The people rise up while their leaders beg

Lamis Andoni 

Tuesday, 11 November 2014 17:32

(The Arabic original was posted earlier)

Events cannot be allowed to develop in Gaza, regardless of who is behind them, into an internal Palestinian conflict at a time when Israel has become even more vicious, taking advantage of the Arab engagement in America's war interests. Israel has been let loose to kill and violate the Palestinian people and their land.

We should have seen total international isolation of Israel after its crimes in Gaza during the summer; instead, all attention has been directed at the "Islamic State" (ISIS) and the American war. It seems that the Arab governments have seized the opportunity to confirm their value to their US sponsor; confronting Israel with speeches will not emphasise the functional role of such governments because a large number of them do not pose a threat, not even morally, to the Zionist state.

Arab silence during the major Israeli invasion and massacre of Gaza and its people convinced Washington that the governments are competing to obey the US administration and that the Palestinian leadership is unable to take any measures, adopt a strategy or even take a unified position in order to defend the rights of Palestine and its people.

Since the Palestinian delegation went to Washington only to receive a cool reception, America looks to have been busy with its own priorities; clearly, Palestine is not one of them. Israel has been spared from accountability and responsibility for its actions; and no danger was posed to it. There is no reason for America to take action since the goal behind its moves is always the containment of Palestinian resentment and nothing more.

More importantly, according to information I received from a PLO official, Washington told the Palestinian delegation that it will not stand by silently if the Palestinians ask the UN Security Council for recognition of a Palestinian state or go to the International Criminal Court, or any other UN institution. In other words, not only did the US administration tell the Palestinian delegation that it had no time for it, it also warned and threatened the Palestinian Authority in order to keep it silent and inactive; Washington will not allow it to do otherwise.

Such indifference to the Palestinian leadership's threats is understandable because the latter's official manoeuvres go no further than a pathetic attempt to get America's attention so that it will take futile diplomatic measures, despite the fact that Palestinian officials have admitted that the negotiations are pointless. These officials are also fully aware that America has not moved an inch closer to recognising Palestinian national rights and has made no attempt to lift a finger to put an end to Israel's illegal settlement expansion and confiscation of more Palestinian land.

As for Fatah and Hamas, their leaders are preoccupied with enhancing their status and disputing over a Palestinian Authority that has no authority except over its policies of preventing any demonstrations against the occupation and the imprisonment of Palestinians. I think that both factions are to blame because there is a level of bullying involved that exceeds all shame and embarrassment. It is as if the liberation of Palestine must only come about through the establishment of repressive authorities; in this I do not exclude either group.

The most serious issue is for anyone to underestimate the Palestinian people and their small, but important, uprising taking place all over occupied Palestine. The individual and collective forms of resistance witnessed across the occupied territories are the main indications that it is shameful that the emergence of a generation of Palestinians ready to resist Israel's occupation is accompanied by the fall of the leaders in the PA and begging trips to Washington. There is no one to hold Israel accountable for its crimes, which include the assassination of President Yasser Arafat.

The most important action that needs to be taken is to allow the resistance to catch its breath, as it is the deciding factor in this liberation struggle. However, begging and the obsession with, and fighting for, power are a hindrance to all forms of resistance and the sacrifices made by the Palestinian people. Indeed, such actions by our "leaders" are regarded as explicit contributions to the suppression of the resistance. Political leniency and internal fighting undermine national unity and resistance; in turn, this makes Israel's task of suppressing the resistance even easier. Palestinian infighting must end, and soon.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid, 11 November, 2014