{Plea (for the Israelis)-conditions (for the Palestinians)} by Hasan Idelbi
[ 03/11/2009 - 09:36 AM ]
By Khalid Amayreh
The latest visit by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Occupied Palestine seems to have effectively terminated whatever hopes the Palestinians and other Arabs may have pinned on the Obama administration to adopt an evenhanded approach toward the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In his public policy discourse toward the Muslim world, which culminated in his Cairo speech on 4 June, President Obama gave a certain impression that his administration would resist Israeli insolence and arrogance of power and introduce a semblance of fairness into its policy toward the Palestinian issue.
Obama also pledged to get Israel to freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a precondition for resuming stalled peace talks between the apartheid Israeli regime and the weak Palestinian Authority (PA).
Now, it is becoming increasingly clear that all Obama’s assertions and promises were mostly disingenuous rhetoric that is meant for public relations consumption.
Clinton, in a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in occupied Jerusalem Saturday night, stopped short of completely endorsing the Israeli settlement policy, describing Israeli “concessions” as “unprecedented.”
What Clinton seemed to be saying was that the proverbial ball was in the Palestinians’ court and that Israel did or was doing its part of the deal.
This means, according to Clinton’s logic, that it is now the Palestinians’ turn to reciprocate by agreeing to resume the vague, undefined, and open-ended talks with Israel, probably until Israel is able to devour the remainder of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, at which point Clinton or another American Secretary of State, would urge the Palestinians “to be realistic and accept reality.”
Clinton realizes well that with every day passing, Israel devours a fresh chunk of the West Bank. However, she not only fails to say what ought to be said, namely that this is unfair and unacceptable, but also goes as far as demanding that the Palestinians come to terms with Israel’s “right” to steal Palestinian land under the deceptive rubric of a peace process that has more to do with deception and land theft in broad daylight, than with real peace or even real efforts to make peace.
Clinton, who as New York senator had proven that her ethical standards were sub-minimal at best, has actually unmasked the Obama administration’s face, a face that seems to differ little from that of the previous Bush administration.
The continued theft of Palestinian land in al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) and the rest of the West Bank is undoubtedly a brazen act of rape. And instead of demanding that this rape be immediately terminated, Clinton is asking the victim to be considerate and accommodate the feelings and desires of the licentious attacker.
The PA leadership did well by rejecting American bullying. Doing otherwise would have made the PA and its president Mahmoud Abbas incur another spate of anger and indignation among Palestinians, both at home and in the Diaspora.
However, it is till uncertain if Abbas’s rejection of Clinton’s pandering to the extremist Israeli leadership was merely a tactical move or a sustainable position which the PA would uphold in the face of Israeli insolence and the manifestly conspiratorial American posture.
Abbas has been vowing not to resume talks with Israel unless and until the Zionist regime freezes all settlement expansion activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Resisting American pressure does enjoy wide support among Palestinians. In fact, it was one of the rarest instances where the American-backed PA chairman adopted a stand consistent with the Palestinian public opinion.
This is why reneging on or retreating from this position, even under American pressure, would cost Abbas and his Fatah organization dearly in terms of public support.
Needless to say, the latest American betrayal underscores the futility of counting on the US to pressure Israel to end the occupation that started in 1967 and allow for the creation of a viable Palestinian state.
Indeed, it is quite plausible to reason that if the US is not able, even if willing, to get Israel to stop the construction of a settler building in East Jerusalem, it would be foolhardy for the Palestinians to expect the same US to get Israel to give up the occupied territories of 1967, allow for the repatriation of the refugees and dismantle Jewish colonies.
Hence, it is crucial that Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims disallow themselves to continue being duped and bamboozled by American prevarications and procrastinations which only allows Israel to have more time to create more and more facts on the ground in the West Bank.
But it is uncertain if the Abbas-Fayyad leadership in Ramallah will be able to retain their current position vis-à-vis the settlement issue.
Abbas can’t really be given the benefit of the doubt. After all, he stands at the helm of an authority that can’t survive one month without American and Western aid, which is actually nothing less than bribery money aimed at placating the Palestinians to keep quiet in the face of continued Israeli theft of Palestinian land.
Moreover, the PA leadership proved ad nauseam that it values the legitimacy that comes from Israeli and American acceptance more than that which comes from the Palestinian people’s acceptance.
This is why Abbas must be constantly monitored and reminded that retreating from the current stance on settlements would generate a revolt against him and his authority.
The Palestinian people are always willing to sacrifice for the sake of their freedom. Palestinians would never ever commit adultery with their enduring national cause and inalienable rights for the sake of promised economic prosperity and worldly comfort.
Nonetheless, the PA will have to adopt a series of tangible measures to demonstrate to the American administration that the Palestinians wouldn’t just budge to Israel’s blackmailing tactics and arrogance of power.
If necessary, the PA must show a serious willingness to completely dissolve itself and return to the pre-Oslo era if the US keeps insisting on imposing the Israeli will on our people.
I know that many PA operatives have vested interests in maintaining the status quo. However, it should be well known to everyone concerned that Palestinian national interests in dumping the Israeli occupation in the dustbin of history absolutely override the interests of a few robber barons in swelling their bank accounts with more dollars and shekels.
In addition, the PA should display more national responsibility and statesmanship by forming a collective leadership that would lead the Palestinian people through the treacherous precipices facing our people.
After all, the PA constantly succumbed to American and western pressure in the hope that “fighting and isolating the extremists” would convince Israel and its allies to end the occupation.
Now, that the PA has discovered that the American-conceived and Israeli-sustained rift with Hamas was only meant, from the American view point at least, to weaken the Palestinian national front vis-à-vis Israel, the same PA should be courageous enough to reconsider its disgraceful subservience to the US and Israel and seek immediate reconciliation with Hamas and other patriotic-minded Palestinian forces.
Abbas: you are facing a grave danger. Your head has already hit the ceiling of the hyena’s cave.
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