[rad-green] America and Israel Against the World -- Major Danny Sjursen

*https://www.truthdig.com/articles/america-and-israel-against-the-world/
<https://www.truthdig.com/articles/america-and-israel-against-the-world/>Truthdig
        Feb. 12, 2020America and Israel Against the World*




*For even a modestly informed follower of Palestinian affairs, the
announcement of this prejudicial, inhumane ultimatum rates as more than a
little disturbing. Add to this the violence that U.S. has waged against
Arabs across the region, to which I contributed as a former water
carrier for the empire, and I’m embarrassed to be an American.By Maj. Danny
Sjursen[image: President Donald Trump, left, is joined at the White House
by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to announce his plan
to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.]President Donald Trump, left,
is joined at the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
right, to announce his plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. (Susan Walsh / AP
<http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-US-Israel/729b06ff11dc4776820953841f5a88a8/13/0>)*

My Spotify workout playlist is a time warp. Growing up in a blue-collar
neighborhood of New York City in the 1990s and early 2000s, listening to
popular East Coast hip-hop was practically required. So on a recent morning
in which I had planned to write a column about Israel/Palestine, I jammed
out to Jay-Z & Beyonce’s famous power-couple-jam, “’03 Bonnie and Clyde
<http://www.mtv.com/news/3041061/beyonce-15-years-jay-z-bonnie-and-clyde/>.”
The song revolves around a former street dude and his loyal girlfriend,
ready to face off against the world like the title’s outlaw couple
<https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/police-kill-famous-outlaws-bonnie-and-clyde>
.

Ironically, this got me thinking about the U.S. and Israel, President
Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu. Because,
if we’re honest with ourselves, the ditty could just as easily describe the
still-fresh political romance of “B and D,” as well as the 70-year
relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently, and probably accurately from his
perspective, called Donald Trump
<https://www.foxnews.com/media/benjamin-netanyahu-trumps-middle-east-peace-plan-is-an-opportunity-of-a-lifetime-for-israelis-and-palestinians>
“the
best friend that Israel has ever had in the White House.” Netanyahu has
proven himself all too willing to exchange political loyalty for gifts, and
perhaps no one has offered him more than the 45th president of the United
States. These include, but are not limited to: moving the U.S. Embassy to
Jerusalem
<https://www.foxnews.com/politics/us-opens-embassy-in-jerusalem-recognizing-city-as-true-capital-of-israel>,
recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights region
<https://www.foxnews.com/world/trumps-support-for-israel-sovereignty-over-golan-heights-expected-make-waves-at-un>
(after
which Bibi cutely named a Golan ghost town settlement
<https://www.vox.com/world/2019/6/16/18681116/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-town-golan-heights-trump-heights>
for
The Donald), and reversing 50-plus years of U.S. policy by declaring
<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/world/middleeast/trump-israel-west-bank-settlements.html>
that
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are not in violation of international
law. In light of these giveaways, the terms of the administration’s newest
“peace” deal for the Holy Land should come as no surprise.

In characteristically bashful style, Trump has dubbed his Israel-Palestine
plan the “Deal of the Century
<https://mondoweiss.net/2020/02/understanding-the-trump-deal-of-the-century-what-it-does-and-doesnt-say/>.”
But even a cursory reading of the lengthy proposal, and an elementary
understanding of the contested region’s history, reveal that it’s nothing
more than a “raw deal” that effectively erases
<https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/national-palestinian-american-organization-condemns-deal-of-a-century-300995739.html>
the
Palestinian people. “Scam,” “Betrayal,” “Deceit,” or “Shame of the Century”
would all be more accurate descriptions.

The U.S. has never been an “honest broker” in the Holy Land, having
provided more financial <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf> support
to Israel since World War II than to any other nation. So it’s no surprise
that it’s the Palestinians who stand to lose the most
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/no-deal-why-trumps-plan-for-palestine-will-only-create-more-conflict>
in
this proposal: all semblance of a contiguous sovereign state, control of
their own borders, an equal-status capital in East Jerusalem, any “right of
return” for expelled refugees or restitution of lands stolen by Israeli
settlers.

Trump, ever the corrupt real estate tycoon, seems to believe he can buy off
Palestine’s unconditional surrender with a few modest subsidies for a rump
statelet. It’s Extortion 101, and yet another example of Trump’s toxic
negotiating style. Alliances are meaningless, and everything is
transactional.

That the deal’s terms were negotiated by Jared Kushner, the president’s
39-year-old son-in-law and a billionaire
<https://www.biography.com/political-figure/jared-kushner> with no
expertise in diplomacy or the Arab world, makes it all the more cynical and
insulting.

