Spotlight: Palestinians warn Israeli-U.S. alliance against two-state solution

by Fatima AbdulKarim

RAMALLAH, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian strategists warned Tuesday that the Israeli-U.S. alliance is working "to denounce the legitimacy of the two-state solution" by defining it in a new way, which cannot be accepted by Palestinians.

The Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR) issued Tuesday its annual strategic report in review of the Israeli socio-political, economic and security scene in 2017 and in anticipation of 2018.

The report revealed a number of dark sides for the Israeli-U.S. alliance after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president of the United States in the beginning of 2017.

The report is meant to present to decision makers a general analysis of the key events that impacted Israel throughout the year, most importantly being the conforming U.S. foreign policy towards the region with the Israeli ruling far right politics.

The report identifies three key developments that impacted the Israeli scene: the inauguration of Trump as president, the retraction of the so called Islamic State, and the internal corruption cases the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was found involved in.

Commenting on Trump's position towards the Palestinians, the report said "in spite of the obscurity that initially engulfed Trump's approach towards the Palestinian file, such obscurity faded away in less than a year of his inauguration, unveiling his bias as well as his administration's identification with the Israeli policies.

The report also mentioned that on Dec. 6 2017, Trump announced the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and issued instructions to the Department of State to start preparations to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

This position was faced with total Palestinian rejection who said makes the current U.S. administration disqualified from mediating the peace process, but have failed to take the issue out of its hands, despite calls by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold an international peace conference mid 2018 to form an international multilateral peace mechanism.

Birzeit University Political Science instructor Ali Jarbawi warned that this Israeli-U.S. alliance is working "to denounce the legitimacy of the two-state solution" by defining it in a new way, which cannot be accepted by Palestinians.

Jarbawi stressed that both the United States and Israel no longer view the Palestinian-Israeli cause as the main source of tensions in the Middle East region, but are focusing on Iran instead.

Taking that into account, he said "Palestinians must focus on the international legitimacy dimension to the two-state solution, because it is no longer common knowledge that it is based on 1967 borders."

MADAR's report said that the power of the right wing is consolidating in Israel, despite the corruption cases Netanayhu is involved in.

It explains that "structural changes and the transformations within the elite in Israel has shown a rise in absorption of segments that were outside the scope of Zionism like the Haredi Jews (ultra orthodox), who now represent the largest settler group being 30 percent of the population. In addition, Mizrahi Jews (oriental Jews) support of the right wing has shifted from being protest driven into ideologically motivated and separate from root causes."

According to an annual survey by sociologist Sameh Samouha cited in the report, "compared to 50 percent of the persons who define themselves as Ashkinazi (European Jews), 85 percent of those who identify themselves as Mizrahi, want the right to rule Israel."

"The survey shows that only 13 percent of Jews view themselves as moderate leftists and 4 percent as left wingers," it added.

Thus, the report concludes early on that "any change in leadership in Israel, even if it's a government not lead by the Likud, would not necessarily mean that Israel would witness a change in positions towards the occupation of settlements.

Ramallah based Israeli affairs researcher Ahmad Aghawani said it is not a surprise that the Israeli society is moving towards the right, but what is important is that this means that the principle of "eliminating of the other (Palestinians) is anchored and will continue," which eventually means that the two-state solution no longer exists.

Director of MADAR Center Honaida Ghanem told Xinhua that despite this gloomy situation, there is still a chance for Palestinians to translate their rhetoric into action and implementing their threats to go to International courts and support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, because "this would really worry Israel."

"The United States has presented the Palestinians with a historic opportunity to say we don't want you with us, because it has always been biased towards Israel," said Ghanem, without expecting a change in the Israel-U.S. bond or within the Israeli society to help it overcome the current political impasse. Enditem