinian rights and memory, it is imperative to reverse the dynamics and focus on constructing resistance as a means of combating the imperialist and Israeli distortion of peace.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.