Kerry isn\u2019t on their side. He\u2019s going all out for \u2018peace\u2019 on Israeli\u00a0government.<\/i><\/p>\n
Has John Kerry<\/a> no shame? First he cuddles up to both Palestinians and Israelis and announces the renewal of a \u201cpeace process\u201d which the Palestinians don\u2019t trust and the Israelis don\u2019t want. Then Israel announces that it will build 1,200 new homes for Jews \u2013 and Jews only \u2013 on occupied Palestinian land. And now Kerry tells the Palestinians \u2013 the weak and occupied Palestinians \u2013 that they are running out of time if they want a state of their own.<\/p>\n Any other \u201cstatesman\u201d involved in any other dispute who told an occupied people that if they didn\u2019t make peace their occupiers would steal even more of their land, would be regarded as an outcast, a fellow thief, a potential criminal. But no. John Kerry announces that illegal Jewish colonies \u2013 or \u201csettlements\u201d as he likes to call them, along with the world\u2019s Israel-compliant press \u2013 are \u201cillegitimate\u201d. I think he meant internationally \u201cillegal\u201d. But it doesn\u2019t matter. In the first 10 years of the Oslo \u201cprocess\u201d, the number of Israelis living on stolen Palestinian land doubled to 400,000. No wonder Kerry muttered that Israel\u2019s latest theft announcement was \u201cto some degree [sic] expected\u201d.<\/p>\n You bet it was. Israel<\/a> has been running rings around cowardly US administrations for decades, ignoring Washington\u2019s squirming embarrassment every time it went for another land grab on someone else\u2019s property. The Oslo accords, remember, envisioned a five-year period in which Israelis and Palestinians would refrain from taking \u201cany unilateral steps that would prejudice the outcome of the negotiations\u201d. Israel simply ignored this. As it still does. And what does Kerry advise the Palestinians? That they should not \u201creact adversely\u201d!<\/p>\n This is preposterous. Kerry must know \u2013 as the UN and the EU know \u2013 that there is not the slightest chance of \u201cPalestine\u201d existing as a state because the Israelis have already stolen too much land on the West Bank. Anyone who drives around the occupied territories realises at once (unless they are politically blind) that there is as much chance of building a state in the West Bank \u2013 whose map of colonies and non-colonised districts looks like the smashed windscreen of a car \u2013 as there is waiting for the return of the Ottoman Empire<\/a>.<\/p>\n And Kerry? He\u2019s a man whose every statement must be colonised by the word \u201csic\u201d. Take this, for example. \u201cWe have known [sic] that there was going to be a continuation of some [sic] building [sic] in certain [sic] places, and I think the Palestinians understand that.\u201d I suppose there should be a \u201csic\u201d after \u201cunderstand\u201d as well. And then Kerry tells us that \u201cwhat this\u201d \u2013 he\u2019s talking about the land theft \u2013 \u201cunderscores, actually [sic again], is the importance of getting to the table \u2026 quickly\u201d. In other words, do what you\u2019re told now \u2013 or we\u2019ll let the Israelis snatch even more of your property. In the real world, this is called blackmail.<\/p>\n Then came the ultimate lie: that the \u201cquestion of settlements\u201d is \u201cbest resolved by solving the problem of security and borders\u201d. Tosh. The colonies \u2013 or settlements, as Kerry goes on calling these acts of robbery \u2013 are not being taken by Israel because of \u201csecurity\u201d or \u201cborders\u201d but because the Israeli Right, which continues to dominate the Netanyahu administration, wants the land for itself. Many Israelis don\u2019t. Many Israelis see the vileness of this land theft and condemn it. They deserve the peace and security which the world wishes them. But they won\u2019t get it with colonisation, and they know it.<\/p>\n And Kerry isn\u2019t on their side. He\u2019s going all out for \u201cpeace\u201d on Israeli government terms, and the Palestinians \u2013 \u201ccabined, cribbed, confined\u201d \u2013 have got to shut up and take what they can get. And they will be given a few small morsels. Twenty-six elderly prisoners will be handed over today. Crumbs for Mahmoud Abbas and his merry men. But more colonies for Israel, a country which hasn\u2019t even told John Kerry \u2013 or us \u2013 where its eastern border is. On the old 1967 \u201cgreen line\u201d? Along the colony \u201cline\u201d east of Jerusalem? Or the Jordan river? But for Kerry, it\u2019s \u201churry, hurry, hurry\u201d. Book your seats now, or it will be a full house. What price \u201cPalestine\u201d?<\/p>\n _________________________<\/p>\n Robert Fisk, based in Beirut, is a multiple award-winning journalist on the Middle East and a <\/i>correspondent for <\/i>The Independent, a UK newspaper.\u00a0 He is the author of many books on the region, including The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n