"Arab states would back Palestinian-Israeli peace talks to end the decades-old conflict if it guaranteed the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel," according to the 28th Arab Summit communiqué read by Secretary General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who called on states not to transfer their embassies to occupied Jerusalem. Such a grave act would fuel rage in the Arab street and would have far-reaching negative consequences in the Muslim world. "Israel is continuing to expand settlements and wreck chances of peace ... There is no peace or stability in the region without a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause through a two-state solution," King Abdullah II of Jordan firmly stated at the opening of the summit. He reiterated that "the Palestinian quest for statehood remains the central issue in the Middle East." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also criticized Israeli policy in his speech to the summit and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres endorsed a two-state solution, telling summit participants this was the "only path to ensure that Palestinians and Israelis can realize their national aspirations and live in peace, security and dignity." However, the UN official under US pressure was earlier forced to reject the latest UN report published in March 2017 condemning Israeli apartheid policies. The withdrawal of the report prompted the resignation of Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), which published the report. The UN official became a hero in the eyes of all freedom-loving people when she stood up against Israeli aggression and US threats and biased policy. The official UN report concludes that "Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole." It finds "beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crimes of apartheid" as defined in international law. It urges national governments to "support boycott, divestment and sanctions activities and respond positively to calls for such initiatives." Guterres like many other UN officials before him cowered under US threats and interference to protect Israel and never to hold it accountable for its human rights violations. The US administration remains under the control of the Israeli lobby and the state of Israel continues to bully the United Nations and every official who dares to threaten its designs to create greater Israel. The failure of the United Nations to hold Israel accountable for its apartheid policies emboldens the Jewish state to build more settlements despite worldwide condemnation. The incriminating UN report concludes that Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole. Aware of the seriousness of this allegation, the authors of the report conclude that available evidence establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that Israel is guilty of policies and practices that constitute the crime of apartheid as legally defined in instruments of international law. This report finds that "the strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian people is the principal method by which Israel imposes an apartheid regime. It first examines how the history of war, partition, de jure and de facto annexation and the prolonged occupation in Palestine has led to the Palestinian people being divided into different geographic regions administered by distinct sets of law. This fragmentation operates to stabilize the Israeli regime of racial domination over the Palestinians and to weaken the will and capacity of the Palestinian people to mount a unified and effective resistance. Different methods are deployed depending on where Palestinians live. This is the core means by which Israel enforces apartheid and at the same time impedes international recognition of how the system works as a complementary whole to comprise an apartheid regime." The apartheid state continues a six-decade reign of terror against Palestinians with complete impunity. The world watches while Palestinians endure daily humiliations at checkpoints, and suffer restrictions, curfews and demeaning conditions imposed at any time. They live in constant fear of being harassed, arrested, tortured or killed. What is more threatening to the region is Israel's capability of carrying out terrorist operations and blaming it on the Arab and Muslim world. Whenever it is cornered and pressured by the international community and asked to change its aggressive policy, Israel creates a global diversion to turn the tables against the Arabs, and make the world less critical of its barbaric regime. Israel has a history of carrying out assassinations and terrorist operations in different parts of the world. The Mossad has murdered many Palestinian leaders and Palestinian sympathizers. The Israeli intelligence agency monitors any criticism against Israel and targets anyone who stands in the way of its expansionist plans. To this day Israel has not defined its borders and it obviously does not intend to accept a two-state solution. Arab leaders stated at the end of the 28th Arab Summit that they would be ready to have a historic reconciliation with Israel in return for its withdrawal from land occupied in 1967. However, in the words of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Qatar, "Israel remains an obstacle in the face of efforts for establishing a viable and comprehensive peace in the Middle East." Samar Fatany is a radio broadcaster and writer. She can be reached at [email protected]
