Nov 28, 2021
The U.K. government is set to ban Hamas as a terrorist group, throwing away the possibility of dialogue and siding with an Israeli government opposed to the 2-State Solution.
So did the Home Secretary Priti Patel, who moved to proscribe Hamas as a terrorist group act for the British public or instead on behalf of her Israeli allies?
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أكتوبر 11, 2021
ثينة شعبان
إلى متى نستمر في بيع الأوهام، ونحن نشهد واقع هذه الأمة يتراجع، سواء محلياً، أو إقليمياً، أو دولياً؟
في خطابه، في الذكرى الـ 34 لانطلاق حركة “الجهاد الإسلامي”، دعا الأمين العام للحركة زياد نخالة إلى وحدة الصف الفلسطيني، والتراجع عن أوهام السلام التي اختلقها العدو الإسرائيلي، والابتعاد عن الغمغمة السياسية. وفي هذه الدعوة الأخيرة بلسمٌ لجراح متعدّدة، يعاني جرّاءها الشعبان الفلسطيني والعربي منذ عقود، لأن الغمغمة السياسية هي الحاجز الأخطر بين الحق وأصحابه وبين التاريخ الحقيقي الذي يجب أن يُدرَّس للأجيال وبين ما يدرسونه اليوم من نصوص تُولي اهتماماً لمشاعر أصحاب الشأن والقرار، بدلاً من إيلاء الاهتمام للوطن وسلامته وتعزيز أُسس قوته ومنعته.
مرّت، منذ أيام، ذكرى حرب تشرين التحريرية، لكنْ لم تُكتب حقيقة تلك الحرب ومجرياتها، إلى حدّ اليوم، ولم يتمَّ التوصل إلى الاستنتاجات العلمية والمؤكَّدة، والتي تسمي الأشياء بأسمائها، على الرَّغم من أن اتفاقات “سيناء 2″، واتفاق كامب دافيد، وزيارة السادات للقدس المحتلة، دكّت إسفيناً في جسد العالم العربي، ما زلنا نشهد تداعياته الخطيرة ونعيش تبعاته على الأجيال، من دون أن يتمكن أحد من عكس هذا التيار، والإقلاع من جديد في اتجاه مُغاير مقاوم.
وفي الإطار نفسه، حقّق اتفاق أوسلو للعدو الصهيوني ما لم يتمكن من تحقيقه خلال عقود، وأفشل ذاك الاتفاق عمليةَ سلام كانت مبنية على أُسس سليمة ووَفق إجماع وتنسيق عربيين، ومكّن الصهاينة من خوض معركة علاقات عامة بعشرات الدول لمصلحتهم، وفتحَ الأبواب لهم من جانب بلدان لم تكن لتعترف بالكيان الصهيوني لولا الاتفاق الفلسطيني معه. ومع ذلك، لا تنص الكتب المدرسية أو غيرها على حقيقة ما جرى ويجري، ولا تُسَمّي الأشياء بأسمائها، ولا توجِّه اللوم إلى من يستحقون. وهنا، أستذكر قول الله، عز وجل، “يا أهل الكتاب لِمَ تَلْبِسُون الحقَّ بالباطل وتَكْتُمون الحقَّ وأنتم تَعْلَمون”. لكنْ، هذه المرة، تشملنا هذه الآية حين نغمغم ولا نفصح عن الحقيقة.
أن يلبس الحق بالباطل؛ أي أن يغمغم الحق، أو أن يكتمه، وكلاهما خطرٌ على الحقيقة وقول الصدق، لأن الحقيقة هي التي تهدي إلى القرار السليم، وهي التي تختصر الطُّرُق، وتستثمر الوقت، بدلاً من هدره وإضاعته، أو ما زال البعض يعتبر أن أشخاصاً ما وسمعتهم ومكانتهم أهم من التاريخ وأهم من الأوطان؟ لا قيمة يجب أن تعلو فوق قيمة الوطن وقول كلمة الحق، من أجل مصلحة الوطن وإعلاء شأنه، لأن الكلَّ موقَّتون وعابرون، إلاّ الأوطان والحقائق الناصعة المرتبطة بها.
هناك من يعرضون بعض أحداث تاريخنا بصدق شفوياً، وحين نطلب منهم أن يسجّلوا ما قالوه، يقول البعض منهم: لن يصدّقنا أحد، لأن كل ما نقرأه مخالف للحقائق التي نعرفها بعمق ونتحدث بشأنها.
