Palestinian Exasperation - Israeli Desperation

In July, 2013 United States Secretary of State John Kerry brought the Palestinian and Israeli parties to the negotiating table to discuss peace yet again. The deadline for those talks was set as April 29, 2014. To entice the parties to the table, certain agreements were made by both sides.  But the alluring factor for many Palestinians was that final status issues would also be discussed.  With less than a month before that deadline, we are entrenched in a dispute not over those core issues but about whether side issues will be met or whether the Palestinians will seek justice at international forums.  Another 9 months have been wasted and the status quo has gone from exasperation to desperation.

There was a great reluctance among the majority of Palestinians to begin yet another chapter of talks with the Israelis. Many Palestinians felt and continue to feel that they do not need to endlessly talk to no real end and that talking to Israel served Israel’s interest to perpetuate the decades old cruel military occupation of their land and their people and preventing the Palestinians from seeking justice through international forums.  Israel, instead of agreeing to stop all settlement building activities, agreed to release 104 pre-Oslo prisoners in four installments, the latest of which has been breached. The Palestinians agreed not to go to United Nations forums to seek international justice against the Israelis—and Palestinians have thus far kept their end of the bargain.

Now the talks are at a juncture which is not aimed at resolving the issues of the status of Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the border issues or even water rights—a fundamental issue to any peace agreement but which has not been given much consideration by the parties and the media.  Instead the topic of discussion is whether the Israelis will release the last batch of Palestinian prisoners and who will decide which prisoners will be released but only for extending the talks.  

During the last 9 months of “talks” Palestinians have witnessed

•          over 60 Palestinians being killed and over 900 wounded by Israeli soldiers.
•          an increase in housing starts in the illegal settlements

o   August 12, 2013."Israel approves 900 additional homes in East Jerusalem". http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-approves-900-additional-homes-in-east-jerusalem/

o   On 10 January 2014. Israel approved plans for 1,400 settler homes. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/10/us-palestinians-israel-settlements-idUSBREA090KW20140110

o   January 21, 2014. Peace hopes fade as Israel plans 381 more settler homes http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140121/peace-hopes-fade-israel-plans-381-more-settler-homes-0

·         

•       reports of olive trees being cut down are rampant in the media. Here is but a sampling:

o   March 27, 2014 Settlers cut down 50 olive trees near Nablus http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=685271

o   October 5, 2013 Palestinian farmer: West Bank settlers destroyed 129 olive trees http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.550637

o   October 21, 2013 Israeli Settlers Chop down more Palestinian Olive Trees (having destroyed 800,000 since 1967) http://www.juancole.com/2013/10/settlers-palestinian-destroyed.html

o   October 19,  2013 ISRAELI SETTLERS ACCUSED OF DESTROYING PALESTINIAN OLIVE TREES http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/19/israeli-settlerschopdown100treesinwestbankvillage.html

o   March 3, 2014  Israeli settlers destroy olive trees in West Bank http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/03/03/352980/israelis-destroy-olive-trees-in-wb/

The results of the talks have been a step forward for Palestinians, not in terms of achieving a State anytime soon, but in terms of positioning in negotiations.  While it is the Palestinians who were and continue to be exasperated, it is the Israelis who are desperate. The Palestinians have been exasperated by 20+ years of endless talks that have led to no end. Palestinians are no closer to a State then in 1993 or the last 9 months. The Israelis are desperate to prevent the Palestinians from seeking justice at UN forums, especially at the Human Rights Commission and at the International Criminal Court. Additionally, Israelis are deathly afraid of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement which is growing by leaps and bounds.  Secretary of State Kerry has warned Israel of a third Intifada and further isolation.

Continuing the “talks” without any real progress to date is an exercise in futility for Palestinians and will only serve Israel’s interests.  By agreeing to the continuation of the talks, Palestinians will allow Israel to buy additional time to continue building more settlements; continue building the apartheid wall; continue to murder, wound and imprison more Palestinians; and continue to uproot more and more Palestinian olive trees.  Additionally, the abusive Israeli military checkpoints will not be eased and Israeli dominance over Palestinian lives will go unabated.

