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Palestinians do not need more statements, but practical measures

February 21, 2022 at 3:05 pm

US Senator and Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Amy Klobuchar, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the President of Finland Sauli Niinisto, the Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki and moderator Jane Haman during a panel discussion at the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC) on February 19, 2022 in Munich, Germany [Ronald Wittek – Pool/Getty Images]

During a meeting held on Saturday in Munich, the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Egypt, France and Jordan reiterated the commitment of their countries to achieving just, comprehensive and lasting peace regarding the issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Foreign Ministers stressed that they are looking for a solution based on the two states –Israel and Palestine.

The four ministers also stressed that any solution must fulfil “the legitimate rights” of all Israelis and Palestinians “in accordance with international law, relevant United Nations resolutions and agreed parameters, including the Arab Peace Initiative.”

In a statement, the ministers raised their “concerns” about the “increasing tensions on the ground,” and called for “the urgency of the resumption of serious, meaningful and effective direct talks and negotiations.” They also highlighted the importance of “creating political and economic horizon … and improving living conditions of the Palestinians.”

At the same time, they stressed on the need to refrain from “all unilateral measures,” including “the building and expansion of settlements, the confiscation of land and the eviction of Palestinians from their homes”. They called for stopping the eviction of Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhoods.

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For decades, the Palestinian leadership, backed by the US, Israel and the Arab states, along with Arab, Muslim and other countries, as well as the UN and members of the international community have been saying that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most complex in the Middle East. For this, they have been calling for an urgent, but just, comprehensive and lasting solution.

However, the Palestinians have seen nothing more than theft of land, expansion of Israeli settlements, homes evictions, the desecration of holy sites, arbitrary and administrative detention, forcible expulsion, daily killing and right abandonment. On the other side, Israelis enjoy every single blessing on the land of historic Palestine.

In the light of this bitter reality, the Palestinians only receive statements of support from the international community, in addition to calls for self-control, going for talks and accepting proposed solutions, while the Israelis receive actual financial, military and political support from the same international community, together with the backing of every single attack and violation of the Palestinian rights.

What does the international community want from the Palestinians, which is really just selling time to the Israeli occupation? In fact, the international community does not perpetuate the Israeli-Palestine conflict, but it is working to get rid of the Palestinians and move the ownership of their lands to the Israelis. This is the real international equation with respect to the worst conflict in the Middle East.

The international community continues its hypocrisy regarding the conflict and, at the same time, continues its support the Israeli violations against the Palestinians in order for Palestinians to flee their land, accept the occupation or be starved, detained or killed in silence. When the Palestinians just scream out of their sufferings, the international community immediately stands up and condemns the screaming as violence, incitement or terrorism.

For the international community, the definition of the peaceful Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation is “violent acts” that must be stopped. Its definition of the Palestinian calls for protection or investigation into Israeli crimes by international parties is “forms of incitement that must be reined in”, while the Palestinian resistance of the daily Israeli attacks, detentions and killings of the Palestinians is “terrorism”, that triggers Israel’s right to defend itself.

Of course, the international community’s definition of self-defence, which is the entitlement only to the Israeli occupation but not the Palestinians: imposing a siege on them, starving them, cutting off electricity, confiscating tax revenues, imposing economic sanctions, preventing them from reaching their holy places, deporting them, detaining their freely elected MPS, putting them in prisons for no reasons and even waging wars and killing of thousands, wounding tens of thousands.

Israel’s self-defence, from the point of view of the international community, is chasing the Palestinians and killing them anywhere in the world, preventing them from using the international media and academic platforms to spreads awareness about their suffering, unleashing international companies to violate their right of imparting real information about their cause and sanctioning international movements and activists who stand in solidarity with them.

To support Israel’s self-defence, the countries of the world prevent the Palestinians from having official representation in their capitals and fighting the Palestinian resistance groups – which rarely, and if it happened, it would be by mistake – violate international law or hurt the country’s sovereignty.

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It is a fact that Israel has violated tens of international laws and UN resolutions and is still described a democracy, while the Palestinians have been respecting every single article of the international law and the UN resolutions, and they are still described by the international community as terrorists who must be fought and deterred.

After all of these continuous violations carried out by the Israeli occupation and the double-standards adopted by the international law towards them, the Palestinians have become very well aware, not just about the hypocrisy of the international community regarding their cause, but extremely aware about the complicity of the international community with Israel in its violations against them.

Therefore, the Palestinians, a long time ago, have lost confidence in the international community and the international bodies. The evidence is that the Palestinians have distanced themselves from the Palestinian leadership, which acts in line with the international community’s policies towards Israel, and are siding with the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation.

In light of such a situation, when will the Palestinians achieve their legitimate goals and beat the Israeli occupation?

Several months ago, a New York Times reporter visited me at home and discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with me and asked whether I was sure the repeated rounds of fighting between the Palestinians in Gaza and Israel would achieve the Palestinian goals, I told him: “Why not? But, if they would not. What other choices are left for the Palestinians, or what more, than what is happening to them under the Israeli occupation and blind international community, are they expected to lose?”

If the international community is credible about what is it saying, it has to know that the Palestinians are waiting for practical measures, not for statements that are not worth the paper and ink used to write them.

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