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THERE IS A WAY OUT OF THIS MESS, JOE AND KAMALA. PLEASE TAKE IT.  
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James Zogby
September 3, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ A long-overdue cut-off of U.S. arms to Israel and recognition of
the Palestinian right to self-determination would provide exactly the
shock to the system that is needed. _

Palestinians receive cooked food rations as part of a volunteer
initiative in a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi Khan Yunis in
the besieged Gaza Strip on September 3, 2024, amid Israel's ongoing
assault, Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images

 

The headlines emanating from Palestine-Israel, though ominous, should
have been expected. The problem, of course, is that the Israeli
government appears intent on making a desperately bad situation worse,
and the administration of US President Joe Biden is acting as if doing
what it’s been doing for the past three-and-a-half years is
something other than pouring petrol on a raging fire.

The Israeli government continues to behave as if there are no
consequences to its brutal behaviour. There is no let-up to its
assault on Gaza [[link removed]] as it
routinely orders mass evacuations that force entire families to once
again be uprooted. Bombings throughout Gaza have resulted in acute
shortages of food, medicine and water. There are reports of children
dying of malnutrition and now polio.

What the Israeli leadership cannot understand is that the anger and
pain among the Palestinian people only create more resistance and new
recruits for Hamas. For the past several months, the Israeli army has
been confronting Hamas and other fighters in areas of Gaza’s
northern and central regions that it claimed had been “cleared”.
But as the US learnt in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, as long as the
alien invader remains, no area is ever “cleared.”

Meanwhile, West Bank appears ready to explode. For several years now,
the Israeli army and border police have been conducting deadly raids
into Palestinian communities. Since the war in Gaza began, these have
accelerated and become more lethal, accompanied by arial bombings.

To change this dynamic, the US must reverse course – and do so
dramatically.

This isn’t all. Palestinians have long been plagued by extremist
settler violence – burning, looting and even using deadly force.
These rampages have been tolerated and often encouraged by Israeli
military forces. This phenomenon has also grown in frequency and
deadly intent.

To make matters worse, members of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s governing coalition have engaged in provocations, in
word and deed, that have egged on the extremist settlers, generating
greater anger or fear among the captive Palestinian people. Illegal
outposts have been legitimized, provided military protection,
government services and weapons, and, for all intents and purposes,
annexed to Israel [[link removed]] proper.
One minister has led extremists to invade Haram Al Sharif, declaring
his intention to build a synagogue on the grounds of Al Aqsa Mosque.
Another member of the governing coalition has said that the goal of
the government should be to remove the bulk of the Palestinians from
the West Bank, to make it more governable.

All of these combined appear to have been a boon to Hamas’s
recruiting, with the group reportedly picking up new members not only
in the occupied lands, but also among the Palestinian refugee
population in Lebanon.

While this dance of death plays out, the Biden team acts clueless. It
is exhausting itself trying to negotiate a ceasefire, which it must
know by now that the Netanyahu government has no interest in
accepting. No matter how the US tinkers with the terms to make them
acceptable to the Israeli side (thereby making them unacceptable not
only to Hamas, but to Egypt as well), Mr Netanyahu, afraid of losing
his government, continues to either say “No” or commit some new
outrage as a delaying tactic.

US redlines continue to be crossed and US law continues to be
violated, but the Biden administration’s response is to send weapons
and threaten those in the international community who call for
accountability. The net effect is that Israel’s sense of impunity is
reinforced. Palestinian anger, coupled with Hamas’s standing among
an embittered population, continues to grow. And the US stands
increasingly condemned in the eyes of the world as an enabler of
Israeli actions.

What supposedly began as a retaliation against the October 7 attacks
has now evolved into a full-fledged assault that is spawning more
resistance with no end in sight. No one on any side should assume that
any sort of victory can be won. Both Israeli and Palestinian societies
have become more polarized. The well of bitterness that has been dug
will take more than a generation to fill.

The forces that should be held accountable for the war are Hamas, for
its horrific October attacks, and Israel, for its abominable response.
But fault also lies squarely on the back of the US. For too long and
for too many administrations, Washington has enabled Israel’s
illegal actions. As a result, it has emboldened Israel’s extremists
and killed off Israel’s peace forces. At the same time, it has
rendered Palestinian moderates irrelevant, while empowering
Palestinian extremists who are increasingly seen as the only way
forward. And all this time, Israelis get rewarded, while Palestinians
are punished. Palestinians are asked to make the hard choices, while
little is asked of the Israelis – and when Israel refuses, there are
no consequences.

To change this dynamic, the US must reverse course – and do so
dramatically. A long-overdue cut-off of US arms to Israel and
recognition of the Palestinian right to self-determination would
provide exactly the shock to the system that is needed. It would force
an internal debate in Israel, empowering those who want peace. It
might also serve to send a message to the Palestinian people that
their plight and rights are understood.

These actions, especially if followed up with determination and
concrete steps, won’t end the conflict tomorrow, but they would
surely put the region on a more productive path towards peace than the
one it is on now.

Some will say that it is unlikely that Mr Biden could ever take such a
step. But if he can muster the same resolve it took to step aside for
Vice President Kamala Harris
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November’s presidential election, he can find the courage to do this
as well. It won’t undo the damage that has been done, but it would
pave the way for his successor to move more easily towards a
Palestinian-Israeli peace.

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Dr. James J. Zogby is the author of Arab Voices (2010) and the founder
and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington,
D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy
research arm of the Arab American community. Since 1985, Dr. Zogby and
AAI have led Arab American efforts to secure political empowerment in
the U.S. Through voter registration, education and mobilization, AAI
has moved Arab Americans into the political mainstream. Dr. Zogby has
also been personally active in U.S. politics for many years; in 1984
and 1988 he served as Deputy Campaign manager and Senior Advisor to
the Jesse Jackson Presidential campaign. In 1988, he led the first
ever debate on Palestinian statehood at that year's Democratic
convention in Atlanta, GA. In 2000, 2008, and 2016 he served as an
advisor to the Gore, Obama, and Sanders presidential campaigns.

* Call for Peace; Cut-off of Arms; Biden & Harris; Palestinian
Self-determination;
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