Barack Obama’s decision to not block a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its construction of settlements in occupied territories has prompted the country’s Likud government to take a hardline, including the possibility of a full annexation of the West Bank.
On December 30, a survey conducted by Israel Radio revealed nearly 40 percent of Israelis polled favor “one-state for two peoples” and the annexation of the West Bank. 30 percent responded by saying they prefer a “two states for two peoples” option based on the 1967 borders of the territory.
“However, the survey did not enable a distinction in this option between those who would extend full democratic rights to the Palestinians and those who would not,” reports The Times of Israel.
The corporate media in the United States has consistently underplayed and ignored the plight of the Palestinians and continues to portray Israel as a victim of Palestinian terrorism. Both Democrats and Republicans support continued financial and military aid to Israel despite polls showing more than 80% of Americans oppose billions of dollars going to the Jewish state every year.
During the formation of the Democrat party platform prior to the election, the Clinton faction voted down any mention of Israeli settlements, occupation, violations of international law, and the ongoing victimization of Palestinians in Gaza.
During the DNC, supporters of Palestinian rights held discussions and town hall meetings, carried signs, and raised a Palestinian flag on the convention floor. This show of solidarity was ignored by the party and the media.
The history of Zionist control of Palestine is a forbidden topic and rarely covered by the establishment media. Israel is routinely portrayed as the victim of Arab hatred and violence while the numerous crimes committed by the Israeli state are ignored.
The primary rationale for occupying Palestine and victimizing thousands of Palestinians arose during and after the Second World War. Zionists argued the mistreatment of European Jews and the Holocaust entitled the Jewish people the right to establish a homeland in Palestine, at the time under British colonial rule.
In November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab independent states joined by an economic union. Jerusalem was to be internationalized under the plan. The US Congress put its weight behind the plan and applied economic pressure on states reluctant to vote for carving up Palestine. The Soviet Union voted in favor of partition as a way to reduce British influence in the Middle East.
Left out of the discussion was the fact Jews were one-third of the population in Palestine at the time and owned only 6 percent of the land.
Zionist leaders, while accepting the partition overwhelmingly rejected by the Arabs, planned to take over the whole of Palestine. In 1938, during an earlier effort to implement partition, the Zionist leader Ben Gurion declared, "when we become a strong power after the establishment of the state, we will abolish partition and spread throughout all of Palestine."
After Israel declared independence in 1948, Arab armies opposed to partition crossed the borders. “Most of the fighting took place on territory that was to be part of the Palestinian state or the internationalized Jerusalem. Thus, Israel was primarily fighting not for its survival, but to expand its borders at the expense of the Palestinians. For most of the war, the Israelis actually held both a quantitative and qualitative military edge, apart from the fact that the Arab armies were uncoordinated and operating at cross purposes,” writes Stephen R. Shalom.
Gurion, who became Israel’s first prime minister, wanted to ethnically cleanse all Palestinian Arabs. “A partial Jewish state is not the end, but only the beginning. The establishment of such a Jewish state will serve as a means in our historical effort to redeem the country in its entirety,” he said, according to Shalom. “We shall organize a modern defense force… and then I am certain that we will not be prevented from settling in other parts of the country, either by mutual agreement with our Arab neighbors or by some other means… We will expel the Arabs and take their place… with the force at our disposal.”
The 1948 war provided an excuse for the new state’s expulsion and victimization of Palestinians. The Deir Yassin and other engineered massacres by the Israelis resulted in many Palestinians deciding to leave, while thousands more were forcibly expelled. Of 860,000 Arabs living in Palestine, only 133,000 remained after the conflict. The diaspora forced thousands to live in squalid refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries. Palestinians call Israel’s ethnic cleansing the Nakba, or "catastrophe.”
“In Israel, Arab villages were bulldozed, citrus groves, lands, and property seized, and their owners and inhabitants prohibited from returning. Not only was the property of ‘absentee’ Palestinians expropriated, but any Palestinians who moved from one place within Israel to another during the war were declared ‘present absentees’ and their property expropriated as well,” notes Shalom.
