Dr. Ashrawi: US-Israeli agenda for the region is destructive and delusional
(August 24, 2020): "The Trump administration is attempting to reinvent Israel as a military, security, intelligence and economic power in the region enjoying normal relations with Arab governments in spite of its occupation and escalating crimes against the Palestinian people. In addition to doing Israel´s bidding, the regional visits by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House advisor Jared Kushner to Tel Aviv and several Arab capitals are taking place in the context of subverting the imperatives of peace and the values of justice and human rights. This is clearly visible in the Trump administration´s denial of the Palestinian people’s rights and aspirations. At the same time, the US administration is reformulating the dynamics of regional politics to serve short-term and narrow political and electoral interests.
The UAE normalization serves the Trump-Netanyahu agenda of undermining international law, bypassing the Arab Peace Initiative, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as well as denying Palestinian rights. This gratuitous reward to criminality and belligerence is divorced from popular sentiment across the region; opinion polls have consistently indicated that an overwhelming majority of the Arab peoples are in full support of Palestinian rights and identify with our plight while condemning Israel’s oppression and cruel treatment of the Palestinian people. They believe that Israel must be held accountable for its crimes, rather than rewarded for them. This forced normalization will deepen the schism between Arab governments and their people and create conditions of instability and insecurity.
Replacing the international consensus of “land for peace” with the Israeli formula for “peace for peace” is a delusional and destructive approach. It will merely set the dangerous precedent of rewarding those who flout international law and carry out illegal acquisition of territory by force. It will achieve neither peace nor prosperity. There can be no genuine peace or stability or even “normal” conditions unless the Palestinian Question is resolved on the basis of justice and legality."
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