Biden and United Nations: Are you listening to Netanyahu?
On June 10, President Biden and the United Nations Security Council slipped into Security Council Resolution 2735, their vision of the Palestinian Arab state they would both like to see created between Israel and Jordan.
Drafted by America – Resolution 2735 reiterated the:
“unwavering commitment to the vision of two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, liv[ing] side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions, and in this regard stresses the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority”
The UN Press Release did not mention this highly-significant decision.
By July 17 the Biden-Security Council’s vision had been blown out of the water when Israel’s Knesset overwhelmingly rejected by 68 – 9 the creation of any Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan:
“The Knesset of Israel firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the Land of Israel will pose an existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region.
It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a radical Islamic terror base, working in coordination with the Iranian-led axis to eliminate the State of Israel.
Promoting the idea of a Palestinian state at this time will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters to see this as a victory, thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East.”
If Biden and the Security Council need any more convincing that any Palestinian State is just a mirage – they should heed the words of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Time on 4 August:
In the past, you had talked about “state minus” for Palestinians, or “autonomy plus.” But can you explain why the end point to resolving this conflict is not a Palestinian state?
I’ve always said that my vision for an arrangement, a long-term arrangement, with the Palestinians would mean that they should have all the powers to govern themselves but none of the powers to threaten us. That means that the overriding security responsibility will be left in Israel’s hands, and that’s a detraction of sovereign powers. There’s no question about it. That’s the only reasonable arrangement that we could have. In fact, when we left areas adjacent to Israel and relinquished our, that power, we had an immediate entry and takeover by Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon, when we left Lebanon, Hamas when we left Gaza. So I don’t think we should repeat that mistake. We have to have the capacity to ensure overall security by Israel. That means that any arrangement with the Palestinians would have those powers that they need to govern themselves, but not the powers that could threaten us. Chief of them—security.
Netanyahu said he had not sought annexation of the West Bank – his goal was a negotiated settlement – but he could not see that happening without some substantial change in the Palestinian Authority:
“They teach their children basically the same thing that Hamas teaches them: that Israel has to be destroyed, it has to be dissolved. They glorify suicide bombers. They pay for slay, the more Jews you kill, more they give the families of these murderers, or the murderers themselves. This doesn’t bode well for peace.”
Biden and the Security Council’s solution is dead. Time they focused on the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine Solution as the way forward.
Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
