The US Is Responsible For The Current Escalation In Palestine

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Washington released a statement in dissatisfaction with the Israeli move to recognise 9 illegal settlement outposts and advance plans to build thousands of new settler units inside occupied territory. Late last month the Biden administration also set forth a plan to de-escalate West Bank tensions, which has failed dramatically and it is the US itself that is a primary culprit in creating the current situation on the ground. It’s time for the Americans to face the truth.

The US government has long claimed the place as the sole mediator between both the Palestinians and Israeli settler-colonial entity, placing itself in a position intended for serving to create balance and peace. The biggest problem with this, is that Washington views the Zionist entity as a crucial ally and asset inside the Middle East, one that is above criticism and that it will defend and supply unconditionally. Whilst the US views the Palestinians as a nuisance and attaches no value to their lives, placing them in the bracket of the “uncivilized world”. This first must be noted in order to understand how the US has helped cause the current situation on the ground inside the occupied West Bank and beyond.

So far this year, Israeli occupation forces have killed at least 50 Palestinians, creating an environment in which the people of Palestine have sought revenge against both settlers and soldiers. The Palestinian resistance groups have reportedly killed around 5 Israeli soldiers and injured many others, however, due to "Israel" covering up its casualties, there is no way of confirming these reports. On the other hand, individual Palestinians have acted alone to kill around 10 Israeli soldiers and settlers in retaliation for the near daily killings inflicted upon their people. The situation is currently so volatile that the American director of the CIA, Bill Burns, has warned of a Third Intifada [Palestinian uprising] and claimed that much of what is happening today inside the West Bank mirrors what he saw during the Second Intifada. Burns went on to stress that the CIA was working with "Israel" and the PA to calm the situation.

Late last month, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, headed a delegation to visit occupied Palestine and met with high ranking Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials, during which he advocated for a plan to de-escalate tensions. Washington’s proposal entailed "Israel" stopping its settlement expansion activities, in addition to reducing the number of deadly raids it is launching across the West Bank, whilst the Palestinian Authority (PA) was told to reciprocate by returning to its infamous ‘security coordination’ with the occupying entity. 

So on one hand, the US requested that "Israel" simply slow down on its constant violations of international law and in return asked the PA to return to collaborating with the Israeli military; which is not an obligation for the PA Security Forces as the Oslo Accords are officially dead. This proposal in of itself is one sided, yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flatly rejected the roadmap, instead opting to increase violent raids, deploy three additional battalions into the West Bank and expand illegal settlement expansion. Even despite this, the Palestinian Authority has reportedly not halted all areas of security coordination, a charge that the PA denies as President Mahmoud Abbas directly ordered a complete temporary halt to the policy.

The US Secretary of State also pushed Mahmoud Abbas to accept an outrageous proposal that was drafted by US security coordinator Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, one which the Biden administration believes would help the PA re-establish control over areas of the West Bank, such as in Nablus and Jenin. The proposal is that the US would be allowed to train and set up a special Palestinian unit, which would stem from the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF), and would be tasked with hunting down resistance fighters inside the West Bank. The plan would essentially be to create a US-backed death squad aimed at using specially selected Palestinians to kill their own people. Putting aside the amorality of such a force, the fact that the US Biden administration is so out of touch with facts on the ground that they could believe the PA was in a position to accept this, politically speaking, tells volumes.

The US government’s meddling in Palestinian affairs has created the problems we now see today and so has their blatant disregard for the legitimacy of Palestinian calls for accountability, in addition to their national liberation struggle. At every turn, the US is on "Israel’s" side, yet claims to stand for peace and now the PA is about to call their bluff by going to the UN Security Council and forcing the US to act on a vote condemning Israeli settlement expansion. The US Biden administration has desperately attempted to stop PA President Mahmoud Abbas from taking this issue to the UNSC, where the US will be forced to make a decision for or against illegal settlements officially and openly declare their policy through action. Washington reportedly sought a compromise whereby they would release an official statement condemning settlement expansion, but it is unclear whether this will work. 

If the US had played an equal hand, by acting against "Israel" in the same way it does against Palestinians for much less, there would be no conflict of the sort we see today. In 2002, after the Palestinians had entered a second year of revolt against the occupying entity, in reaction to the deterioration of the so-called “peace process” and Israeli violations of the Oslo Agreements, the CIA decided to begin drafting a plan to dismantle, reform and restructure not only the PA, but also its security forces. Acting in compliance with the Bush Jr. administration’s 2003 road map, the PA under command of its leader at the time, Yasser Arafat, agreed to the amendments set forth and later, with the emergence of the Mahmoud Abbas era, the PA continued its reforms. The PA has abided by the dictates of the US government, it has restructured and repurposed its security forces, yet this has never been enough for a balanced American approach. PA President Abbas has continued to talk about returning to negotiations for years, whilst no Israeli leadership has even entertained it with any seriousness.

In 2006, when the Hamas party won a landslide victory in the Palestinian legislative elections, the US government's reaction was to boycott Palestinian democracy and to organize a violent coup, in coordination with then-PA preventative security service head Mohammed Dahlan. Washington also placed sanctions on Gaza, for the mere fact that people had dared to elect Hamas. Even right now, every single Palestinian political party other than the mainstream branch of Fatah - which currently runs the Ramallah based PA - is banned and considered as a terrorist group by almost every Western nation, meaning that if a democratic election is held, the West would refuse to cooperate with the likely winners who poll much higher than the mainstream Fatah list of President Mahmoud Abbas.

It has been 30 years since the Oslo Accords and 23 years since the start of the Second Intifada, meaning that the younger generations in Palestine do not even remember those times. All the younger generation knows is constant oppression and hopelessness, the armed resistance resurgence in the West Bank has mass support because it provides a light at the end of the tunnel, a glimpse of a future whereby they would reclaim their lands and rights. What does the US say to this? It proposes a death squad in order to ruthlessly murder that hope. Why does it not task the Israeli occupation with creating such a force? The answer is simple, they would rather see Palestinians die whilst fighting other Palestinians and save the Israeli military the headache of losing its own fighters. 

Why don’t Palestinians try peaceful resistance? some say. The answer is that they have tried non-violent struggle repeatedly. The Great Return March that began on March 30, 2018, proved what happens when Palestinians quote UN resolutions and organize hundreds of thousands of people in order to call on the world to deliver their human rights to them; "Israel" murdered 310 unarmed Palestinians, injured around 30,000 and the US government said "Israel" had the right to do it, whilst the Western media painted the protesters as terrorists and ignored the massive death and suffering. Non-violence is not going to work, Palestinians have learnt this by trying it as a first option and suffered enormous consequences, they aren’t about to just repeat the cycle so Westerners can pretend to sympathize and make excuses for the occupation. 

The only way to make the Zionist entity give concessions, is by challenging it legally, economically, or violently, these are also the only things that the US government will step in to properly address on behalf of "Tel Aviv", as Washington works only for Israelis and not for Palestinians. If it wasn’t for the constant backing of every single murderous rampage that "Israel" commits, or simply shrugging off the violations of the US’s own policy positions by the settler-colonial entity, none of what is happening now would be necessary. It is the American government that has created the chaos we see today and they should not be allowed off the hook, the blood is on their hands and their recent actions only serve to make the situation worse.