In his own words: Abbas NOT calling for unconditional lifting of Gaza blockade

A Good Piece

By Ali Abunimah

"After Israel's Gaza flotilla massacre, the Abbas Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah has been claiming that it is calling for "unconditional lifting" of the blockade of Gaza. This is in order to jump on the anti-siege bandwagon, and to conceal the PA's embarrassment about the fact that it has long effectively supported the blockade, along with Egypt.

The PA also denied a report in Haaretz today that Mahmoud Abbas told President Obama Israel should not lift its naval blockade.

When you read between the lines, it is very clear that Abbas continues to support the blockade as a means to exert pressure on Hamas to achieve what the US-PA coup plot of 2007 failed to achieve, the overthrow or surrender of the movement that won the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council election, and the placement of Gaza under control of PA militias which coordinate all their activities directly with the Israeli occupation, just like in the West Bank today.

In a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington on 10 June, Abbas made it clear his position has not changed. He believes the Gaza siege should effectively remain in place until his US-trained and Israeli-approved collaborator militias return to Gaza in the context of "reconciliation" with Hamas, it being clear that "reconciliation" means Hamas' capitulation to Abbas' control and authority. Here is the relevant exchange between Abbas, and Israel lobbyist Martin Indyk......

Abbas is -- like Israel and the US -- using the siege as a form of political terrorism: making the Gaza population suffer as a way to put political pressure to return Gaza to the control of the Abbas-run Authority in Ramallah which proclaims defiance and resistance by day, but coordinates with the Israelis the arrest and suppression of Palestinians by night."