Quartet fiddles while Palestine burns
Ali Abunimah Rights and Accountability 2 October 2015
Palestinians sit outside their home after Jewish settlers daubed it with
Hebrew graffiti which reads vengeance, Henkin, and set their car on fire
in Beit Ilu village, near Ramallah, 2 October.
Shadi Hatem APA images
On Thursday, two Israeli settlers were killed in the occupied West Bank.
Eitam and Naama Henkin were shot dead in their car as they traveled between
Itamar and Elon Moreh, two Jewish-only colonies built on land Israel
violently seized from Palestinians in violation of international law.
Their four young children were left unharmed by the assailants who
reportedly fled in their own vehicle.
The killers remain unknown, though Israeli occupation forces are carrying
out widespread raids in the Nablus area.
Meanwhile, settlers have been free to rampage and attack Palestinians and
their property in what even Israels Ynet termed a night of price tag
attacks.
Palestinians have been defending their communities against ongoing settler
retribution.
The Israeli army and settler assault against Palestinians following
yesterdays killings are in sharp and depressingly predictable contrast to
the situation in August, after Israeli settlers burned alive the Dawabsha
family in the village of Dura.
Israels defense minister Moshe Yaalon recently admitted that occupation
authorities know who the killers of baby Ali Dawabsha and his mother Riham
and father Saad are, but has decided not to arrest them.
It seems entirely plausible that the killing of the Henkins was intended as
a revenge attack. Their children, like Alis severely injured 4-year-old
brother Ahmed, are now orphans.
Israel remains responsible for all these horrific and avoidable deaths; its
occupation constitutes brutal and systematic round-the-clock violence and
terror against every Palestinian man, woman and child.
As for the Henkins, they and other settler families are, in the eyes of
Israeli top officials like Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, the
bullet-proof vest of the State of Israel fodder to be used for land
grabs.
The systematic impunity and protection Israel affords settlers who destroy
and steal Palestinian land and property and who burn Palestinians alive,
sends the chilling message that Palestinians have no protection from a
regime of occupation whose ministers and clerics incite genocide against
them.
Lethal attacks on settlers are relatively rare compared to Israels routine
murders of Palestinians. But in the brutal and lawless reality of
settler-colonialism and occupation, such violence takes on a grim logic of
its own, as the long and bloody conflict in Northern Ireland also showed.
There, only a political settlement that enjoyed broad legitimacy could bring
the violence to an end.
Many have warned that the gradual escalation in violence especially in
Jerusalem provoked by Israels aggressive colonization and attempts to
takeover al-Aqsa mosque, risks exploding into something even worse than
weve already seen.
Yet as Israels behavior becomes more brazen and unrestrained, international
neglect seems only to harden.
Delusional
A case in point is the statement issued by the so-called Quartet, the ad hoc
group of representatives of the UN, EU, the United States and Russia that
purports to manage the peace process.
Its most senior officials met in New York this week, at the margins of the
UN General Assembly.
The statement they issued is so replete with empty clichés it could have
been machine-generated.
The Quartet reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to achieving a two-state
outcome that meets Israeli security needs and Palestinian aspirations for
statehood and sovereignty, ends the occupation that began in 1967 and
resolves all permanent status issues in order to end the conflict, it says.
This is a steadfast and delusional commitment to ignore the reality that if
a two-state solution were ever possible, Israel has made it impossible
with its relentless colonization.
Moreoever, Israels top diplomat, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely,
recently admitted openly what everyone knows: Israel has no intention ever
of withdrawing from one inch of the West Bank, which Israel calls Judea and
Samaria.
[Handovers of] Judea and Samaria arent even on the list of options were
offering the Palestinians, Hotovely said.
The Quartet did express its serious concern that current trends on the
ground including continued acts of violence against Palestinians and
Israelis, ongoing settlement activity, and the high rate of demolitions of
Palestinian structures are dangerously imperiling the viability of a
two-state solution.
It said absolutely nothing, though, about following up on the independent UN
inquiry that called for perpetrators of war crimes in Gaza to be brought to
justice.
But what about any other action? The statement makes clear in masterful
diplospeak that there will be absolutely none:
The Quartet envoys will engage directly with the parties in order to
explore concrete actions both sides can take to demonstrate their genuine
commitment to pursuing a two-state solution, including encouraging efforts
to agree on significant steps, consistent with prior agreements, that
benefit Israelis and Palestinians.
The phrase both sides appears throughout the statement, perpetuating the
fiction that Palestinians and Israelis are equal in power and therefore in
responsibility and ability to act.
The result is to absolve Israel, the occupying power, and the violator of
dozens of UN resolutions, of any accountability.
When you peel away the nonsense, the Quartet statement amounts to a firm
resolve to watch from the sidelines as Palestine burns.
That is remarkably reckless because as Russian foreign minister Sergei
Lavrov observed in a UN press conference this week, the situation in
Palestine remains one of the key factors fueling violence and extremism
across the region.
But while attention is focused elsewhere, Israel will continue to occupy,
colonize and terrorize Palestinians, with the certain and tragic result that
more families Palestinian and Israeli will be mourning their loved ones.
Quartet fiddles while Palestine burns
Ali Abunimah Rights and Accountability 2 October 2015
&
Palestinians sit outside their home after Jewish settlers daubed it with
Hebrew graffiti which reads vengeance, Henkin, and set their car on fire
in Beit Ilu village, near Ramallah, 2 October.
Shadi Hatem APA images
On Thursday, two Israeli settlers were killed in the occupied West Bank.
Eitam and Naama Henkin were shot dead in their car as they traveled between
Itamar and Elon Moreh, two Jewish-only colonies built on land Israel
violently seized from Palestinians in violation of international law.
Their four young children were left unharmed by the assailants who
reportedly fled in their own vehicle.
The killers remain unknown, though Israeli occupation forces are carrying
out widespread raids in the Nablus area.
Meanwhile, settlers have been free to rampage and attack Palestinians and
their property in what even Israels Ynet termed a night of price tag
attacks.
Palestinians have been defending their communities against ongoing settler
retribution.
The Israeli army and settler assault against Palestinians following
yesterdays killings are in sharp and depressingly predictable contrast to
the situation in August, after Israeli settlers burned alive the Dawabsha
family in the village of Dura.
Israels defense minister Moshe Yaalon recently admitted that occupation
authorities know who the killers of baby Ali Dawabsha and his mother Riham
and father Saad are, but has decided not to arrest them.
It seems entirely plausible that the killing of the Henkins was intended as
a revenge attack. Their children, like Alis severely injured 4-year-old
brother Ahmed, are now orphans.
Israel remains responsible for all these horrific and avoidable deaths; its
occupation constitutes brutal and systematic round-the-clock violence and
terror against every Palestinian man, woman and child.
As for the Henkins, they and other settler families are, in the eyes of
Israeli top officials like Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, the
bullet-proof vest of the State of Israel fodder to be used for land
grabs.
The systematic impunity and protection Israel affords settlers who destroy
and steal Palestinian land and property and who burn Palestinians alive,
sends the chilling message that Palestinians have no protection from a
regime of occupation whose ministers and clerics incite genocide against
them.
Lethal attacks on settlers are relatively rare compared to Israels routine
murders of Palestinians. But in the brutal and lawless reality of
settler-colonialism and occupation, such violence takes on a grim logic of
its own, as the long and bloody conflict in Northern Ireland also showed.
There, only a political settlement that enjoyed broad legitimacy could bring
the violence to an end.
Many have warned that the gradual escalation in violence especially in
Jerusalem provoked by Israels aggressive colonization and attempts to
takeover al-Aqsa mosque, risks exploding into something even worse than
weve already seen.
Yet as Israels behavior becomes more brazen and unrestrained, international
neglect seems only to harden.
Delusional
A case in point is the statement issued by the so-called Quartet, the ad hoc
group of representatives of the UN, EU, the United States and Russia that
purports to manage the peace process.
Its most senior officials met in New York this week, at the margins of the
UN General Assembly.
The statement they issued is so replete with empty clichés it could have
been machine-generated.
The Quartet reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to achieving a two-state
outcome that meets Israeli security needs and Palestinian aspirations for
statehood and sovereignty, ends the occupation that began in 1967 and
resolves all permanent status issues in order to end the conflict, it says.
This is a steadfast and delusional commitment to ignore the reality that if
a two-state solution were ever possible, Israel has made it impossible
with its relentless colonization.
Moreoever, Israels top diplomat, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely,
recently admitted openly what everyone knows: Israel has no intention ever
of withdrawing from one inch of the West Bank, which Israel calls Judea and
Samaria.
[Handovers of] Judea and Samaria arent even on the list of options were
offering the Palestinians, Hotovely said.
The Quartet did express its serious concern that current trends on the
ground including continued acts of violence against Palestinians and
Israelis, ongoing settlement activity, and the high rate of demolitions of
Palestinian structures are dangerously imperiling the viability of a
two-state solution.
It said absolutely nothing, though, about following up on the independent UN
inquiry that called for perpetrators of war crimes in Gaza to be brought to
justice.
But what about any other action? The statement makes clear in masterful
diplospeak that there will be absolutely none:
The Quartet envoys will engage directly with the parties in order to
explore concrete actions both sides can take to demonstrate their genuine
commitment to pursuing a two-state solution, including encouraging efforts
to agree on significant steps, consistent with prior agreements, that
benefit Israelis and Palestinians.
The phrase both sides appears throughout the statement, perpetuating the
fiction that Palestinians and Israelis are equal in power and therefore in
responsibility and ability to act.
The result is to absolve Israel, the occupying power, and the violator of
dozens of UN resolutions, of any accountability.
When you peel away the nonsense, the Quartet statement amounts to a firm
resolve to watch from the sidelines as Palestine burns.
That is remarkably reckless because as Russian foreign minister Sergei
Lavrov observed in a UN press conference this week, the situation in
Palestine remains one of the key factors fueling violence and extremism
across the region.
But while attention is focused elsewhere, Israel will continue to occupy,
colonize and terrorize Palestinians, with the certain and tragic result that
more families Palestinian and Israeli will be mourning their loved ones.