إلى متى نستمر في بيع الأوهام، ونحن نشهد واقع هذه الأمة يتراجع، سواء محلياً، أو إقليمياً، أو دولياً؟ ومتى سنمتلك الجرأة الأكيدة على أن نؤيّد ما قاله السيد زياد نخالة، وفحواه أن “المشروع الرسمي الفلسطيني”، وأُضيفُ إليه “المشروع الرسمي العربي”، هما أقصرُ من قامات الشهداء، وأقلّ كثيراً من تضحيات الأسرى والجرحى، على امتداد أرض هذا الوطن العربي الكبير، في كلّ أقطاره”؟
في الوقت الذي تنشغل أغلبية دول العالم بإعادة حساباتها بشأن موقعها، إقليمياً ودولياً، والدور الذي يمكن لها أن تؤدّيه أو تطوّره في أحداث تعيد تشكيل العالَم من جديد، نجد الكتلة العربية مبعثرةَ الجهود بين مع من يريد أن يَستبدل بالسيد الأميركي السيدَ العثماني، “كالمستجير من الرمضاء بالنار”، وبين من يعقد آمالاً على الأوهام، التي يسوّقها له الكيان الصهيوني، فيرتمي في حِضنه سراً أو علانية، غيرَ متّغظ من مآل الأمور في دول عقدت آمالها على العلاقة بهذا الكيان، فلم يكتفِ بالغدر بها، بل سخّر كلّ علاقاته وإمكاناته ليُقنع دولاً أخرى باتخاذ خطوات، وبناء سدود، تنغّص عليها مصدر الحياة الذي ترتوي من نسغه. وبين هذا وذاك دول عربية تمتثل لقرارات هي في العمق ضدها، بقدر ما هي ضدّ الأخ الشقيق، لأنها تكرّس الفرقة والانقسام والعزلة، في الوقت الذي يدرك أعداء العرب، قبل حكام العرب، أن فتح حدودهم والتعاون والتنسيق بينهم هي طريق الخلاص الوحيد لهم جميعاً.
البعض، في عالمنا العربي، مزهوّ بانكسار الولايات المتحدة في أفغانستان، وتراجُع الدور الغربي في الإقليم والعالم، بينما ما زال بعض مَن يراهنون على السيد الغربي يتوسّلون كلمة منه يعتقدون أنها قادرة على تغيير مصائرهم ومصائر أوطانهم. وهؤلاء يذكّرونني ببداية الحرب على سوريا، حين احتفل بعض المأجورين بدعوة أوباما الرئيسَ الأسد إلى أن يرحل، معتقدين أن كلمته قَدَرَ لن يتمكّن أحد من تغييره. وفي كِلتا الحالتين الرهان هو على الآخر: إمّا أن ينكسر، وإمّا أن يشكّل منقذاً، ولا هو بباعث الحياة في بلداننا إن انكسر، ولم ولن يشكّل منقذاً لمن لا يعمل ويضحّي، ويُسرع الخطى في بناء وطنه.
مع التسليم طبعاً بأنّ الغرب بعد أفغانستان ليس كما قبلها، وأنّ القطب الغربي يشهد حالة تفكّك وتراجع، يقابلها صعود متسارع للصين وروسيا والهند وإيران، ومنظومات تفكير تؤمن بعالم متعدّد الأقطاب، وبإعادة النظر في العلاقات الدولية، وتقف ضدّ التدخّل في شؤون الدول. وعلى الرغم من ذلك كلّه، فإنّ الوحش الغربيّ المتربّص بالعرب اليوم جاثمٌ على الضفة الأخرى من المتوسّط، حالمٌ بإعادة بناء الإمبراطورية العثمانية على أُسس تنظيم “الإخوان المسلمين” للوصول إلى أهدافه. فالخطر اليوم الذي يهدِّد سوريا والعراق وليبيا وتونس والجزائر، وحتى مصر واليمن ودول الخليج، كما يهدِّد إيران وأرمينيا وعدداً من دول آسيا الوسطى، هو الخطر العثماني الإخواني، الذي يحاول مراكمة أوراقه من خلال ألاعيبه الخبيثة، قبل أن تنكشف نِيّاته الحقيقية. والخوف هو من الانتظار إلى أن تصبح نياته واضحة للجميع، فيكون قد تمدّد واحتلّ وتمركز، واستخدم أدواته ضدّ البلدان والشعوب.
لقد أصبح واضحاً اليوم أنّ الخطر العثماني والخطر الإسرائيلي على أمتنا صنوان. لكن الأخطر من كلّ شيء، بالنسبة إلى هذه الأمة، هو عدم وضوح الرؤية، وعدم الاقتناع بأنّ عوامل القوة أو الضعف تنبع من الداخل، ولا يمكن لأيّ قوّة، مهما عَتَت، أن تنال من بنيان صلب متماسك يُحْسن صانعوه الدفاع عنه. كما أصبح واضحاً أنّ كلّ ادعاءات العثماني بشأن الحرص على فلسطين والذَّود عنها هي ادّعاءات كاذبة من أجل ذرّ الرماد في العيون، بينما يتعاون مع الصهيوني في شبكة علاقات سياسية واقتصادية وعسكرية، تمتدّ من الشرق الأوسط إلى القوقاز وآسيا الوسطى.
