Israel continues to rob Palestinian land

NST Leader: Abraham Accord

A Palestinian activist attaches a sign to the Swiss flag, at the newly erected camp dubbed the United Nations camp where the flags of the countries that oppose illegal settlements will be raised, near the Israeli settlement of Ariel, west of the occupied-West Bank town of Salfit. -AFP PIC

The Abraham Accord, yet another attempt by the United States at hastening Zionist colonialism in Palestine, just turned one on Wednesday but is already a dead letter.

There are few reasons for this. But first a word on the diction of "Abraham". Duplicity is at work here. Historically, the Arabs and the Jews are cousins, being descendants of Prophet Abraham's two sons, Ismail and Isaac.

But this history is being distorted by the Zionists and their partners in crime, the American evangelists, to create a Greater Israel on Arab land. Sadly, some Arabs have fallen for this. Their final aim is to legitimise Zionist settler colonialism.

Not all Jews are cousins of the Arabs, and most certainly the European settler Jews are not. The invocation of Abraham isn't a Trumpian innovation, writes Joseph Massad in the Middle East Eye. He is right.

Other presidents have spun similar narratives. Here is what then US president Jimmy Carter said when hosting then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at the Camp David Accords: "Let us now lay aside war. Let us now reward all the children of Abraham who hunger for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. Let us now enjoy the adventure of becoming fully human, fully neighbours, even brothers and sisters." Forty-two years on, the children of Ismail are still hungering to become fully human.

Now, the first reason why the accord is as good as dead. Trump and his Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner, the two initiators of the pact, no longer have the power of their office to push the pact through. As one Middle Eastern analyst points out, an accord that depends on individual leaders is like a mansion built on shifting desert sands. Here today, gone tomorrow.

The Trump-Kushner promise of four million jobs and US$1 trillion in economic activities for Arab countries that normalise relations with the Zionist regime remains just that, not only an unfulfilled promise but one that can't be fulfilled.

Finally, the Abraham Accord is a failure because the hoped for biggest catch — Saudi Arabia — continues to remain outside the accord. And the hope is it will remain outside it.

Meanwhile, Israel's murder and mayhem continue unhindered. Benjamin Netanyahu may be gone, but in his place is Naftali Bennett, whose hatred for Arabs is an open secret in the Middle East. Here is a man who says the creation of a Palestinian state is suicide for Israel.

Never mind that the creation of Israel is suicide for Palestine. Bennett's dream is to turn every square foot of Palestine into Israel. Upon being elected Israel's prime minister, Bennett was quoted by Reuters as saying: "The building momentum (of illegal settlements on Palestinian land) must not be stopped, not even for a second."

The US doesn't even have the pretence of being disturbed by such statements. Nay, it even encourages Zionist colonialism, caring very little about what international law says about settler colonialism. But here is the thing. Zionists have many enemies within the Jewish community.

Most Jews, the Orthodox Jews most certainly, have been waging a war against Zionist movements since it was conceived in the 19th century. To non-Zionist Jews, Palestine belongs to Palestinians, not the Jews. If only Arabs had half this enthusiasm to defend their homeland. As it turns out, it is one big if.