Clinton Inciting Violence

By Abdelbari Atwan

23 march 2010

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has displayed the ugliest hypocrisy and political and moral double standards by accusing Palestinian officials of inciting violence by their protest against the construction of Al-Kharab [Hurva] synagogue in occupied Jerusalem.

It is obvious that the US secretary of state wants the Palestinians - whether officials or ordinary citizens - to greet the opening of this synagogue on occupied Palestinian land with cheers and flowers, sharing the Jewish settlers' celebrations. If they do not, she considers them backward and terrorists to boot.

Mrs. Clinton made her comments in a speech at the opening of the annual conference of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) - the American Jewish lobby which supports Israel and its massacres in the occupied territories. She did not hesitate to assert in the same speech, which personified the highest levels of hypocrisy, "that guaranteeing Israel's security is more than a policy position for me; it is a personal commitment that will never waver."

It is true that Mrs. Clinton said in the same speech that the indirect talks between the Palestinians and should be "serious" and substantive and that building new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank endanger the progress, but she did not condemn it and did not assert firmly that it was illegal.

Netanyahu stated, right in the heart of Washington, that building in occupied Arab Jerusalem was like building in Tel Aviv and would continue without obstacles, as if he was telling both President Barack Obama and Mrs. Clinton that he, Netanyahu, was stronger than the actual tenant of the White House and would not pay any attention to American criticisms of his government's settlement policies.

The "violence" in the occupied territories, which Clinton fears, will inevitably erupt and the Israeli provocations are the reason, not incitement by some Palestinian officials as Clinton is saying. What does she expect from the Palestinian people when they see the processes of judaizing their holy places continuing and Jewish settlers breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque in preparation for its demolition intendng to build and the so-called Solomon Temple over its debris?

The US administration is treating the butcher and victim as equally culpable, endeavouring to match every slight criticism of the Israeli government and its illegal practices with some blame on the Palestinians. Mrs. Clinton has long behaved thus and now too does Senator George Mitchell, her envoy in the region who is urging both the Palestinians and Israelis to exercise self-restraint in order to go ahead with the indirect negotiations - as if Palestinian tanks were parked at the gates of Tel Aviv and the Palestinian [National] Authority [PNA] in Ramallah was the one building settlements and its forces assassinating Jewish settlers.

It is a scandalous fraud of the facts on the ground, covered up by the Arabs and Palestinians themselves who either remain silent or praise America's superficial criticisms of Netanyahu's government and its reaction to the Israelis' successive insults and slaps.

It is disgraceful when demonstrations against the judaization of Jerusalem and Islamic holy places are staged in Indonesia and Arab and Islamic capitals while life continues as normal in cities like Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus, and Tulkarm just a few kilometres from the clashes taking place around Al-Aqsa Mosque as a few courageous sons of Palestine try to defend it and battle the Israeli forces. Commenting on this regrettable restraint, Mahmud al-Habbash, a Palestinian minister, said he opposes any acts of violence and supports, instead, "wise resistance." This is the first time we have heard of this new form of resistance whose antonym is the "mad intifadah". Al-Habbash did not explain this concept to us precisely. He probably meant acts of civil disobedience and protest demonstrations. We do not see any trace of even this 'wise resistance' in the West Bank.

Some might argue by referring to the protests against the Apartheid wall in Na'lin and Ba'lin by dozens of demonstrators one or two days a week. This is true. But are the demolitions, the settlements, and the wall happening only in Ba'lin and Na'lin and what about the other West Bank cities and villages? Is it not painful when the heroic city of Jenin, which became the model of resistance aganst the occupation when its camp, that measured no more than one square kilometre, stood fast for more than 10 days against Israeli tanks, and its defenders killed 26 Israeli soldiers, has been turned into a tourist site as an example of economic peace and houses the headquarters for Dayton's forces which want to create the new Palestinian person?

The Dayton forces, their ideologists, and the knights of economic peace have apparently actually created the "new Palestinian" by a kind of "Palestinian Awakening" [referring to the Iraq Awakwning campaign], paying monthly salaries to people for sitting in their houses doing absolutely nothing at all, including demonstrating - which would result in an immediate withdrawal of salary.

We were also surprised by the statements of Mahmud al-Zahhar, the prominent "Hamas" movement leader in the Gaza Strip, who accused those firing rockets at Israeli settlements of being "traitors." We say we were surprised because we have always supported all forms of resistance by "Hamas" during the PNA's presence in the Strip, including firing rockets, and rejected all the PNA's accusations and descriptions, such as "useless rockets" and "tin tubes", and the accusations of treachery and of serving Israeli agendas made against those firing them.

We agree with Al-Zahhar that the timing of firing these rockets might provide Netanyahu with the excuses for launching an aggression against the Strip, which is suffering from the blockade, hunger, and being let down by its brothers. But we wish he would not use the same expressions the PNA used against "Hamas". When "Hamas" ceases resistance, albeit temporarily, and as a result of correct political calculations, it must expect that there will be those who disagree with it and that their stance is just as patriotic as those of the movement which mobilized, and continues to mobilize, the majority of the Palestinian people - which is why it won the last elections.

The acclaim for the Quartet statement issued at its recent meeting in Moscow about the establishment of the Palestinian state within two years is the largest act of deception for the Palestinian people and an obvious attempt to absorb the signs of an intifadah that has started to rear its head. We must remember that George Bush Jr. pledged twice to establish an independent Palestinian state and departed without so much as dismantling a single "illegal" settlement or one roadblock in the West Bank.

The intifadah must intensify by all means and ways; an intifadah against the entire economic peace and its ideologists before the occupation and its settlers. In the past, we cried over the loss of the land and how much of it was being swallowed by the settlements and we are now on the verge of crying over the loss of the holy places through the barbaric judaization or crying over both.

River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian