Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets members of Congress after addressing a Joint Meeting of Congress at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on May 24, 2011.

If anyone had any doubt about whether the Palestinians would
declare a state in September, they can’t have them now.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered a
speech to Congress that essentially was a series of insults to Palestinians and
every insult was met by applause and standing ovations.

In fact, Netanyahu’s appearance itself was an insult.

In the entire history of the United States, only four
foreign leaders have addressed joint sessions of Congress more than once.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill, America’s great ally,
addressed Congress three times during World War II. President Nelson Mandela
was honored for destroying apartheid and freeing South Africa. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin was recognized for opening negotiations with the Palestinian
people.

And now Netanyahu. For what?

In his entire term in office he has done nothing but reject
every request by the United States that he take some action (like freezing
settlements) to promote Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. In the history of
Israel, there has been no prime minister as hardline on Palestinian rights and
as indifferent to the wishes of the United States as Netanyahu.

So why was he invited to address a rare joint session?

He was invited because the new Republican leadership of the
House of Representatives wanted to demonstrate, loudly and clearly, that
Congress will not support President Barak Obama in the event that he tries to
achieve an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

And that is exactly what the Netanyahu appearance did
demonstrate. The prime minister unambiguously stated that he had no intention
of making peace with the Palestinians.

He began by saying that, in point of fact, there is no
occupation, stating that “in Judea and Samaria [the term Israeli
right-wingers use for the West Bank], Israelis are not foreign occupiers”
but the native inhabitants. (He cited Abraham and Isaiah from the Bible!)

He said he might consider giving up some of that land but
not an inch of Jerusalem. Additionally, he said that Israel would retain most
settlements and insist on a military presence in the Jordan Valley (thereby
ensuring the any State of Palestine would be locked in on both sides by
Israel).

He said that Israel would never negotiate with a Palestinian
government that included Hamas, whether democratically elected or not. He
declared that not a single Palestinian would be allowed to return to Israel;
not even a symbolic return would be acceptable to him.

There is little reason to elaborate. Netanyahu essentially
returned to the policies that Israel pursued before Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir
Arafat agreed on mutual recognition and the joint pursuit of peace.

And the worst part is not the appalling things Netanyahu
said, but how Congress received them. Even Netanyahu’s declaration that there
is no Israeli occupation was met with thunderous applause with the Democrats
joining the Republicans in ecstatic support. Every Netanyahu statement, no
matter how extreme, was met with cheers.

Netanyahu was also applauded wildly when he invoked
Palestinian terrorism over and over again, even seeming to lump his former
“partner,” President Mahmoud Abbas with people who “educate
their children to hate, [who] continue to name public squares after terrorists.
And worst of all continue to perpetuate the fantasy that Israel will one day be
flooded by the descendants of Palestinian refugees.”

His bottom line, which Congress fully bought, was that all
Palestinians are terrorists who haven’t earned a state. And probably never
will.

Congress cheered and cheered and when Netanyahu was
finished, they climbed over each other to touch the hem of his garment.

It was as if Congress thought that no Palestinians or other
Arabs (or Muslims) would be watching. It was as if it believes that it can
shout its lungs out for Netanyahu (and thereby secure those campaign
contributions from AIPAC), without any consequences to U.S. policy and national
interests in the Arab world.

But Congress is wrong. The message it sent to the Middle East
today, to the whole world, in fact, was that Palestinians cannot count on the
United States to ever play the role of “honest broker” between Israel
and the Palestinians. Even if President Obama was inclined to, Congress would
stop him. And AIPAC, using the leverage its campaign contributions gives it,
would hold Obama’s feet to the fire too. As far as Congress is concerned,
Palestinians do not exist. They have no rights, to a state least of all. 

And that is why Palestinians have no choice but to unilaterally
declare a state in the fall. They cannot count on America. As David Ben Gurion
understood when he went to the General Assembly to achieve recognition of
Israel, a small, powerless people must take its destiny into its own hands.

The good news is that, although Congress is in Netanyahu’s
pocket, the Obama administration isn’t. Netanyahu insulted the President at the
White House last Thursday and then again in the halls of Congress by eliciting
support for policies Obama rejects. And the administration is furious.

That means that although Palestinians can and should ignore
Congress, the White House and State Department are still in play. Yes, they
will both go along with Netanyahu, but, probably, without much enthusiasm.

And they can send a signal to our allies that although the
United States cannot openly oppose Bibi’s policies because of Congress — and
AIPAC’s control of it — the allies can. The Palestinians should not give up on
Obama or on Secretary of State Clinton either who cannot abide Netanyahu and
made sure she was out of the country to escape being present for his speech.

And so we can look forward to a unilateral declaration of
statehood in September. The Israelis who refuse to negotiate with stateless
Palestinians will have no choice but to negotiate with the state whose land it
is occupying. And those negotiations, state to state, may produce peace and the
“two states for two peoples” that most Palestinians and Israelis
aspire to. In any case, it’s the only hope.

Palestinians should thank Prime Minister Netanyahu and, even
more, the United States Congress, for making their choice so much easier.
Together they helped create the Palestinian state . And that is a very good
thing.

As for Americans, we should be deeply ashamed of our
Congress. It has been sold to the highest bidder.

MJ Rosenberg is a Senior Foreign Policy Fellow at Media
Matters Action Network. The above article first appeared in Foreign Policy
Matters, a part of the Media Matters Action Network.