Opinion

What Mahmoud Abbas’s declaration was missing

A real break from the Oslo agreements would also include a break from the two-state fiction

American President Donald Trump has not followed in the footsteps of other American leaders before him by pretending to fail in convincing Israeli leaders that they will need to freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem for “peace.” 

Trump’s declaration of the so-called “Deal of the Century” clearly aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause once and for all. First, the Americans administration recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; then the embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Another concrete step was taken by recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel. And it goes without saying that the internationally-sanctioned right of return of the Palestinian refugees was declared null. 

Now the Netanyahu government is poised to annex 30% of the what is left of the 1967 occupied West Bank. That will now put an end to the national “dream “of the Palestinian bourgeoisie and comprador class; i.e.  establishing an independent homeland on 22% of historic Palestine. 

So, what is left of the Palestinian cause?

The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership was given no chance. On other occasions, it was given some breathing space to look as though it was playing the game and putting pressure on Israel and the US.  No more!  Israel is demanding that all parties acknowledge it as a “Jewish state” and “only a Jewish state” – preconditions that could justify the further “transfer” of around 1,900,000 Palestinians over to the West Bank who are now living as third-class citizens in Israel.  This is a move favored by Israel’s newly formed right-wing coalition.  

Throughout the whole Oslo period, Edward Said wrote one piece after another exposing the Oslo facade which ultimately has led to where we are right now. He warned about the settlements, water rights, the Gaza Ghetto, refugees, and more and more Palestinian land being placed in Israeli hands.  These are all the very issues that the proposed Trump “deal” avoids. 

In fact, the Trump deal is not a “break” from Oslo, as some claim, but rather a continuation of the same logic. Both deals simply ignore the Palestinian people. They, as a people, never come into the equation at all. In fact, more settlements were built during Oslo than at any other period in the occupation.   While there were hand shakes on the White House lawn, Palestinian houses were being demolished and checkpoints were barring more Palestinians from getting to their work in the olive and orange groves.  The much talked about “land for peace” equation simply rested on ignoring the suffering of the Palestinian people while expanding settlements, building Jewish-only roads, and carrying out more closures, curfews, arrests, and blockading Gaza. The lessons of the Oslo years are clear.  And now, in exchange for a very tiny piece of land, Netanyahu has demanded “genuine normalization steps” from all neighboring Arab states, a demand heeded by all Gulf countries, with the exception of Kuwait.  

Concluding a piece in the London Review of Books, Said wrote “when will the Israelis realize – as some already have – that a sustained racist brutality against Arabs, in the Middle East where Israel is surrounded by 300 million Arabs and 1.2 billion Muslims, will bring the Jewish state neither normalcy nor security?” 

The world was sold a gigantic fraud with Oslo the first time around, with the complacency of some Arab and Palestinian leaders. But this time, we have BDS and a rising consciousness about alternative solutions, namely the one state solution — a state for all of its citizens on the historic land of Palestine where all citizens are treated equally regardless of religion, ethnicity, or sex.  This is what is missing from President Mahmoud Abbas’s declaration of ending all agreements with Israel and the US. A real break from Oslo would also include a break from the two-state fiction. This would  require 1.) an emphasis on the demand for the implementation of all basic rights of the three components of the Palestinian people in the 1967 occupied areas, in Israel, and in the diaspora; and 2.) a declaration of the de-Zionization of apartheid Israel and its transformation into a real secular democracy for all of its inhabitants after the return of dispossessed and displaced Palestinian refugees. Edward Said would have said: Equality or nothing!

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https://www.palestinechronicle.com/western-hypocrisy-has-empowered-israeli-annexation/

“Western Hypocrisy has Empowered Israeli Annexation” The Palestine Chronicle, by Marion Kawas, May 25/20

EXCERPTS:

“There is a recent surge of official voices in the West that are alarmed at the agenda of the new Israeli coalition government. Many western liberal governments are offering slightly more than their usual token objections to Israeli policy, including some European threats of sanctions if Israel implements its new annexation plans.

“Is all of this because of concern for the human rights of Palestinians? Or concern for the ‘rule of law’ that they are so fond of referencing?

“Or is it because they know that formal Israeli annexation of new chunks of the occupied Palestinian territories will be the final blow to the moribund ‘two-state solution’? A mirage that for over a quarter of a century has legitimized and fueled the status quo of Israeli settler colonialism and continuing ethnic cleansing, but with ‘plausible deniability’ for many international players.

“Once this new annexation is implemented, even though it is really only a legalization of what already exists on the ground, then the ‘two-state’ carrot can no longer be dangled in front of Palestinian and Arab eyes as any type of legitimate approach.”

“All the while in these last 27 years, Israel has at least tripled the number of illegal settlers, pushing Palestinians off their lands, crippling Palestinian agriculture and development, and then killing or injuring Palestinians who dare to protest. All with the blessing of the international community as long as some lip-service is paid to the mantra of the ‘two-state’ solution. As long as one adds some sentence at the end of a press release committing to a ‘negotiated settlement based on two states’, then support of Israeli military brutality can carry on unexcused.

“Not that any of this should come as a surprise.”

Edward Said,“When will the Israelis realize – as some already have – that a sustained racist brutality against Arabs, in the Middle East where Israel is surrounded by 300 million Arabs and 1.2 billion Muslims, will bring the Jewish state neither normalcy nor security?” 

This by Edward Said indicates a fundamental problem. Those pushing Israeli policy realized long before Said wrote it, the objective is not normalcy or security. Getting others to believe that has been fundamental to the success of the double game. As with American foreign policy makers, the objective is instability… a low boil. For an empire, the benefits of violence are enormous.

So long as Palestinians buy this fiction, they will be wane. Many will reason if they raise the heat, success is possible. The tragedy is that the exact opposite is the case. With skill Israel advocates persuade Westerners, especially Americans, that Palestinians bring those bad things upon themselves and they are not really interested in an accommodation. This is fundamental to how the political system has been captured.

Perhaps someday there will come understanding on how to rise above the cultivated anger and follow the advice of Palestinian citizens of Israel to agree to live in one state and campaign for equal rights. If that comes it will take time but be far more powerful than BDS and produce much better fruit. Jews worldwide will move into the forefront and facilitate. The situation is poised for Palestinians to “take what is rightfully theirs”. Expecting leaders to deliver, to do what’s right, didn’t work. A difficult part will be finding a way to counter angry hotheads but will be necessary.