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Biden in the White House: Alaa Tartir on Implications for Palestine
126 Plays4 years ago
Alaa Tartir and host Yara Hawari discuss what Joe Biden's win in last month's US elections means for the Palestinian people. Whilst many have breathed a sigh of relief at Trump’s ousting, critics also warn that work is yet to be done given the president-elect's track record of support toward Israel and promotion of the antiquated "peace process."
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Transcript
U.S. Aid and Israeli Interests
00:00:00
Speaker
The U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority largely aims to solidify the role of the Palestinian Authority as a subcontractor to Israel, the Israeli occupation. It made the Israeli occupation cheaper and longer. It also benefited the Israeli economy and it entrenched the Palestinian fragmentation.
Rethinking Palestine Podcast
00:00:28
Speaker
This is Rethinking Palestine, a podcast from Ashabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, a virtual think tank that aims to foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination. We draw upon the vast knowledge and experience of the Palestinian people, whether in Palestine or in exile, to put forward strong and diverse Palestinian policy voices.
00:00:51
Speaker
In this podcast we will be bringing these voices to you so that you can listen to Palestinians sharing their analysis wherever you are in the world.
Biden's Election and Palestinian Concerns
00:01:04
Speaker
Several weeks ago we saw the election of Joe Biden to the White House after a campaign trail that took place amidst a global pandemic. Trump on his part has yet to fully concede citing unproven claims of election fraud and corruption, yet most of the world has recognised a Biden win.
00:01:22
Speaker
As such, a lot of people around the world have breathed a sigh of relief and there have even been mass celebrations in the US and other places around the world. But many progressive critics are also warning that the work is yet to be done and particularly vis-a-vis Palestine, Biden is hardly an ally of the Palestinians.
U.S. Elections and Palestinian Liberation
00:01:39
Speaker
To discuss all of this and in particular what the U.S. elections mean for the Palestinian struggle for liberation, I'm joined by Dr. Alat Tartir, Programmer Policy Advisor for Shabaka, and also Research and Academic Coordinator at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and a Global Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Alat, welcome. Thank you, Yara. Thank you for hosting me.
00:02:03
Speaker
It's been a tumultuous year in Palestine, not only because of the pandemic, but also because of various US policy maneuvers which have helped to further entrench Israeli domination. Could you briefly talk us through some of these? Yes, sure. The Trump administration over the past few years took the US policy towards Israel and Palestine to
00:02:25
Speaker
another dangerous level. It did so by building on previous administration's policies and steps. And it's really important to keep that in mind, that the Trump administration built its intervention and its policies on what the other previous administrations did. But also they built their interventions and took it to this other dangerous level because of the nature and kind of leadership on both sides, the Palestinians and the Israeli sides.
00:02:55
Speaker
And of course, this is why we witnessed so many dangerous moves. We witnessed the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. We witnessed the cut of international aid or USA. We witnessed the support to Israeli annexation plans and the settlement expansions. But fundamentally, we witnessed a violation of international law at all levels. And it was really a dangerous trend that we saw over the years with Trump in the White House.
00:03:24
Speaker
But also the announcement that came earlier this year about the so-called deal of the century was the main output that the Trump administration delivered, at least on paper, but also through all these actions that we talked about, and it was a major sellout of Palestine and the Palestinian
Impact of Trump's Jerusalem Policies
00:03:43
Speaker
cause.
00:03:43
Speaker
And before leaving the office, the Trump administration continued its attempt to marginalize Palestinians and the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinians at large from the political processes that are taking place through these so-called Abraham Accords and the normalizations deal between some Arab countries and Israel.
00:04:02
Speaker
So these are some of the steps that the US administration under Trump took and the list is long and the harm that's been caused is really deep and now with the new incoming administration, the new incoming administrations need to deal with all these issues and decide what to do with them.
