Ask the Author: Jeremy R. Hammond
Answered Questions (5)
Jeremy R. Hammond
Hi Hamma. Thanks for your question. No, I don't discuss Muhammad or the history of Islam in Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It isn't relevant to the book's thesis.
Jeremy R. Hammond
There are encouraging developments. Israel and the US have never been more isolated from the rest of the international community. The Palestinian Authority (PA) under Mahmoud Abbas has shown some willingness to disobey their overlords in Tel Aviv and Washington. Palestine is now recognized as a state by the UN and can gain access to the legal mechanisms of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) to pursue suits against Israel. The EU has issued guidelines that Israeli companies seeking financing must declare that they have no association with the occupation regime.
But we still have a long way to go. Israel's collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza continues. The occupation regime continues. US financial, military, and diplomatic support for Israel continues. The PA's acquiescence to US-Israeli demands continues, including its unwillingness to submit an application to accede to the Rome Statute to gain access to the ICC. Hamas and Fatah unity remains very shaky.
As things stand at this moment, the two-state solution will remain an unfulfilled goal and Israel's occupation and settlement regime and oppression of the Palestinians will continue. It remains for the moment sustainable primarily because of US support. What needs to happen is for the PA to apply to the Rome Statute.
But the PA was created during the Oslo process to serve Israel's interests, to have an obedient administrative body in the West Bank to keep the Palestinians in line on behalf of the occupier. It has become a body interested in its own survival more than the interests of the people it is supposed to represent. Abbas seems not to have the courage to do what needs to be done. He's too afraid of risking Israel withholding the tax money it collects in the West Bank on its behalf and the US cutting off funding.
If the PA won't do what is necessary to pursue the rights of the Palestinian people, the people will need to rise up and dissolve that body, establish new leadership, and move forward.
But we still have a long way to go. Israel's collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza continues. The occupation regime continues. US financial, military, and diplomatic support for Israel continues. The PA's acquiescence to US-Israeli demands continues, including its unwillingness to submit an application to accede to the Rome Statute to gain access to the ICC. Hamas and Fatah unity remains very shaky.
As things stand at this moment, the two-state solution will remain an unfulfilled goal and Israel's occupation and settlement regime and oppression of the Palestinians will continue. It remains for the moment sustainable primarily because of US support. What needs to happen is for the PA to apply to the Rome Statute.
But the PA was created during the Oslo process to serve Israel's interests, to have an obedient administrative body in the West Bank to keep the Palestinians in line on behalf of the occupier. It has become a body interested in its own survival more than the interests of the people it is supposed to represent. Abbas seems not to have the courage to do what needs to be done. He's too afraid of risking Israel withholding the tax money it collects in the West Bank on its behalf and the US cutting off funding.
If the PA won't do what is necessary to pursue the rights of the Palestinian people, the people will need to rise up and dissolve that body, establish new leadership, and move forward.
Jeremy R. Hammond
My forthcoming book is "Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict". For updates, exclusive sneak peeks, and notification when it becomes available, you can subscribe to my free newsletter at my website, www.JeremyRHammond.com.
Jeremy R. Hammond
I never have any shortage of things I want to write about, only a shortage of time to do so. The only sense in which I ever get "writer's block" is getting stuck on a particular sentence or paragraph with regards to how to best express the idea I wish to communicate.
Jeremy R. Hammond
I first thought to write this book during Israel's 22-day full-scale military assault on the Gaza Strip from Dec.27, 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009, "Operation Cast Lead". Witnessing how the US media was reporting the massacre, I determined to set the record straight.
But how could I write about contemporary events in the conflict without providing an overview of its roots? With that question on my mind, I set out writing "The Rejection of Palestinian Self-Determination: The Struggle for Palestine and the Roots of the Israeli-Arab Conflict."
I returned again to my idea to write a book about Operation Cast Lead in May 2011 when Barack Obama gave a speech mentioning the "1967 lines" as a starting point for negotiations on borders and was astonished by the universal agreement among commentators and analysts that this represented a "shift" in US policy, as well as the media narrative that Obama had gotten "tough" on Israel.
I set out writing. To set the stage for the chapter on Operation Cast Lead, it looks at how Hamas came to political power in Gaza.
After detailing what happened during that massacre and how the US media distorted events so as to manufacture consent for the US's policy of supporting Israel's war crimes, I go into the history of the so-called "peace process" and how the new Obama administration set out to maintain that status quo, explaining how in truth this is the process by which the US and Israel block implementation of the two-state solution.
Events kept overtaking me as I was writing, my original vision for the book was expanded significantly. The book covers other important events, such as Israel's deadly attack on the humanitarian aid flotilla in May 2010 and 2012's "Operation Pillar of Defense". It examines Israel's policy of collectively punishing the civilian population of Gaza as well as the nature of its occupation of the West Bank and settlement policy.
Throughout, it analyzes the US role, as well as the role of the US media, telling not only what has happened in the conflict but, crucially, how that story has been told by the mainstream media -- and America's "newspaper of record", the New York Times, in particular.
By assessing the causes for the continuing conflict, the book lays out the way forward to a just and lasting peace and what is required to get there.
But how could I write about contemporary events in the conflict without providing an overview of its roots? With that question on my mind, I set out writing "The Rejection of Palestinian Self-Determination: The Struggle for Palestine and the Roots of the Israeli-Arab Conflict."
I returned again to my idea to write a book about Operation Cast Lead in May 2011 when Barack Obama gave a speech mentioning the "1967 lines" as a starting point for negotiations on borders and was astonished by the universal agreement among commentators and analysts that this represented a "shift" in US policy, as well as the media narrative that Obama had gotten "tough" on Israel.
I set out writing. To set the stage for the chapter on Operation Cast Lead, it looks at how Hamas came to political power in Gaza.
After detailing what happened during that massacre and how the US media distorted events so as to manufacture consent for the US's policy of supporting Israel's war crimes, I go into the history of the so-called "peace process" and how the new Obama administration set out to maintain that status quo, explaining how in truth this is the process by which the US and Israel block implementation of the two-state solution.
Events kept overtaking me as I was writing, my original vision for the book was expanded significantly. The book covers other important events, such as Israel's deadly attack on the humanitarian aid flotilla in May 2010 and 2012's "Operation Pillar of Defense". It examines Israel's policy of collectively punishing the civilian population of Gaza as well as the nature of its occupation of the West Bank and settlement policy.
Throughout, it analyzes the US role, as well as the role of the US media, telling not only what has happened in the conflict but, crucially, how that story has been told by the mainstream media -- and America's "newspaper of record", the New York Times, in particular.
By assessing the causes for the continuing conflict, the book lays out the way forward to a just and lasting peace and what is required to get there.
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