Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Will He Stand Up To Them?



When it comes to Israel, Gerry Caplan writes, Justin Trudeau's policy is the same as Stephen Harper's policy. Do nothing to annoy Benjamin Netanyahu:

The new government’s policy towards Israel and Palestine, as articulated by the G-G, just happens to be identical to the old government’s policy. Canada may be back, but in the Middle East it’s Stephen Harper’s Canada that is back. And both governments’ stands are curious given that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has flatly said he will never accept an independent Palestinian state. Everyone but Canadian governments seems well aware of this.

Trudeau says he is for a two state solution. But that's empty rhetoric. Meanwhile, things keep getting worse for the Palestinians:

The unjust status quo continues to be steadily reinforced. Constantly increasing numbers of Israeli settlers have moved into Palestinian lands that Israel has been occupying for fully half a century. In the past decade or so, their number has increased from 249,000 to 370,000. These “facts on the ground” give settlers ever-greater influence in the centres of Israeli power and leave the Palestinian West Bank, says [Roger] Cohen, a collection of “countless little self-administering enclaves … broken up by Israeli settlers.” There are in actuality 165 of these separate little Palestinian islands.

Netanyahu has vowed he will never agree to force those settlers off Palestinian lands, nor can President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, effectively an Israeli collaborator, accept a Palestine that is not viable.

The reality is that it is madness to imply any kind of equivalence between the two entities. Israel is a normal, thriving independent western nation, except that it receives many billions in “aid” from foreign governments, especially the United States, and its neighbours cause it occasional anxiety.

Barbara Ehrenreich has chronicled the plight of Palestinians:

Ehrenreich paints a haunting picture of injustices repeatedly perpetrated by Israelis against Palestinians. Every day, some Palestinians defy the latest form of oppression, mostly by unarmed resistance, and usually they lose. Most Israelis are unaware this rite even takes place.

It’s David versus Goliath, but, this time, the giant Goliath is an Israeli, and the victor. As Ehrenreich watches, his Palestinian friends, together with their possessions, are humiliated, terrorized, abused, insulted, evicted, demolished, confiscated, dispossessed, expropriated, beaten, wounded or killed by Goliath, and imprisoned, often in solitary confinement (which means torture) for long stretches.

Increasingly, the world is stalked not by giants but by bullies. Can -- and will -- Trudeau stand up to them?

Image: stanfield.com

4 comments:

The Mound of Sound said...

We've been arguing for this "two state" solution as a feasible prospect since when, the '67 war? That's roughly a half century of hot air. Israel keeps showing, over that same half century, that it's pulling our chain. It cannot bring itself to restore the Palestinian homeland carved out by the UN in 1949 which is as much a creature of the United Nations as the State of Israel itself. One is no more legitimate than the other. Yet Israel will not tolerate a one state solution either because that would put it at risk of a demographic Arab majority. That admits of but two alternatives - either keep the Palestinians as perpetual captives or expel them via an ethnic cleansing of their territory. Israel has chosen the perpetual prisoner option, apartheid in every sense of that word, while it goes along digesting the Palestinian territory, creating what it calls "conditions on the ground," a fait accompli.

The world has had this nonsense up to the tits. Alison, at Creekside, has posted the voting record on recent General Assembly resolutions to recognize Palestine and restore the Palestinian homeland. It's disgraceful. On one side stand 150 nations, including the entire EU, all of S. America, Africa and Asia. On the other side we have Israel itself, backed by the US, Canada, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru and Vanuatu (the last four being "bought and paid for" by Israel). Strip away all the nonsense and it's the entire world supporting the Palestinian people versus the US and Canada backing Israel.

What's going on is apartheid and we are the nations that enable that persecution. Both of our major parties are neck deep in it. It should remind us of the time when we were a better nation.

Owen Gray said...

We used to be a better nation, Mound. I cannot imagine Mike Pearson putting Canada on its present path in the Middle East.

Unknown said...

It would take a man or principle and courage to stand up to Israel Owen. Trudeau has neither.
The suffering and horrendous injustice that the Israeli's are doing to the Palestinians is nothing short of such an extreme violation of Palestinian rights that much of the worlds silence makes us complicit in this crime.

It is only a short leap from condoning an injustice to committing one yourself.Trudeau is on that path. Becoming a vassal of the the US means we support any and all atrocities they commit including the complete support of whatever Israel does.

Canadians will see Canada become more and more entrenched in US policy, economically, militarily and globally.That is where Trudeau's real interests lie and Israel knows it.

I believe in the next few year that Israel will go full scale to rid completely of the Palestinians and Trudeau will not utter one word to oppose this apartheid.

Owen Gray said...

The election of Donald Trump, Pam, is a huge yellow flag. Following that path is the road to ruin.