The US is not the only path for Palestinians to find justice

Just a few months after declaring that Middle East peace was achievable within the year, the United States is admitting its frustration. Israel's intransigence is finally seeming to dawn on leaders in Washington. What their response will be is an open question, but the likelihood that the Palestinians will declare a state unilaterally grows by the day. So too does Israel's isolation on the world stage.

As we reported yesterday, more than two dozen former European heads of state and other prominent figures have joined a rare public call for the EU to impose sanctions against Israel and pressure the country to halt its settlement expansion.

This is further good news for the Palestinians in the wake of last week's announcement by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay that they would support the establishment of an independent state.

Despite being offered huge incentives by the Americans, Benjamin Netanyahu's government has consistently snubbed US efforts to strike a deal and refused to consider a settlement freeze that includes East Jerusalem, a non-negotiable condition for the Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas, to reconvene peace talks.

The US has offered Israel security and diplomatic incentives in return for another temporary freeze. One of the carrots Washington dangled was 20 F-35 fighter jets worth US$3 billion (Dh11 billion). If Israel wasn't tempted by that hardware to make even the most temporary of concessions - in this case, a three-month moratorium - it is worth asking what leverage the United States can claim to wield.

History has shown that, where Israel is concerned, ad hoc deals like this won't work. Israel has paid lip service to the possibility of a two-state solution, while in practice it continues to build settlements that make this goal nearly impossible.

It beggars belief that the Americans are blind to this, but given their track record, expecting them to change tack - and act in their own interest - seems overly optimistic. If Washington is unwilling to lead, others must step in. Tough economic sanctions enforced by the European Union would hurt Israel's economy and further push it towards international isolation. Such sanctions need to be long-term. Similar measures marginalised South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s, and led to the collapse of that apartheid regime.

The road to effective economic sanctions is not an easy one. There is a growing international consensus that Israel's policies are unjust. It will now take international will to make a difference for the Palestinians.