مصيبتان كُبْرَيان في تاريخنا العربي هما الخيانة والغمغمة السياسية، والسبب الكامن وراء الاثنتين هو عدم الصدق مع الذات والآخر، وعدم المكاشفة الصريحة، وعدم الجرأة في إعلاء كلمة الحقّ والوطن. لا شكّ في أنّ الوقت أصبح متـأخراً جداً، وأنّ إعادة البناء تتطلّب وقتاً وجهداً وتفكيراً نيّراً وغيرَ تقليديّ. لكن، هل هناك أيّ خِيار آخر متاح من أجل مستقبل أفضل لأُمّة تهدّدها تطوّرات الأحداث في العالم بأن تُبقيَها خارج التاريخ؟
13 Nov 2021
Susana Khalil
There will be no free and peaceful Arab-Persian world as long as the Israeli colonial Euro-Zionist regime exists.
1907
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, British colonialism prepared a scientific report (Bannerman), in order to prolong itself as an empire. The report says that the Arab world is an obstacle to the European colonial order, and for this, it is necessary to articulate our disintegration, division, and separation. Imposing politicians to serve imperial interests. To combat any movement of unity, whether intellectual, cultural, ethnic, historical, political, religious, economic, scientific, military, etc. And to achieve this it must be through the establishment of an “agent state”, with a foreign population affectionate to Europe and its interests.
MUSTAPHA: That is absurd, it is impossible to achieve that, and even less so within the Arab idiosyncrasy. It’s ridiculous, it’s nonsense.
1915
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the French and British colonialists are making a secret agreement called Sykes Pico. Creating borders to divide our Arab lands between them.
MUSTAFA: Let’s abolish any colonizing savage.
1917
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, you remember when in 1907 I told you about the Bannerman Report. British colonialism has just passed The Balfour Declaration. It is for the establishment of a Jewish “Home” here, in our Palestine.
MUSTAFA: Home? It’s a trap and they will never, never achieve it. The Arab spirit will never allow these Europeans to impose colonialism under the mantle of the Jewish religion in our Palestine. Today we must free ourselves from this British colonial yoke and our Palestine will be free.
1947
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, do you remember when in 1917 I told you about the Balfour Declaration? A newly created international organization, I think it’s called the UN, the United Nations. It has voted a resolution for the creation of the “State of Israel” in our Palestine. They gave it 64% of our homeland.
MUSTAFA: I don’t believe that a newly created international organization has that power. It is absurd and impossible.
May 14, 1948
ABDALLAH: Mustafa my love, I knew your sister was beheaded. The European Zionist movement has proclaimed, The Declaration of the Creation of the “State of Israel”. Terror, panic, macabre killings, this is genocide, Al-Nakba. The British handed over our Palestine to the Jewish Europeans.
MUSTAFA: We will go to war, we will liberate our Palestine. The Arab world will rise up. Long live Arab love.
1967
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, Israeli colonialism in 1948 took away part of our Palestine, and today, they have colonized all of our historic Palestine. And they have also taken territories from Egypt and Syria.
MUSTAFA: We must continue to fight my beloved Abdallah.
1978
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the dictator of Egypt, Anwar El Sadat, has recognized the colonial regime of “Israel” in exchange for the return of the Egyptian territories in the Sinai that were taken by colonization in 1967.
MUSTAFA: Abdallah, Anwar El Sadat is a traitor and all these Arab dictators are traitors, that’s why they are in power. We must fight and we will win.
1987
ABDALLAH: Mustafa my love…The Intifada…how beautiful and divine is this popular uprising against colonialism. It’s a popular uprising, it has no leaders, it comes from the entrails of the people. It is magical, it is wonderful, it is loving… Mustafa my love. It must not stop, it must go on until victory until the liberation of our Palestine.
MUSTAFA: Yes, the Intifada must not stop. How divine is the Revolution, how sweet is this love, Palestine, Palestine, Palestine! My two great-grandchildren are imprisoned and they destroyed my brother’s house. The world is watching our pain. When Israeli colonialism falls, all the Arab dictatorships will fall, and above all the bloody Gulf dictatorships.
1993
ABDALLAH: Mustafa they have stopped the Intifada. The PLO in Oslo recognizes the colonial regime of “Israel”. They talk about two states. They do not talk about the right of return of Palestinian refugees. They only give us 22% of our homeland. It is a hoax, it is a trap.
2000
MUSTAFA: Abdallah, Israeli expansionist colonization has been defeated in Lebanon, it has had to withdraw from Lebanon. This is a victory for our Lebanese people. They withdrew without imposing any conditions. Long live Hezbollah and long live the armed resistance! This is the greatest victory we have achieved.
