FOR THE PALESTINIANS, DEAL-MAKER TRUMP WON’T DELIVER
▶ Cynical budget cuts by the US are a blatant attempt to blackmail Palestinians
After the Jerusalem embassy move, deep cuts to funding of the UN agency that serves Palestinian refugees and a visit to the region by US Vice President Mike Pence that was snubbed by Ramallah, it appeared that US-Palestinian relations had hit an all-time low.
But those ties went into free fall again on Friday as Washington cut a further $200 million in aid to the West Bank and Gaza to redirect that money and “address high-priority projects elsewhere”, the US State Department said.
The funds cuts, which now total more than $500m this year, have left the Palestinians more isolated than ever and threaten to increase the intractability of the conflict that has raged for seven decades.
US President Donald Trump had come into office promising to live up to his deal-maker reputation and strike the “impossible” agreement that could end years of bloodshed, turmoil and acrimony. But, in the eyes of the Palestinians, his actions and his words do not match.
The man who believes he can get what he wants through unilateral and punishing moves on the world stage – be it trade war with China or sanctions on Iran – appears to have picked the wrong strategy if he truly wants to get the Palestinians to the table.
If the billionaire believes that recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, cutting Palestinian aid and squeezing the life out of those who rule in the West Bank and Gaza will make them more willing for concessions to the Israelis, he will find he is sorely mistaken. At a rally on Tuesday, Mr Trump said Jerusalem was off the table but that something “very good” would await the Palestinians if they abandoned their claim to the eastern part of the city. For Palestinian leaders, this would be political suicide.
The latest cuts have again shown them that the American leader does not appear to be serious about peace.
Behind the scenes on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump’s team of Middle East advisers, son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Jason Greenblatt, are crafting what they say is the ultimate peace deal. But neither side wants it.
On a trip to Lithuania, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he did not “see any urgency on the matter” when asked about the plan.
Palestinians have said they do not care what Mr Trump has to offer, although privately they are at least interested to see what Washington’s idea of peace looks like.
Mr Kushner is leading the shaping of that plan, but in emails leaked last month, he spoke of an effort to disrupt the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees. That cost hundreds of already-impoverished Palestinians their livelihoods.
In a moment of despair, one man who lost his Gaza contract tried to set himself on fire, only stopped by his colleagues who saved his life.
Even before the latest cuts, the Palestinians had severed all ties with American officials and said the US could no longer be a mediator in the conflict.
For Mr Netanyahu, who wants to maintain the status quo of a non-sovereign Palestinian entity next to Israel’s borders, this is a situation that only helps him and the Israeli far-right’s cause. So, by dismantling decades of US engagement with the Palestinians, Mr Trump has left them out in the cold unless they give up core tenets of Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s next move will inevitably be to again increase his “diplomatic intifada”, calling on the international community to help his people.
Yet, ever since Mr Trump came into power, all the Palestinians have received are words of support and those of opposition to Mr Trump’s moves. Little action has been coming. Against the most powerful country in the world, that may not be a surprise.
To that end, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza looks set to rage unabated. The UN agency is in its biggest crisis since its founding in 1949, as are the millions of Palestinians it supports.
Hamas, after a year of deadly protests with Israel’s military, may turn its eyes to a new conflict if ceasefire negotiations aided by Egypt do not bear fruit.
West Bank Palestinians, in the territory’s cities and its refugee camps, who are seeing their land appropriated and their leaders become ever more ineffective, will only become more disillusioned.
All the while, this spiral of hopelessness will continue to chip away at the dignity of Palestinians who have suffered years of war, occupation and subjugation by Israel.
So, thanks to Mr Trump and his backers, it appears that peace prospects are once again off the table and consigned to the cabinet draw in both Washington and Ramallah, at least until he leaves office.
Since its formation nearly 70 years ago, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been a vital safety net for Palestinian refugees forced from their homes by Israel’s creation and their descendants. Today it provides education, healthcare and social services to more than five million Palestinians. Yet the administration of US President Donald Trump on Friday decided to cut more than $200 million in funding to the agency, a move that could cost lives and livelihoods. Those in need of urgent healthcare might be denied it; schools could be forced to shut. Despite its ceaseless work, the agency is already short of funds. Earlier this year, 100 employees were laid off in Gaza alone. It is not hard to see why the US administration would attempt to cripple the body, which advocates a right to return for Palestinian refugees, because any agency that provides a voice for Palestinians is a threat to its powerful Israeli lobby. When announcing the cuts in favour of “high priority projects elsewhere”, the US State Department claimed it was made on the basis of “Hamas control” endangering “the lives of Gaza’s citizens”. Such an assertion should be seen for what it is: a cynical attempt to influence public opinion when the reality on the ground is the continued brutalisation and victimisation of Palestinians at the hands of their Israeli oppressors, which the UNRWA tries relentlessly to combat by providing hope and opportunity in the face of despair.
Cutting its funding should also be seen for exactly what it is: punishment for Palestinians for refusing to give up their right to East Jerusalem as a capital. It is intended to blackmail them into accepting the as-yet-opaque peace plan Jared Kushner, Mr Trump’s son-in-law, is cooking up with his fellow Middle East representative Jason Greenblatt. Judging by the unilateral way the US embassy move to Jerusalem was carried out, effectively recognising it as the capital of Israel, it is unlikely to have the welfare of Palestinians at its heart. Indeed Hanan Ashrawi, of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, has already branded the move “cheap blackmail” while UNRWA chief Pierre Kraehenbuehl said it would punish those most in need.
If there is any vestige of doubt that the US is conspiring with Israel to dismantle hopes of Palestinian statehood, it should dissipate entirely. The cut to funding is reprehensible. More than 170 Palestinian protesters have been killed in the last five months, including medics and journalists. But beyond the loss of life, humanitarian organisations cannot be used as political tools. When conflict and occupation prevent governments from providing for their citizens, agencies such as UNRWA deliver a vital service. In few places is that role more important than in Gaza and the West Bank, where millions live in deprivation. As Mr Kraehenbuehl stated: “You cannot simply wish five million people away.” For the Palestinian people, the funding cuts are merely the latest in a long list of moves by the US and its Israeli ally that push hopes of statehood further out of reach.