Aaron David Miller explained it all in Foreign Policy. “Iran will be the dominant issue over the next year.” We have to focus on Iran and there won’t be any progress on Palestinian freedom. Yes, the giant distraction of Iran is very useful. From the ending of Abbas’s speech, which the cable stations did not air:
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Israel refuses to end the occupation and refuses to allow the Palestinian people to attain their rights and freedom and rejects the independence of the State of Palestine.
Israel is promising the Palestinian people a new catastrophe, a new Nakba….
I speak on behalf of an angry people, a people that feels that, at the same time that they continue with their calls for their right to freedom and their adoption of a culture of peace and adherence to the principles and rules of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy, rewards continue to be illogically bestowed upon Israel, whose Government pursues a policy of war, occupation and settlement colonization. And Israel continues to be permitted to evade accountability and punishment and some continue to obstruct the undertaking of decisive positions regarding its violations of international law and covenants. This, in fact, represents a license for the occupation to continue its policy of dispossession and ethnic cleansing and encourages it to entrench its system of apartheid against the Palestinian people….
More than 64 years have passed since Al-Nakba and a large portion of those who were its direct victims and witnessed its horrors have died with their memories preserved in their minds and hearts about their beautiful world that was devastated, their warm homes that were demolished, and their peaceful villages that were erased from existence, and about their renaissance that was undermined, and their loved ones, dear men, women and children, who were killed in wars, massacres, attacks, raids and incursions, and about their beautiful country that was a beacon of coexistence, tolerance, progress and a crossroads of civilization. They died in the camps of displacement and refuge to which they were expelled following their uprooting from their homeland as they awaited the moment in which thcy would resume their suspended lives and complete their journey that was interrupted and repair their shattered dreams. They died while they clung to their legitimate human right to justice and freedom and to redress for the historic unprecedented injustice inflicted upon them.
At present, 77% of the Palestinian people are under the age of 35 years. Although they did not experience the horrors of Al-Nakba, they know very well the details of its horrendous facts from the accounts told to them by their parents and grandparents who endured it. And, they are suffering its ongoing effects until today and every day as a result of the practices of the occupation and the settlers on a land that is diminishing and a horizon before them that is blocked against their simple, ordinary dreams. They see their homeland and, their present and future vulnerable to continued usurpation and they say firmly: we will not allow a new Nakba to happen.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I say to you that the brave Palestinian people will not allow themselves to be the victim of a new Nakba. My people will continue their epic steadfastness and eternal survival in their beloved land, every inch of which carries the evidence and landmarks affirming their roots and unique connection throughout ancient history. There is no homeland for us except Palestine, and there is no land for us but Palestine. Our people will continue to build the institutions of their State and will continue to strive to achieve national reconciliation to restore the unity of our nation, people and institutions via resorting to the ballot boxes, which will confirm our people’s pluralistic democratic choice. Our people are also determined to continue peaceful popular resistance, consistent with international humanitarian law, against the occupation and the settlements and for the sake of freedom, independence and peace.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Prevent the occurrence of a new Nakba in the Holy Land. Support the realization of a free, independent State of Palestine now. Let peace be victorious before it is too late.”
“There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, “Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!”
smart – use the word – its meaning gets known and tie it to today – good strategic rhetoric
Wow. Two sentences and 4 lies.
(1) Israel refuses to end the occupation and
(2) refuses to allow the Palestinian people to attain their rights and freedom
(3) and rejects the independence of the State of Palestine.
(4) Israel is promising the Palestinian people a new catastrophe, a new Nakba….
I am wondering what strategy (assuming there is one) lies behind the attempt to get UN recognition of Palestine as a state. UN recognition won’t turn the Palestinian ghetto into a state, but perhaps it could be used as a lever to demand that Palestine be given the attributes of a state that it now lacks, such as control over borders, airspace, water and mineral resources etc. That would require refusing to sign any “peace settlement” with Israel, which would freeze and perpetuate the status quo (as Israel is unwilling to accept any other sort of agreement). Perhaps this explains why Israel and the US are so determined to block UN recognition despite the fact that it would not bring about any immediate change on the ground.
That was a very impressive speech from ‘Abbas. He is very dignified compared to Mr Milikovsky’s grandson .