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John Kerry’s Challenge in the Middle East
It was glaringly noticeable that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry should be both wearing blue neckties with their white shirts when they met Israeli leaders earlier — the former on his visit to Israel last month and the latter in the past few weeks — in an obvious gesture of support to Israel since blue and white are the colours of the Israeli flag.
One cannot help but wonder whether both visiting American leaders would have worn the traditional Palestinian checkered black-and-white hatta (scarf) in support of the Palestinian men and women who wear them to assert their loyalty to their usurped homeland. Had they thought they were cumbersome, they could have asked for the lapel pins that are emblazoned with the Palestinian and American flags.
This nauseating pandering of Israel, notable among some US officials and certainly some legislators, was again highlighted this week in a report in the Guardian which revealed that the pro-Israel California Democrat, Senator Barbara Boxer, has been in league with Aipac (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in introducing a Senate bill that will in essence seek “to codify Israel’s right to discriminate” against Arab-Americans should they want to visit Israel.
For the US to allow foreigners to enter the US without a visa, the visitor’s country must abide by some conditions, chiefly reciprocity. Should Israel be admitted to the American “visa waiver” programme, which includes 37 other countries? The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that there is one serious impediment here. It underlines that Israel has a practice of routinely refusing Americans of Arab ethnicity or Muslim background to enter their country or the Occupied Territories.
The bill, formally named the United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2013, introduced by Boxer, which is also supported by Republican Roy Blunt, would allow Israel the right to exclude selected Americans the visa-free right of entrance.
Moreover, Obama’s newly-released 2014 budget request includes $3.1 billion (Dh11.40 billion) in military aid to Israel and an additional $316 million for joint US-Israeli anti-missile systems.
The popular American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) says “this is just the tip of the iceberg”. The announcement noted that the American president, during his visit to Israel last month, had pledged to extend US military aid to Israel well-beyond his presidency, with one report noting that his administration “is opening negotiations to give Israel up to $40 billion in US taxpayer-financed weapons through 2028”. This year, the average US taxpayers will be giving Israel $21.29 billions, it explained, insisting that “we should not be funding Israel’s occupation and oppression of the Palestinians”.
The ADC announcement is part of a national campaign to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories and oppose giving Israel additional military funding. Other groups joining ADC include American Muslims for Palestine, Code Pink and Jewish Voice for Peace.
One other complication that may cast its long shadow on Kerry’s efforts in the Middle East has been the sudden resignation of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad, the highly respected World Bank official who has apparently put the Palestinian fiscal house in order. Jonas Gahr Store, Norway’s Foreign Minister, had indirectly praised Fayyad for being “remarkably successful in building Palestinian public institutions”. His absence from the Palestinian scene is bound to disappoint many a Palestinian and a westerner, but in no way should this move curtail the international efforts to find a peaceful settlement.
The hope, of course, is that the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas can now join forces in reaching a peaceful accord with the Israelis, who should drop their objection to Hamas. If this seems unlikely in the immediately future, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s alternative course should be to form a cabinet of technocrats that will supervise a national election. The results will determine the next steps.
All these national and international activities are bound to divert, though partially, Kerry’s seemingly well-intentioned peace efforts in the Middle East, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, have raised high hopes in the region. Last Tuesday’s meeting between Kerry and visiting Saudi Foreign Minister, Saud Al Faisal, in Washington was a headline-grabber for the latter’s pleas that the secretary of state accelerate his efforts towards a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, especially now that Kerry has shown high interest albeit belated in the Arab Peace Initiative.
What Kerry has to be mindful in the days ahead is how to remain even-handed and not be side-tracked by the petty fights in the region.
George S.Hishmeh
Gulf News