President Donald Trump of the US and President Vladimir Putin of Russia are meeting in Helsinki in a summit that is set against a backdrop of the Oval Office’s domestic controversies, an uncertain time for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and questions over the Kremlin’s use of nerve agents in an ongoing incident that has already claimed the life of one person and infected four others. But for those of us living in the Middle East, the overriding concern is the Palestinian question and reaching a future peace deal that is just and fair for Palestinians, and one that is based on previously agreed principles in international accords.
Certainly, the decision to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv and to give credence to occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is a step too far, and one that shows that Washington’s current policy is out of touch with those international accords, Palestinian history, heritage and reality, and is simply pandering to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While the US administration might be included to reach some sort of a deal by offering Palestinians prosperity and economic development in return for a lasting peace deal, such a prospect would be entirely unacceptable, it would fail to recognise the irrefutable just claim that Palestinians have on their occupied homeland, and mistakenly assert that money will buy peace. No, a lasting peace can only be achieved when the longstanding and internationally agreed principles are fully accepted by Israel and its supporters — a fully functioning and recognised Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for all ousted from their homes over these past seven decades.
In the past weeks and months, Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and special adviser on the Middle East, has been meeting with regional leaders and senior Israeli officials in an attempt to lay the groundwork for an initiative that is being hailed as “the Deal of the Century”. Excluding the international community or indeed failing to acknowledge Palestinians demands is a recipe for unmitigated disaster and merely a precursor to violence that will inevitably follow. These same points have been made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his recent meeting with President Putin. Let’s be very clear: It would be very unwise for the leaders of the US and Russia to contemplate any other outcome or settlement, and the Palestinian question cannot be solved by money alone, or without full international input. Justice has no price. Freedom is priceless. And the cost of anything else is simply unacceptable.