Exasperated by another Israeli demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish State, Palestinians obtained the support of the Arab League in rejecting this demand.  This demand was not imposed upon the Jordanians or the Egyptians when Israel negotiated peace treaties with these countries. Additionally, this was not addressed in the Oslo Accords or any of its ancillary agreements. It is yet another demand creatively concocted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not for any altruistic purpose but for Israel’s selfish purpose—to kill the peace process. This is not Nethanyahu’s first attempt to redefine terms or impose new wordings in order to kill the peace process. In 1996 during his first stint as Prime Minister, he changed the Madrid Conference formula from “land for peace” to “land for security” which inevitably destroyed the Oslo movement towards a comprehensive peace.

Today, Netanyahu is concocting all sorts of schemes to maintain the status quo for as long as possible and to preventing the Palestinians from seeking justice at international forums. All the following proposals are aimed at eliciting a rejection so as to blame someone other than Israel for the failure of the “talks”:

·         Besides, the Jewish State recognition demand, Netayahu wants to maintain a military presence in the Jordanian valley thus eliminating a border between Palestine and Jordan.

·         March 2, 2014. Israel: Stop nuclear Iran and we’ll agree to Palestinian state http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/Middle_East/article1381901.ece

·         March 23, 2014 Swap proposed over release of Palestinian prisoners and spy (Jonathan Pollard) http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/850216.shtml#.UzAZsPldWSo  Israel’s yet another attempt to have the notorious Israeli spy released from an American prison.

·         Netanyahu earlier tried to tie the Wye River Agreement to the release of Jonathan Pollard in October, 1998. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4461414.html

The one proposal that will win over hearts and minds for peace is not even suggested by Netanyahu—freezing settlement activity. While Netanyahu does not want peace, he wants the peace talks to endlessly go on to no real end. This duplicity in political posturing has caught up with him as the world understands his witty proposals are not aimed at furthering peace but at perpetuating the Israeli hegemony over the Palestinian people and land.

After nine months of “talks” there is a complete perpetuation of everything negative about the occupation. Palestinians are positioned at this time with a stronger negotiating power. They should use this power effectively.

The “talks” can go on for another 6 months but only if the Palestinians extract certain conditions from the Israelis. Palestinians should demand the following in exchange for not pursuing unilateral diplomatic actions in international forums, such as taking Israel to the International Criminal Court:

•         Demand that any further Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli soldiers be investigated by a trilateral Palestinian/Israeli/US tribunal.
•          Demand that all Israeli settlement building activity in the West Bank and Jerusalem be frozen, including but not limited to “natural growth.”
•          Release of additional Palestinian prisoners including Marwan Bargouti
•          Demand that a joint tribunal of Israelis and Palestinians will investigate and prosecute those responsible for destroying the Palestinian olive trees.
•          Demand that Israel arrests and tries Israeli settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians.

Should Israel not agree to these demands, Palestinians should walk away from the “talks”. There is no need to discuss anything with Israel while Palestinian rights, land and dignity are continually trampled upon.  

Should the Talks Collapse, Palestinians should then then employ the following (from my article Should the Talks Collapse—What Then?  http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2013/09/if-talks-collapse-what-then.html)  

•         Palestinians should demand that Fatah and Hamas reconcile.
•          The Palestinian police should be ordered to take their guns and give them to the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints. We need to be David using a rock against the military might of the Big Israeli Army.  We do not need the guns that are not effective against the Mighty Israel Army.  We should confront Israel with our stones from Mother Earth against the tanks and helicopter gunships.
•          The Palestinian Authority should no longer accept money from donor nations.  We cannot afford to be bribed into complacency and to accept the status quo of a continued brutal military occupation.
•        Palestinians should use their cameras, camcorders and cell phones to inundate Facebook, Twitter, blogs and all forms of social media with images of the atrocities of the Israeli army.
•        Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel
•        Palestinians need to organize a coherent message of non-violence that needs to be shared by thousands on these social media outlets.  Throwing stones against the military occupier is within the international right of Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
•        Palestinian youth need to understand the power of the land and use it against the military occupation forces.  This is not a call to arms but a call to repel the occupation. 

