Loading ...Biden is Following Trump's Footsteps on Palestine
By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer
Despite the conflict in Gaza, the West Bank, and the rapidly escalating situation in the Israel-Lebanon border areas, the Biden administration is fixated on Arabs normalizing relations with Israel. It is not surprising that Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, MI, informed Biden last week that the president “has not earned my vote”. As a Democrat with influence on Arab American voters, Hammoud expects Biden to change course soon and pressure Israel and Hamas to agree on a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israel’s armed forces from Gaza.
In following Trump’s footsteps on Middle East policy, President Biden has committed a huge mistake. Trump supported Israel’s policy of maintaining the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and Biden has enabled Israel’s expansion of the occupation by destroying Gaza and reoccupying it. In a few months, Israel has inflicted more death and injury in Gaza than it has done in the past seven decades in the entire region since its creation as a state in 1948.
Seeking “total victory” over Hamas, Israel continues to kill indiscriminately. The rate of daily fatalities and injuries in Gaza has subsided, but the cumulative impact of famine, and lack of medicine and health facilities has resulted in an enduring genocide. In Lebanon, Israel is threatening to turn Beirut into another Gaza. The chances for an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have risen over the past few days.
Despite Israel’s perturbing conduct and its hegemonic plans, the White House continues to try to forge a complicated and questionable bilateral security pact with Saudi Arabia. The main features of the pact are as follows: the US would defend the Saudis if attacked, and assist them with establishing a civil nuclear program, as well as arming them with advanced American weapons. In return, the US would receive privileged access to airspace and territory to protect its interests and those of its regional allies. Furthermore, the US would pledge to support a “path” to Palestinian statehood, although this “path” is scant in detail. And while the future of Gaza remains unknown, the Saudi Crown Prince would still be willing to normalize relations with Israel.
The draft of the pact affects third parties as well. It aims to cement relations between Israel and the Saudi Kingdom and to distance the Kingdom from Iran and China. The security pact would be a major step in widening the Abraham Accords, and in strengthening Israel’s peace accords with Egypt and with Jordan.
Between September 2020 and December 2022, Israel signed four separate bilateral normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates; Bahrain; Morocco; and Sudan. But these are unlikely to succeed in the long run. It will not be possible for Israel to maintain or expand normalization with the Arab world while occupying Arab land. The negotiations lack legitimacy as the people most concerned – the Palestinians – are not at the table. Finally, and despite their evocative name, the Accords are not based on the principle of regional coexistence. They are, instead, largely an alliance between the Arab Gulf states, Israel and the US. They provocatively exclude, if not threaten, Iran and the other Shiite-majority countries.
To earn the vote of the Arab Mayor of Dearborn, Biden must increase the pressure on Israel to end the fighting in Gaza, withdraw from the Strip, and take concrete steps to negotiate a just peace with the Palestinians and the Lebanese.
Ghassan Rubeiz is the former Middle East Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Earlier he taught psychology and social work in his country of birth, Lebanon, and later in the United States, where he currently lives. For the past twenty years, he has contributed to political commentary and delivered occasional public talks on subjects related to peace, justice, and interfaith. You can reach him at rubeizg@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.
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