Trump’s plan has absolutely *zero *chance of bringing peace to a
blood-soaked land, and given that this is the latest in a long line of
increasingly bad deals from the “international community” (read: Israeli
leaders and their American allies), it’d be hard to blame Palestinians for
taking up arms. Why *not* rise in a third intifada? Tell me, what do they
really have to lose if the only alternative is Trump’s take-it-or-leave-it
threat? Even if armed Palestinian resistance has been historically
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/no-deal-why-trumps-plan-for-palestine-will-only-create-more-conflict>
counterproductive,
violent reaction would be hard to dismiss. If I were a young, hopeless,
underemployed Palestinian, I know I might respond to Trump’s plan by
grabbing the nearest AK-47.

The most disturbing evidence that Trump and Netanyahu — and by extension
the U.S. and Israeli governments — stand proudly *against* the world is
this: The only other nations supporting this plan are dictatorial and/or
monarchical Arab client states like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab
Emirates. These regimes, some of which have gunned down peaceful protesters
by the droves and still behead women
<https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/12/12/saudi-woman-beheaded-for-sorcery>
for
“sorcery,” also just happen to be huge recipients of U.S. military aid,
arms sales, training, and “protection” from Iran. Pretty nice company to
keep for a republic that bills itself as the world’s “beacon of democracy,”
huh?

What should really be dubbed the “Long Con of the Century” is finally
nothing more than an ex cathedra endorsement of apartheid from the Jordan
River to the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed, it appears that the most radical,
chauvinistic Zionists have achieved their long-standing dream
<https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-hamas-owes-its-from-the-river-to-the-sea-slogan-to-zionists-1.6746730>,
perhaps indefinitely.

History shows that apartheid states, brutal in practice and often lasting
decades, are doomed to fail. South Africa’s, which endured from 1948-1994
<https://www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid>, eventually collapsed
under the weight of international sanctions, disapprobation and internal
indigenous resistance. It may take another generation, but Israeli
apartheid won’t last forever either; it too will crumble under the weight
of its own contradictions. How can a country be both “Jewish” and
“democratic” while some 50% or more of its population live as second-class
citizens or under military occupation?

We must also ask the question, “Why now?”. Why introduce a plan at this
particular moment?  Plenty of media outlets have asserted that the
proposal’s unveiling is little more than an attempt by Trump and Netanyahu
to distract the public from their impeachment and criminal trial,
respectively. I only caution that we don’t put too much stock in this
theory as it pertains to Trump: This president was anything but scared
rolling out this “peace plan,” and the president himself is made of John
Gotti-grade teflon
<https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/teflon-don-sentenced-to-life>.
Witness his disturbingly effective
<https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-02-04/opinion-trumps-state-of-the-union-was-a-campaign-speech-and-a-pretty-effective-one>
performance
at the State of the Union address in which he made House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, D-Calif., and Democrats more broadly look like petulant children
<https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/05/politics/nancy-pelosi-rip-2020-state-of-the-union/index.html>
.

That his speech was riddled with lies
<https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/fact-check-state-of-the-union-02-04>,
half-truths and obfuscations doesn’t seem to matter. Trump’s “ride or die
<https://www.phillytrib.com/entertainment/what-s-the/article_25faecbc-dc42-5b53-8a20-21b92240ae87.html>”
base (there’s Jay and Bey again), and about half of Americans, could care
less. Add to that the perhaps 50% (or more) of Democrats, anti-Trumpers and
nonvoters who are either reflexively loyal
<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/aipac-trump-policy-israel-divides-american-jews/585727/>
to
Israel or simply don’t care about foreign policy, and this farcical peace
plan is unlikely to face much in the way of a public challenge. Like the
explosive Afghanistan Papers
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/>,
the “Deal of the Century” will fade fast from the headlines.

For even a modestly informed follower of Palestinian affairs, the
announcement of this prejudicial, inhumane ultimatum rates as more than a
little disturbing. Add to this the violence that U.S. has waged against
Arabs across the region, to which I contributed as a former water carrier
<https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-sjursen-army-forever-war-20190331-story.html>
for
the empire, and I’m embarrassed to be an American.

Fittingly, it was President Trump who captured America’s view of the region
in his State of the Union address. “Let us work together to build a culture
that cherishes innocent life,” he said, in a nod to his Evangelical base.
“And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth: All children — born and unborn —
are made in the holy image of God.”

All children, that is, so long as they are not Palestinian.

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