Erekat’s contribution to Israeli and international impunity

Two years have passed since Israel’s brutal military offensive – “Operation Protective Edge” – and justice for Palestinians remains elusive. This is due in large part to the fact that Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the international community have synchronised their efforts to ensure that Palestinian narratives remain smothered by pernicious rhetoric and orchestrated bureaucratic delays. As a result, Israel can continue to act with impunity.

Last week, the Israel Defence Forces absolved themselves of war crimes committed during the aggression against Gaza in 2014. The Israeli Military Advocate General’s office issuing a statement insisting that it “found that the targeting process in question accorded with Israeli domestic law and international law requirements.” The murder of men, women and children was deemed “tragic and regrettable” despite the fact that deliberate precision strikes were used to inflict a considerable civilian death toll, thus rendering any even remotely apologetic statement from Israel hypocritical, meaningless and void.

A brief statement by the PLO’s Saeb Erekat published in Palestine News Network is replete with the usual expressions that feign determination and expose acquiescence. After saying that Israel’s self-absolution regarding war crimes was to be expected, Erekat stated that accepting the “outcome of the Israeli ‘investigation’ would set a dangerous precedent.” In conclusion, he insisted once again that, “The international community has a responsibility to protect the Palestinian people from the belligerent Israeli military occupation and put an end to Israel’s impunity for all the crimes committed against the land and people of Palestine.”

Israeli NGO: 27 cases of suspected war crimes in Gaza, zero indictments

Erekat’s rhetoric, brimming with misplaced priorities, is reminiscent of other attempts to convey the severity of Israeli human rights violations while being fully aware that he is invoking the wrong actors to intercede on Palestine’s behalf. It is a role in which the PA has excelled since its creation, given that Palestinian autonomy, self-determination and legitimacy have been traded for an absence of recognition that has allowed purported representation to be granted the crumbs of political leverage in return for facilitating colonialism and collaboration.

Just because the international community, particularly the UN and other institutions, stick to their false reputations as guardians of human rights, it does not mean that their corrupt authority should remain unchallenged, or that other avenues which are a direct derivative of Palestinian history should be eliminated from consideration; on the contrary, they should be given the space to flourish. However, Erekat’s preference is to exalt the authority of the oppressors, with absolute disrespect for Palestinian memory in its entirety. There is never an attempt to place Palestinian interests before those of the compromised international community. With such reverence for world institutions, including the International Criminal Court, it is clear that Erekat is furthering a single agenda which allows Israel’s internal investigations to continue unhindered, while the “conclusions” are accepted internationally, despite them being in blatant contradiction to video evidence and first-hand testimonies.

A brief glance at what the international community has done for Palestine reveals complicity in colonisation; the recognition and legitimisation of Israel’s presence in Palestine; the subsequent betrayal of Palestinians’ right to armed struggle in order to reap economic benefits and expand a network of surveillance and military alliances; decades of pointless “negotiations” utilised by Israel to buy it time to expand its illegal colony-settlements; and countries falling over themselves to sell arms to Israel during Operation Protective Edge, giving them a degree of complicity in the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Not only has Erekat discarded the viable – and perfectly legitimate – alternative of resistance to Israel’s brutal military occupation, but he has also resorted yet again to asking the international community to safeguard Palestinian rights, when that “community” has done so much to assist Israel in denying those rights in the first place. It would be hard to make-up such a scenario.

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