Issue Under Fire: Middle East Peace Will Never be Realized With U.S. Involvement
While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reported he remains cautiously optimistic for prospects of deescalating the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon's analysis of current conditions was far more dire. And from this observer's perspective, far more realistic. Still, how these two men could come to diametrically opposite assessments of this latest uprising is a not exactly a difficult mystery to solve. A quick look at the history will provide some clues.
After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin, Kerry stated he had a few ideas to talk over with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah this Saturday. But since details of those ideas were not made available, one can only speculate as to their potential to be useful. The Palestinians, the Jordanians and the international community have been down this road before. Promises are made at the hight of tensions, but few are honored in the aftermath.
Since every effort every U.S. administration has made to encourage a negotiated settlement between Israel and the occupied Palestinian people has only produced more Israeli settlements, it may be time to bypass and or supersede U.S. input in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process going forward. Considering the United States have contributed little more than decades of lip service, that's led to catastrophic results, placing any value on anything John Kerry might propose is fool hardy at best.
After Ban Ki-moon met with the Israeli Prime Minister, he saw the situation for what it was; critical. With rhetoric at an all time high and communication at an all time low, without serious and unimpeded international intervention, the spread of this conflict is imminent. Daily knife attacks by young desperate Palestinians, being met with nightly revenge killings from angry vigilantes can not be stopped with high level talks anymore. Its time for the international community to take charge by becoming more assertive.
Moving forward, the international community must find a way to remove the primary obstacle to peace in the middle east from the peace process. If that means expelling the United States-Israeli Union from participating as full members of the United Nations, so be it. Because instigating and or supporting unilateral military actions in the middle east and beyond, to using its U.N. Security Council veto power to protect Israel from any legitimate condemnation or appropriate sanctions is at the very crux of this conflict, the United States has proven to be an enabler and nothing more.
Bottom line: Any hope of changing the status quo in the occupied territories will require strict adherence to enforceable international laws. However, as long as the international community allows the United States to use its status and position as a superpower to flout those laws, the well of international justice will remain poisoned. Considering the U.S. remains committed to supporting Israeli policies toward Palestinians, no matter how repulsively inhumane they are and showing no signs of changing its rules of engagement, the international community must move to radically change how it engages with the U.S. Podcast below!
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