TEHRAN (FNA)- Independent political analyst Jeremy R. Hammond says that US financial, diplomatic, and military support to Israel is providing the regime with a feeling of impunity to continue with its crimes against the Palestinians.
Mr. Hammond, in an exclusive interview with FNA, said that the solution to the Palestinian issue lies in the hands of the people, and not governments. He also emphasized the need for activists and supporters of Palestine to work towards an end to American support for the Zionist regime.
Commenting on the role of the Arab states, he added “The Arab states issue lofty rhetoric about upholding Palestinians’ rights, but they are short on meaningful action and often do just the opposite.”
Jeremy R. Hammond is an independent political analyst, author and founding editor and publisher of Foreign Policy Journal. His latest book is “Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
FNA has conducted an interview with Jeremy R. Hammond about Trump’s relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem Al-Quds and also the recent killings of Palestinian protesters by Israeli army.
Below you will find the full text of the interview.
Q: Delivering on his campaign promise and in defiance of all global warnings, Donald Trump moved US embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds. Many believe that this move by Trump has effectively killed fantasies that Washington is a neutral party in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. How do you think that would play in the current and future developments surrounding the issue?
A: In my assessment, Trump has actually done the Palestinians a favor by totally eliminating any last semblances of perceived credibility of the so-called “peace process”, which is the means by which Israel and the US have long blocked implementation of the two-state solution. It opens up a political opportunity for Palestinian leaders to pursue legal remedy for Israel’s crimes against their people via the International Criminal Court. However, that would also require unity of purpose, which is lacking among the Palestinian leadership today.
Q: Since the beginning of the protests dubbed as the “Great March of Return”, Israeli forces killed and wounded many Palestinian civilians, including the protesters, members of the press and medical workers. It seems as if the regime in Tel Aviv feels an atmosphere of impunity where it can act beyond all international laws and conventions. Where do you think this feeling of immunity comes from?
A: It comes primarily from the fact that the US provides financial, diplomatic, and military support for Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians. Working toward seeing an end to this support must be a primary goal of activists seeking a just peace.
Q: The US Ambassador to the UN said “no country would act with greater restraint than Israel” as the world was witnessing the rise in the toll of Palestinian civilians killed and wounded by Israeli live fire. What do you think about this?
A: Nikki Haley is delusional. We heard this same line during Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” as it was systematically bombing residential homes, schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure in accordance with the IDF’s announced “Dahiya Doctrine” of using deliberately disproportionate force to punish the civilian population.
Q: Israel has rejected international calls for probes into recent killings and insisted that its open-fire rules for Gaza will not change. Some Western states, particularly the US and Britain, who call themselves champions of human rights, have supported the Israeli crimes against Palestinians. The UN has also failed to restore the rights of the people. What is your assessment? What role can nations of the world play in protecting the rights of the oppressed people of Palestine?
A: We cannot place our hope in the governments of the world to solve this problem. It is up to each of us as individuals to act in whatever capacity we have to affect the necessary paradigm shift. This requires waking others up to the realities of the conflict, as opposed to the delusions and myths propagated by the likes of Nikki Haley.
Q: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, has recently said that Israelis “have the right to have their own land” and that formal relations between Tel Aviv and Riyadh could be mutually beneficial. The Saudi regime once, at least apparently, opposed Israel’s right to exist. What do you think has changed in Riyadh to now come out as an apologist for the Zionist regime and betray the Palestinian cause? How do you think would other fellow Arab and Muslim nations think of the Kingdom?
A: There is no such thing as a “right” of a state “to exist”. The proper framework for discussion is the right to self-determination. Jews as well as Arabs have this right. But the Zionists rejected this right for the Arabs from the beginning of the conflict, and the “Jewish state” was established by ethnically cleansing 700,000 Arabs from their homes in Palestine.
So what Saudi Arabia has done is effectively deny the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, which is indeed a betrayal of Palestinians’ rights. But it is not surprising. The Arab states issue lofty rhetoric about upholding Palestinians’ rights, but they are short on meaningful action and often do just the opposite.
This is one of the reasons I say change will not come from governments, but from the people.
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