Green Party of NJ candidate for US Senate, Madelyn Hoffman,
challenges Senator Booker
to speak out against Trump/Netanyahu ill-advised “Peace” Plan

“The so-called Peace Plan announced by Trump/Netanyahu legitimizes the illegal actions of the Israeli government and reinforces the system of apartheid that already existed,” said Madelyn Hoffman, the Green Party of New Jersey’s candidate for US Senate in 2020. “As if to add an exclamation point, the IDF once again took aim at Gaza and started bombing on 1/29/20.”

As ethnic conflict specialist Sheena Anne Arackal’s Mondoweiss piece noted in its title, “The ‘Deal’ of the Century is Apartheid.”

The US acted unilaterally, with this deal, as if it has the inherent right to do so, but the US is not designated by the international community to make such decisions. While some will be tempted to blame Trump, these are not just his policies or decisions. These are the logical culmination of years of US imperialist ventures without the US being held accountable for these actions.

We’ve seen the current administration, with the support of most in the US Congress, move the US embassy to Jerusalem, while unilaterally declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel. We’ve heard Donald Trump proclaim that the Israeli settlements on the West Bank are suddenly, because he says so, legal and not a violation of international law.

One of Trump’s statements is emblematic of this: “It is time for the Muslim world to fix the mistake it made in 1948 when it chose to attack, instead of recognize, the new State of Israel. It’s time.” Would US citizens welcome, with open arms, a foreign occupying army?

The deal reflects the ongoing, and intentional, misuse of terms to manipulate and mislead public opinion. “Conflict” implies a disagreement between 2 more or equal parties, not a powerful occupying force eviscerating the lives, culture and homeland of another.

“Peace process,” again, implies a dispute between equally armed adversaries. More appropriate use of language (which would lead to a more just resolution) would include terms such as: anti-colonial movement, freedom, justice, and decolonization. There is no peace for the victims through surrendering to the oppressor’s terms (“terms,” meaning both their manipulative use of words, and the “terms” forced on their victims through schemes such as this deal).
Trump emphasized, in his speech, that Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided capital, that the US will recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and that “no one will be uprooted” (settler colonial speak for the settlements will continue, undisturbed).

“Senator Cory Booker, where is your voice on this?” asked Madelyn Hoffman. “?Why no condemnation of the so-called Peace Plan, a plan so one-sided that it erases the human rights of Palestinians?”

Every mention, in the deal, of terrorism (bloodshed, bus bombings, nightclub attacks, relentless terror, and Islamic extremism) was laid at the feet of Palestine. There was no mention of:

Israel’s expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians (the 1948 Nakba)
denial of their right to return.
the illegal occupation and settlements
daily violence by the IDF and settlers against unarmed Palestinians (including targeted attacks against children, medics, journalists, and the disabled).
the torture and detainment of Palestinian children.
the intentionally caused suffering in Gaza and the West Bank.
Israel’s persistent violation of international humanitarian law
international humanitarian law recognizing Palestine’s right to defend itself

UN General Assembly resolution 37/43:
“Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.”

All of Trump’s references to the “Peace” Plan’s granting of safety, were to the safety of the Occupiers (“We will never ask Israel to compromise its security…The Two-state plan will present no incremental security risk to Israel.”). At best, Trump described Palestinians as “pawns” of terrorists.

And all of Trump’s references to virtue were for Israel: (achievement in the face of overwhelming odds and never-ending threats, thriving center of democracy, light unto the world).

Trump paid mendacious lip service to “young people across the Middle East [who] are ready for a more hopeful future”–which future, according to Trump, is compromised, not by Israel’s brutal military occupation and daily acts of terror against Palestinians, but by “Islamic extremism.”

What kind of peace deal reinforces the subjugation of one people for the benefit of the group subjugating them?

NOTE: Madelyn Hoffman (who was arrested for her commitment to non-violent civil disobedience, in 2014, to protest Senators Booker’s and Menendez’ support for the bombing of Gaza) will soon release her vision of peace in the region, a peace based on centering justice for the victims of Israel’s aggression, the Palestinians.

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