LAST Tuesday night it was confirmed by the United States that its much-vaunted ‘peace’ initiative over Palestine had collapsed.
The State Department was forced to admit that hopes of recommencing talks brokered by the US, between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, had been abandoned after Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu confirmed that the Zionist state had no intention of ‘freezing’ the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank.
Such a freeze had been a precondition of any talks, insisted upon by the Palestinians and supported by the US, which formally acknowledges that these settlements are illegal under international law.
In a statement the US said that, while it considers settlements in occupied Palestine illegal, it would now seek means other than a settlement freeze to restart peace talks.
This has been echoed by the Israeli government which is calling for the talks to continue, side by side with the settlement building. As well, the right of Palestinians to return to their homeland and the establishment of East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital is not to be on the agenda for discussion.
This Zionist intransigence has forced president Mahmud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to rule out further talks.
The Palestine Authority is now discussing a declaration of the Palestinian state, on the 1967 boundaries and with Jerusalem as its capital, and campaigning within the United Nations for the state of Palestine to be recognised officially by all UN member states.
Brazil and Argentina are the latest states to recognise the state of Palestine.
This tactic has been denounced by Israel as a breach of an interim agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority dating back to 1995 that said that the status of the West Bank and Gaza would be resolved through negotiations.
With breathtaking, but typical, arrogance the Zionists are claiming that recognition has to be subject to mutual agreement and negotiation while at the same time acting in a deliberately provocative way to ensure that all talks collapse.
Meanwhile, US imperialism – which offered Israel a financial and military package to stay on-board – has decided to allow Israel to do its worst.
What has emerged clearly from this debacle is that US imperialism will, under no circumstances, exert any real pressure on Israel to negotiate any settlement with the Palestinians.
Confirmation for this has emerged in the recent WikiLeaks exposure of US diplomatic cables.
Commenting on the fact that of all the countries named in these cables, Israel alone has emerged without any adverse private criticism, Netenyahu said: ‘Normally there is a gap between what is said publicly and what is said privately, but in this case, the gap is not large.’
Precisely, there is no ‘gap’ between the Zionist state and its US imperialist paymaster.
In 2008 it was conservatively estimated that the US had spent $114 billion in direct aid to the Zionist entity.
This week, whilst condemning Israel for its failure to freeze settlements, the US House of Representatives was approving $205 million of funding for an Israeli missile system.
The Palestinians should immediately declare their state and demand that every country in the world recognise it, on the 1967 boundaries, with East Jerusalem as its capital and with refugees having the right to return.
The world’s trade union movement must immediately impose a trade and cultural boycott of Israel and refuse to handle or service Israeli goods, planes or ships, until it recognises the Palestinian state and gives up the occupation.
It must also pledge to give full support, both politically and materially, to all initiatives that the Palestinians take to win their freedom from the Israeli occupation.
With peace talks deliberately sabotaged, the workers of the world must take positive action in support of the state of Palestine.