What will President Trump mean for Palestine?
By Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada, 9 November 2016. On a day that most people
expected not to see, we can say few things with certainty. One of them is that
Hillary Clinton would have been a disastrous president for those supporting the
Palestinian struggle for their rights.
expected not to see, we can say few things with certainty. One of them is that
Hillary Clinton would have been a disastrous president for those supporting the
Palestinian struggle for their rights.
President-elect Donald Trump
shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence as he gives his acceptance
speech during his election night rally, in New York on 9 November.
shakes hands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence as he gives his acceptance
speech during his election night rally, in New York on 9 November.
John LocherAP Photo
Her failed campaign pitched her
as the natural successor to President Barack Obama, the Democrat who just
unconditionally handed Israel the biggest military aid package in history.
as the natural successor to President Barack Obama, the Democrat who just
unconditionally handed Israel the biggest military aid package in history.
During the Democratic primary
campaign, Clinton marketed herself as a belligerent and violently hawkish ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu against the Palestinian people.
campaign, Clinton marketed herself as a belligerent and violently hawkish ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu against the Palestinian people.
She vowed to make blocking the nonviolent
Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement a priority of
her would-be administration.
Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement a priority of
her would-be administration.
She went out of her way to
campaign against the mildest efforts to hold Israel accountable, including appealing directly to members of her
United Methodist Church last spring to vote against divestment from companies
that assist and profit from Israel’s occupation.
campaign against the mildest efforts to hold Israel accountable, including appealing directly to members of her
United Methodist Church last spring to vote against divestment from companies
that assist and profit from Israel’s occupation.
Clinton positioned herself as an
anti-Palestinian extremist at a time when the Democratic Party base showed
itself more open than ever to embracing Palestinian
rights.
anti-Palestinian extremist at a time when the Democratic Party base showed
itself more open than ever to embracing Palestinian
rights.
Her extreme support for Israel is
just one of the many ways she and her party operatives pandered to donorsand revealed themselves to
be out of touch with large segments of the country they had taken for granted.
just one of the many ways she and her party operatives pandered to donorsand revealed themselves to
be out of touch with large segments of the country they had taken for granted.
But Hillary Clinton will not be
president.
president.
President Trump
The only thing that can be said
about President-elect Donald Trump with any confidence is that no one knows
exactly what he will do.
about President-elect Donald Trump with any confidence is that no one knows
exactly what he will do.
Earlier in the campaign he insisted that he would be even-handed in
dealings with Israelis and Palestinians, driving many of Israel’s most
fanatical and neoconservative supporters into Clinton’s arms.
dealings with Israelis and Palestinians, driving many of Israel’s most
fanatical and neoconservative supporters into Clinton’s arms.
But facing a backlash, he quickly
pivoted, promising Netanyahu he would recognize
Jerusalem as the “undivided capital of the State of Israel,” and actively encouraging Israel to continue
building colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank.
pivoted, promising Netanyahu he would recognize
Jerusalem as the “undivided capital of the State of Israel,” and actively encouraging Israel to continue
building colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Trump still showed flashes of
unwillingness to appease. After winning his party’s nomination in July, he
brushed off a reporter’s question about whether he would follow the “tradition”
of other Republican candidates and visit Israel.
unwillingness to appease. After winning his party’s nomination in July, he
brushed off a reporter’s question about whether he would follow the “tradition”
of other Republican candidates and visit Israel.
“It’s a tradition, but I’m not
traditional,” Trump shot back.
traditional,” Trump shot back.
Even if these changes reveal an
erratic man with no fixed views, Trump’s most pro-Israel positions don’t differ
much in substance from the policies of Obama, on whose watch settlement
construction more than matched the pace during the
term of President George W. Bush.
erratic man with no fixed views, Trump’s most pro-Israel positions don’t differ
much in substance from the policies of Obama, on whose watch settlement
construction more than matched the pace during the
term of President George W. Bush.
Visceral fears
In his victory speech last night, Trump returned
to a regular theme: “We will get along with all other nations willing to get
along with us … We’ll have great relationships. We expect to have great, great
relationships.”
to a regular theme: “We will get along with all other nations willing to get
along with us … We’ll have great relationships. We expect to have great, great
relationships.”
That will be little comfort to
people in the US and around the world whose visceral fears are stoked by the
forces that helped propel Trump’s rise: his racist baiting and incitement
against Muslims and Mexicans, his boasts about sexually assaulting women, his
denial of global warming and his indulgence of anti-Semitic white supremacists, including the
Ku Klux Klan, which gave him its endorsement.
people in the US and around the world whose visceral fears are stoked by the
forces that helped propel Trump’s rise: his racist baiting and incitement
against Muslims and Mexicans, his boasts about sexually assaulting women, his
denial of global warming and his indulgence of anti-Semitic white supremacists, including the
Ku Klux Klan, which gave him its endorsement.
The Israeli counterparts of these
vile American racists are celebrating Trump’s victory today.
vile American racists are celebrating Trump’s victory today.
Netanyahu congratulated Trump, calling him a “true friend of Israel.”
“I am confident President-elect
Trump and I will continue to strengthen the alliance between our two countries
and bring it to greater heights,” the Israeli prime minister added.
Trump and I will continue to strengthen the alliance between our two countries
and bring it to greater heights,” the Israeli prime minister added.
Naftali Bennett, the Israeli education
minister who has boasted about his killings of Arabs,
hailed the coming Trump era.
minister who has boasted about his killings of Arabs,
hailed the coming Trump era.
“Trump’s victory is an
opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state
in the center of the country, which would hurt our security and just cause,”
Bennett said.
opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state
in the center of the country, which would hurt our security and just cause,”
Bennett said.
But the so-called two-state
solution was already dead and Clinton would not have changed that.
solution was already dead and Clinton would not have changed that.
Fighting back
The Palestinian cause has already
shifted to a struggle for equality against an entrenched system of Israeli
occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid anchored and rooted in support
from the US bipartisan establishment.
shifted to a struggle for equality against an entrenched system of Israeli
occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid anchored and rooted in support
from the US bipartisan establishment.
Palestinians were not waiting for
the result of the US election to decide which way their struggle would go.
the result of the US election to decide which way their struggle would go.
Trump has won, but some things
have not changed. Over the last decade, support for Palestinian rights has been
rising in the United States, particularly among the young – and in the
increasingly diverse Democratic Party base that has been utterly failed by its
establishment leadership.
have not changed. Over the last decade, support for Palestinian rights has been
rising in the United States, particularly among the young – and in the
increasingly diverse Democratic Party base that has been utterly failed by its
establishment leadership.
More than ever, people understand
that US support for Israel comes not only from the same places where support
for white supremacy, mass incarceration, unchecked police violence and US
militarism and imperialism are strongest.
that US support for Israel comes not only from the same places where support
for white supremacy, mass incarceration, unchecked police violence and US
militarism and imperialism are strongest.
It also stems from the liberal,
pro-human rights circles that championed Clinton, who more often than not
equate colonizer and colonized, oppressor and oppressed, occupation and
resistance.
pro-human rights circles that championed Clinton, who more often than not
equate colonizer and colonized, oppressor and oppressed, occupation and
resistance.
This base has no choice now but
to rally from its despair, which at any rate the election of either candidate
would have precipitated, to keep organizing and fighting for its rights and the
rights of people around the world.
to rally from its despair, which at any rate the election of either candidate
would have precipitated, to keep organizing and fighting for its rights and the
rights of people around the world.
The truth is, we had no choice
but to wage that fight anyway.
but to wage that fight anyway.
