Following the March of Return events at the Gaza-Israel border, during which dozens of Palestinians were killed[1], Kuwait put forward a draft resolution in the UN Security Council condemning Israel's "excessive, disproportionate, and indiscriminate force" against Palestinian civilians, and demanding that the Palestinian people be provided with "international protection."[2] The U.S. submitted, in response, a separate draft resolution containing various amendments to the Kuwaiti draft, describing Hamas as a terrorist group, condemning the firing of rockets into Israel, and condemning the Palestinian factions' diversion of resources for military infrastructure to be used against Israel.[3] Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN, said of the U.S. draft, which was rejected in a vote: "These amendments are hostile to our people."[4]

The U.S. was the only one to veto the Kuwaiti proposal, with 10 in favor and four abstentions.[5] Following the vote, Palestinian officials responded harshly. For example, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan 'Ashrawi said: "The U.S.'s idiotic behavior reflects a morally bankrupt policy and arrogance of power, which is leading it to a confrontation with all the international values and constitutes another crushing blow to the credibility and fairness of the international community as manifested at the UN."[6] She went on to call for "prosecuting the U.S. and Israel's leaders at the International Courts." She added that the U.S. had "changed the rules of play and was clearly and fully biased in favor of the occupation authorities."[7] Additionally, the Palestinians launched diplomatic efforts aimed at garnering support for moving the vote on the Kuwaiti draft resolution to the UN General Assembly, under the UN General Assembly "Uniting for Peace" Resolution 377A of 1950."[8]

The Palestinian press reacted to the U.S. veto of the Kuwaiti draft resolution by publishing articles highly critical of the U.S. and its leadership, continuing the blatantly anti-U.S. line taken in recent months by the Palestinian Authority (PA) press following the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.[9] The articles accuse the U.S. of being hostile to the Palestinians, trampling the values of humanity and the principles of the UN, encouraging terrorism, and leveraging its might to advance its own and Israel's interests over others'. President Trump himself, one stated, is "brandishing the sword of war and terrorism" at the world; another called him "the second version of Hitler."

The tension between the Trump administration and the Palestinian leadership was also reflected in a virulent exchange of accusations between Jason D. Greenblatt, Assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump and Special Representative for International Negotiations, and Saeb Erekat, PLO Executive Committee secretary general, in op-eds published in the English version of the Israeli daily Haaretz on June 10.[10] Greenblatt wrote that the rhetoric of the Palestinian leadership, and particularly of Erekat, was "simply inaccurate," as well as hateful and "false," and contributed nothing to advancing peace or improving conditions for the Palestinians. The time has come, he said, for new and different Palestinian voices. He also accused Erekat and the Palestinian leadership of defending Hamas and disregarding its role in organizing violent operations at the Gaza-Israel border.[11] Erekat stated in response that "Greenblatt promotes an agenda to systematically deny the rights of the Palestinian people," that the Trump administration has "become the main campaigner for Israel in crushing Palestinian national and human rights," and that "American officials have continued to voice their approval of the ongoing killing of Palestinian protestors in Gaza" and will not succeed in forcing the "deal of the century" or any other political solution on the Palestinians.[12]

This paper will present excerpts from the attack in the Palestinian press on the U.S. and President Trump following the U.S. draft resolution and the U.S. veto of the Kuwaiti draft resolution in the UNSC:

Writers In PA Daily: "Arrogant And Narcissistic" Trump Is Brandishing Sword Of Terrorism, Promoting Law Of The Jungle

In response to the U.S.'s veto of the draft resolution in the UNSC, the Palestinian press published articles harshly critical of the U.S. and its leadership. This discourse was very evident in columns in the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. Columnist Muwaffak Matar mounted a personal attack on President Trump, writing: "This racist [Trump], the second version of Hitler, does not want to see us free, but dead, displaced, expelled, and imprisoned. It gladdens him to see us starving, chasing after a sack of American flour, and abandoning the principle of freedom thousands of miles behind us... After Trump entered the White House as president, he faced the world brandishing the sword of war and terrorism in its various forms. He began with this in our region, when he decided to recognize occupied Jerusalem as the capital of the occupying power Israel. This act in itself is the grossest violation of international law."[13]

