When it comes to confronting the Israeli government’s actions against the Palestinian people, a massive divide exists between Arab rulers and the general Arab public.

Currently, nearly all Arab governments are willing to normalize relations with the Zionist state, despite a lack of support from domestic populations that remain committed to resistance. Some Arab states, such as Jordan, Egypt, and Qatar, have formally normalized relations with Israel through treaties that have been in effect for decades.

At the forefront of this drive for normalization are so-called “moderate” states, a perverse label typically signifying those Arab countries, like Jordan and the various Gulf nations, which are firmly in the American camp.

For decades, these nations have worked to undermine and weaken numerous resistance organizations opposed to Israeli colonization and occupation, whether by withholding political support, or, most recently, by discouraging these behaviors through monetary bribes.

Recent events underscore these attempts by ‘moderate’ Arab states to hold greater sway in the struggle against Israel.

A Proposal from Qatar

During the last week of March 2013 at an Arab League meeting to discuss events in Syria and Palestine, the Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani proposed creating “a $1 billion fund to protect the Arabic and Islamic heritage of Jerusalem.”

The move came as Israel continued unobstructed to further entrench its hold over the disputed city, and the rest of the Palestinian territories.

While on a superficial level, the proposal suggests a keen interest on behalf of Arab states to do something to prevent the gradual ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the reality of the matter is quite different.

Writing for the Israeli Occupation Archive, Jonathan Cook noted the following observations on Qatar’s proposal:

Following the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000, Israel eradicated all Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem.

Today, Palestinian residents, cut adrift from the hinterland of the West Bank by walls and fences, desperately need a financial and political lifeline – the critical importance of such support was underlined in Gaza at the weekend, when a group of Palestinians stormed an aid compound after the UN decided to scale back some handouts because of a shortage of funding.

In East Jerusalem the question is, how does the Arab League intend to deliver the aid? To whom will the funds go when there are no institutions left to receive them? And how can money be disbursed without giving Israel an oversight role that would defeat the very purpose for which the fund was set up?

The reality is that Mr Abbas and the Arab League are at least a decade too late to protect East Jerusalem. In the current circumstances, such a cash fund will do little more than salve consciences.

Money alone will not stop the Israeli government from further occupying and dominating East Jerusalem. Israeli leaders have repeated time and time again that they want full control of Jerusalem, that they seek to dominate most of the Palestinian territories, and that they will not waver from this stance.

Since brutally conquering Palestine, Israel has unceasingly violated UN resolutions, flouted numerous human rights conventions, and broken countless peace deals with impunity.

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