Other powers (Russia, China, Iran, Brazil, and others) need to steer the Israel-Palestine political process as The West is a Party and hence biased
The US and Europe purport to start a political peace process for the Israel-Palestinian conflict, only to prevent other actors from seeking sustainable peace. The reality that The West is behind Israel’s ‘mowing’ Palestinians’ is accentuated in Josep Borell’s speech at the Opening of EU’s Ambassador’s Conference 2023. Evidence of these parties starting a process only to preclude others can be seen in the Oslo Accords that began in 1978 at Camp David in a period when the US was trying to act like a responsible player compared to the USSR, but to advance its interest. The Camp David Accords led to the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995, which were supposed to culminate in the peaceful coexistence of Israelis and Palestinians. However, careful review shows that The West gave Israel what it wanted, a legal recognition by Palestinians, and nothing to Palestinians. It was disingenuous to purport that UN Resolution 242 and Resolution 338, from the Oslo Accords, gave Palestinians the right to self-governance, a right guaranteed in the UN Declaration on Human Rights (UNDHR). Also, Palestinians only gained limited self-governance, while Israel could still act as it wished with Palestinian territories. Palestinians were shortchanged.
In Borell’s speech introduced earlier, he referred to the collapse of the Oslo political process as causing the current tragedy. He added that it collapsed due to the Hubris of some, (without naming Israel, the US, and EU) and the desperation of Palestinians whom he blames. Therefore, he blames the victims. The consequences of this collapse have become a justification for eliminating victims, as seen in an excerpt from Ephraim Inbar and Dr. Eitan Shamir, who received extensive coverage in pro-West outlets (here, here and here) for laundering Israel’s crimes as “Mowing Grass”;
“Unable to find a political solution to its protracted conflict with Hamas, Israel employs restrained military force to disrupt Hamas attacks on Israeli citizens. But, over time, Hamas’s capabilities inevitably increase, and its attacks become more effective. At this point, Israel will conduct a major operation to reduce Hamas’ capabilities. In essence, it “mows the grass.”
If Israeli’s military actions are restrained, it means indiscriminately killing Gazans and destroying Palestinians’ meager infrastructure is allowed for The West’s political ends. Israel and The West could have gotten a political solution if they sought a fair deal for all, but that was not their goal. From the quote, killing innocent civilians and occupied peoples has now become ‘Mowing’. We have heard such terms before with Europe’s gardener, Josep Borell. Palestinians have no hope for a state if players such as Russia, China, Iran, and Brazil do not take a central role to give the oppressed dignity, and rights under UNDHR. If they fail, what Palestinians are facing as detailed below will worsen.
On November 12, 2023, the Israelis fired an American hellfire missile at Al Shifa hospital, the largest health facility in besieged Gaza, demonstrating more terrorism than Hamas’ October 7th attack. CBS stated that the IDF was conducting a “precise and targeted operation” in Al Shifa hospital, which Israel had disconnected from electricity and water. It also added that over 11,070 Gazans had died, 75% of them being women and children, by 15th November. The same date saw the circulation of disturbing images of Babies in Al Shifa Hospital struggling to breathe after being disconnected from incubators due to lacked of electricity and fuel. Other babies had already died, which constituted Israelis’ killing of the most vulnerable to achieve military and political goals. In contrast, Hamas never besieged or fired at a hospital during the 7th October attack. Yet, the term ‘terrorism’ has not been used to describe Israel’s egregious crimes.
There are glaring double standards in the coverage of events to the advantage of Israelis. Western narrative managers as of 16th November were burying Gazan casualty numbers at the bottom of their articles, or excluding them, for instance, CBS (here), Aljazeera, (here), BBC, (here), and Reuters (here). Meanwhile, the beaming headline was how the US had abstained from voting for a ceasefire at UNSC, showing firm support for Israeli misconducts. Palestinians’ suffering is now downplayed while The West and Israelis play good-cop-bad-cop with human lives, with Netanyahu threatening to occupy Gaza, while Biden purporting to oppose it (to hoodwink the rest of the world) while enabling it by providing even more weapons.
Borell stated that the current Israel-Palestinian crisis is the failure of The West, showing that the EU and the US want to steer the political process to sabotage it in favor of Israel. The ongoing ‘mowing’ of Palestinians is The West’s making. There is a link between Israeli’s strategy of ‘Mowing the Grass’ to suppress Gazans and Josep Borell’s Gardening by going beyond the wall to stop the jungle from growing fast, obviously by slashing and mowing it through slave trade, stealing resources, and colonization. This reality is reinforced by the evolution of the Oslo Accords, their collapse, and the ensuing history. Western leaders pretended to be unbiased but proceeded to enable Israel to ethnically cleanse Palestinians. Borell, while quoting President Obama’s work, explained how the problem was not ethnic or religious but national, in that both peoples have equal rights to exist on the same land. We wonder why Obama, despite knowing this, failed to make any concrete effort to implement a two-state solution. His recognition seems to be designed to deceive the rest of the world, while The West pushes its colonial goals through Israel and others.
Borell revealed that Jewish settlers in The West Bank have increased from 270,000 at the collapse of the Oslo Accords, to about 800,000, in 2023. The West did nothing. This increase has been accompanied by bulldozing down Palestinian houses, seizing others, and killing or arresting those who oppose. Borell added that over 200 Palestinians in The West Bank were killed last year by Israelis, and over 400 have been killed this year. We know that Israel captured and illegally held 5200 Palestinians in Jails plus 1200 including 170 minors and 33 women in administrative detention without trial (here), before Hamas’ October 7th attack. That kind of large-scale detention has not received any condemnation or response from Westerners. Gaza has experienced worse violence in repeated raids, airstrikes, and assassinations, killing hundreds. Despite Israeli atrocities, Borell blamed Palestinians and claimed that they presented a terror threat to Europe, necessitating the latter to support Israel.
Condoleezza Rice, like Borell, stated that the violence cycle starts with Hamas’ ‘terror’ which provokes Israel’s response, which causes global outcry. Rice’s views are also incomplete and revealed that the US was a party to the conflict in that it was calibrating its actions to ensure that Israel responded ‘reasonably’ while advancing US interests. From Borell’s, Obama’s, and Rice’s views, both the US and EU support Israel and deliberately fund its terror while blaming Palestinians for limited response done out of frustration. Also, their admission that Israel serves the US-EU interest shows that these parties are criminally, and politically responsible and cannot drive a fair peace process.
Simon Chege Ndiritu, is a political observer and research analyst from Africa, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”