On the biggest political stage of all, the Palestinian president found his voice and called the longest-running military occupation of the modern world what it is: “a racist and colonial occupation” that this year launched “a new war of genocide against the Palestinian people”.
Israeli politicians, were, of course, outraged, as were their reflexive supporters in the United States. But for the most part, Mahmoud Abbas was merely saying it as it is. The occupation of Palestine has continued for decades and despite the seeking of peace from Palestinians and, indeed, with the Arab Peace Plan, the entire Arab world, there is no Israeli partner for peace. What Israel craves is land and control above all else. The 20 years of talks since Oslo have led precisely nowhere.
That is why, in front of the body which created the problem in the first place (by putting forward the deeply biased 1947 UN partition plan), Mr Abbas declared the peace process dead. “It is impossible,” he said, “to return to the cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the substance of the matter and the fundamental question.” These negotiations are really talks and talks, endlessly keeping the Palestinians occupied, while the Israelis annex more land, build more segregated roads and estates, and lock up and kill more Palestinians.
Instead, Mr Abbas took the initiative. He would, he told the world’s leaders, seek a clear deadline for Israel’s withdrawal from the territories it has occupied. Setting a timetable, backed by the UN Security Council, would mean recognising the futility of current negotiations and ending the status quo – a status quo that has only benefited Israel.
Despite the usual fluttering of condemnatory buzzwords by Israeli officials – “diplomatic terrorism” being the mangled English phrase most used – more moderate Israelis should recognise this as a useful step. By shutting off all legitimate avenues for change, Israel is offering only the Hamas option: violence.
In effect, Mr Abbas was no longer appealing to legality – Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains illegal under international law – but to morality. The occupation of Palestine is a festering sore in the Middle East and in the world. No one of conscience can support it. Mr Abbas was calling on the world’s leaders to recognise this and give Israel a clear timetable to end its occupation.