ABDALLAH: Yes Mustafa, it is a victory, it is the unquenchable faith and determination in the struggle. And thanks to the union, the union between Hezbollah and Iran, we Palestinians, in Oslo, accepted humiliating conditions. Colonialism was supposed to give us 22% of the territory and far from withdrawing, they have taken more of our homeland.
2003
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the Zionist lobby is asking the United States to invade Iraq, they created the attacks of September 11 to justify this cruel invasion, slandering that Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction.
MUSTAFA: It is about dismembering the Arab world bit by bit.
2010
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, there is a popular revolt in Tunisia against the tyrant Ben Ali, that puppet of France. This is going to have a domino effect in the Arab world. Oh, I have fear and hope.
MUSTAFA: Abdallah, remember that the Intifada was popular and then it was hijacked and now we are worse with this Palestinian Authority which is a collaborator of colonialism. We have to be very careful, we cannot be naïve.
2020
ABDALLAH: Mustafa, the Gulf monarchies already shamelessly recognize the colonial “state of Israel”, they do it to perpetuate themselves in power, they are making astronomical economic investments. The shedding of our Palestinian blood is the throne of these macabre Arab traitors. They are falsifying Islam and making it look like the enemy is Iran. These traitors do not see that by defending Palestine they are protecting their own nation, as colonialism will come after for them, they are putting the sovereignty of the Arab peoples at risk. I thought these traitors were smarter.
MUSTAFA: Yes, I also thought these miserable traitors were smarter.
2062
MUSTAFA: Abdallah, our noble cause of Palestinian liberation is no longer in the conscience of the international community, as it once was. Today we are a tourist attraction of the Israeli colonial regime. In Jerusalem we sell Tatriz (embroidery), we dance Dabke, we sell our typical culinary dishes, as typical of the colonial regime of “Israel”. Arabs come from the Gulf and say they are happy to be in “Israel”, in the land of their “cousins”.
2073
MUSTAPHA: Abdallah, “Israel’s” expansionist colonialism has occupied part of Jordan…
Walking through the streets of Damascus, Syria.
– Uncle, uncle, Habibi, good morning, where is the train station? I have to go to Jerusalem for a few days. Then I have to go to Baghdad and Iran. By train, it is cheaper and I will be able to see all those landscapes and villages…
“When the truth is too weak to defend itself, it will have to go on the attack.”
– Bertolt Brecht
At this stage of the Zionist colonial process, in its advance to put an end to the original Palestinian people, there are two aspects that I want to point out in this article: the return to armed struggle as an alternative for national liberation and the end of “Israel’s” colonial regime.
After the imposition of “Israel’s” colonial regime in Palestine from Europe, which was seen and felt like an impossible, absurd, nonsensical, and ridiculous project from the point of view of logic; today, from logic, the same will be said when it is considered that the Arab-Persian and Kurdish world and culture can be plundered, falsified… modalities of dispossession for its disappearance.
It could be said that there will be no free and peaceful Arab-Persian world as long as the Israeli colonial Euro-Zionist regime exists. But that is not the point, the point is that the Arab-Persian world is threatened to disappear.
Since the Oslo accords, fewer Palestinians are talking about the liberation of Palestine, about the independence of historic Palestine. Fewer Palestinians are expressing their struggle against the colonial yoke and anachronism of “Israel”. And especially the Palestinians in the Diaspora, because Western repression is so strong. The Palestinians have submitted and are dragging themselves to the Western Euro-Zionist agenda by only debating on one or two states. While colonialism has it clear and is moving to put an end to the original Palestinian people.
There are honest Western souls devoted to solidarity with the Palestinian people, sincere beings, but I am opposed to them, I’m opposed to the ones who demand the right for “Israel” to exist in our historical Palestine. The concept of peace does not come from the comfort, fear, functionalism, immediacy, and naivety of a trade unionist, feminist, academic, intellectual, politician, student, artist, activist. There is implicit colonialism there, even if they act in good faith.
Every native people has the dignified right to abolish their respective colonizer and that is always a contribution to humanity.
This would be an artificial and dead struggle, if it is not fought from the raison d’être of the Palestinian cause, from the essence and root of the Palestinian cause, that is, the struggle of a native people against a colonial yoke, today, in the 21st century.
As anti-Zionists, we must be a philosophical and moral challenge to the obscurantism of the academic-intellectual priesthood.
I find it degrading, contrary to the spirit of the human thinking verb, to exclude, ban, censor, repress, and silence from the world of debate the end of “Israel’s” colonial regime in Palestine, on the pretext that we must think about peace. One has to be realistic, especially because of the fear of not being accused of anti-Semitism. Everyone has the right to express his or her belief that this colonial regime should exist in Palestine. What should not be accepted is that this point should be banned from the universe of debate.
