To What Extent Have The Attempts For A Palestinian State Been Blocked By The Actions of Israel And The United States of America ?

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To What Extent Have The Attempts For A Palestinian State Been Blocked By The Actions of Israel And The United States of America ?

      In November 1947, the aims of the Jewish Zionist movement were achieved when the United Nations announced under Resolution 181 that the former British mandate of Palestine would be partitioned into two states ; a Jewish and an Arab state.  The controversy rooted in the creation of Israel in historic Palestine, which is their sacred homeland enshrined in the Torah, was because the state was created at the expense of the Palestinian people, who had been the indigenous inhabitants for centuries. The partition plan was disregarded by Israel as they took over most of the Arab state in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, and then captured the last two enclaves; the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Six-Day war. This total disregard and ignorance of International law set a precedent for the Israeli’s illegal occupation of Palestinian Territories. Since 1967, Israel and the USA have formed an alliance which has been formed upon the shared value that a Jewish state must exist in security, yet also based upon the total denial of Palestinian rights and statehood, and because of this, have blocked every single diplomatic route for a viable Palestinian state.

       The role that Israel Has played has been pivotal in establishing the environment in which a sovereign Palestinian state can not be created, through essentially, the nature of its domestic policies within the Occupied Territories. To an extent its diplomatic role is limited and that is where the link with the US becomes completely fundamental to the sustainability of the Israeli state as they wish, hence the continual and successful blocking of the attempts for a Palestinian state, so the main focus upon Israel‘s part in its role for preventing a Palestinian state lies with its domestic policy.

One of the main policies that have been extremely detrimental in maintaining the sovereignty of the Palestinian lands, and making any future Palestinian state look increasingly bleak is the Israeli settlements within the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. What these settlements constitute are small communities within the two enclaves Israel captured in the Six-Day war, and transporting their citizens to live within these heavily fortified and protected communities built upon what was the Arab State. What makes these settlements so destructive to the Palestinians lives, is the fact that each settlement is connected by web of protected roads, only available to use by the Israeli’s, and means that the Palestinians must go through a series of checkpoints to get to any destination.

By 2006, after the disengagement of settlements from the Gaza Strip, it was estimated by a UN report that within the West Bank, there were over 200 settlements, with a population of around 240,000, with a further 190,000 within East Jerusalem. It is also estimated that 42% of the West Bank comes under jurisdiction of the settlements. The aim of these settlements is in essence an attempt at colonizing the West Bank, and as Geoffrey Aronson of the Foundation for Middle East peace explains, the settlements are ‘aimed at consolidating Israel’s ability to secure a permanent hold over these lands’.  The effect this has on any attempt at Palestinian statehood is it practically makes it impossible, as the Israeli’s grip on the area that would encompass the state have become part of the Israeli state, and in a most basic analysis it is inherently clear that these settlements are an obstacle to peace and a lasting settlement.

The legality of these settlements also provide a realistic understanding on its stance on International law and diplomacy. Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, of which Israel is a signatory, it is stated that an ‘occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies’.  This disregard of International law was cemented in UN resolution 476, which stated its settlement process ‘was a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention’. It has also been called by UN Special Rapporteur John Dugard, a ‘system of road apartheid…which relegates Palestinians to second class citizens’.  

This violation of International law shows the low regard Israel holds for the viability of a Palestinian state, as its main intention appears to be sustaining its own presence in the area to uphold any chance of an autonomous and sovereign nation.

Another element of the continual process of Israel’s annexation of Palestinian lands , in contrast and out of sync with every peace deal is the construction of the ‘Separation Barrier’  or the ‘Apartheid Wall’.  This barrier is a network of fences and walls which surround the perimeter of the West Bank ‘Green Line’, however in many areas intrudes into the West Bank to cover many Israeli settlements. It was built for the ‘sole purpose of protecting Israeli citizens who are continued to be targeted by the terrorist campaign’, as explained by the Israeli government. Although this sentiment resonated strongly  with the Israeli public, what has been overlooked throughout intense Israeli propaganda is that the reason these ‘terrorists’ were attacking Israel were because of the oppressive, brutal policies of the Israeli Government, so although the killing of civilians is a great tragedy, the cause of this ‘terrorism’ must be examined. The case for oppressive and even racist policies is reiterated with this ‘Security Wall’ which will leave up to 100,000 Palestinians on the West Side of the wall, 14,000 between the wall and the 1949 armistice Line, and another 20,000 cut off from their lands. UNWRA called the construction of the wall in 2003 the ‘greatest change in the [Palestinian] landscape since 1967’.

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Just like the other methods by the Israeli Government in the Occupied Territories, the ‘Security Wall’ goes against International law.  The UN General Assembly passed resolution ES-10/13 which ‘demands…Israel stop and reverse the construction of the wall in the Occupied Territories’…and is [in] contradiction to relevant provisions of international law’. The International Court of Justice  called the wall ‘contrary to international law’.  Combined with the effect of the illegal settlements within the Occupied Territories, the role Israel plays in hindering and stopping the peace movement towards a lasting Palestinian state is yet again highlighted, this time with a system based ...

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