When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress on Thursday, he began by telling the assembled legislators they were meeting “at a crossroads of history”. Mr Netanyahu is right about that, albeit for entirely the wrong reasons.
What he failed to acknowledge is that the cause of Palestine has rarely attracted so much righteous support from the international community as it does today.
It is only a week since the International Court of Justice ruled that that Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal. Another case at the ICJ, accusing Israel of genocide, is continuing and on Friday, the UK said it would no longer be challenging International Criminal Court arrest warrant proceedings for Mr Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
In addition, seven more UN member states recognised the state of Palestine this year and protests against the war in Gaza are a regular feature in many national capitals – including Washington, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators made their voices heard outside the Capitol building as Mr Netanyahu delivered his address.
In contrast, Israel’s current political class increasingly finds itself on the wrong side of history. On July 17, the same day that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that Israeli land grabs in the occupied West Bank were “driving a stake through the heart of any prospect for a two-state solution”, members of the country’s parliament overwhelmingly voted against the establishment of a Palestinian state – not just at this juncture, but even as part of an eventual political settlement. Days later, Israeli politicians approved the first reading of three bills to sever all relations with the UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing vital services for Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.
Mr Netanyahu’s speech in Washington seemed primarily for domestic consumption in Israel, where it was broadcast in the early evening. But even many Israelis were left disappointed by its content. There was little mention – if any – of the need for a ceasefire, a Palestinian state or, most notably, US President Joe Biden’s three-phase peace plan, a credible proposal that received backing from the UN Security Council on June 10.
Some in Mr Biden’s party have been irked not only by this intransigence from an ally, but by the unfolding horrors of the war in Gaza; Mr Netanyahu’s speech was boycotted by several Democratic legislators. But it is revealing that the Israeli leader felt able to ignore Mr Biden’s internationally endorsed peace plan while repeating the illusory line of “total victory” over Hamas.
The rising death toll in Gaza and the continuing plight of the remaining Israeli hostages shows that a new way forward is needed, particularly regarding the US-Israel relationship. The coming US presidential election provides an opportunity for a reset, with a chance for whoever wins in November to rewrite the script and rebalance the relationship – in reality, it is the US that holds the cards, and it is past time it behaved that way.
The alternative to a peace plan is continuing violence and occupation in Gaza that is in danger of becoming a forever war, the permanent displacement of Israeli and Arab civilians and a hiatus on regional bridge building. We are at a crossroads of history, but this conflict is stuck in a dead end. The time to find a way out is long overdue.