In the liberation of the Palestinian people against the colonial yoke and anachronism of “Israel”, it is intrinsic to never, ever expel the so-called Israeli, otherwise, it would be a philosophical and moral betrayal. The figure known as an Israeli would become a Palestinian citizen. That is what the statutes of the extinct League of Nations demanded, where thousands of thousands of Jews applied.
If you tell me that this is impossible and that I must be realistic, I say: don’t be creative people with complex and articulate cowards. Let us be able to position justice, to transcend intellectuality. And as Ernesto Guevara said: Let’s be realistic, let’s do the impossible.The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
Net 5 Nov, 2021
Samuel Geddes
The loss of 100 or so citizens to Iran, Iraq, Yemen, or Morocco would at best be terrible public relations for “Israel”. The loss of 100,000 or more would be existentially disastrous.
Flourishing communities such as those in Iraq, Iran, and Yemen were, for much of history, the centers of the Jewish world and deeply enmeshed within the societies that surrounded them. One of the most effective lies of the Israeli propaganda has been to posit the irreconcilability of Jewish and Arab identities as if it is impossible to be both. The existence of hundreds of thousands of Jews with origins from Morocco to the Gulf demonstrates otherwise.
Throughout the decades in which Arab leaders, in particular, pledged their opposition to the existence of “Israel” and its further colonization of Palestine, they have neglected to use one of the most powerful weapons at their disposal. Had Arab leaders in Iraq, Yemen or the states of the Arab Maghreb wished to truly damage the viability of “Israel”, they could easily have opened the way for their historic Jewish populations to return, trading in their Israeli passports and citizenship for that which they, their parents or even grandparents lost.
By this point, it has become clear even to the mainstream western opinion that the two-state solution envisioned by the Oslo Process is not even a remote possibility. Rather than the self-determination of an Arab state on the territories occupied in the Six-Day War of 1967, the central issue of the conflict has shifted to the political equality of all Palestinians within the territory of Mandate Palestine. The achievement of this goal would instantly nullify the concept of a “Jewish State” as Jews within the entire territory are already outnumbered by Palestinians, a demographic imbalance that will only grow with time.
Consequently, in terms of alleviating the colonial pressure on the Palestinians, as well as amplifying their demographic, and by extension political advantage, it makes complete sense for the surrounding countries to voluntarily reabsorb their Jewish former citizens, thereby removing them from the arena of conflict.
In the case of Yemen, we are speaking of roughly 430,000 people. Of Iraqi Jews, between 200,000 to 600,000, Iranian Jews number 200,000 to 250,000, and Moroccans some 473,000. Were these communities to return to their homelands in any significant number it would be a catastrophic erosion of “Israel’s” demographic position, as well as its pretensions to being central to the identity of all Jews everywhere.
The loss of 100 or so citizens to Iran, Iraq, Yemen, or Morocco would at best be terrible public relations for “Israel”. The loss of 100,000 or more would be existentially disastrous.
Perhaps surprisingly given the intensity of its opposition to the Zionist state, the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the regional countries best placed to facilitate this. Since the success of the 1979 revolution, Judaism has received official recognition along with other minority religions such as Christianity and Zoroastrianism, including political representation in parliament.
The Iranian leadership has consistently made clear the distinction it sees between Jews, an ethnoreligious community, and Zionists, purveyors of a racist political ideology. Still, the country’s Jewish citizenry is a fraction of its pre-revolutionary size. Despite this, the future large-scale and permanent return of Iranian Jews is entirely conceivable if Tehran goes to the necessary lengths to assure them that their cultural, religious, and political freedoms would be guaranteed.
Iran would likely be apprehensive about repatriating hundreds of thousands of its former citizens, their children, and grandchildren, in light of the ongoing Israeli campaigns of sabotage and assassination against its nuclear program and other targets. In the long run, however, even a relatively small demographic decline would dramatically constrain the military and covert power of the Israelis, hamstringing their capacity to attack their neighbors.
A population drain of this kind could well lead to a self-reinforcing cycle, whereby other Israeli citizens witnessing outmigration may also choose to emigrate to countries where their long-term future is better guaranteed.
This is also a question that may force itself on the governments of the region whether they choose to address it or not.
The Jews of the Arab and wider Islamic world to a significant extent continue to hold on to their eastern cultural heritage. To those governments and movements opposing the colonization of Palestine, this fact represents a unique advantage to be exploited. As both the global and regional environment becomes more hostile to “Israel”, its behavior could become yet more erratic and desperate. By offering resettlement to their former Jewish communities, regional countries would both give them a peaceful way out and demonstrate that Jews do have a future in the region outside of occupied Palestine. Such a gesture would demonstrate to many the futility of sacrificing themselves for a colonial project that will inevitably fail.
