The revival of the ‘two-state solution’

It’s impossible to take US talk of future peace plans seriously

Lord Almighty! Everyone’s talking about the ‘two-state solution’ again!

It has become the top item in countless political statements, endeavours, conferences, and meetings involving the US, Europe, and Arab capitals. It’s as though gravity has suddenly been re-discovered, and found to be the force that might save Israel — and US and Western interests in the Middle East — from impending collapse. Calls have been issued far and wide for an international conference — including regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran and global players like China and Russia — to be held under US auspices to relaunch the two-state solution as the only way out of the current wars and crises.

The party that caused this massive change in political attitudes and made the Palestinian cause the focus of international attention after 30 years of neglect and disdain is the Palestinian resistance led by Hamas. Yet it is not to be invited to any of these conferences. That alone shows that a conspiracy is afoot to steal its victory that is becoming apparent among the ruins of the Gaza Strip, just as the first and second intifadas were stolen.

The phoney spat between the ultra-Zionist president of the US Joe Biden and Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a big part of this conspiracy, if not its mainstay. It is eyewash intended to give the impression that a change is underway in the US position reflecting greater understanding of the suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the occupation and its colonialist policies.

Biden — whose administration has been airlifting vast quantities of advanced weapons, shells, and missiles to the Israeli army — is a full partner in the war of extermination it launched 70 days ago that has so far killed 20,000 people, injured 50,000 and displaced two million after destroying their homes. It is Biden, the new prophet of peace, who used his UN veto a few days to oppose an immediate ceasefire and gave the Israeli army four more weeks to continue its slaughter before considering any international intervention to stop the war. It is therefore impossible to trust him or take seriously any of his talk of a peaceful solution.

The Palestinian resistance groups that have been valiantly resisting the assault and inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders will never agree to being excluded from any conference to discuss their and their families’ future, or to any solutions that fall short of realising their legitimate demand for the liberation of all occupied territories from the river to the sea.

Just as the resistance and the Palestinian people as a whole do not trust the US and the Western world in general, they do not trust most of the Arab governments and go-betweens, especially the normalisers (whether over or under the table). They have been colluding on orders from Washington and Tel Aviv, and can barely conceal their concern at the failure of the occupier state to wipe out the resistance and bring the Gaza Strip back under its control.

The reason Hamas has been able to fight this war so skilfully, bring the Palestinian cause back to the forefront, beat the invincible IDF, and score so many military successes, is that it never trusted or relied on any Arab regime. Its leaders are not imploring them for help. They live in underground tunnels and eat the same food as their impoverished compatriots. Yahya Sinwar has never flown in an aeroplane, and has only left Gaza twice for meetings in Cairo.

The US and some of its European allies and Arab collaborators managed to steal the armed intifada that broke out in 2000. They took advantage of the gullibility of PLO leaders, including president Mahmoud Abbas and his aides, to sell them the illusion of a two-state solution. A Quartet was formed and Roadmap drawn up to achieve this aim and a Palestinian state was promised within the year. It was the biggest act of political anaesthesia in modern history. Once the intifada was quelled, everything was abandoned, and the PLO was plunged yet again into futile negotiations. It was turned into a guard for the settlers and a spy agency to prevent a new intifada, and its leaders were inundated with money and privileges.

Having been bitten time and again by the viper of American ‘peace’, we must be extremely wary of being bitten again under the guise of renewed talks on a two-state solution. The intention is to save the Israeli state and the Zionist enterprise from disintegration, and use the decomposing corpse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its corrupt fat-cats to resume their former role and negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people.

The Ramallah-based PA and its president do not represent the Palestinian people. Their representatives are those who fought on their behalf, beat and humiliated the Israeli invaders, and rescued the Gaza Strip from their occupation and their transfer and ethnic cleansing plans. They must be represented in future by those who raided the military bases and liberated most of the settlements in the Gaza Envelope and dealt the occupation its biggest defeat for 75 years.

When a vast majority of UN members vote in support of the Palestinian people and an immediate cease-fire, and are only opposed by the US, Israel, and a handful of other states — mostly minnows that rely on US handouts — we can be sure that a new stage has begun. The beginning of the end for the US and the occupier state.

The revival of the ‘two-state solution’