00:04:20
Speaker
Thank you for that. I think that was a really good summary of what's been going on with regards to sort of US policy maneuvers. And it really sums up and highlights actually how these maneuvers are not anything particularly new, but really a culmination of US foreign policy towards the Palestinians for decades.
Biden's Policy on Palestine
00:04:41
Speaker
You recently published a piece with the Peace Research Institute Oslo where you discuss the Biden presidency, Palestine and the prospects for peace. And you open the piece by claiming to be a party pooper, which is a claim I'm all too familiar with. And you go on to say that you are not coming from a rejectionist or a pessimist position. So what kind of position would you say that you are coming from?
00:05:04
Speaker
Well, with the Biden administration in the office and coming in January, so many observers started already talking about a remarkable difference vis-a-vis Palestine, Israel, but also others. And I wanted to be this spoiler or party pooper because I just don't think this will be the case. I think what's important to keep in mind is that the Biden administration is starting from a very low bar. Whatever they do would be better in
00:05:32
Speaker
in relative terms, but doesn't mean that it's better for true and real peace, or it's really the desired policies by millions of people, let's say the millions of Palestinians that we have. But starting from a low bar does not mean that we will witness remarkable difference.
00:05:51
Speaker
argue is that we will witness a continuation of what other US, be it Democrats or Republicans, administrations attempted to do over the years. And importantly, they said they failed over the past decades as far as Palestinians and peace are concerned.
00:06:09
Speaker
In this sense, of course, the Biden administration will be perceived differently by different actors, but what is the fundamental point when it comes to Palestine and Israel is that the only remaining constant variable we can say is that this new administration will continue to be a dishonest broker for peace. And that is a continuation of what we've seen before.
00:06:31
Speaker
I'm saying that this is not a rejectionist or pessimistic perspective because in fact this is based on solid strong empirical evidence that we can see over the years from the early years when Biden showed his support to Israel decades ago through financial aid and financial mean and he sees Israel as the only true true ally in the entire region and he cannot believe that the US could even threaten
00:07:00
Speaker
Israel with cutting aid. These views about Israel are well established there, but also it's very important to keep in mind that Biden is not a stranger. Biden wasn't with Obama for eight years in the White House and we know very well what happened under Obama administration. The views are very clear. Also looking at his electoral campaign and
00:07:25
Speaker
and see what he promised Israel and what he wanted to deliver to Israel are very clear signs what to expect. So I'm not optimistic about all of that because what we will be seeing is a return to the old normal. And returning to the old normal is neither good news for peace nor for justice, let alone for freedom, equality for Palestinians. And this is what we will witness with the Biden administration.
00:07:53
Speaker
In the late 80s, Biden has a famous quote where he says that if there was not an Israel, US would have to create an Israel. And here he was referring to the US's interests in the Middle East and how Israel actually safeguards those interests. And he's a big reporter of this idea that Israel is this bastion of Western democracy.
Peace Process Revival?
00:08:15
Speaker
And I think in an uncivilized place, such a common orientalist and racist notion that
00:08:22
Speaker
Biden has clearly spouted throughout his career and I think that's for Palestinians I think that has to be something that we've really highlight that someone like Biden is not going to be a savior and indeed in that same piece, you write that that Biden will not be a savior for the Palestinians but will be a savior for the peace process. Can you explain what you mean by that?
00:08:44
Speaker
Yes, sure. I think back, as I mentioned earlier, what we will witness with Biden is a return to the old normal. And the old normal meant or will actually mean the revival of the so-called
00:09:00
Speaker
peace process, here with the emphasis on the on the process. It's a peace process that's been ongoing for the past decades, going back to the early 90s. And this is what the US administrations over the decades wanted to do and knew how to do to prolong this process that delivers very little. And actually, it harms the Palestinians every year because it fails to deliver and it solidify
00:09:29
Speaker
the Israeli settler colonial project on the ground. So we just need to make it very clear that Biden is not there to help the Palestinians. The US administration is not there to save the Palestinians and to ensure the liberty and freedom or even statehood, if that's what the Palestinian leadership want. They are there to re-engage in a long process that so-called
00:09:55
Speaker
peace process where they invest lots of energy, lots of money, just for the sake of reviving that process and then start having kind of conversations. But these conversations are anything but really meaningful conversation. And it's, again, like just to be very, very clear what what we will witness under Biden administration is something that other administrations done over the past years. So this is why it is really important if we're looking for sources of hope, we shouldn't look at
00:10:24
Speaker
the US side of the world. That is not a side where bring hopes for the Palestinians or peace and justice.
