The Gaza war may turn out to be the beginning of the end, but not for Palestine.
By Marwan Bishara
Israel’s sadistic war on Gaza, the culmination of a long series of criminal policies, may well prove suicidal in the long term and lead to the demise of the mighty “Jewish State”.
Indeed, Israel’s deliberate, industrial-scale murder of the Palestinian people under the pretext of “self-defence” won’t enhance its security or secure its future. Rather, it will produce greater insecurity and instability, further isolate Israel and undermine its chances for long-term survival in a predominantly hostile region.
In truth, I never thought Israel could have much of a future in the Middle East without shedding its colonial regime and embracing normal statehood. For a short while in the early 1990s, it seemed as if Israel was changing direction towards some form of normalcy, albeit dependent on the United States. It engaged the Palestinians and Arab states in the region in a “peace process” that promised mutual existence under favourable American auspices.
But Israel’s colonial nature dominated its behaviour at each and every turn. It wasted countless opportunities to end its occupation and live in peace with its neighbours. To paraphrase Israeli diplomat Abba Eban’s infamous quip, Israel “never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity”.
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Instead of ending its occupation, it doubled down on its colonisation project in the occupied Palestinian territories. It has multiplied the number of illegal Jewish settlements and settlers on stolen Palestinian lands and networked them through special bypass roads and other planning projects, creating a dual system, a superior, dominating one for the Jews and an inferior one for the Palestinians.
As one apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, another was erected in Palestine.
In the absence of peace and in the shadow of colonisation, the country has slid further towards fascism, enshrining Jewish supremacy into its laws and extending it to all of historic Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. In no time, the fanatical and far-right parties gained momentum and took over the reins of power under the opportunistic leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, undermining Israel’s own institutions, and all chances of peace based on coexistence between two peoples.
They rejected all compromise and have begun devouring the entirety of historic Palestine, expanding the illegal Jewish settlement on stolen Palestinian lands throughout the occupied West Bank in an attempt to squeeze the Palestinians out. They also tightened their siege of the Gaza Strip, the world’s largest open-air prison, and dropped all pretence of ever allowing it to unite with its Palestinian hinterland in a sovereign Palestinian state.
Then came the October 7 attack – a rude wake-up call reminding Israel that its colonial enterprise is neither tenable nor sustainable, that it could not lock in two million people and throw away the key, that it must address the root causes of the conflict with the Palestinians, namely their dispossession, occupation and siege.
But the Netanyahu regime, true to its nature, turned the tragedy into a rallying cry and doubled down on its racist dehumanisation of the Palestinians, paving the way for a genocidal war. It declared war on “evil”, by which it meant, not only Hamas, but also the people of Gaza. One Israeli leader after another, starting with the president himself, implicated all the Palestinians in the gruesome attack, claiming there are no innocents in Gaza.
Since then, Israel turned vengeful, tribal and adamant on destruction and expansion with total disregard for basic human decency and international law. Israel’s colonial war became a war on hospitals, schools, mosques and residential buildings, financed, armed and protected by the United States and other Western lackeys and killing thousands of Palestinian civilians – children, doctors, teachers, journalists, men and women, old and young, as if they were enemy combatants.
But this foreign tribe has no chance of surviving among all the indigenous people of the region, who have coalesced more than ever before against the bloody intruder. Israel can no longer use its fanciful theological claims to justify its violent racist practices. God does not sanction the slaughter of innocent children. And nor should Israel’s American and Western patrons.
As Western public opinion turns against Israel, its cynical leaders will also change course, if not to preserve their moral standing, then to safeguard their interests in the greater Middle East. The change in the French position, demanding Israel stop the killing of children in Gaza, is an indicator of things to come.
Israel has no good options after its bad war ends. This may be its last chance to pull away from the brink, stop the war, embrace US President Joe Biden’s vision of a two-state solution, impractical as it is today, and accept America’s red lines for Gaza: no to reoccupation, no to ethnic cleansing and no to shrinking its territories. But Netanyahu, along with his fanatic coalition, who’ve long taken America for granted, have once again ignored – read rejected – America’s advice to the detriment of both sides.
Long before the war on Gaza, a leading Israeli journalist, Ari Shavit, predicted the demise of Israel “as we know it”, if it continued on the same destructive path. And last week, Ami Ayalon, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet secret service, warned that the government’s war and territorial expansion will lead to “the end of Israel” as we know it. Both have written books warning Israel about the dark future ahead if it continues its occupation.
Like all other violent intruders, from the ancient crusaders to the modern-day colonial powers, this last colonial entity, Israel, as we know it, is destined to vanish, regardless of how much Palestinian, Arab and Israeli blood it sheds.
