Since George W. Bush launched his "global war on terror" in 2001, the United States has abandoned any serious desire to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even Barack Obama, after some initial inclinations, in 2016 granted, without the slightest condition, an unprecedented $38 billion in military aid to Israel over 10 years. As for Donald Trump, his first stint in the White House was accompanied by the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, while the US consulate in East Jerusalem, hitherto focused on the Palestinian population, was closed.
Not only has Joe Biden not reversed any of these faits accomplis, but he has given massive military, diplomatic and financial support to Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing war on Gaza since October 2023. The appointments already announced by Trump, which are unlikely to be challenged by the Republican majority in Congress, augur well for an administration even more hostile to the Palestinians and their rights than previous ones.
A completely new team
Trump has not retained any of his 2017-2021 aides to manage the Middle East, either specifically or as part of a more general role. Even his son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom he tasked with drafting the 2020 "deal of the century," has not been reappointed. This agreement, signed between only Trump and Netanyahu in the White House, reduced the future Palestine to a rump state on a portion of the West Bank, with no territorial continuity. At the time, the American president was quick to point out the opportunity that such a "deal" offered his developer friends, given the complex network of bridges, tunnels and bypasses that the carving up of Palestine would make possible. But Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, dared to refuse a plan negotiated without him and against him. As a result of this failure, Trump has just appointed as his special envoy to the Middle East not his son-in-law but his golfing partner, Steven Witkoff, a real estate developer with no diplomatic experience whatsoever. There is no doubt that the "art of the deal," of which Trump claims to be an expert, with Witkoff at the helm this time, will lead to an even more brutal diktat being imposed on the Palestinians than in 2020.
The new head of US diplomacy, Marco Rubio, a senator from Florida, has long distinguished himself in Congress for his many anti-Palestinian initiatives. In November 2023, he accused members of Hamas of being "vicious animals," responsible "100%" for the suffering of the people of Gaza. In May, on his return from Israel, he criticized Biden for his "weakness" in encouraging "Israel's enemies," who are also "our enemies," and this "no matter what the international community says." In September, he campaigned against a United Nations General Assembly resolution demanding Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, preferring instead to celebrate the "Israelis rightfully living in their historic homeland."
You have 45.41% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.