Criticism of U.S. Aid
00:10:33
Speaker
So let's be very clear from the Palestinian side that any US administration will stick to its position as a dishonest broker for peace, will stick to its position as
00:10:44
Speaker
as a party that will mainly and only deliver for Israel, even if they give bits and pieces of aid money to the Palestinians. But that will not ensure the freedom or dignity.
00:10:59
Speaker
A lot of people are talking about this reinstating of aid to the Palestinian Authority in UNRWA with the Biden administration, and they're framing this as a win for the Palestinians. Why is that not necessarily the case? Well, framing USAID to the Palestinian as a win is fundamentally wrong and problematic, and actually it is just not
00:11:23
Speaker
Correct. The U.S. aid delivered to the Palestinian over the years was highly conditional, highly politicized, and mainly secured Israel on the coast and the expanse of the Palestinians, i.e. the U.S. aid to the Palestinian was as much as it was to Israel as to the Palestinians.
00:11:45
Speaker
In other words, the U.S. aid to the Palestinians was designed around the U.S.-Israel relationship. I didn't put the Palestinians in the core of this aid delivery system, but rather framed and designed that U.S. aid intervention through Israel-U.S. close relationship.
00:12:03
Speaker
So thinking about the U.S. aid as a win for the Palestinians is really not accurate. And I always argued that cutting the aid, the U.S. aid to the Palestinians, would not be really a bad idea, as many people want to say, because after all,
00:12:19
Speaker
The U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority in particular here largely aims to solidify the role of the Palestinian Authority as a subcontractor to Israel, the Israeli occupation. It made the Israeli occupation cheaper and longer. It also benefited the Israeli economy
00:12:39
Speaker
And it entrenched the Palestinian fragmentation. And with all of that, it denied the potential for Palestinian democracy or Palestinian development. I always argued that for all these reasons and many others, cutting the US aid to the Palestinian and the Palestinian Authority is actually not a bad idea. Of course, there will be main consequences, especially at the short term. But what I argue is that at the long term,
00:13:04
Speaker
This is really an opportunity for the Palestinians to reframe the aid intervention to make it more effective in terms of delivery for the Palestinians. Sadly, the Palestinian political leadership did not seize that opportunity over the past years when the aid was cut. And instead of creating and reinventing aid policies, they kept the same policy in place. And now with the U.S. administration, it is very likely that we will see all these
00:13:31
Speaker
aid funds from the US being channeled again to the Palestinian Authority and in particular to the security forces and to the security sector.
00:13:41
Speaker
And here, let's remember that it was under Obama Biden administration where Palestinians were promised billions of dollars through the US Secretary of State at the time, John Kerry. And they designed the plan that they called Palestine Economic Initiative to deliver lots of billions of dollars, ranging between four and 11 billion. Of course, that plan failed and hardly delivered
00:14:07
Speaker
And at the time when it was declared, I argued that this plan was problematic in terms of design, had lots of harmful consequences, and it had very flawed economic rationale. But this is what Biden knows. He knows that Kerry's billion plan. He knows that through this plan, which we call economic peace plan, which means that let's give the Palestinians all these funds, and then that makes them happier Palestinians, and then
00:14:37
Speaker
engage in the process of political reconciliation and negotiation. This economic peace plan or economic peace dividends plan failed miserably over the decades, but this is the only thing that Biden knows. The only thing that he could do is just to come up with a fancier title for his economic plan, but fundamentally it will be in line with previous administration's plans.
