The real purpose of Israel’s occupation of Palestine Fr. Shay Cullen

It was a shocking and painful “no” vote by the United States to veto a draft declaration at the United Nations (UN) Security Council recognizing Palestine as a full member of the United Nations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the U.S. veto and said it was "unfair, unethical, and unjustified." Twelve members of the Security Council approved the recommendation to the 193-member UN General Assembly for its approval that "the State of Palestine be admitted to membership" of the UN. Only the conservative British and neutral Switzerland abstained. The United States is more and more isolated by the world community by its seemingly endless support for Israel even when it bombed and killed 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, starving more to death, and bombed Iran this week. All this was done with US-supplied munitions and missiles in retaliation for the killing of 1,200 Israelis and taking of 250 hostages by Hamas, named as a terrorist organization by western countries. In a strong emotional statement, the Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour at the UN said: "The fact that this resolution did not pass will not break our will and it will not defeat our determination. We will not stop in our effort.” The declared hope of most nations and of Palestine is for an end to hostilities, peace-making and a two-state solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is totally against a two-state solution and so are some of his backers. The question is why? He is the longest-serving prime minister in the country's history, having served for a total of over 16 years. He is very unpopular in Israel for his savage retaliation and conduct of the war against Hamas and the killing of so many innocent Palestinians and his failure to win the release of 150 or so hostages held by Hamas. In 2019, Netanyahu was found to have committed criminal acts such as breach of trust, bribery, and fraud. When he is out of power, it is likely he could be convicted and go to jail. He formed an extreme fanatical right-wing government to stay in power and avoid prosecution. He is also criticized for his total opposition to any two-state solution. It was on his watch that the savage attack by Hamas fighters took place last 7 October 2023. He is also responsible for allowing Hamas to grow so strong by allowing huge sums of money to flow to them from Iran and Qatar and other sources. These payments in US dollars were flown into Israel and delivered directly to Hamas in the Gaza strip. That is proven in a powerful video expose, well-documented by the BBC Panorama program titled “Hamas’s Secret Financial Empire” by John Ware. Netanyanu indirectly armed Hamas, a policy opposed by Israeli military commanders who warned Netanyahu. The BBC, citing documents and interviews with retired Israeli military intelligence commanders, showed that there was nothing secret about these funds. The reason Benjamin Netanyahu allowed this money to flow to Hamas was to keep the Palestines on the West Bank and in Gaza corrupted, appeased, divided and fighting each other politically. The policy and plan is that they must never be allowed to unite and form a single Palestine state. That would defeat the long-term goals of Zionist elements in Israel. Their plan is to permanently divide and conquer, and to claim all of Palestine lands as part of the State of Israel. The surviving Palestinians would be powerless and contained. But Israel’s policy is to occupy more and more of Palestine land with illegal settlements, even killing and driving away the original owners and making their stolen lands their own. The same goes on in East Jerusalem. There is little or no justice for the Palestinians. There is hardly a squeak of protest from Western politicians and leaders other than vocal Irish campaigners and politicians that denounce the destruction that Israel does in the name of self-defense. While Israel has a right to self defense against terrorist attacks, what they are doing has reached a state of mass killing, called “genocide” by the International Court of Justice last January 2024. Genocide is the gross violation of human rights and is immoral, criminal, illegal, wrong and unjust. It is the total destruction of the Palestinian homes and is a war by starvation driven by greed. The military assaults fueled by revenge in retaliation for the biggest defeat suffered by the Israel army ever by Hamas are indefensibly funded by Netanyahu himself as explained above, thanks to the BBC Panorama investigative report. There is a grim and deadly impunity for all this granted to Israel by the western world. No demand for a ceasefire by them other than a weak whimpering cry for restraint. Millions of people around the world are calling for an immediate ceasefire but they are ignored while Israel continues bombing. One compelling explanation of the massive western support for Israel to continue to occupy Palestine and even take total control of the lands and sea is of course the massive deposits of oil and gas that lie beneath Palestine land and waters off the coast of Gaza. A UN Trade Development Report says “geologists and resources economists have confirmed that the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) lies above sizeable reservoirs of oil and natural gas wealth, in Area C of the West Bank and the Mediterranean coast off the Gaza Strip.” The new discoveries of oil and natural gas in the Levant Basin, amount to 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at a net value of $453 billion (in 2017 prices) and 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil at a net value of about $71 billion. This offers an opportunity to distribute and share about US$524 billion among the different parties in the region and promote peace and cooperation among old belligerents, the study notes. Israel is presently tapping into those resources with a huge oil rig in the Mediterranean. These resources are partially owned by the Palestinians and denied to them. The Palestinians have no share so long as they are divided and not recognized as a sovereign state. Is that what is behind the veto by the United States? If there was an independent Palestine state, it would have total control over its own natural resources and reap the benefits for the well-being and recovery of its own people.