Spotlight: US-Israel showdown heads nowhere

Spotlight: US-Israel showdown heads nowhere

By Venkatesh Raghavan*

The United States-Israel showdown seems heading nowhere as repeated feelers to the Israeli government from the United States administration to stop legitimising its outposts in the Palestinian Homesh region near Nablus have fallen on deaf ears. Israel’s far-right government is going all out to back an amendment permitting the Jewish people to resettle in the Palestinian territories. The most that the USA could say is that “The US is deeply troubled at hearing the news”.

Matthew Miller, spokesperson of the US State Department while expressing anguish over what has been transpiring, tided over queries about the illegal Israeli settlements getting regularized, by voicing that there has been no change on their official stand about such a move. He further iterated that the US in its official stand has continually communicated its concern for refraining from such regularizations, and stood firmly in favour of establishing the two-state nation as envisaged by the international community.

While the Jewish community has begun the building of formal settlements in the Homesh region, following Israeli parliament Knesset’s March 2023 amendment that permitted them to resettle on the outposts,  a slew of media queries sought clarity on the line of action to be followed by the United States to stall the process that is already being put in place. Without divulging the specifics, Miller asserted that the US government keeps communicating with their Israeli counterparts at various levels continuously.

It may be recalled that ever since the settlements were evacuated way back in 2005, Homesh was always a hotbed for the Palestinians putting up an armed struggle against Israeli settlers who attempted to build permanent structures in the region. The resistance movement had witnessed several flashpoints, till the Knesset’s recent amendment provided the official nod for legitimizing permanent resettlements. The point of dispute is that these settlements are being illegally built on private Palestinian lands.

The Homesh region was originally intended to be one of Israel’s military bases when built way back in 1978 on Palestinian private land. Two years later, it was handed over to the settlers. Much later, in 2005, then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed on a proposal that made for a disengagement plan to be put in place. However, the relief that it provided the Palestinians was short-lived, as the Jewish settlers set up a religious school in the outpost region within a span of two years post-evacuation. The current bid to legitimize settlements in the region is not permissible under Israeli laws too, as earlier, the country’s Supreme Court issued a decree against such a move, pointing out that the property belonged to private Palestinian owners.

Whereas, other Jewish settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal according to International laws.  Currently, there are upward of 7.5 lakh Israeli settlers who have illegally occupied 250 settlements in these territories. Israel has celebrated May 15 every year as their independence day since 1948. They recently observed their 75^th I-day celebrations, which the Palestinians dub Nakba meaning a catastrophic phenomenon that displaced a large section of their population from their legal homes.  Even as young Palestinian youth are planning to take up armed struggle as a means to restore their civil liberties, the US is engaging in a tough showdown with its valuable ally Israel in the Middle East. 

*Senior journalist