The people of Palestine elected Abu Mazen president of the Palestine Authority as the successor to the late Yasser Arafat in the poll held last week. Abu Mazen won the confidence of the Palestinians, defeating the other candidates with a wide margin. It was an expected result, and the elections witnessed no major untoward incident.
Before the elections, doubts were raised from various quarters, both within and outside the Fatah movement, about the role of Abu Mazen as a fighter for the freedom of Palestinians. He was accused of not committed to some of the causes upheld by Yasser Arafat (Abu Ammar) who stuck to them even when he was besieged in a small chamber.
Some parties even tried to foist fighter Marwan Al-Barghouti, who is a prisoner in Israeli jail, on the post in a dramatic move that ultimately ended in the withdrawal of candidature by Barghouti who also offered all support to Abu Mazen.
All sinister attempts were defeated; they all failed to make any negative impact on the candidature of Abu Mazen who went on to enhance his lead day by day in most opinion polls held by special centers and the media. Eventually, the Palestinians elected Abu Mazen, pinning their hopes on him for a future of peace and a life of dignity in the state of Palestine.
But what after the election? How does it affect the Palestinian cause? What will happen to the peace process in the Middle East?
Arab and international leaders have heaped congratulations on Abu Mazen, but will all the doors be open before him to establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital?
A sad development was that the response from the two key parties of the peace process, after the election of Abu Mazen, was rather weak, if not totally negative.
US President George W. Bush, whose country has played a major role as a sponsor of the peace process to resolve the Palestinian issue, did greet Abu Mazen, but the assistance he promised to boost the Palestinian economy came with strings attached.
Bush categorically said the US would neither provide any assistance nor send any delegation to deal with the Palestinian issue “until we realize the stand of Abu Mazen toward Israel”. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s response was no different. Indeed, he welcomed Abu Mazen and invited him for a joint meeting, but froze all contact with Abu Mazen after an attack carried out by three Palestinian groups at Karni border crossing on Friday.
The freezing of ties was no doubt a tactic meant to put pressure on Abu Mazen and to make him yield to Sharon’s demands for an end to anti-Israeli operations and missile attacks on Jewish settlements. The conditions laid down by Sharon came as no surprise — they were true to the views of a man who has opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state all his life! But it is irrational and unjustified on the part of the US president, a key sponsor of the peace process, to impose on Abu Mazen absurd conditions meant for the security of Israel without caring a hoot about the plight of the Palestinians. These ridiculous conditions, it seems, were meant to put Abu Mazen on the spot and humiliate him before his people who reposed their trust in him in return for his pledge to uphold the Palestinian cause, come what may. Abu Mazen is facing many challenges in his attempt to implement the election promises. He needs unreserved, unbiased support from the international community, especially from the US. To agree to the conditions set by President Bush and Sharon would push Abu Mazen toward death at the hands of various Palestinian factions.
— Essa bin Mohammed Al Zedjali is editor in chief of The Times of Oman.
