With the US treating the Abraham Accords as the next step in Israel’s normalised colonisation expansion, the Nakba has degenerated from marginalisation to oblivion in terms of international recognition.
With the US treating the Abraham Accords as the next step in Israel’s normalised colonisation expansion, the Nakba has degenerated from marginalisation to oblivion in terms of international recognition.
Only a few weeks ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for Palestinians to have equal rights as Israelis. In a call with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Blinken “emphasised the administration’s belief that Israelis and Palestinians should enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy,” according to the State Department’s spokesman Ned Price.
A couple of weeks later, as Israel celebrated its Independence Day according to the Hebrew calendar, Blinken’s message to Israel contained more of US policy truths than the recognition of Palestinian rights within the two-state framework.
“In your 73rd year of freedom, we salute Israel’s determination, bravery, and ingenuity, which have made possible your country’s prosperity and hard-won security,” Blinken lauded in a recorded address, which also asserted the US intent to support the Abraham Accords.
And while the international community might issue some form of remembrance in terms of the Palestinian Nakba, the truth is that its efforts go towards protecting Israel’s security narrative. Which is why Blinken’s address glorifying Israel’s so-called freedom rather than condemning ethnic cleansing raised no objections from the UN or any world leaders.
What is the equality for Palestinians that Blinken speaking about, if the US is unwilling to recognise that Israel’s establishment was built upon the foundations of erasing the indigenous Palestinian population from its land?
The Trump administration’s parting diplomatic stint is what will likely fuel US President Joe Biden’s policy. After all, the international community itself expressed no disagreement with the accords which back Israel’s de-facto annexation of Palestine.
With the US treating the Abraham Accords as the next step in Israel’s normalised colonisation expansion, the Nakba has degenerated from marginalisation to oblivion in terms of international recognition. The accords are not only normalising the future expansion of Israel’s colonial enterprise, but also the disappearance of Palestinians from their lands – a history that Israel made sure would repeat itself. Misrepresenting history is one tactic that accompanies the current policies. With Israel’s Independence Day being treated as a separate event from the Nakba, Palestinians are being forcibly and permanently dissociated from their land, rights, and history.
If Blinken expects “Israel’s group of friends to grow even wider in the years ahead,” it stands to reason that the US is indicating further loss for Palestinians in terms of diplomatic support. In other terms, annexation will most likely take place, as former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman persistently uttered on countless occasions, that a pause in plans does not eliminate the process.
There are no equal rights for Palestinians within the two-state framework or the normalisation agreements. As long as the international community supports Israel’s colonial supremacy over the Palestinian people’s political rights and historical memory, the myths over Israeli independence will persist, to the detriment of a population rendered stateless, with the collaboration of the UN.
Israel needs lauding from the international community if it is to continue its dissociation from its origins. The international community is loath to unravel Israel’s myths, even as it continues to host, and hypocritically so, the so-called “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” on November 29 each year, to mark its own role in granting permission for colonisation through the 1974 Partition Plan.
For Israel, the system works seamlessly. As long as diplomacy is prioritised over history and political rights, the Israeli narrative remains unchallenged. There is too much at stake for the international community to renege on what it has gained from its diplomatic engagement with Israel.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian people have to contend with a leadership that makes dregs of symbolic support suffice in place of what should rightfully be a collective effort to hold Israel accountable.