In reaction to the expropriation, the United Nations passed Resolution 194. It declared "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live in peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so" and that "compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Israel ignored the resolution and continued to force out Palestinians.
Israel put in place military security zones in the territories, forcing the remaining Palestinians to live under martial law. The Jewish National Fund forbid Arabs to live on land expropriated by the Israeli state and discriminated against non-Jews. Palestinian villages not under military control were denied basic services such as electricity and are not listed on official maps.
The discrimination, however, is not limited to Arabs. In 2010, the Knesset passed a law allowing small Israeli towns to reject residents who do not suit "the community's fundamental outlook,” based on sex, religion, and socioeconomic status, according to The Institute for Middle East Understanding.
In 1967, Israel launched an effort to capture all Palestinian land, including East Jerusalem occupied by Jordan and the Gaza Strip controlled by Egypt. It also took the Sinai from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. The Six Day War resulted in more Palestinians fleeing the country.
The violent Israeli consolidation of territory prompted the UN Security Council to pass resolution 242 in November, 1967. The resolution emphasized "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" and called for the "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territory occupied in the recent conflict."
Following the war, the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and expulsion of Arabs increased significantly, the latter in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, article 49, which prohibits the transferring of citizens from occupied territory.
By 2007, nearly a half million Israelis were living in settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem. Between 1993 and 2000 the number of settlers on the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, increased by nearly 100 percent. Israel currently has 163 Jewish-only settlements and 98 "outposts" built on confiscated Palestinian land, according to the Israeli Peace Now movement.
The United States has vetoed UN resolutions condemning the settlements and the ongoing effort by the Israelis to dismantle Palestinian communities. As of 2013, Israel had been condemned in 45 resolutions by United Nations Human Rights Council.
“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Israeli forces committed unlawful killings of Palestinian civilians, including children, and detained thousands of Palestinians who protested against or otherwise opposed Israel’s continuing military occupation, holding hundreds in administrative detention. Torture and other ill-treatment remained rife and were committed with impunity,” noted Amnesty International in 2016.
“The authorities continued to promote illegal settlements in the West Bank, and severely restricted Palestinians’ freedom of movement… Israeli settlers in the West Bank attacked Palestinians and their property with virtual impunity. The Gaza Strip remained under an Israeli military blockade that imposed collective punishment on its inhabitants. The authorities continued to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank and inside Israel… forcibly evicting their residents.”
While the establishment media occasionally reports on Israeli crimes against Arabs in the occupied territories, the overall effect is neutralized by an avalanche of reportage that consistently portrays Palestinians as terrorists dedicated to the destruction of Israel. This biased coverage—in essence, fake news by omission—legitimizes Israeli violence and apartheid. Moreover, US support for Israel amounting to approximately $3 billion per year—including $10.2 million in military aid each day—continues to embolden the Zionist plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians.
Obama’s symbolic and politically motivated support of the UN resolution on Israeli settlements will be rolled back after Donald Trump enters the White House.
On December 29, the president-elect told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday evening that he’s “very, very strong on Israel.”
Trump said “Israel has been treated very very unfairly by a lot of different people. If you look at resolutions in the United Nations … they are up for 20 reprimands and other nations that are horrible places, horrible places that treat people horribly haven’t even been reprimanded. So there is something going on and I think it is very unfair to Israel.”
This statement completely ignores history and the political reality on the ground in Israel and the occupied territories. In fact, the United States has consistently supported—and paid for—Israel’s efforts, in large part due to the tireless lobbying of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
# # # #
Kurt Nimmo, Newsbud Producer & Author, is a writer, editor, producer and researcher based in New Mexico. His research centers on international geopolitics and national politics in the United States. He is the former lead editor and writer for Infowars and now edits Another Day in The Empire. His most recent books are Donald Trump and the War on Islam and Another Day in the Empire: The Reign of George W. Bush and the Total War Neocons. Visit Kurt Nimmo’s website here