| US has power to persuade Israelis that ending occupation and compensating victims are key |
| 08.08.09 - 12:01 | |
| Mitri I. Musleh - On Friday, 31 July, the Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, told the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, that his government would not even consider forging links with the Israelis until they agree to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territory. The Prince’s response came as a result of the US administration call to the Saudi government to mend relations with the Israelis to help restart “peace talks”. The US views Saudi Arabia’s leadership as a vital key to achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region. Obama’s emergence as an elected President of the United States gave the Palestinians hope that after so many years, the US has a president who cares about human rights and recognizes the disadvantages that have been imposed on the Palestinian people for so many years. President Obama’s intentions are viewed by many as pure and display a great deal of determination to solve the Israeli occupation of Palestine. However, the President’s political tactics can easily point to an unwelcome and fruitless strategy to solving the conflict. If the US administration were successful in normalizing relations between the Israelis and their neighbors, without first and foremost putting an end to the Israeli occupation, then the Palestinians would lose their legitimate rights as masters of their own land. This strategy would play into the hands of the Israeli political motives and further assert Israel’s grip on the future generations of Palestinians. The Saudi foreign minister’s rejection to President Obama’s call reiterates the proposal made by the Arab states to formally recognize the state of Israel in return of its withdrawal from Arab territories occupied in 1967. The Israelis continue to hold the key that would unlock the door to a lasting peace in the region. Rather than preaching to the believer, the US administration should be capable of persuading them that by ending the occupation of Arab land, recognizing the Palestinian Right of Return and by compensating every Palestinian, dead or alive, for years of pain and suffering, would lie within the interest of the Israelis, the US and Europe, and would secure a peaceful Middle East for generations to come. |
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