00:15:04
Speaker
If you're enjoying this podcast, please visit our website, www.al-shabaka.org, where you will find more Palestinian policy analysis and where you can join our mailing list and donate to support our work. And in the same sort of tangent, I think reinstating aid to the Palestine.
00:15:23
Speaker
authority is not necessarily something that Israel is against and it is based on this this idea that comes with economic peace that Palestinians could be subdued with money sort of buying the Palestinians out and I think for this reason and for other reasons the Prime Minister Netanyahu was likely quite sincere in his congratulations to Biden
00:15:47
Speaker
not only because of this, but also because of their decades-long friendship, unlike Netanyahu's relationship with former President Obama. So how do you think this personal relationship between the two bodes for the Palestinians?
Biden-Netanyahu Relationship
00:16:05
Speaker
As we mentioned earlier, all US administrations delivered for Israel. And that is the main objective for this close relationship between Israel and the United States. And as we said earlier, Biden views Israel as the only true ally in the entire region.
00:16:24
Speaker
And therefore, of course, the Israeli leadership wished that Trump continues and stays in the office because they took from him wherever they really wanted. And if he stayed for extra four years, they would have even got more and more and they could have solidified the systems of apartheid and colonial dominance.
00:16:46
Speaker
But he's not in the office now. But Israel knows very well that the so-called bond between Israel and the US will not be shaken regardless of who's in the office being a Democrat or being a Republican because of all the institutional support behind the person in the White House.
00:17:03
Speaker
And this is why they will continue the partnership. Even there were some reports saying that the Israeli leadership will go and ask Biden for even more of the military aid. And they know that this is a spot where Biden will
00:17:18
Speaker
feel very comfortable with and giving more aid as he's the one or under their administration with Obama, they promised Israel and committed to 38 billion over 10 years. So with Netanyahu, he's happy to do business with anyone in the White House and he will deal differently with Biden administration than with the Trump administration. But the bottom line is that both, be it Biden or Trump,
00:17:47
Speaker
will only and mainly deliver to Israel. Of course, we will witness some internal Israeli dynamics with Biden's arrival to the office. We're already talking and we're already hearing about all the conversations about new elections. From the Israeli side, the Benny Gantz is trying to reposition or position himself as
00:18:06
Speaker
as the leader to do business with, with the Biden administration already hinting to new elections. There will be consequences and some implications on the Israeli internal political dynamics, but Netanyahu congratulated Biden and the Israeli leadership on the new administration because they know that they will not fail them.
00:18:30
Speaker
There's also this argument that under a democratic president, there will be more space for maneuver for those people and activists fighting for justice, not just on Palestine, but on other issues as well. And we know that there are more progressive voices in the Democrat Party who have been critical of the U.S. as policies vis-a-vis Palestinians. And here I'm thinking in particular of the famous squad
00:18:56
Speaker
which includes Rashida Tlaib, Elhan Amr, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Do you think they would be able to push the party in a more radical direction when it comes to US foreign policy vis-a-vis Palestine and Israel?
00:19:12
Speaker
Absolutely, this is a very important issue because the struggle continues and these progressive voices have the opportunity now to join forces with the Palestinians and justice seekers over the world.
00:19:29
Speaker
to try and reverse some of the harmful policies of the U.S. Of course, I'm not under any delusion that a fundamental shift will happen. As I said before, the U.S. will always be the one delivering for Israel, and this is again based on decades long of history.
00:19:48
Speaker
But it is important to have these progressive voices to push for different agenda to hold the American administration accountable, especially vis-a-vis the international law, because as we said earlier, the Trump administration violated all kinds of
00:20:03
Speaker
international laws and norms that we have there and the new administration will try to reposition itself vis-a-vis that international law. So framing the Palestinian struggle within the overall international law
00:20:19
Speaker
framework will mean that these progressive voices have the other duty to ensure that the incoming US administration will stick to that. And that's a big deal if it is achieved because that affects realities on the ground. It affects how settlements and colonies are perceived, how the UN could intervene in all that. So any kind of progressive voices will not create remarkable institutional shift in the party or the US administration for the reasons that we mentioned earlier.