Additionally, Palestinians should do what the Israelis fear most—go directly to the International Criminal Court and hold Israeli officials accountable for its human rights abuses toward Palestinians. 

Demand Palestinian Reconciliation

I simply cannot understand the division within the Palestinian political makeup and I cannot understand why Palestinians are not speaking up against this division in our ranks.

Here we are a people struggling to free ourselves from the cruel and unjust chains of occupation and an apartheid system under the iron fists of a brutal Israeli army and we are more organized in our disunity rather organized against our oppressor.  One faction is being blackmailed by allowing the oppressor to collect the tax dollars that belong to the Palestinian people that it governs while the other faction is being retaliated against with US made weaponry with the goal of the oppressor to keep the two Palestinian factions from reconciling.  Both are playing into the hands of the collective oppressor.

Israel would like nothing better than to continue the division between Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.  By keeping these Palestinian factions split, Israel hopes to impose a three state solution (3SS) to the decades old conflict. Israel is working against a demographic time bomb that will unquestionably label the so called democratic Jewish (oxymoron) state an apartheid state, even if it does not agree with this label now.  Israelis will become a minority within the 1948 borders of Palestine by the year 2016; and as a minority it will collapse as a government as it cannot rule a Palestinian majority as did the apartheid regime of the minority White South Africa collapse as it tried to rule the Black African majority.  Keeping the Palestinian factions from reconciling through blackmail and military might, Israel hopes to overcome this demographic time bomb by imposing a 3SS. 

The division, ironically, started after democratic elections in 2006. Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislature and should have been allowed to govern. Israel and the US would not recognize the victor despite the fact that the world was told by President George W. Bush that the Iraqi invasion will lead to the democratization of the region. Instead of embracing democracy, blackmail and sanctions were imposed upon the Palestinians for having elected Hamas. The irony of the taunting democracies to not recognize a democratic election is beyond me.  What further irks me is that Fatah played right along with this devaluing of the democratic principles that the Palestinians are told they must have in order to establish a state.

The silence of Fatah during the 2008-2009 Israeli invasion and constant slaughter of Gaza was beyond belief.  Here was Israel bombarding innocent Palestinian women and children and Fatah leaders said nothing.  This was demoralizing to all of us diaspora Palestinians who demonstrated and organized against this massacre which was happening before our television screens for three weeks.  What we should have been demonstrating against was the silence of Palestinian Authority leaders.

Yet it was not enough that Israel was killing Palestinians, Palestinians died from bullets fired by Palestinians during 2008 and 2009 as the various clashes between Fatah and Hamas forces spilled Palestinian blood. While unfortunately we are all too familiar with seeing Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers, we are not accustomed to seeing Palestinians kill Palestinians. This is unbelievable the worst thing that Palestinians can do to each other.  Instead of having a unified front against the oppressor, the two factions started vilifying and attacking each other which lead to Fatah controlling the West Bank and Hamas governing Gaza.  Ultimately, this division is leading right into the Israeli plans to split, divide and impose its 3SS.

Reconciliation attempts have thus far been unsuccessful with the Doha Agreement signed by Fatah and Hamas in 2012 still far from being implemented. The agreement is described as “stalled” as no unity government is in sight. Legislative elections have been announced, delayed and rescheduled—this time for October, 2013, seven years after the last elections.  There are election law reforms which are in dispute. They were imposed by President Abbas because he states that he could rule by decree as long as the legislature is unable to convene.  From my readings, I am not sure whether Hamas will participate in the elections.

Both Fatah and Hamas need to go to the ballot box in October, 2013 and allow the Palestinian people to once again democratically vote their collective will. Whoever wins the election must be respected by both factions. If a unity government needs to be part of a ruling coalition, then the Palestinian people demand that such a ruling government be allowed to govern regardless what Israel, the US and Europe want, think, blackmail or impose.

