Many experts have said Israel/Palestine is a one-state reality characterized by apartheid, but the establishment finally seems ready to listen, maybe because the two-state solution is so farcical no one is buying.
A new article in the establishment journal “Foreign Affairs” bursts the illusions underlying the two-state solution and the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel.
The fact of a one-state reality in Israel/Palestine has been obvious for years, but “those who spoke the truth out loud were ignored or punished.” Now that’s changed. So says a groundbreaking article in the establishment magazine “Foreign Affairs.”
One positive result of Israel’s rightward shift is that the U.S. discourse of the two-state solution appears to be cracking at last.
Calls for sanctions and BDS against Israel in the wake of its new government’s “bold” actions against Palestinians are causing that government to dig in. Netanyahu ally Danny Danon called on the United States to block any UN Security Council resolution against provocative Israeli actions at the holy sites in Jerusalem. While Netanyahu minister Amichai Chikli accused Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid of being the “spearhead of the BDS movement.”
A new poll shows that young Democrats want the U.S. to lean toward Palestine not Israel by nearly three-to-one. Yet the family of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist killed by Israel, wrote to Biden today that the “United States has been skulking toward the erasure of any wrongdoing by Israeli forces…. It is as if you expect the world and us to now just move on…”
New Pew survey shows growing support for Palestinians among Democrats. More Democrats hold favorable views of Palestinians than of Israelis by 64 to 60 percent. Compare to Republicans: 78 to 37 favorability ratings for Israelis over Palestinians. And while most people don’t know what BDS is, 7 percent of Democrats support BDS while 2 percent oppose it, and the ratio is 8 percent to 4 percent among those under 30.
The number of experts who characterize Israeli rule over Palestinians as apartheid keeps growing. As for the latest to say, It’s apartheid– a new survey of Middle East scholars says 60 percent use that word for the Israeli regime in the occupied territories. While 65 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza say it’s apartheid, per the latest poll.
When Biden blamed Hamas for the Gaza war in May, he was ignoring Democratic voters who by more than 4 to 1 blamed Israel for the violence. “That tells you the story right there. Democrats were not understanding why Biden’s not at least criticizing both sides,” political scientist Shibley Telhami tells Americans for Peace Now.
Fifty-two percent of Middle East scholars say the two-state solution is no longer possible. Fifty-nine percent say the current reality is “akin to apartheid.” The survey of nearly 1300 scholars reflects a mounting recognition of apartheid, echoed lately by comedian Michael Che on SNL.