Prior to the conflict, the Arab and Islamic world had nothing approaching the levels of persecution and discrimination as those suffered by the Jews of Christian Europe. In the aftermath of the Second World War and the exposure of the Holocaust to global awareness, the west could have earnestly confronted its own deeply rooted anti-Semitism. Instead, it chose to cynically back European Jewish ethnonationalism in Palestine.
For those struggling to end the colonial project in Palestine, an essential element of the strategy must be to demonstrate to enough Jewish Israelis that their own survival is not tied to the survival of “Israel” and that being a Yemeni, Iraqi, or Moroccan Jew does not exclude a person from membership of the Arab nation.
As well as the enormous economic benefits to be had from the reintegration of hundreds of thousands of highly educated and productive people, the value of the societal and cultural enrichment that would follow would be incalculable.
The peaceful repatriation of North African and Middle Eastern Jews to the countries of their birth or recent ancestry may seem like an idealistic pipe dream but it would not entail the creation of a radically new social dynamic. Rather it would be a return to the religious, cultural, and ethnic pluralism which has predominated in the region for so much of its history.
The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.
By Miko Peled
WASHINGTON — In January of 2021 Reuters reported on “U.S. President Joe Biden’s plan to work to reopen the Palestinians’ diplomatic mission in Washington.” The office was closed down by then-President Donald Trump almost 25 years to the day after the signing of the Oslo Accords at the White House. The report mentions some of the legal and political hurdles that stand in the way of this plan, many of which were put in place during the Trump administration precisely for the purpose of preventing the mission’s reopening.
The Reuters piece referred to the office as a “diplomatic mission;” however, no one in that office enjoyed diplomatic status; it was the PLO office in Washington and not a diplomatic mission. The PLO did not enjoy diplomatic status and although some referred to the head of the mission as “Mr. Ambassador,” he was not an ambassador. Sad to say, the role of the head of the PLO office was in fact little more than that of a punching bag for the television networks.
Since placing the blame for the violence in Palestine squarely on Israel, where it belongs, is not done in the corporate media, every time CNN or one of the other networks needed a Palestinian to blame for Israel’s brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians the PLO representative would be called on. The role also included traveling and speaking at events as the representative of the Palestinian people.
The problem is that the person filling the role of PLO representative in Washington does not represent the Palestinian people. He, or in some cases she, represents the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority does not represent the Palestinian people either.
The Palestinian Authority and its representatives do not represent the millions of Palestinian people who live in the Naqab or Lyd, the Galilee or Jerusalem. Nor does the PA represent the millions of Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip or those who live in the Palestinian refugee camps spread across the Arab World. The heads of the PLO missions are representatives of the PLO, which represents the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, which represents no one but themselves.
According to the Reuters report, “under an anti-terror amendment passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump in 2019, the Palestinians would become liable for $655.5 million in financial penalties against them in U.S. courts if they open an office in the United States.”
This enormous sum of money comes from lawsuits by 11 American families who sought to hold the PA and PLO liable for armed resistance acts between 2002 and 2004 in which several Americans were also killed. It should be noted that in 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider awarding those claims, upholding a lower court ruling that there was no jurisdiction for attacks outside the U.S.
But that is not all. Palestinian political prisoners are referred to by Israel and Zionists around the world as “terrorists.” They receive a stipend from the Palestinian authority so that their families can survive. As the Reuters report correctly states, the Taylor Force Act, passed by Congress in 2018, restricts aid to the Palestinian Authority until it agrees to stop payments to the families of people jailed by Israel. The Act specifically reads:
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Palestinian Authority’s practice of paying salaries to terrorists serving in Israeli prisons, as well as to the families of deceased terrorists, is an incentive to commit acts of terror.
This is flawed in several ways. First of all, it is ridiculous to assert that a Palestinian, or any individual for that matter, would be incentivized to risk dying or risk imprisonment and torture by Israel just so that their family could receive the miserly allowance from the Palestinian Authority. Furthermore, the issue of prisoners is one that is dear to the Palestinian people. Palestinians deeply appreciate the enormous sacrifice the prisoners pay. Ending the payments to the families, who often have no other source of income, is plain cruelty.
A photo of the building on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, which used to house the PLO office, was also included in the Reuters piece.
What is a flag but a piece of colored cloth? The answer to that has to do with the circumstances surrounding the flag. The flag of Israel, for example, represents violence, racism, tyranny, oppression, and apartheid. The Palestinian flag represents resistance to all of that. In the photo in the Reuters piece the Palestinian flag is hanging on the building. However, that was three or four years ago.
Today, the building is empty, and the flag, which still hangs, is in tatters. Was it forgotten or maybe left there by design? Either way, it represents the state of the Palestinian reality. The piece of cloth that still hangs from the building used to have the Palestinian colors and is now a tattered piece of cloth no one cares about. It is symbolic of the situation in Palestine and of how Palestine is viewed in Washington.
