What Next for Palestine

The entirely laudable hopes and dreams of the Jews are shared by us. We too want to live in dignity.

(LONDON) - Mr. Tareq Abbas, son of the incumbent Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, has called upon his father to dissolve the Palestinian Authority, end the negotiations with Israel and seek a one-state solution. He went on to say in an exclusive interview with the New York Times, that his father should dissolve the Palestinian Authority and put the burden of the occupation upon the occupier, not the occupied and that the two-state solution was dead in the water. The only way forward, he stated, was for Israelis and Palestinians to live in a single state with the same rights and obligations under the law and as equal citizens. “That's an easier way, peaceful way,” he said. “ I don't want to throw anything, I don't want to hate anybody, I don't want to shoot anybody. I want to be under the law."

A sentiment with which I totally agree. However,Tareq would have served himself and us better if he had advised his father to resign as President, after all his mandate has long expired, and use his position as Chairman of the PLO to start serious unity negotiations with the various Palestinian factions.

Particularly with Hamas in Gaza. Even more importantly he needs to consult the Palestinian people, whose destiny is at stake, and ask what is it they really want?

theatlantic.com

It’s no secret what the Israelis want. As that Jewish historian and author, Professor Ilan Pape wrote in his book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, “what the Zionists have always wanted is to usurp the entire land mass of Palestine, preferably without any Palestinians in it.”

Avi Schlaim, a prominent Jewish scholar, author and professor of international relations at Oxford University describes Netanyahu's government as the most "aggressively right-wing, diplomatically intransigent, and overtly racist" in Israel's history, and Netanyahu himself as "a bellicose, right-wing Israeli nationalist, a rejectionist on the subject of Palestinian national rights, and a reactionary who is deeply wedded to the status quo."

Even that most ardent supporter of Israel, President Bill Clinton was so exasperated by the intransigence and arrogance of Netanyahu, stating “I can never work with this man.”

In fact, successive Israeli governments have been mouthing meaningless empty words about their desire to live in peace with us for a long time. Just words. The truth of the matter is that they'd like nothing more than to have us disappear off the face of the earth. What they lust and work very hard for with their acolytes and cohorts (the USA to name but one) is to create Eretz Israel, from the Nile to the Euphrates.

Yet, according to the Zionists, all they ever wanted was a national home for the Jews somewhere around the globe. A place where they could have a dignified living without harrassment, humiliation and persecution. Unfortunately their choice was our land, Palestine. But what about the people who lived there?

The entirely laudable hopes and dreams of the Jews are shared by us. We too want to live in dignity. We too want to live our lives without harassment and humiliation. But this was not to be. The UN, in its wisdom gifted 56% of Palestine to the minority population, the Jews and 43% to the indigenous people and landowners, the Palestinians. Thanks to this grossly unfair partition of the land plus western guilt about what happened to the Jews and a deep routed anti Semitic desire to dispel them from Europe Israel was created and we, the Palestinians, now have had our land, our lives, our culture and our dignity taken away from us.

Tareq Abbas aludes to the One State Solution, with which I too agree. But how do you, in all fairness see it coming to fruition when you hear all the pronouncements by the various leaders of Israel from every aspect of their political spectrum and the plethora of laws that have been passed and are still being processed through the Knesset to make even the Two State Solution impossible? You only have to listen to Mr. Netanyahu on more than one occasion saying:

'No' to division of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the united capital of the Israeli people.

And to top it all, Mr. Netanyahu is asking Mr. Abbas and the Palestinian people to recognize Israel at the Jewish state with all that entails. Some may not be aware that the declaration of Israel as a ‘Jewish’ state means the end of any legitimate claims by the Palestinians to their homes and lands from which they were forcibly expelled, as enshrined by UN Resolution 194. It also means that the 1.2 million Arab who presently live under Israeli rule, albeit as second class citizens, would find themselves, overnights as third class citizens, to be disposed of and removed at will. This is how Mr. Netanyahu described our ‘Right of Return’ at recent AIPAC conference in Washington DC. “Palestinians need to abandon the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees, or amputating parts of the Negev and the Galilee.”

We all yearn for the day when our blighted country and our maligned people will live in peace and dignity in the land of their forefathers. But how could any accommodation be reached with Zionists who think in this way?

As you watch this short video be aware that Rabbi Meir Kahane, a New Yorker by birth, was not a lone voice in the wilderness. This was a man who believed in what he said and went about implementing it. Not too dissimilar from the likes of Netanyahu, Libermann, Yaalon, Bennett, Tzipi Livni and many of their cabinet colleagues.

For real just, tangible and lasting peace to prevail not only in Palestine, but the entire Middle East and the world beyond, Israeli aggression must be quelled and Israeli arrogance must be answered. We all know who has the power and the means to bring Israel into line. Over to you, Mr. Obama.

Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer, commentator and analyst on Middle Eastern affairs living in London.

He was born in Jenin, northern Palestine, was educated in England and spent the early years of his working life in the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia. He has traveled far and wide, searching for the answer to a question that still eludes him.

Why does the United States of America support the Zionist line in such a blind folded way while ignoring the legitimate rights of the indigenous Palestinian people? Particularly as the Palestinian people harbour no ill feelings towards America and its people nor has ever caused them any harm. It is, Jafar says, a conundrum.