00:20:49
Speaker
but they could hold the administration accountable. But we also need to be careful with what we celebrate and with how we celebrate. As you know, we talked earlier about the U.S. aid to Palestine. It is very clear or it should be very clear that resuming and restarting that aid should not
00:21:07
Speaker
be particularly celebrated. And here, like for the progressive voices, they said, okay, if we want to start the international aid, then we need to have more accountability mechanisms in this aid that ensures that aid will not go and support the occupation, will not land in the Israeli economy, will not solidify Palestinian authoritarianism and all of that. So it's a long process, but these progressive voices have really an important role to play at the moment.
Palestinian Leadership and U.S. Relations
00:21:36
Speaker
Now, what about the Palestinian Authority in all of this? Under the Trump administration, they were totally immobilized on an international level, and they were very much forced to look at internal dynamics as really the only thing that they could do, such as reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, and also elections, noting that there haven't been Palestinian elections for a very long time. Do you think all of this will be abandoned now?
00:22:04
Speaker
Well, this is very important and very big question at the same time. What is becoming a priority for the Palestinian leadership at the moment is to re-engage with the incoming US administration, regardless how much it will cost them.
00:22:21
Speaker
As we witnessed recently, the Palestinian leadership reversed many of the decisions that it took in order just to show a gesture and just to show signs to the U.S. administration that we're ready to do business. We're ready to come back to the negotiation table.
00:22:36
Speaker
we're ready to receive your aid, we're ready to come and resume our diplomatic relationships. So that desperate leadership just is putting again all its eggs in the US basket and it is really unfortunate but also problematic and dangerous that the Palestinian leadership does not learn from all their past mistakes over the decades and by that they are harming the
00:23:02
Speaker
current and future generations of the Palestinians by investing or putting all the eggs in the US basket. And this is why we're witnessing now that focus on how to revive the relationship with the US and not to focus on internal Palestinian dynamics as reconciliation, as the elections and creating a legitimate representative accountable Palestinian leadership.
00:23:30
Speaker
And that is really the harm or one of the harms that the current leadership is causing for the Palestinian code and the Palestinian struggle for freedom. And precisely by having like this focus on the US and not having the inward looking focus, what the Palestinians need and the Palestinian leadership must do now is to take care of the internal dialogue.
00:23:52
Speaker
and not to branch out and reach out to the US and tell them we're ready for business, we have it to resume security coordination. That is not what the Palestinians need. They need a representative, legitimate, accountable leadership. They need clearly defined and accountable style of governance frameworks that can deliver to the Palestinians and care more about the Palestinians. They need a political system where Palestinian people would be in the core of their political system and not
00:24:21
Speaker
on the margin. They need a Palestinian political scene that is unified or at least there is a clear conversation between the different parties towards establishing a different political system that we've seen we see now. They need democratic institutions as opposed to the current authoritarian institutions and the list is really long and this is what the Palestinian leadership should do and should position themselves but it is very clear that they are
00:24:49
Speaker
not interested and also not willing to do that because they still believe the US could deliver the two-state solution and could deliver the Palestinian state, which is a myth. It's delusional. Thank you, Hala. And I think the PA's delusion was really highlighted with that remarkable statement that with the resumption
00:25:12
Speaker
or the resumption of the security coordination with Israel was a great win for the Palestinian people. It was really quite remarkable indeed. Thank you, Hala. I think from all of this, it's really clear that this is not a time for celebration, but rather a time for continued work to challenge Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people. So again, thank you, Hala, so much for joining me. Thank you very much, Yara.
00:25:41
Speaker
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