Gazans are on the move again as Israeli forces intensify bombardments. 13 May 2024. Credit: UNRWA

By Ramzy Baroud
SEATTLE, Washington, May 16 2024 (IPS)

A major mistake we often commit in our analysis of the US political discourse on the Gaza war is that we assume that the US and Israel behave as if they are two political entities with separate agendas and sets of priorities.

Nothing could be further from the truth. From the start of the war, top US officials including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken saw themselves as the guardians of Israeli interests. Blinken attended Israel’s first War Council meeting as if an Israel official, and Biden carried on reiterating that he is a Zionist.

Despite purported difference on various matters between Tel Aviv and Washington, for example, the nature and size of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, their interests remain identical: defeating Palestinians, restoring Israeli so-called deterrence, returning to the status quo in the region, and reigning in Israel’s enemies, including Iran, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Ansarullah.

The US is a direct partner in the Israeli war: defeating any UN attempt at calling for immediate, unconditional, and binding ceasefire, arming Israel with billions of dollars of the deadliest weapons and fighting, directly – as in the case of Yemen – or indirectly against Israel’s regional enemies who are showing solidarity with the Palestinians.

That context in mind, the dangerous comments by Senator Graham are consistent with the Biden’s administration actions regarding Gaza.

Sure, Israel is yet to drop a nuclear bomb, but it has dropped enough US bombs over the besieged Strip to create the impact of nuclear weapons. 75 percent of Gaza has been destroyed, and about 5 percent of the population have been killed or wounded. This was done by Biden and his supposedly softer approach, if compared to Graham, to the war.

This is indeed madness, but, in a sense, it also reflects a degree of desperation.

Israel is losing in Gaza. Not ‘losing’ as in failing to achieve its objectives, but losing militarily against Palestinian groups who are employing successful guerrilla warfare tactics.

After over 7 months of war, the fighting is back exactly where it started; and while Palestinians are perfecting their resistance craft, Israel is losing more soldiers at a much higher rate.

Comments about nuclear bombing Gaza comes within this context, that of Israel’s failure, if not desperation. US and Israeli officials know well that the war has been lost, or, at best, cannot be won.

But also losing the war means a fundamental shift in the power paradigm in the Middle East, the kind of change that neither Netanyahu, Graham nor their ilk can afford.

On November 5, Israel’s minister of heritage also spoke about the possibility of nuking Gaza, using Israeli mainstream media to communicate his ideas. Graham is now saying the same thing, using US mainstream media as an outlet to convey the same notion.

There is much to learn here about the nature of the relationship between both countries, but also this language teaches us that top politicians in Tel Aviv and Washington realize that the limits of traditional warfare have been reached yet failed to alter the reality on the ground in any way, aside from massacring tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

Dr Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). The link to his website follows: www.ramzybaroud.net

IPS UN Bureau

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The Palestinian Flag in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Credit: UN News

By Ramzy Baroud
SEATTLE, Washington, Apr 24 2024 (IPS)

The vote and the American veto at the United Nations Security Council on April 18 was predictable. Though European countries are increasingly supportive of a Palestinian state, the US is not yet ready for that eventuality, for these reasons:

One, US foreign policy in the Middle East is still governed by Israeli priorities. And since the majority of Israelis reject the idea of a Palestinian state, of any ‘concession’ to the Palestinians, or even of the most basic rights for Palestinians, the weak US president could have not possibly defied that solid Israeli position.

Two, the fact that Israel, per the words of its ambassador at the UN, Gilad Erdan, saw that a vote for Palestine would be equivalent to ‘rewarding terrorism’, created the kind of political discourse that would have made a positive American vote or an abstention from the vote akin to supporting so-called terrorism.

Three, Biden, in his mind, cannot politically afford supporting an independent Palestine only a few months ahead of one of the most decisive elections in US history.

The Republicans made it clear that their support for Israel is blind and unconditional. They have also made it clear that they are ready to exploit any comment – let alone action – by Biden and his officials that may seem critical of Israel in any way. All of these factors combined made the American veto quite predictable.

However, the vote was still important and revealing for the following reasons:

One, the international community remains largely united in its support of the Palestinians.

Two, the positive vote by France, a very important and influential European country, signals a shift in the perception of European body politic towards Palestine.

Three, the strong statements emanating by Ireland, Spain and others in this regard indicates that the trajectory of the support of Palestine in Europe will continue in the coming months and years.

Four, the outcome of the vote further isolates the United States, exactly as much as the Israeli genocide in Gaza has also exposed and isolated Washington, as the only line of defense for Tel Aviv, allowing it to violate the rights of the Palestinian people and to deny them the very political horizon needed for a just peace in the Middle East.

And finally, it further accentuates Biden’s inability to liberate himself from the stronghold imposed on him and his party by Israel’s supporters – Israel’s backers within the Democratic Party institution and the pro-Israel lobby from without.

Despite the negative vote, however, Palestinians, now, have renewed resolve that they would ultimately be able to prevail. This feeling is buoyed by the strong support for Palestine at the UNSC and at the General Assembly, the growing sympathy of the Palestinians worldwide and the continued resistance of Palestinians in Gaza.

https://www.ipsnews.net/2024/04/will-two-state-solution-include-palestine-un-member-state/

Dr Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

IPS UN Bureau

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau