Commentator:

Trump's Israel policy not different from Obama

Rasa - Israel's expansionist agenda has consistently created a major roadblock to the Middle East peace initiatives. Israeli ministers have in recent days drawn much criticism by putting forth a bill aimed at legalizing thousands of settlements built on private Palestinian land in exchange for compensation. Meanwhile, the election of Donald Trump to US presidency has raised a lot of questions as to how a new president in the White House will set the tone of relations with long-time ally Tel Aviv. In this edition of The Debate, we have asked our guests whether or not Trump’s presidency would embolden Israel to go into high gear with its illegal settlement projects.

News ID: 425070

Date: 15 November 2016 - 22:47

RNA - Zafar Bangash, the director of Contemporary IslamicThought Institute, views Israel as an illegitimate entity which always stands against international law and UN resolutions with support and protection from the United States.

“When we have an illegal regime, as we have in the occupied Palestine the Zionist regime, it is in fact not surprising at all that they would indulge in this kind of activity. The Zionist regime has never cared for international law or legality. Therefore they are proceeding with confiscating more Palestinian land in the West Bank and also introducing other restrictive bills that are totally contrary to international law as well as the interests of Palestinian people,” Bangash said.

The analyst acknowledged that the Jewish people suffered terribly in the Second World War, arguing however that Muslims are in no way responsible for their suffering. "If the Israelis want to have a state, they are more than welcome to have their state in Germany or anywhere else in the world than in Palestine."

“I do not buy this notion that somehow Palestine is the historical homeland of the Jewish people. If we look at history, there were two prophets: David and Solomon whom the Muslims also considered to be their prophets and they ruled for a total of 73 years 2,500 years ago. This is a ludicrous assertion for anybody to make that just because two prophets, that the Jewish people revere, ruled that land for 73 years 2,500 years ago, that entitles them to this land,” Bangash argued.

He then drew an analogy to the situation of the native population in North America who were displaced from their motherland around 400 years ago. "But nobody says that they should come back to the region and all of the European settlers should be expelled," even though, according to him, such an argument would have much more credibility than the argument the Zionists are presenting.

Asked to comment on US President-elect Donald Trump’s hostile comments regarding the Palestinian people, he said that it is not surprising that American politicians and their advisors use such a rhetoric.“If it wasn't for billions of dollars that was shoveled into this bottomless pit that is called the Zionist state of Israel, that state would have withered away a long time ago.”

Bangash further emphasized that, in his opinion, Trump's election would create no deviation in Washington's Israel policy, despite the fact that he is trying to portray himself as a distinguished politician who easily breaks the cherished norms.

The United States considers Israel as "a linchpin in the Middle East" and in fact, it is through the creation and support of Israel in the occupied Palestine that America pursues its policy of selling hundreds of billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Arab regimes, because those regimes are also illegitimate, the analyst said.

Bangash concluded, “I don't think that the Palestinian people can hope for anything positive coming out of the United States. The only option they have is to continue struggling, continue mobilizing world public opinion. And of course [it is necessary] for justice-loving people and freedom-loving people around the world to rally for the Palestinian cause because it is a just cause. I don't think just because they are weak, just because they are friendless, that should mean that we should abandon them. Civil society groups should continue to strive for the rights of Palestinian people.”

However, the other panelist on the show, Geoffrey Alderman, a London-based political commentator, maintained that the election of Donald Trump in the US is a green light for Israeli officials to pursue their ambitions to establish "a Jewish state" without fearing any international prosecution.

“With the election of Mr. Trump, who is now president-elect of the USA, the green light has been given to the Israeli government in Jerusalem to go ahead with the reclamation of what historically was the Jewish homeland in the British Mandate Palestine and that is clearly what is happening. I should explain it that the bill has not yet been passed. All that has happened is that the ministerial committee has approved a bill to put before the Knesset. But I would wager that such a bill will be passed and there would be no adverse reaction from the new president of the US,” Alderman said.

He also refused to accept the claim that Trump would follow the same strategy as President Obama, saying that the world is going to witness a great deal of change in Washington's Israel policy.

"I think it's very very significant that when Barack Obama became president in 2008, the first phone call he made to an international head of state was to Mahmoud Abbas. When Mr. Trump's election was confirmed, the first head of state that he telephoned was Bibi Netanyahu. So, I don't think that we're going to see more of the same as my colleague [Bangash] has just said. I think we're going to see a different American policy. Under President Obama from time-to-time half-hearted and badly executed pressures have been put on Israel and this will end.Mr. Trump will signal to the Arab world that really the solution of the Israel-Palestine problem, though it's important, is not top of his agenda."

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