Today, Thursday, August 13th, the United Arab Emirates announced that they are establishing full diplomatic relations with Israel through a US-brokered deal. The deal required Israel to suspend its plan to annex occupied West Bank land belonging to Palestinians.
Some have been praising President Donald Trump for delivering what can be considered a key foreign policy victory. However, the Palestinian American community harbors major doubts about how this move might seriously affect the future of the Palestinian people.
Although we recognize the pressing need for peace in the region, peace cannot be accomplished without the involvement of the Palestinian people. Prematurely jumping to conclusions about how this agreement might help establish peace in the region will lead to a severely false sense of progress. While Israel still occupies Palestinian land and unapologetically abuses Palestinian human rights, no real progress towards peace will ever be made. Genuine peace can only be achieved when Israel and the US respect the full rights of the Palestinian people and adhere to pertinent U.N. resolutions and international laws calling for an end to Israel's illegal occupation and its unrelenting disposession and oppression of the Palestinians.
This move by President Trump is no more than a political stunt designed to shore up his sagging popularity. It does nothing to alleviate Palestinian suffering or put an end to Israel’s illegal occupation and its continued human rights abuses. Calling on the Arab world to normalize relations with Israel while Israeli occupation and daily oppression of the Palestinians go totally unchallenged by the US administration is a perversion of justice and an insult to all those who aspire for freedom and yearn for genuine peace. Normalizing oppression, occupation, and injustice is certainly no way to achieve peace.
Sincerely,
USPC Board