Well… U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated that he strongly believes peace is possible between Israel and the Palestinians in April this coming year, about four more months from now. He sure sounds optimistic, but are we sure he is not making an early April Fools Day joke?On Friday, Kerry held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, in occupied Jerusalem. I mean, he is not sending a message about Jerusalem and the final status, or is he?!
Kerry was supposed to leave the region, but the snowstorm striking different parts of occupied Palestine, pushed him to delay his departure.
He and Bibi are now cuddled under a warm blanket, cracking jokes and of course holding “serious” talks about the prospects of peace in the Middle East.
Kerry has been flying back and forth allegedly trying to get Israel and the Palestinians end the conflict, sign an agreement, smile to the camera and be happy.
As part of their cuddled talks, Netanyahu and Kerry discussed the third and fourth phases of releasing veteran Palestinian detainees this month and in March as part of what is referred to as goodwill gestures on Israel’s behalf.
He seems to think that if Israel released a few dozen detainees, including veteran detainees, then everybody will be happy, and we forget about the thousands of detainees still imprisoned.
Forget about occupied Jerusalem, refugees, borders, and above all the ongoing injustice and oppression inflicted on the Palestinians even before Israel was created in the historic land of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians, and the destruction of their villages and towns.
I believe that choosing April is a good touch on his part, you know, when April comes and goes and peace is still dying, we can all smile and say what a nice joke.
The United States indeed wants peace in the Middle East, even Israel does, but what is the peace they believe in, is it the same peace and justice the Palestinians are seeking, or just Israel’s version of peace?
Tel Aviv wants security, illegal settlements, extended occupation in a different shape, they are expecting the Palestinians to give up and give their rights away.
Millions of Palestinian refugees are facing very difficult conditions, internally and externally displaced, living in refugee camps, enduring extreme poverty, yet, carrying the dream of return.
Kerry and his bodies are not talking about justice, not even mentioning the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages and towns in historic Palestine, sometimes Bibi suggests “allowing some to return”, of course not to their lands and homes in what became Israel.
Let’s see, when the Palestinians were forced out of their homes, from their homeland in 1948, approximately 750.000 Palestinians became refugees, after leading a life filled with trade, culture, agriculture and art, became refugees.
The UNRWA identifies the refugees as those who lived in Palestine in the period between June 1946 and May of 1948.
Following the 1967 six-day war, when Israel captured the rest of Palestine (West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem) another massive wave of Palestinians became refugees.
The number of Palestinian refugees is now more than 6.8 Million, including 4.2 Million internally displaced in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The entire Palestinian population is around 12 Million.
Kerry also deliberately ignores the fact that Israel is still building and expanding its illegitimate settlements ravaging through the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, robbing the Palestinians of their livelihood, their lands, and their daily bread.
He is ignoring the crime that continues to happen, the theft of Palestinian lands, the theft of natural resources, the dehumanization of the Palestinian people, and instead seems to be sitting with Bibi cracking some jokes and talking of peace.
The dozens of thousands of homes destroyed, scores of thousands of slain Palestinians, hundreds of thousands of wounded and maimed Palestinians, just because his country and the international community failed to end injustice, and now are talking about “peace” without justice, dignity and liberation.
Dozens of thousands of lands bulldozed, more than 2.5 million trees uprooted since 1967, and Kerry thinks he can simply wave his magic wand and “there was peace”.
So Mr. Kerry, in order to reach real, just and comprehensive peace, we need to achieve justice, justice to every Palestinian, killed, maimed, imprisoned, displaced, and dehumanized. Those crimes are still happening.
What is the peace you are talking about? Peace in Palestine, the stolen lands, illegal settlement, illegal apartheid wall?
Justice must be served; Israel must be held accountable for all of its crimes, for the violence and counter attacks it caused.
Mr. Kerry, why don’t you just stop cracking jokes, you are not funny, have never been funny, and will never be.
You cannot be the mediator and at the same time the supplier of weapons, billions of dollars, and the protector who kept Israel safe from being held accountable for its crimes, and at the same time the “fair mediator”.
In order to reach peace we need to lay everything on the table, not only talk how to divide West Bank so that Israel can retain its settlements and settlement blocks.
We need to talk about Palestine, from the river to the sea so that we can address every single issue in the proper way.
We can live in peace, we can create a one democratic state, or two open states, but the important thing is to achieve justice.
Denying the Palestinians their right to their land, to their own country will never lead to peace.
Leaders can sign agreements, hold conferences and party all night long but, without justice, those peace deals are not even worth the ink.