No one currently represents Palestinian interests in the U.S. capital. There is no discussion on the rights of the millions of Palestinian refugees languishing in camps; there is no discussion on the rights of thousands of Palestinians shot and injured by Israel and left disabled; there is no discussion of the families whose loved ones are dead or injured and have no means of livelihood; there is no discussion on the rights of countless thousands of Palestinians who were tortured by Israel, spent years in Israeli prisons and were left permanently disabled. Finally, there is no serious demand that the United States end its support and impose harsh sanctions on Israel. Sadly, bringing back a representative of the Palestinian Authority will not change that.
By Ramzy Baroud
The political division in Palestinian society is deep-rooted, and must not be reduced to convenient claims about the ‘Hamas-Fatah split’, elections, the Oslo accords and subsequent disagreements. The division is linked to events that preceded all of these, and not even the death or incapacitation of the octogenarian, Mahmoud Abbas, will advance Palestinian unity by an iota.
Palestinian political disunity is tied to the fact that the issue of representation in Palestinian society has always been an outcome of one party trying to dominate all others. This dates back to Palestinian politics prior to the establishment of Israel on the ruins of historic Palestine in 1948, when various Palestinian clans fought for control over the entire Palestinian body politic. Disagreements led to conflict, often violent, though, at times, it also resulted in relative harmony – for example, the establishment of the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) in 1936.
These early years of discord duplicated themselves in later phases of the Palestinian struggle. Soon after Egyptian leader, Jamal Abdel Nasser, relinquished his influential role over the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) following the humiliating Arab defeat in 1967, the relatively new Fatah Movement – established by Yasser Arafat and others in 1959 – took over. Since then, Fatah has mostly controlled the PLO, which was declared in Rabat, in 1974, to be the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”.
The latter caveat was arguably added to ensure Arab rivals do not lay claim over the PLO, thus impose themselves as the benefactors of the Palestinian cause. However, long after the danger of that possibility had passed, Arafat and Fatah continued to control the PLO using the phrase as a moral justification for dominance and the elimination of political rivals.
While it is easy to jump to conclusions blaming Palestinians for their division, there is more to the story. Since much of the armed Palestinian struggle took place within various Arab political and territorial spaces, PLO groups needed to coordinate their actions, along with their political positions, with various Arab capitals – Cairo, Damascus, Amman and even, at times, Baghdad, Tripoli, Algiers and Sana’a. Naturally, this has deprived Palestinians of real, independent initiatives.
Arafat was particularly astute at managing one of the most difficult balancing acts in the history of liberation movements: keeping relative peace among Palestinian groups, appeasing Arab hosts and maintaining his control over Fatah and the PLO. Yet, even Arafat was often overwhelmed by circumstances well beyond his control, leading to major military showdowns, alienating him further and breaking down Palestinian groups to even smaller factions – each allied and supported by one or more Arab governments.
Even Palestinian division has rarely been a Palestinian decision, although the Palestinian leadership deserves much blame for failing to develop a pluralistic political system that is not dependent in its survival on a single group or individual.
The Oslo Accords of 1993 and the return of some of the Palestinian groups to Palestine in the following months and years was presented, at the time, as a critical step towards liberating Palestinian decision making from Arab and other influences. While that claim worked in theory, it failed in practice, as the newly established Palestinian National Authority (PNA) quickly became hostage to other, even greater influences: Israel, the United States and the so-called donor countries. This US-led apparatus linked its political and financial support to the Palestinians agreeing to a set of conditions, including the cracking down on anti-Israel ‘incitement’ and the dismantling of ‘terrorist infrastructures.’
While such a new political regime forced Palestinian groups to yet another conflict, only Hamas seemed powerful enough to withstand the pressure amassed by Fatah, the PA and Israel combined.
The Hamas-Fatah feud did not start as an outcome of Oslo and the establishment of the PA. The latter events merely exacerbated an existing conflict. Immediately after Hamas’ establishment in late 1987, PLO parties, especially Fatah, viewed the new Islamic movement with suspicion, for several reasons: Hamas began and expanded outside the well-controlled political system of the PLO; it was based in Palestine, thus avoiding the pitfalls of dependency on outside regimes; and, among other reasons, promoted itself as the alternative to the PLO’s past failures and political compromises.
Expectedly, Fatah dominated the PA as it did the PLO and, in both cases, rarely used truly democratic channels. As the PA grew richer and more corrupt, many Palestinians sought the answer in Hamas. Consequently, Hamas’ growth led to the movement’s victory in the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. Conceding to a triumphant Hamas would have been the end of Fatah’s decades-long dominance over the Palestinian political discourse – let alone the loss of massive funding sources, prestige and many other perks. Thus, conflict seemed inevitable, leading to the tragic violence in the summer of 2007, and the eventual split between Palestinians- with Fatah dominating the PA in the occupied West Bank and Hamas ruling over besieged Gaza.
