It was a most bizarre scene which played out in Washington on Tuesday. And given what we have witnessed in Washington over the past weeks that is saying a lot.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is under indictment, was beaming alongside Donald Trump, who is undergoing an impeachment trial, as they both gleefully threw Palestinians under the bus in the Middle East. The two legal outcasts were so proud of an idea that would allow for Jerusalem to be the undivided capital of Israel while relegating the Palestinian capital to a suburb. It is nothing short of obscene.
I fully grasp the mouth-breathers in the Trump base have no scintilla of background about the scope of the issue at hand. For the rest, we are aware that what has been proposed upends 60 years of bipartisan support for a negotiated process between Israelis and Palestinians, in which both make concessions and land swaps that would define the lines of a new map. To sweep in a plan based on Jewish zeal, being pushed by Netanyahu to an under-educated and unstable person sitting in the Oval Office, is perhaps the most sickening blow towards the Palestinians since the creation of Isreal. Before that the Balfour Agreement.
The plan is simply repulsive. For instance, gerrymandering is at play in a way that makes what happens in the drawing of political lines in the U.S. seem like children’s play. (Redistricting is a topic this blog has long been concerned about.) The plan devised by the two felons-to-be would require the construction of a giant tunnel across Israel to connect two areas of Palestinian control. Simply a most unforgivable proposal.
Neither of the international jokes who stood side-by-side Tuesday seemed at all aware that permanently legitimizing the illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank is in clear violation of international law. Since they both have evaded laws of many kinds in both their countries what does international ones mean?
Israel has stolen land again and again. Their ruthless policy is the reason they face so much scorn on the world stage. The fact that too many Jews have moved to Israel that land is scarce must not be the reason for stealing yet more land. The creation of Israel was a decision made after emotional baggage from World War II needed to be dealt with. I get that part of it, and understand it. But the actual creation of this state in the Middle East, while undercutting Palestinians, was always going to be the seed of hatred and tensions. Getting deeper into the bed with the Israeli governments over the many years has not made it any better.
I must say, as one who can trace his genealogy back to Cherokee Chief John Ross at the time of the Trail of Tears, that this whole sad episode is reminiscent of the treaties in this nation from the 19th century. Power brokers who steal land, and push others aside. Just as the removal of Native Americans was a mistake, so was the creation of Isreal.
We see that truth with each passing decade.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 