On Monday, the Palestinian government called for a comprehensive and mutual cease-fire with Israel, to include both the West Bank and Gaza. An aid to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh stated that Hamas has the tools to make sure the cease-fire takes hold if Israel is willing to reciprocate, and that President Mahmoud Abbas is empowered and has the authority to negotiate with Israel.
If there are takers, this declaration of the Palestinian government could open a window for the restoration of quiet, and should enable positive Palestinian-Israeli contacts to resume.
The reality of the situation, however, is different. Israel, the other side of the equation, is not ready, and never is. A relentless so-called “targeted killing” campaign is being waged against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. These are essentially political assassinations carried out by the Israeli occupation army on orders from the Israeli political leadership against Palestinians accused by Israel of being terrorists. These Palestinians are sentenced to death in absentia, without due judicial process. Not just that. In addition to those sentenced to death, the executioners who carry out the killings subsequently kill many other innocent Palestinian bystanders, mostly women and children. The Israeli doctrine dictates that while waging war on the Palestinian people, the ratio of casualties of Israelis to Palestinians must be one to ten. For each Israeli casualty, Israel will inflict ten casualties on the Palestinian side; the damage inflicted will always be ten-fold. This has been the case all along in order to deter Palestinians from resisting the Israeli occupiers, and not to stand up against any Israeli policies, all of which are designed to strip the Palestinian people of their rights in their homeland.
With the tacit agreement and support of the West, Israel succeeded in labeling its Palestinian victims “terrorists”. Israel effectively steals Palestinian property, enlarges Jewish settlements, deprives Palestinians of their freedom, prevents them from going to work, destroys their homes, separates them from each other with eight— meter high concrete walls, in addition to hundreds of checkpoints, and at the same time, succeeds in convincing the hypocrite West that she is defending herself against “Palestinian terrorism.”
Those who have a short memory are well advised to remember that two years ago Hamas was not in power. A moderate Palestinian president with a moderate Palestinian prime minister were in charge in the occupied Palestinian territories. Mahmoud Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian National Authority, and head of the PLO, while Ahmad Qurei was the prime minister. Both Abbas and Qurei’ are the Palestinian architects of the Oslo peace accords signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993. Despite repeated Palestinian demands and pleas to Israel and to the world community to resume meaningful peace negotiations, Israel refused. What is more, Israel discredited Mahmoud Abbas and spread the idea that there is no Palestinian partner for Israel to negotiate with. To this end, Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally. Hamas claimed credit and presented the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as a victory for its strategy, i.e. Israel can only understand the language of force. On this wave of make-believe assumptions, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006 and formed its first government. Israel boycotted this government, and refused to hand back Palestinian tax and VAT funds collected by Israel on behalf of the PNA as per the Paris Protocol Economic Agreement signed in 1995. So far, in excess of $850 million of Palestinian money is illegally held by Israel. As a result, more than 160,000 Palestinian government employees have not received their salaries for many months.
America and the EU, regrettably, without having a second thought, joined in the boycott and imposed more sanctions. The lack of money, and a drastically weakened Palestinian economy caused poverty, and increased social tension. For one hundred dollars a month, anyone with enough cash can create his own militia. Things got worse by the day, and chaos spread. Rule of law almost disappeared, and armed gangs in Gaza took over. Anyone who thinks that Palestinian, Arab and Islamic groups outside Palestine are not directly affected and influenced by what is going on in Palestine will have to think again.
It is clear the situation now in the occupied Palestinian territories and the region is much worse than it was two years ago, and if the situation is not rectified soon, instability and violence will spread to areas that seem to be quiet now. The danger for all concerned is much too threatening for anyone to ignore. Israel’s behavior is no longer calculating, and if it is, they are doing the wrong calculations. What was applicable in the past is no more. Without a 180-degree change in Israel’s attitude and behavior, all voices of reason and peace on this side of the equation are likely to disintegrate. Without this change in Israel, the United States’ strategy and policies in and for Iraq do not stand any chance of success. Ideology will take over completely, and the power of the mind to think logically and rationally will be forced to move aside.
To summarize, it is possible to show that Israel and Hamas’ strategies appear to operate on the same wavelength. Both, each in their own way, is trying to weaken, if not eliminate, the PNA’s presidency. Israel is more than happy to see a poverty-stricken Palestinian public, easily submissive to its will. Hamas sees hunger, deprivation, and humiliation as products of Western sanctions, and unlimited Western support to Israel. This is an additional legitimate tool used by Hamas to charge and further mobilize Palestinian, Arab and Muslim public against the Israeli occupation, and its Western backers and influence in the region. The EU and the US fell into the trap, hopelessly unable to do a thing. The EU’s current leadership, not to mention that of the US, is failing miserably.
In conclusion, the West must take advantage of the Arab peace initiative initiated originally by the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, and adopted by the Arab Summit held in Riyadh last March. To hammer the point further, the West is advised also to listen to the repeated pleas of King Abdallah II of Jordan, in which he effectively said that if there is no peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people this year, the conflict will remain with us for the next fifty years. The West is urged to heed the kings’ warning and do what is needed immediately to alleviate Palestinian suffering, lift the siege immediately, and pressure Israel, for its own and everyone else’s sake, to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territory, and establish an independent Palestinian state with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital. The eight-meter high concrete wall Israel built in the heart of East Jerusalem is a mistake of large proportions. This wall goes against the grain of humanity, it is cruel, unnatural and is a mark of shame on those who built it. In the 21st century, such monstrosities cannot and should not be allowed to remain in place. A just peace is achievable. Only it takes courage, boldness, and forward-looking thinking. The Palestinian leadership, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, is ready and authorized to achieve a just comprehensive peace agreement with Israel. The West and Israel are asked not to waste the opportunity.
— Walid M. Awad works for the Central Media Commission in Ramallah, Palestine.