If Hamas wins again, Fatah must stand up to the Israelis, the US and European leaders and state categorically that Hamas is the ruling party and that all Palestinians will stand unified behind Hamas.  The imposition that Hamas must first recognize Israel and denounce violence is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to keep the Palestinians from reconciling.  It is a diversion from getting to the crux of the conflict; it is another delay tactic by Israel to keep the status quo while it usurps more and more Palestinian land on the West Bank, land that Israel does not want to concede as it wants a 3SS. Israel wants to retain Area C and parts of Area B; wants the PA to establish a state on Area A and part of Area B that Israel is willing to give up; and it wants Gaza to be a separate state.  

This imposition upon Hamas is hypocritical as within Israel there are parties that want to either annihilate the Palestinians completely (as Hitler wanted to do to the Jews) or scatter them among the other Arab states.

Israel’s demand that Hamas recognize the State of Israel (not just as a state but a Jewish State) is absurd and will not result in any new round of talks.  “Hamas didn't come to power until 2006/07. Between 1993 & 2006 Israel had the more moderate, peaceful & pliant Palestinian authority (which recognizes Israel & renounces violence) to deal with as a partner for peace. What did Israel do? Did it make peace?” [see Michael Aydinian https://www.facebook.com/groups/321400271210048/permalink/622882407728498/)  

Israel cannot impose upon the Palestinians who can or cannot speak for them just as Palestinians cannot impose upon Israel who can be a part of their coalition government.  Since 1984 every Israeli coalition government included the Shas Party whose spiritual leader openly called for the annihilation of the Palestinian people without any repudiation by any Israeli leader, including Benjamin Netanyahu.  Could the Palestinians have said that they will not negotiate with Israel as long as this racist and Nazi-like party is part of the Israeli government?  Rightfully, Israelis would reject this precondition as should the Palestinians reject the imposition that Hamas cannot be part of any Palestinian government unless certain preconditions are met.

Before Palestinian elections are called, however, the Palestinian people, both in Palestine and in the diaspora, need to call upon both Fatah and Hamas to reconcile. We as a people need to impose upon our Palestinian leaders the wisdom of unity despite what the US and Israel want.  We can no longer be a house divided.  We can disagree with each other but when confronting the oppressor, we need to be united.

If the US and Israel want to impose economic and financial sanctions or want to withhold financial aid from the Palestinians, that should be the price of unity. The price of destabilization is what the Israelis and the US will have to consider for blackmailing the Palestinians.  Destabilizing economic conditions will lead to a third Intifada and Israel and the US will be to blame.   

I call upon all my Fatah and Hamas friends to speak up and communicate to Fatah and Hamas leaders that the time to stop this quibbling must end and now.  We need to demand that Fatah and Hamas reconcile now at all costs.

Apartheid Israel Policy To Retain Area C

                A recent Apartheid Israeli Supreme Court decision allows the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources to fund the military occupation of Palestine.  It also suggests a long term policy within Apartheid Israel to fund the continued occupation of Palestine indefinitely.  This has been the policy of Apartheid Israel since the Oslo Agreement.

The Court decision involves quarries in Area C in the West Bank which under the Oslo Agreement is controlled by Apartheid Israel.  This decision sheds light on how Apartheid Israel wants to retain Area C and give Areas A & B to the Palestinians under limited rule.

                Without going into the illegality of the ruling under international law, the decision renders some long term policy considerations within the Apartheid Israeli government.  In a previous article entitled “Will Areas A & B become Palestine?” I stated that Apartheid Israel’s policy is to keep Area C and give Areas A & B to the Palestinians, thus self-imposing a “peace” solution upon the Palestinians.  I stated that already Apartheid Israel is calling the checkpoints as “terminals” and “crossings” which is an obvious reference to a border.  Additionally, Apartheid -in-Chief Benjamin Netanyahu wants to give additional powers to the Palestinian Authority in Area B so as to entice them to continue to the talks that question when the peace talks should begin and to thwart any reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.

                The decision by the Apartheid Israeli Supreme Court sheds a new argument for my analysis.  The decision had the audacity to state that even if the exploitation of the Palestinian quarries

“…still takes place during the next thirty years at the estimated extent (in an estimated value of approximately 7.2 million tons on average, annually, for the next fifteen years, and approximately 11.2 million tons on average, annually, for the following fifteen years), the total overall consumption for the whole abovementioned period will exhaust about half a percent of the overall mining potential in the Area, which stands at approximately 65.1 billion tons”  (emphasis added)

This reference to the “next thirty years” came from the “States [Israel] estimation” according to the Judgment opinion.  It unequivocally states that Apartheid Israel is looking three decades ahead for the continuation of the illegal occupation.  Referring to Area C, the opinion confirms the statement that the “Civil Administration” states that “…these quarries are established on Israeli state land…”  

Apartheid Israel has no intention of giving up Area C upon which the illegal settlements have been erected.  By hook or crook, Apartheid Israel is moving forward to retain Area C.   Unfortunately, the Palestinian authority had negotiated “the responsibility over the issue of quarries and mining within Area C– including licensing authorities, supervision, their expansion and operation” to the Apartheid Israeli Civil Administration.  Such responsibility was to be gradually transferred from the Civil Administration to Palestinian hands as a part of a comprehensive process aimed at transferring powers and responsibilities within those areas.   This gradual transfer of power to Palestinian hands was to be part of the final status talks that never materialize.   Thus, if these talks never materialize then they will remain in Apartheid Israeli hands. 

Within the Oslo Agreement and the Interim Agreements, the parties, Palestinian Authority and Israel, had agreed that during the interim term the quarries would remain active, and it was even decided that in case any questions should arise in the course of the process of transferring rights over the quarries, such questions shall be discussed by a joint committee.  The parties further agreed to respect the recommendations of said committee, and it had been also agreed that "until the committee had reached its decision, the Palestinian party shall refrain from taking any measures that could negatively affect those quarries"

The Court’s decision generally stated that the issue of the quarries was a political decision that was addressed by Apartheid Israel and the Palestinian Authority and the court will not undue a political agreement with a foreign state. Additionally, the Court, in an obvious attempt to seem in compliance with the 4th Geneva Convention, ruled that the royalties collected from the excavation of the quarries helps fund the military occupation and helps employ Palestinians. 

What a quagmire situation the Palestinians have dug themselves into?  The Israeli Supreme Court will not interfere in the exploitation of Palestinian natural resources and the Apartheid Israeli government will not discuss final status talks thus leaving everything in Area C in limbo but in the control of the occupier.

  

This has been Apartheid Israel’s plan with the signing of the Oslo Agreement.  What else can anyone conclude when Apartheid Israel has continued to build more and more illegal settlements in the West Bank after the signing of the Oslo Agreement?  What else can anyone further conclude when “the settler population has grown consistently between 4-6% per year over the last two decades, a much higher rate of growth than Israeli society as a whole (1.5%).”[1]

                The Palestinian Authority must resist all efforts to fall into the scheme of this Apartheid Israeli policy.  It should not negotiate with Apartheid Israel and must continue to expose Apartheid Israel for what it truly is an Apartheid State of Israel. It must support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement worldwide. 


(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

---

[1]Israeli Settlements, Palestine Monitor, Exposing Life Under Occupation, http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article7

Palestinians Must Establish Parity With Israelis

By: Fadi Zanayed

When my children were young, I wanted to instill in them the art of negotiating.  I used what I call a “fixed deescalating incentive” lesson.  For example, when my son wanted money I offered him $10 to cut the lawn. He would skillfully counter that he would do the chore for $20.  When I would then offer $9 then $8 and $7 for his services, after he respectively countered with $18, $15 and $13, I would finally yield to the $10 price I originally offered. My children learned very quickly how to navigate me away from my original offer—they developed a knowledge that the consequence of my firmness and perceived strength was that I would end up doing the chore myself if I continued to negotiate in bad faith.  The lesson taught was that they needed to attain a position of parity when negotiating in order to achieve their desired result.  

I offer this example of negotiating skills to illustrate the type of negotiations the Palestinians have been engaged in with the Israelis for the last 20 years.  I negotiated with my children out of power and then had to compromise when they established parity in those negotiations—when they convinced me that I will have to do the chore myself if I was not going to negotiate in good faith.

Palestinians have not reached parity with the Israelis and just like my children they had to accept Israeli demands or get nothing at all.  It is only until the Palestinians establish parity in peace talks with the Israelis that they will achieve success in those talks. 

In 1993 when I first learned of the Oslo Accords and then subsequently learned of the limited “authority” that was agreed upon, I said, then, that the Palestinians would have never entered into those talks had Yasser Arafat been a young man.  Yasser Arafat accepted limited “authority” because he was in his waning years.  He wanted to achieve something.  He wanted to be the “father of Palestine.” If he did not accept what limited “authority” the Israelis gave him, he would have received nothing at all. 

Arafat was not willing to fight anymore as he was in his early years and Israel sensed this.  Thus, Israel offered him the $10 that I offered my son—limited authority in limited areas.   And while Arafat gave the Israelis recognition, denounced violence and removed the “destruction of Israel” from the Palestine Liberation Charter, the Israelis did not budge at all.  In fact, Oslo Accords’ commitment to enter final status talks by 1999 was taken off the table.

Because Palestinians allow Israelis to feel superior, as I continuously have argued in earlier articles, Israel continues to behave in ways that perpetuates the immorality of the occupation of Palestinians and Palestinian land.  Israelis can continue the apartheid practices of checkpoints, the segregation mentality imbedded in the construction of a wall and the unlearned lessons of ethnic cleansing in its own people’s history because of this perceived superiority.   Only when the Palestinians gain a position of parity with the Israelis will they achieve their desired result. 

How do the Palestinians achieve a position of parity with the Israelis?

To start, the Palestinians must stop behaving like children.  

Israel, through its Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, has floated the “bottom up” approach in which existing Palestinian Authority powers in the autonomous zones established in the 1990’s throughout the West Bank could be extended in various ways, with “other authorities, jurisdictions and powers.”  While more authority is nice, it is not the ultimate goal—ending the occupation, providing for a just solution to the Palestinian refugees and establishing one contiguous Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital.   Palestinians must resist the child like reactionary temperament and resist these overtures to make the Israel’s look good in the international realm but place a wedge in Palestinian solidarity.  Palestinians must stop accepting “limited authority in limited areas” and start demanding the end of the occupation now.

Second, Palestinians must unify.

Nothing signals the weakness of the Palestinians as does the disunity between Fatah and Hamas.   These two political parties within Palestinian society must come together and present a united front towards Israel.  The fact that Israel and the US will not talk to Hamas is not open to discussion because neither country can dictate as to who will represent the Palestinian people.   Unity of Fatah and Hamas must be of paramount importance to all Palestinians.

Third, Palestinians must show Israel the prosperity of peace.

Palestinians must convince Israelis that peace has economic and social benefits.  Normalization of relations with Arab countries, children on both sides do not have to live in a constant state of fear, increased tourism dollars and an Israel that is not isolated from the rest of the world can all become the by-products of peace.

Fourth, Palestinians must show Israelis the consequences of the status quo.

Israelis must come to understand that the Palestinians cannot continue to allow the status quo to endure.  There needs to be consequences to the perpetual peace talks that result in nothing while more and more Palestinian land is confiscated. Thus Palestinians have to step up and strengthen the boycott, disinvestment and sanctions movement (BDS) around the globe.  They have to continue the pressure of non-violent actions against Israel—boycotting Israeli products that come into the West Bank and bringing attention to Israeli immorality attributes of demolishing homes, uprooting olive groves, building illegal settlements and torturing Palestinian political prisoners.

In addition, Palestinians must keep the option of the stone as a consequence to failed talks.

By adhering to these four points, Palestinians will have the fortitude to negotiate with the Israelis on parity.  Palestinians can then demand that the occupation must end and end now.