Monday, January 31, 2011

Can the Palestinian Authority Survive?


"Our Leaders are Negotiating the Terms of Our Imprisonment"

By JONATHAN COOK
CounterPunch

Nazareth.

"With the 18-year-long Middle East peace process finally pronounced dead, is the Palestinian Authority finished too?

That is the question being asked by Palestinians in the wake of a week of damaging revelations that Palestinian negotiators secretly made major concessions to Israel in talks on Jerusalem, refugees and borders.

The PA -- the Palestinians' government-in-the-making, led by Mahmoud Abbas -- was already in crisis before the disclosure of official Palestinian documents by Al Jazeera television last week.

Now, said George Giacaman, the head of the Ramallah-based research centre Muwatin, which advocates greater Palestinian democracy, the PA's "back is to the wall".

The question of the PA's survival, and the future direction of Palestinian politics, has gained added urgency as the wider Middle East is rocked by unrest, from Tunisia to Yemen..... [COMMENT: It is so ironic that the Palestinians (when they were alive and active) used to complain, "where are the Arabs?" Now the shoe is on the other foot. With the Tunisians and the Egyptians showing what a grass roots revolution looks like, while the Palestinians are waiting for their paychecks from the nearest NGO and actually defending the occupation and the colonization of their land. Incredible!!]

No comments: