More Than a Bribe: Obama Surrenders Palestinian Rights
By Ramzy Baroud
The Middle East policies of US President Barack Obama may well prove the most detrimental in history so far, surpassing
even the rightwing policies of President George W. Bush. Even those who warned against the overt optimism which
accompanied Obama’s arrival to the White House must now be stunned to see how low the US president will go to appease
Israel – all under the dangerous logic of needing to keep the peace process moving forward.
Former Middle East peace diplomat Aaron David Miller argued in Foreign Policy that “any advance in the excruciatingly
painful world of Arab-Israeli negotiations is significant.” He further claimed: “The Obama administration deserves much
credit for keeping the Israelis, Palestinians, and key Arab states on board during some very tough times. The U.S.
president has seized on this issue and isn't giving up -- a central requirement for success.”
But at what price, Mr. Miller? And wouldn’t you agree that one party’s success can also mean another’s utter and
miserable failure?
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reportedly spent eight hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only to
persuade him to accept one of the most generous bribes ever bestowed by the United States on any foreign power. The
agreement includes the sale of $3 billion worth of US military aircrafts (in addition to the billions in annual aid
packages), a blanket veto of any UN Security Council resolution deemed unfavorable to Israel, and the removal of East
Jerusalem from any settlement freeze equation (thus condoning the illegal occupation of the city and the undergoing
ethnic cleansing). But even more dangerous than all of these is “a written American promise that this will be the last
time President Obama asks the Israelis to halt settlement construction through official channels.”
Significant. Achievement. Success. Are these really the right terms to describe the latest harrowing scandal? Even the
term ‘bribe’, which is abundantly used to describe American generosity, isn’t quite adequate here. Bribes have defined
the relationship between the ever-generous White House and the quisling Congress to win favor with the ever-demanding
Israel and its growingly belligerent Washington lobby. It is not the concept of bribery that should shock us, but the
magnitude of the bribe, and the fact that it is presented by a man who positioned himself as a peacemaker (and actually
became certified as one, courtesy of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee).
Equally shocking is the meager return that Obama is expected to receive for hard-earned US taxpayers’ dollars. According
to the Atlantic Sentential, this will be “a measly three month extension of the settlement moratorium that originally
expired in late September.”
Acknowledging from the onset that these are mere “midterm maneuvers”, Noah Feldman, writing in the New York Times, asks
the question: “Can Obama succeed where so many others have not?” He preludes his answer with: “Israel and the
Palestinian Authority will not, of course, make things easy.”
Seriously, Mr. Feldman?
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose mandate has already expired, must be living the most humiliating
and difficult moments of his not so distinguished career. At one stage he had hoped that the advent of President Obama
would spare him and his authority further embarrassment. Imagining the president would side with his ‘moderate’
position, he placed all his eggs in the Obama basket, even bidding against the democratically elected government of
Palestinians in the occupied territories. He went as far as to halt an international investigation into Israeli crimes
in the recent Israeli war on Gaza so that not to frustrate Netanyahu’s government or upset the pro-Israeli sensibilities
in the US Congress.
True, Abbas tried to appear as a confident and self-assertive leader at times. He asked for a chance to think about the
resumption of peace talks, conditioned his acceptance on Israeli actions that never really actualized, and finally
sought the help of the Arab League, a beleaguered and muted organization without any political mandate.
How did Abbas and his authority make things ‘difficult’ for the US, Mr. Feldman? Would any self-respecting government
agree to concessions that are made on its behalf without the opportunity to offer its own input? This is exactly what
the PA has repeatedly done under Abbas.
Still, many Israelis are not happy with the barter. Caroline B. Glick, writing in the Jerusalem Post, described the
freezing of construction in the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank as “discriminatory infringement on the
property rights of law abiding citizens (that) is breathtaking.” She had the hubris to consider the pitiable moratorium
as equivalent to “land surrenders.”
As for the major F-35 deal, it is “simply bizarre,” she argued, for after all, “Israel needs the F-35 to defend against
enemies like Iran.”
Mind-boggling. US generously hands Palestinian rights to Israel on a silver platter, and the far-right mentality, which
now governs Israeli mainstream politics and society, still finds it unacceptable.
But aside from this arrogant Israeli response, and the US media’s attempts to find the positive in Obama’s latest
scandal, one question must be raised. What happens now that Obama has finally shown he really is no different from his
predecessors? That the United States has lost control of its own foreign policy in the Middle East? That, frankly,
Netanyahu has proved more resilient, more steadfast, and more resourceful than the American president?
Shall we go on making the same argument, over and over again, or has the time finally arrived for Palestinians to think
outside the American box? Can Arabs finally venture off to seek other partners and allies in the region and around the
world who understand the link between peace, political stability, and economic prosperity? It may perhaps be time for
them to further their relationship with Turkey, to reach out to Latin America, to demand accountability from Europe and
to try to understand and engage China.
The latest US elections have showed that the Obama hype has run its course in the US itself. One can only hope that
Palestinians, Arabs and their friends will realize that it was all indeed a hype -before it’s too late.
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- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an internationally-syndicated columnist and the editor of
PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story (Pluto Press, London),
now available on Amazon.com.