Palestinians as Pawns

by | Feb 10, 2020

Trump’s “vision” for Palestine well illustrates that in his eyes (not to mention the eyes of Netanyahu, Kushner, and others), the Palestinians are mere pawns to be manipulated in the service of Israel’s and Trump’s designs.

This can be readily seen in an obscure provision of Trump’s plan, which “contemplates the possibility” that Israel and the future pseudo-state of Palestine could together redraw their boundaries so that nearly a dozen Palestinian towns within Israel, in an area adjacent to the line separating Israel from the West Bank known as the Triangle, would become part of the future pseudo-state. Were that to happen, the residents, who today are Israeli citizens, would lose that status without their consent and become citizens of the new pseudo-state. That would be an injustice.

While Palestinians are at best second-class citizens in Israel, they evidently do not like being ordered about by two entities they distrust: the Israeli government and the Israel-empowered Palestinian Authority, both corrupt and unmindful of individual rights. Netanyahu would no doubt like to see these towns transferred to the future pseudo-state (if there must be one) because that would mean fewer Palestinian Israeli voters and members of parliament. It would be ethnic cleansing by another means.

Read more here.

About Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the executive editor of The Libertarian Institute and a contributing editor at Antiwar.com. He is the former senior editor at the Cato Institute and Institute for Humane Studies; former editor of The Freeman, published by the Foundation for Economic Education; and former vice president at the Future of Freedom Foundation. His latest books are Coming to Palestine and What Social Animals Owe to Each Other.

Our Books

latest book lineup.

Related Articles

Related

The Waco Tragedy

Last year, I sat down with author David Hardy and filmmaker Dan Gifford for a 13-hour in-depth review of the ATF, FBI and US Army's slaughter of the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas on this day in 1993. Also feat. James Tabor, Paul Fatta, David Thibodeau, Jim Bovard,...

read more

TSA Gets a Raise

Are you bummed because inflation's got you again wit' yer broke ass? Well take heart. Federal Government employees are doing better than ever at your expense. So at least they've got that going for them.

read more

Lexington and Concord: The Fire Begins

The divorce proceedings between London and America began on this day in 1775, 249 years ago. In Episode 011 of my podcast, I did a historical memorium to the events at Lexington and Concord. In honor of this day, give it a listen.

read more