The Gaza war may turn out to be the beginning of the end, but not for Palestine. Just as apartheid South Africa’s bloody supremacist regime imploded, so will Israel’s, sooner or later.
Marwan Bishara is an author who writes extensively on global politics and is widely regarded as a leading authority on US foreign policy, the Middle East and international strategic affairs. He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris.
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Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Comments
14 responses to “This Israel has no future in the Middle East”
Zionist, racist Israel delenda est.
Fuck off, Arab terrorist asshole!!!
Not likely, you sick, Nazi coward.
Moron… psychopathic moron…
Jews don’t think so. They are convinced that Israel will always exist.
I wish people…especially intelligent, informed people like Marwhan Bishara, would STOP saying things like “As one apartheid was dismantled in South Africa, another was erected in Palestine”. The fact is that Israeli HAS BEEN AN APARTHEID STATE since its Basic Laws in 1948 set up an apartheid legal system favoring Jews over Arabs who were citizens of the Israeli state. Israeli historian Uri Davis, in an exacting analysis of those Basic Laws in “Apartheid Israel”, demonstrates Israel is not ‘becoming’, nor ‘has become’, or even as some like to say ‘is in danger of becoming’ and apartheid state. It has ALWAYS been an apartheid state.
Historical accuracy is always appreciated. Israel is not only an apartheid state, it is a state whose foundation rests upon organized criminality. Mobsters of all stripes funded and armed Zionists, which tells one everything one needs to know about Israel.
Mobsters is a good definition of the white Israelis. They are more than anything else an ant-human rights world mafia aimed at world control. Their shield is “we are victims”, “you are anti-semitic”, and their victimhood mantra goes on.
Unfortunately the tentacles of mobsters Israeli have spawned into western governments whom fear them. This would explain their blatant bloodbath of Palestinians with absolutely no consequences.
The Zionists of Israel only believe in naked brutal military aggression and terrorism which is exactly what their life support system, benefactor and protector United States believe and practice.That Israel is presumably the only nuclear state in the Middle East and commits atrocities with impunity only adds to its hubris and sense of invincibility. However, once and only when the Palestinians can match Israeli military aggression with their own alliances will Israel and its enablers have to then face up to the threat of its extinction and denounce its obdurate criminality and factitious religiosity.
Israel, like the previous Crusader States 800 odd years ago, can only stand if it has outside support. The US is a failing power, and will not be able to provide support for much longer. Israel will go the same way as previous colonising powers – into the dustbin of history – a well deserved end for a murderous regime.
Palestine is another domino in the grand American vision of turning the entire Middle East into a war for profit zone.
In the Age of Information Israel has overplayed the Anti-Semitic card. It’s no longer effective at pulling peoples’ strings. Nevertheless, with all the Arab land available in the Middle East, why won’t an Arab nation “absorb” the Palestinians so they can live in peace? I’ll tell you why. It’s in many nation’s interest to remain at war with Israel and THEY use the “poor Palestinians” as unwitting proxies to maintain hostilities.
So how about a “land for peace deal” with, say, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, or Iran providing land for the Palestinians? Why not? I’ll tell you why not. NIMBY! Not In My Back Yard. Your back yard ok. My back yard no way. How’s that for Arab solidarity? And so the Arab world plays victim too, endearing itself to all the idiotic Western Progressives, playing them like a cheap fiddle.
Back to the original point, Israel is hardly a victim with such a formidable military and nuclear capability, not to mention it’s control of the media and U.S. foreign policy. But I do not begrudge them their wish to have a secure, defined territory anymore than my wish for the same in America, even in my own neighborhood!
Secure the borders! Evict illegal immigrants who, just like Palestinians, are pawned for political purposes.
As I understand it, Arabs in Israel not living in “occupied” territories live rather peacably among Jews. I can attest to this having worked in Brooklyn, NY for many years. Jews and Arabs living side by side and no shelling on Coney Island Ave. Then again, there are no real strategic interests in NYC to play one off another.
My own prediction is that, as the disclaimer in my investment account reminds me, “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” Israel would do well to find a long term solution to their Palestinian problem because the American empire is winding down and as America has proven to the world more than once, it will betray a relationship or policy when its interests (or circumstances) dictate.
Lastly, if Arabs nations were truly honest with themselves then they would have to admit that the counterpart to Israel’s “apartheid” is their own abandonment and manipulation of their Muslim “brother.” Haven’t they committed their own “apartheids?” “Hi kettle, I’m pot.” Shalom and Salaam.
Arab scum has no right to exist!! No one needs those worthless & useless terrorists!! Al-Aqsa, dome of the rocks, mekka and medina must be scorched of the earth!!! islam must cease to exist once and for all!!!!!!!