Trump, the US president, has once again shown what a divisive force he is in US society and internationally, in recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He has taken this step in spite of countless resolutions at the UN since 1967, that Jerusalem’s final status be determined by direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Under previous presidents, Democrat and Republican alike, there was the pretence that the US was an honest broker in the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The US has consistently supported Israel’s land grab of Palestinian territory on the West Bank and demanded ever more concessions from the Palestinians in their negotiations with Israel. The Israeli state’s role as a counter-revolutionary force against Arab nationalism and the left in the Middle East, is subsidised by the US to the tune of 3.8 billion dollars annually in military aid.
US imperialism has paid a big price diplomatically at the UN General Assembly for Donald Trump’s unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his instruction to the State Department to arrange for the US embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. There were 128 votes in favour of the resolution condemning the US action, including the traditional allies of the US, Germany, France and Britain. Only 8 countries, mainly tiny island states, besides the US voted against the resolution. In spite of US threats that it would cut off aid to countries supporting the resolution, the vote provides further evidence of the widespread rejection of Trump’s policy on Israel. Speaking at the Al-Azhar international Conference in support of Jerusalem in Cairo, Mahmood Abbas, who presides over the “Palestinian Authority” under Israeli occupation, reaffirmed the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO’S) Central Council vote to withdraw from the Oslo peace accords and cease recognition of the Israeli state. He declared that the US had forfeited its status as facilitator of the peace process. When Trump, as punishment, threatened to halt US payments to Palestine that currently stand at $310 million annually, Abbas’s spokesman, Nabil Rudeineh described his statement as “blackmail” He added that “Jerusalem is not for sale, neither for gold nor silver.”
Israel’s half a century occupation over the Palestinians is examined in a book by Jeff Halper, “War Against the People, Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification” (quoted in “The Longest Occupation” -International Viewpoint, 4 July 2017). He asks how Israel is able to sustain the occupation for over 50 years in spite of international opposition. While he refers to the well known reasons such as the supply and global control of oil, the power of the US domestic Israeli lobby and its Christian fundamentalist lobby, he provides a deeper reason for the enduring Israeli occupation. He highlights the occupation as a testing ground for the development of weapons, security systems, models of population control and tactics, without which Israel would be unable to compete in the arms and security markets. Israel, albeit as a junior partner of the US, uses these methods of control against subject peoples resisting the rule of their oppressors. Israel has emerged as a major military power, serving other big military powers and being recognised by them. Its position as a colonising power and imperialist ally has earned it pariah status among the nations of the world.
In particular, many African states, with whom it had established diplomatic ties, severed those relations because of its harsh treatment of Palestinians or when it engaged in wars with its Arab neighbours. Its economic ties with African countries have proved more durable. Israel has a technologically advanced economy. This is apparent in the information, communications and technology sector, where its hardware and software play an important role. African states employ this technology together with Israel’s expertise in agro-processing and the water management spheres, in order to transform sectors of their own economies. Israeli policy is to use its economic muscle to build closer political and diplomatic ties with African states. In the past two years it has redoubled its efforts to strengthen ties with African states. In December 17, Israel signed an agreement with the US to increase energy access in Africa and reduce the continent’s electricity deficiency. The partnership is part of the $7 billion, five year power project aimed at creating 60 million new connections in Africa by 2030. In July 2016 the Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu undertook a trip to East Africa, visiting Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda. This came at a time when Israel was launching a $13 million aid package to strengthen economic ties with African countries. In June 2017 Netanyahu attended the annual Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Liberia. ECOWAS Agricultural Ministers had in the previous year attended an agricultural summit in Jerusalem titled “enhancing sustainable agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid regions.” Mali and Niger, the two ECOWAS members who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, did not send representatives. Israel’s aid to African states is by no means unconditional as demonstrated when following a vote at the UN Security Council that condemned Israeli settlements as illegal in 2017, the Israeli government severed aid to Angola and Senegal for their support of the resolution.
Not only has US imperialism under Trump’s leadership suffered a diplomatic defeat at the UN in recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, it has compromised its role in any future negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. It and the pariah state, Israel remain tied to one another in perpetuating the occupation of Palestinian territory.