With the advent of a new American administration
3 foundations for a new approach to peace between Israel and the Palestinians
President-elect Biden should abandon Trump's legacy to mitigate the damage to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.
Father
The leveling of lands and cutting olive trees has become a normal practice in the occupied territories.
EPA
Palestinian protests against Israeli settlements: The legalization of settlements encouraged the Israelis to annex more Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
Reuters
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On January 20, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden's administration will be responsible for mitigating the damage caused by President Donald Trump's devastating policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The challenge for the new administration is to abandon Trump's legacy, not just return to where the situation was before his presidency.
However, it is unlikely that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority for the new US administration, but the course of the conflict and its repercussions on America's interests will cause concern to US policymakers.
The new administration must learn the lessons of the past, and these lessons are that this administration is ambitious in terms of seeking to change the terms of the debate, and modest regarding the possibility of ending the conflict anytime soon.
Over the years, US policies have had the unfortunate - sometimes unintended - effect of helping Israel gain control of the Palestinians.
It is clear that what was unintended became a goal under the Trump administration, which encouraged settlement construction and issued a "Peace for Prosperity Plan" that was decisively aimed at the continued interest of the Israeli occupation.
American involvement should at least aim to alleviate the fundamental asymmetry in power between Israelis and Palestinians;
Instead, America has often done the opposite, and the White House has gone to the extreme in this regard.
What we need today is not obtaining the Nobel Prize to reach a final peace agreement, but rather, patiently laying down the required building blocks to pave the way for future generations of Israelis and Palestinians for a more peaceful and just future.
These building blocks are that the Israeli public must understand the consequences of the permanent occupation, and that the only way to avoid those consequences is to engage Palestinians as individuals, on an equal footing, and as a group to determine their national destiny.
With a coherent Palestinian system of government, and a leadership that can chart a way forward that deals with the current situation through non-violent means, and in ways that are consistent with international law, and work to change legal and political trends on the ground, which have shaken the diplomatic scene, and failed to guarantee basic human rights for Palestinians.
Changing the binoculars
Focusing on these basic building blocks would help change the perspective in which Washington views the conflict, in order to create conditions for holding talks, while at the same time protecting those whose rights were violated, in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
It is almost certain that the next administration will choose the two-state solution as the preferred policy framework, similar to the international consensus reflected in the speech of former Secretary of State John Kerry on December 28, 2016. In this context, the United States must also make clear that in the event that Israel continues to Obstructing the creation of a fully sovereign and viable Palestinian state, any alternative must respect the right to full equality and freedom to vote for all those in any place controlled by Israel.
Accordingly, the starting point for a new Israeli-Palestinian policy must be based on the following points:
Mitigating the damage to Trump's peace legacy
Another peace process should focus on protecting the rights and well-being of people on the ground.
We note here that the Trump administration's various decisions - including recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and cutting off aid to the Palestinians;
The closure of both the US consulate in East Jerusalem and the Palestine Liberation Organization Mission in Washington, and the legalization of Israeli settlement activity - all of which seriously damaged prospects for a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and depleted US credibility reserves.
Retreating from Trump's main policies should be a top priority, but the focus should not be placed solely on returning to the previous status quo as a step to salvaging the peace process.
Trump's decisions provided an implicit cover for Israeli actions, particularly the construction and consolidation of settlements.
Instead, the United States should give priority to stopping the encroachment of annexation operations and protecting Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, where the blockade has caused a humanitarian emergency that threatens to escalate at any moment.
Specifically, the new administration must unequivocally disavow Trump's plan in January 2020, issue a clear statement that the plan does not represent US policy, and focus on policies aimed at protecting the rights of Palestinians and Israelis.
While the United States has historically sought to ensure that Israelis 'rights to live in safety are protected, it has been less concerned with Palestinians' rights to freedom from violence and restrictions on freedom of movement, home demolitions, prolonged administrative detention, and dispossession.
Requirements from the new administration
The new administration should reaffirm that Israeli settlements are illegal, and that the United States will not recognize Israel's annexation of any part of the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, and reaffirm and reinforce the distinction between Israel and the occupied territories in all US dealings, including reimposing restrictions. Geography requires the bi-national industrial research and development institution, the bilateral science foundation between the United States and Israel, and the American-Israeli Fund for Agricultural Research and Development, so that funding is not granted to Israeli research and development projects in the occupied territories, and that it be made clear that during opposition to boycott campaigns, the withdrawal Investments and the imposition of sanctions against Israel, does the United States not consider, at first glance, these measures as anti-Semitic and should guarantee the rights of freedom of expression.
