Everything for next to nothing: this is what the US proposes to give Israel in order that it agree to continue peace talks with the Palestinians, writes Khaled Amayreh The Palestinian Authority (PA) reacted indignantly but helplessly to the reported package of incentives the Obama administration has offered Israel in exchange for agreeing to "freeze" settlement construction in the West Bank for 90 days. PA officials said the incentives would embolden Israel even further and make any real progress in the peace process less likely. "With these huge amounts of weapons, with these comprehensive diplomatic guarantees, why would Israel even think of giving concessions or make peace?" asked Ghassan Al-Khatib, head of the Government Information Office in Ramallah. Another Palestinian official said the incentives amounted to "a total surrender of American political will to Israel". According to written assurances, Israel would receive far-reaching offers and guarantees that no other US administration agreed to cede to Israel. This includes offering Israel 20 F-35 fighters, Israel's control of the entire Jordan Valley for an unspecific period of time after a final border is established, and a guarantee that the US will veto any anti-Israeli resolution at the UN Security Council. The incentives deal, which has not been finalised, is still vague with regards to freezing settlement building in East Jerusalem. Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, insisted that Jerusalem was not included in the deal. "Jerusalem is not a settlement, and Israel won't stop building in the capital," Netanyahu has said. However, diplomatic sources in Ramallah have pointed out that Israel might agree to take some "symbolic measures" in East Jerusalem to persuade the Palestinians to rejoin the talks. Meanwhile, Israel is trying to take advantage of the incentives by insisting on the inclusion of a clause that would make the US refrain from asking Israel, once again, to initiate another settlement freeze, regardless of the situation on the ground. The effective bribe being offered to Israel has raised eyebrows, even among Israel's most rightwing political currents who deemed the move "a golden deal that Israel can't reject," and that "such a deal must never be missed." Some Israeli leaders affiliated with Netanyahu's Likud Party were quoted as saying that Israel should accept the deal and at the same time stick to its settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The inference was that Israel could always circumvent any promises given to the Americans vis-à-vis a settlement freeze and that in any case the Obama administration is in no position to pressure Israel given its "insecure domestic standing" especially in light of the outcome of the recent midterm congressional elections. The main reason for Israel's embrace of the incentives deal is the inclusion of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (FSJ). Considered the best in US military technology, the FSJ is part of a joint multinational acquisition programme for the US Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps as well as eight international partners. By allowing Israel to acquire these state-of-the-art fighters, Israel effectively joins the US and the other eight countries as members of a Western alliance working together on the largest military aircraft procurement ever made. According to one American strategic analyst, Israel is not just receiving a gift of 20 F-35s, it is also becoming part of a procurement programme designed to run through 2026 and possibly longer. According to the Global Security report, the F-35 fleet "may well stay in service until 2060 or longer". It is not clear what prompted the Obama administration to offer Israel the package of incentives in return for so little and with such uncertainty. Some say the package is partially intended to benefit the US military industrial complex; others suggest that the Obama administration has been effectively demoralised, having seen Israeli leaders circumvent, outmanoeuvre and beat the administration on its own turf. Still others interpret the unprecedented offering by citing growing desperation in Washington for any diplomatic achievement that would warrant and justify the Nobel Peace Prize Obama won last year, especially in light of his most modest achievements and many failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is little doubt that Israel will be able to score a double hit in its current standoff with Washington: get the package of incentives and also have its way in the West Bank. Israel would receive the best and utmost America military technology in return for strategically insignificant promises that Israel won't likely keep. Underscoring its ill-will towards a just and dignified peace with neighbouring Arab states, the Israeli Knesset this week passed a bill that obliges the government not to agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem without the approval of an absolute majority in the Knesset followed by a referendum in which a majority of the people would have to support any withdrawal. Israel annexed both East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in violation of international law in 1967. Israel has also built extensive Jewish colonies in both areas, which makes it difficult to return to the status quo ante before the occupation in 1967. Another Israeli provocation has been the approval by the Israeli government for changing the timeless features of Al-Aqsa Mosque's Buraq Wall, known to Jews as the Western Wall or Wailing Wall. The scheme appears aimed at erasing Islamic history at the site, ruled as wholly Islamic by the League of Nations during the British Mandate era. The Israeli government allocated a budget of $25 million to expand and develop the site as well as fund archaeological excavations. The Israeli plan would be the most extensive alteration of the features of Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) since 1967. Meanwhile, the PA, weak and helpless, is considering appealing to the United Nations General Assembly for recognition of a Palestinian state in light of Israel's unilateral steps in the occupied territories and also US unwillingness -- or inability -- to force Israel to end its occupation of Arab land. PA leader Mahmoud Abbas met this week in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The two are believed to have agreed that the Palestinians would go the UN as a last resort, if current US efforts fail. However, even receiving a positive resolution from the UN General Assembly would not radically alter the situation on the ground, as without the intercession of the UN Security Council there would be no means available of enforcing the consensus of the General Assembly which for decades has supported, in majority, the rights of the Palestinians. The circle is squared when the US includes in its incentive package to continue wielding its Security Council veto in Israel's favour.