Another Al-Hayat Al-Jadida columnist, Yahyah Rabah, wrote about the Trump administration's policy: "Trump's U.S. is establishing itself by acting as it did [in the UN], as a superpower that has no sense of responsibility to international peace and security. It continues to reveal [its real positions] and to burst into aggressive and unbridled moves. It encourages aggression that reaches the level of terror, and it has no respect for others, their interests, their living space, and their opinions. This is extraordinary, and the U.S.'s partners will be unable to stand it for long.

"In such an atmosphere, how can Trump present his plan, the 'Deal of the Century,' when the other side is the legitimate Palestinian leadership, without which no deal will succeed? Therefore, Trump's delusion that he will present a plan for the end of the [Palestinian-Israeli] conflict is nothing but an example of [his] dark delusions. This is because a man who acts in haste and with no [logical] considerations is unfit to bring about an end to the conflict."[14]

Columnist 'Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul wrote that the U.S.'s veto in the UNSC had given Israel a free hand to deliberately harm the Palestinians: "What happened yesterday in the UNSC reveals the magnitude of the disgrace on the head of the U.S., and indicates something very important – that the administration of the American president Donald Trump, arrogant and narcissistic, is leading the world according to the standards of the law of the jungle. These standards have harmed the status of the UN, particularly of the Security Council, and have stripped of any real meaning the international humanitarian laws, charters, norms, and rules that humanity has drawn up over the past 70 years... and turned them into mere ink on paper. These standards have [also] unleashed the rabid Israeli dogs to tear unrestrainedly at the living flesh of the Palestinians... "[15]

Palestinian Journalist: The U.S. Is Hostile To The Palestinians, And Is Extorting The Poor Countries In Order To Advance Its Own And Israel's Interests

In a column titled "The American-Israel Alliance against the World," Talal 'Awkal, columnist for the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, focused on statements by Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN, who said following the UNSC vote that the U.S. is hostile to the Palestinian people, and incapable of fairness and objectivity towards them. He wrote: "The statement by Riyad Mansour... prompts many political musings, and demands [our] reexamination of the front of our enemies and the front of our allies and friends. Mansour refused to consider the American draft resolution in the Security Council, that included only condemnation of the rockets fired [at Israel] from Gaza. He said, 'The U.S. is a country hostile towards the Palestinian people. [By saying this], Mansour determines, and rightly so, a new and different view of the role of the U.S. in the Palestinian-Arab-Zionist conflict. This follows a period of political maneuvers that compelled the Palestinians to hope that the U.S. would be capable, even somewhat, [of acting] fairly and objectively, such that it will be able to help attain a peace process that will assure the Palestinians of the minimum of their UN-recognized rights...

"The U.S. in the Donald Trump era is choosing to make peace with itself as a colonialist state hostile to the efforts of the peoples – both those who aspire to freedom and independence and those who seek progress and to develop their societies. The U.S. is openly and directly stressing that Israel is its natural colonialist extension, and the forward base of its security for achieving U.S. interests. It may be that the Arabs are somewhat late in understanding this reality – that the U.S. is unwilling to accept partnership with anyone, that it has no allies but Israel, and that all it cares about is actualizing its interests at the expense of the interests of others...

"It is clear that the Trump administration is using its economic and military power to extort the poor countries, and that it is mobilizing to force them to transfer their embassies to Jerusalem and to prevent them from voting in favor of any [UN] resolution harming Israel. Likewise, it does not believe that anyone is entitled to protect themselves except the occupation state, even if this leads to the collapse of the international justice system and to the UN losing the essence of its role..." [16]