The US and the Palestinian Authority Continue to Detract Attention Away From Israeli Colonialism

Since US President Donald Trump revealed the details of the so-called deal of the century, the Palestinian Authority and the US have engaged in a tirade of inaccurate blame projections. PA spokesman for leader Mahmoud Abbas has blamed the US for Israel’s escalation of violence. Meanwhile, US Envoy Jared Kushner blamed Abbas for inciting Palestinians to participate in “days of rage”. 

These reactions serve nothing other than media sensationalism and detraction from the issues at hand: the normalisation of violence which allows Israel to escalate its violations with impunity, and the PA’s continuous capitulation to external demands on Palestine.

Part of this normalisation of violence is due to the PA’s commitment to retaining security coordination with Israel. Abbas has only threatened a full boycott of security ties if Trump’s plan is implemented. The likelihood is that Abbas will merely repeat empty threats, as happened on other occasions in the past, and Israel will continue with its settler-colonial expansion while suffering no political repercussions. 

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Having obtained the US’ approval for annexation, Israel has started planning maps of annexation for the occupied West Bank. It is true that the US-Israeli collusion facilitates colonial violence and expansion. However, the singular focus on Trump’s deal plays into Israel’s hands. Abbas has proved incapable of performing the urgent task at hand, which is to challenge the international community about its complacency when it comes to Israel’s violations and the deal of the century. 

Rejecting Trump’s deal – a given since before the details were announced – did not require any political effort from the PA. It is the least Abbas could have done to ensure his corrupt hierarchy does not debase its façade further. Likewise, Abbas’s verbal rejection of the plan gives the US the opportunity to denounce the PA as unwilling to compromise for “peace”. 

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The same dynamics of the past, however, are in play, with the difference that the US and Israel have constructed the mirage of an allegiance that pits them against the international community. This is far from the truth. The international community is not seeking to accommodate the Palestinian people’s political demands and it has relied on non-binding resolutions to shield itself from accountability. 

Indeed, decades of incitement against Palestinians by the international community have facilitated the deal of the century and its possible unilateral implementation of parts of it by Israel. What the PA describes as UN resolutions and international consensus constitute an incitement to colonise Palestine. The PA’s response to each cycle of violations is to isolate the present from the historical foundations, hence the empty rhetoric and absence of actions from the Palestinian leadership which ultimately conveys acquiescence. 

Trump and Netanyahu: The ‘Deal of the Century’ in shambles

Israel does not need the US to escalate its violence. Trump has merely provided the political backing to accelerate what the UN started in 1947 with the Partition Plan. Since Trump took office, the US and Israel embarked on a series of steps, starting with the unilateral decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which were met with little to no concern by the international community. Abbas, on the other hand, scrambled for useless international conferences and pointless meetings which only reflected the bureaucratic delay and damage incurred by repeatedly endorsing the two-state compromise. 

Israel is planning strategically. Incitement is a euphemism used by the PA to detract attention away from the collaborative status it has established since its inception. The US claim that Abbas is inciting Palestinians to violence is a distortion. Away from these media purpose statements, Palestine is being isolated and depleted, as it has been since 1947 if based upon international consensus and UN resolutions. For the time being, the US is steering the course while Abbas and the international community follow suit, once again at the expense of a perpetually displaced and dispossessed Palestinian population.