The administration is also required to resume contact with the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, allow it to reopen its mission office in Washington, reopen the American consulate in East Jerusalem, separately from the United States embassy in Israel, support the reopening of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, and affirm its intention The United States opened an embassy in East Jerusalem, and focused efforts on ending the blockade imposed on Gaza, and achieving security for those living in southern Israel and Gaza, by strengthening permanent ceasefire arrangements between the armed factions operating in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli government, and putting pressure on Israel to The Palestinian communities in Area C do not threaten with further displacement, confiscation of land, restrictions on their movement, infrastructure development, construction and allowing them access to agricultural lands, and work to remove Israeli obstacles to the development of the Palestinian private sector.
And refinancing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which takes care of Palestinian refugees until their rights are fulfilled.
To discourage Israel's efforts to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state
Refrain from measures that urge Israeli policies to seek to prevent any peace agreement or the establishment of a Palestinian state, including encouraging political actors looking to establish a single, non-democratic Jewish state, between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.
And the United States should have an interest in encouraging more favorable conditions for a change in Israeli policy toward the pursuit of a viable peace and an end to the occupation.
Even before the Trump administration, American policy often made it very easy for Israelis to assume this, and in this way the occupation could be permanent, absolutely without cost.
And the new administration must abstain from using the right of veto in the United Nations Security Council, if this undermines international law or conflicts with US policy.
Subject Israel to human rights standards in terms of receiving aid
Work with the European Union, its member states and other third parties, including international forums, to achieve the above-mentioned goals.
The United States should stop obstructing efforts by multilateral bodies and third parties to separate Israel from the occupied territories, including with regard to updating the United Nations Human Rights Council database of businesses operating in settlements, and avoid entering into negotiations with Israel is about the so-called acceptable settlement expansion, ensuring greater transparency and accountability in relation to security assistance to Israel, so that Israel can be subject to American human rights and other standards for aid recipients, and help and encourage Palestinians to undertake their political renewal, embrace accountable democratic policies, and promote reconciliation Interior, and make room for nonviolent strategies to achieve their goals.
The Palestinian leadership must not be absolved of blame because its security services mistreat its people, and these national agencies are neither representative nor accountable to their constituencies, and have failed to follow a coherent and effective approach.
It has contributed to the division of the Palestinians, and has inhibited their efforts to devise a credible strategy accordingly.
The new US administration must work with international partners to encourage and facilitate Palestinian political renewal, including the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, the presidential elections, the Palestinian National Council elections, the removal of Israeli obstacles to the participation of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem in such elections, and support and promotion of political reconciliation. Palestinian internal affairs, and the requirement that the United States participate in establishing a Palestinian unity government that pledges not to resort to violence.
Reforming the Palestinian government
Work with third parties to advance Palestinian governance reforms, and to ensure greater transparency and accountability in its financial affairs.
They should also work with the Palestinians to seek reforms regarding the financial assistance provided by the Palestinian Authority to the families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, so that this aid is linked to the level of financial hardship they face, or the standard of living of their families.
There are other elements, of course. President-elect Biden welcomed the normalization deals between Israel and many Arab countries, and his administration is expected to continue this endeavor.
But in doing so, the administration must ensure that such deals contribute to Palestinian welfare and conflict resolution, rather than detract from it, and more broadly promote regional de-escalation and peace consolidation.
In addition, the Biden administration should take a multilateral approach to the conflict, coordinate with Europe and re-engage Jordan in its efforts.
• The new administration must reaffirm that the Israeli settlements are illegal, and that America will not recognize Israel's annexation of any part of the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem, and reaffirm and reinforce the differentiation between Israel and the occupied territories.
• The new US administration should work with international partners to encourage and facilitate Palestinian political renewal, including the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, the presidential elections, and the Palestinian National Council elections, remove Israeli obstacles to the participation of Palestinians living in East Jerusalem in such elections, and support and promote reconciliation Internal Palestinian political.
• The Trump administration’s multiple decisions, including recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and cutting aid to the Palestinians, have seriously compromised prospects for a just solution to the conflict.
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