Matters are now increasingly complicated, as crises of political representation afflicting the PLO and the PA are likely to soon worsen with the power struggle under way within the Fatah movement. Though lacking Arafat’s popularity and respect among Palestinians, Abbas’ ultimate goal was the same: singlehandedly dominating the Palestinian body politic. However, unlike Arafat who, using manipulation and bribes kept the Fatah movement intact, Fatah under Abbas is ready to dismantle into smaller factions. Chances are the absence of Abbas will lead to a difficult transition within Fatah that, if accompanied with protests and violence, could result in the disintegration of the Fatah movement altogether.
To depict the current Palestinian political crisis in reductionist notions about a Hamas-Fatah ‘split’ – as if they were ever united – and other cliches, is to ignore a history of division that must not be solely blamed on Palestinians. In post-Abbas Palestine, Palestinians must reflect on this tragic history and, instead of aiming for easy fixes, concentrate on finding common ground beyond parties, factions, clans and privileges. Most importantly, the era of one party and a single individual dominating all others must be left behind and, this time, for good.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
ثمانية وعشرون عاماً مرّت على توقيع «اتفاقية أوسلو». عقدان وسنوات ثمانٍ ثبت خلالها أن تلك الاتفاقية لم تكن أكثر من خديعة تعرّض لها الفلسطينيون، حتى يُربط مصيرهم أبداً بالاحتلال، من دون أن يقدروا على الفكاك منه. وبمعزل عن تفسير ما أقدم عليه الراحل ياسر عرفات من صفقة خاسرة أعطت إسرائيل كلّ شيء مقابل بعض الشيء وأشياء كثيرة متخيّلة، فإن ما آل إليه واقع السلطة التي أفرزها «أوسلو» يبدو من السوريالية بمستوى يصعب وصفه. إذ إنها تحوّلت إلى سيف مسلّط على رقبة المقاومة الفلسطينية، ليس من المبالغة القول إنه أمضى من السيف الإسرائيلي نفسه، فيما أضحى الهمّ الشاغل لقياداتها ووجوهها المحافظة على وجودهم ومكاسبهم، وإلى ذلك طريق واحد وحيد: “التنسيق الأمني”، الذي أضحت بموجبه السلطة حارساً وفيّاً لأمن إسرائيل ومصالحها، مع اطمئنان شبه كامل لدى الكيان العبري إلى أن هذا الواقع لن يتغيّر حتى ولو مات محمود عباس وشبع موتاً
يمكن للسلطة الفلسطينية والقائمين عليها أن يطلقوا على أنفسهم ما يريدون من أسماء وتوصيفات ترفع كيانهم السياسي إلى مراتب الدول ذات القرار والسيادة، إلّا أن ذلك لا يغيّر من واقع النظرة الإسرائيلية إليهم:…
بعد مقتل الناشط السياسي، نزار بنات، مطلع الشهر الجاري، وما سبق ذلك من فضيحة اللّقاحات منتهية الصلاحية، وأزمات الفساد و الحضور الهامشي لـ«المقاطعة» خلال حرب غزّة، زاد الحديث في الأوساط السياسية…
على مدار سنوات سبقت توقيع «اتفاق أوسلو»، سعت شخصيات فلسطينية وأخرى عربية في إقناع قيادة «منظّمة التحرير»، ورئيسها الراحل ياسر عرفات، بالذهاب نحو حلّ مرحلي، وإنهاء الكفاح المسلّح ضدّ دولة الاحتلال،…
على مدار الأعوام الماضية، واجهت المقاومة الفلسطينية عدواً داخلياً تمثّل في السلطة الفلسطينية وأدواتها الأمنية والسياسية، التي عملت على وأد المقاومة بالاعتقال والاغتيال والتنسيق الأمني مع الاحتلال….
يصحّ القول إن طموح الدولة، أو تحصيل أيّ مظهر من مظاهر السيادة، مثّل عقدة نقص لدى القيادة الفلسطينية، ليس منذ تأسيس «منظّمة التحرير» في مطلع الستينيات فحسب، إنّما للأمر جذورٌ فطرية تتّصل بواقع الشخصية…
على مدار 27 عاماً، واجهت المقاومة الفلسطينية عدواً داخلياً تمثّل في السلطة الفلسطينية وأدواتها الأمنية والسياسية، التي عملت على وأد المقاومة بالاعتقال والاغتيال والتنسيق الأمني مع الاحتلال. وخلال…
لم تَعُد حركة «فتح»، بعد قيادتها السلطة الفلسطينية، كما كانت قبلها؛ إذ باتت أطرها جميعاً مرتبطة بوجود السلطة التي تربط التنظيم بالرواتب والمناصب التي توزّعها على قياداتها. ومنذ بداية تأسيس السلطة،…
…
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