Abbas Produces a Dubious Twist
RAMALLAH — U.S. and Israeli failure to take either Palestinian rights or Israeli settlement expansion seriously has placed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) in an untenable situation, which could seriously damage peace prospects.
On Thursday night Abbas announced his resignation in Ramallah. He expressed his frustration at the inability of the U.S. administration to pressure Israel to cease settlement building in the Palestinian territories, a Palestinian precondition for resuming negotiations with the Israelis.
The PA leader’s statement caused serious alarm in both Israeli and U.S. circles, as he is regarded as the most moderate Palestinian leader.
Abbas’s Fatah movement is strongly divided over a successor. And in the background lurks the PA’s arch enemy, the Gaza-based Islamic resistance organization Hamas, which many Western countries refuse to deal with.
While the international community backs the PA, many Palestinians see Abbas as an Israeli and U.S. stooge. They argue that he has put the interests of the Palestinians second to the geopolitical and strategic interests of Israel and its unquestioning benefactor, the U.S.
"The American administration has vacillated over pressuring the Israelis to cease settlement building, and appears to have gone back on its promise to enforce this as a precondition for continued negotiations," says Dr Samir Awad from Birzeit University near Ramallah.
"This has weakened the PA to the point where it is now confused and desperate," Awad tells IPS.
Realizing that even a compliant and over-compromising Palestinian leader has his limits, both the Israelis and the U.S. have gone into damage control in a bid to woo Abbas back and persuade him to reconsider his decision.
As rumors of Abbas’s impending decision began to circulate in the Israeli media on Wednesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres immediately called Abbas and asked him to stay on.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, reprimanded by several Arab leaders over her recent statement lauding Israel over its alleged "decision to limit settlement expansion" which then forced her to backtrack, appealed to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to persuade Abbas to change his mind.
But whether Abbas will really resign or whether he is just using a possible resignation to pressure Israel and particularly the U.S. remains open to question.
"There is a strong possibility that if the Americans offer Abbas a way out, and recommit to international resolutions in regard to the occupied Palestinian territories, Abbas will withdraw his resignation," says Awad.
"The language in his statement on Thursday left this possibility open. Furthermore, he has hinted at resignation before as a political bargaining tool. He earlier accepted the resignation of his prime minister Salam Fayyad only to reappoint him. He also initially backed the Goldstone report, then withdrew his support before the anger of the Palestinian public again forced him to support it," added Awad.
Abbas might well be calling a bluff. But his weak position and poor standing amongst both the Palestinian public and various Palestinian political parties has left him in a position where taking pot-shots in the dark has increasingly become a strategy.
He recently tried to call Hamas’s bluff by announcing that Palestinian general elections would be held in January with or without a unity deal with Hamas or their approval.
This was an attempt to either pressure the Islamic movement into joining a unity government, or sidelining them to make them look like spoilers for refusing to take part in elections. It didn’t work.
Fathi Hammad, Hamas’s de facto interior minister, responded immediately by saying that his ministry would prevent any elections from taking place in Gaza as they had been unilaterally announced by the PA without consulting other factions.
The Islamic movement further stated that anybody involved in the elections would face legal consequences.
"The Americans helped weaken Abbas by asking him and the Egyptians, who have acted as mediators between the two Palestinian factions, two weeks ago to stop the unity talks," Awad told IPS.
"They threatened that any unity government which included Hamas would see U.S. aid withdrawn."
This has left Abbas and his PA looking incompetent in that not only do they appear unable to control the Palestinian territories, they are not even able to hold elections there. Under this scenario many skeptics are doubting that the January elections will take place.
So disillusioned has the PA become, that chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat stated on Wednesday that the alternative left for Palestinians may be to "refocus their attention on the one-state solution where Muslims, Christians and Jews can live as equals. It is very serious. This is the moment of truth for us."
This would be anathema to Israel, as the demographic balance in favor of the Palestinians would see the end of Israel as a Jewish state.
"The Palestinians are not going anywhere. We are here in the West Bank, Gaza and we represent a sizeable minority in Israel proper," says Awad. "Israel has to consider its options."
(Inter Press Service)
Read more by Mel Frykberg
- Gazans Brace for Cold, Bleak, and Miserable Winter – November 16th, 2009
- Palestinians File Lawsuits Over Gaza War – October 30th, 2009
- Israelis Targeting Grassroots Activists – October 27th, 2009
- At Olive Harvest, Rabbis Take on Settlers – October 21st, 2009
- Turkey-Israel Rift Good for Palestine – October 14th, 2009
Sam
November 7th, 2009 at 5:20 am
I still do not understand WHY Palestinian do not accept Israel as their motherland and live in there as Israeli Citizens. Israel is the ONLY democratic country in the Middle East and it will benefit all the parties (Muslims, Jews and Christians).
paulBass
November 7th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I still do not understand WHY Israelis do not accept Palestine as their motherland and live in there as Palestinian Citizens. Israel is an ethnic nation state with out a constitution or defined borders that does NOT guarantees rights to any one. except of coarse for Jewish people from other countries to take land and get paid to do it.
jac
November 7th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
In fact, Israel does need to cease being a religious state–and a fanatical religious state since everything revolves around the fundamentalist settlers. The myth of a two-state solution must be exposed. The world cannot afford to have "Jewish" states or "Muslim" states or "Christian" states. Religious states are inherently anti-democratic and militaristic, as Israel’s experiment demonstrates. Furthermore, Israel is hiding behind the "Jewish" state in order to brand its critics as anti-semites whenever they criticize that state's policies. If Israel were simply a sectarian state, any criticism of it would be simply that–criticism of a state. Just as we criticize China, the US, or Russia, we should also be able to criticize Israel without the anti-semitism smoke screen. Israel gets a lot of mileage out of its Jewish statehood, and then uses it to perpetuate war crimes around the world. A one-state solution, with all religions equally respected and all ethnicities having equal rights, will be the only hope for peace and justice in the Middle East.
guest
November 7th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
A one-state solution is the best strategy for all Palestinians to adopt at this juncture. The Palestinians have nothing to lose at this point. The two-state solution, based on making progress in the so-called "peace process" is a sick joke at best. It only serves as a diplomatic smokescreen for continued israeli theft of more and more Palestinian land. Morally and politically, demanding equal rights as citizens of a single, secular government would be the best move for the Palestinians domestically and internationally.
Ironically though, nothing would get israel and the U.S. pushing for a "viable" two-state solution faster than having palestinians push for a one state solution.
gerardantoine
November 8th, 2009 at 8:12 am
A unitary state would upset the demographic balance and be the end of the Jewish state. Only Jews have voting rights, which make it an undemocatic state. Having said that; it is the only viable solution. That was the reason why the minority Jewish immigrants from the world wide diaspora expelled the majority Arab indiginous population from ther homeland. These terrorists (they were in fact described by the world press at the time as terrorists; as they also targetted the British) campaigns by the Haganah, Irgun and Stern gangs with smuggled weapons from abroad mainly eastern Europe was already ongoing long before the Zionists proclaimed their Jewish state in 1948. Prior to "48 the Arab population was about one milion (now living and their offspring in huge refugee camps in the West Bank and neighboring countries); the Jewish immigrants appr. 20% .
For more information read for instance: Ilan Pappe's "The ethnic cleansing of Palestine" or Philip C Winslow: "Victory to us is see you suffer" There are many other good books on the ME.