Daoud Kuttab
Two recent decisions by the US government are puzzling to any observer of the Middle East. Both are also deeply troubling: the Aug. 29 denial of visas to Palestinian invitees to the UN headquarters — a rare act reserved for the most egregious offenders — and the Aug. 13 instructions to US consulates not to grant sick or educational visas to holders of Palestinian passports. Both anti-Palestinian decisions are unusual for Washington and hard to explain through ordinary diplomatic reasoning.
When the leaders of North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, arch-enemies of the US, are allowed to attend the UN General Assembly, it is difficult to understand why Mahmoud Abbas, the peaceful president of Palestine, is refused.
US President Donald Trump met with Abbas during his first term and the Palestinian leader has not turned radical since then. In fact, much to the anger of his own people and Palestinian political bodies, Abbas has refused to stop coordination with Israeli security and US intelligence services. So why is he being punished?
One theory discussed in Palestinian circles is that Abbas does not fit the “demon” figure Israel and the US need to justify the continuation of the genocidal war on Palestinians. With the Gaza war nearing its end and Hamas largely weakened, a new demon figure is needed. Most of the world supports Palestinian self-determination, which Abbas embodies. This angers Jewish supremacists, who envision only a “Greater Israel,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently admitted.
Abbas’ opposition to Hamas militarization, his refusal to reconcile with Hamas and his support for the recent French-Saudi document calling for the group’s disarmament apparently mean nothing to the leaders in Washington and Tel Aviv.
Trump and Netanyahu are attempting to negate Palestinian nationalism by allowing the destruction of the Palestinian government, while Washington, intoxicated by Zionist influence, acts irrationally against the entire Palestinian population.
The US seems to have taken Israel’s bait hook, line and sinker. For Israel, dehumanizing Palestinians — whether medical workers, children, women, journalists or peaceful Christian worshippers — serves to justify its indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Gaza. But why does the US buy into this dehumanization by barring sick people from Gaza, and now all Palestinians, from seeking visas, regardless of age, purpose or faith? The State Department has declared that it will not issue visas to Palestinian passport holders.
Palestinian passports were authorized as part of the Oslo process, which was officially inaugurated at the White House in 1993, when the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel exchanged letters of recognition. Is the US now declaring that its sponsorship of that important declaration of principles is null and void? Does this not also jeopardize Israel’s intelligence and security cooperation with the PLO?
We are entering uncharted territory, driven by blind US obedience to Israeli dictates. The humorous message once seen on T-shirts in Jerusalem’s Old City shops, “US don’t worry, Israel is behind you,” now seems increasingly like reality.
For a president seeking the Nobel Peace Prize, demonizing the most peaceful Palestinian counterpart that Israel and the US have faced is the wrong way to convince the world of Washington’s peaceful intentions.
Palestinians are a proud people who have struggled and sacrificed for freedom. Nothing will deter them — not banning their president from speaking at the UN, denying them visas or ignoring Israel’s attempts to silence Palestinian journalists who tell the truth.
Trump has taken courageous steps in meeting with North Korea’s president and extending his hand to Iran and others. It is time for his “America First” policy to apply to Israel and its supporters in the US.
By the end of September, 80 percent of UN member states are expected to recognize Palestine, including four-fifths of the UN Security Council. The upcoming UNGA could be the ideal opportunity for Trump to urge Israel to abandon its expansionist dreams and accept the presence of a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state.
America, the land of the free, surely understands the aspirations of Palestinians. In alignment with its own values, it must stop following Israel’s extreme policies, encourage Netanyahu to approve the Steve Witkoff deal Hamas agreed to, end the war in Gaza, and begin serious talks for a two-state solution in which a democratic and peaceful Palestine can exist freely alongside a safe Israel. This is possible if Trump does the right thing now.
Courtesy: arabnews
