MODERATE PALESTINIANS SORELY DISAPPOINTED

I have always been an optimist. I have always advocated peace. I was one of the first Palestinians to call for the recognition of Israel. I did so in 1980 on the University of Illinois - Chicago campus (although I attended Loyola University) and was ostracized by Fatah, Jabha and other Palestinian student groups.  I held my ground and was one of the few Palestinians in the Chicago area that could go to any group’s events.

I welcomed the Oslo Accords and attended the White House signing ceremony on September 13, 1993.  I witnessed the famous handshake between Arafat and Rabin and felt a sense of relief that the long hard nightmare for my people might soon be over. 

Since Oslo, however, I and many moderate Palestinians have been sorely disappointed.  

• We have seen the settlement expansion in the West Bank more than quadruple.  
• We have seen thousands of Palestinian agriculture acres (olive groves) destroyed. 
• We have seen a separation wall built around our towns and villages leaving isolated enclaves that basically imprison Palestinians especially men between the ages of 18 and 40. 
• We have seen a voluminous number of humiliating military check points that disgrace and dehumanize Palestinians. 
• We have seen democratic Palestinian elections whose results were not accepted by Israel and an American President who told us that one of the results of the Iraqi invasion of 2003 was a democratization of the Middle East. 
• We have also seen since Oslo, (unfortunately) the introduction of the Palestinian suicide bomber and the assassination of an Israeli Prime Minister (by an Israeli terrorist) which, in essence, killed the peace process.  
• We have also seen the right wing religious fanatic groups who have increased their power and because they have been and are part of the past and current coalition governments in Israel, in my opinion, hold the entire Middle East hostage.  
• We also see the continued marginalization of the Palestinians 
• because of inter-fighting; 
• because the world cannot accept that the Palestinian people have elected one party over another party that is repeat with corruption and that has not produced the liberation it has said it will deliver; and 
• because the power of the purse is used to blackmail the Palestinian West Bank leadership to accept what the people will not allow them to accept. 
• We have also witnessed in 2008-2009 and now again the barbarity of the Israeli devastating and disproportionate onslaught against our brothers and sisters and our children in Gaza as the continued Israeli blockade causes severe economic conditions of food, water and medical shortages for which, we are told, the Palestinians cannot repel and for which the world flotilla aid campaign cannot break.

Because we have seen all these demoralizing aspects of the conflict, I, as well as many moderate (if not all) Palestinians, have abandoned the two state solution.  

• It is inconceivable that the 600,000 settlers in the West Bank will get up and leave.  This is not the Gaza Strip where 21 settlements illegally inhabited by 21,000 extreme Zionist settlers can be disbanded and the settlers removed.  
• It is inconceivable that the right wing ultra-conservative/orthodox parties within Israel will agree to give up Areas C especially since their power is increasing and especially since the recent poll in Israel tells us that the majority of Israelis have no problem living in an Apartheid like state.  
• It is inconceivable that Israel will abandon its policy to allow a Palestinian limited state within Area A and parts of Area B, on the one hand and another Palestinian entity in Gaza, as the Liberman Plan has so stated for Gaza. 

Inconceivability is only in the political realm.  In realty however, the numbers (population growth of the Palestinians visa via the Israelis) will force Israel to rethink its position.  My doubts are in succeeding Israel requests to endlessly talk to no end. The Israeli policy is "let us agree to agree in the future" but the future never comes because Israel always finds ways to interpret agreements by defining terms as it defines them. My pessimism is in endless talks that attempt to fill the glass with water but the glass is always half empty.

For Palestinians, the concept of a two state solution is illusionary. Since Oslo, succeeding Israeli governments have allowed the ever expanding settlements on illegally confiscated Palestinian land, thus creating “facts on the ground.” Israel has played its hand too long. Israeli leaders thought they could exhaust us into submission; that as long as they continued to build illegal settlements and continued to appease the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank while driving a wedge between West Bank and Gaza leaders, they could frustrate the Palestinians into accepting two Palestinian entities, one in the West Bank with Area A and part of Area B; and the other in Gaza.  Thus in essence, Israel has been trying for a three state solution.  Palestinians cannot and will not accept this.

By playing its hand too long, Israel has lost the moderate Palestinians. 

Moderate Palestinians are seeking other means to assert Palestinian fundamental rights. Moderate Palestinians wholeheartedly support the Palestinian request to join the United Nations General Assembly with pre-1967 borders but understand that this is only a prelude to a one state solution to the conflict. We also support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Israeli occupation. We welcome the emergency of a new generation of Palestinians who will pick up their stone and fight for the dignity and well-being of future Palestinian generations.  We also call upon the Palestinian factions to reconcile their differences and believe that the Palestinian house needs to be united immediately.  

(© Copyright 2012, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.) 

No Negotiations with Apartheid Israel - Let it Self-Destruct!

            Hamas has called upon the Palestinian Authority to boycott talks with Apartheid Israel. I agree.

            I consider myself a moderate, having called for the recognition of Israel as early as 1980 during my college days.  I gave the Apartheid State of Israel every consideration but peace came to the doorsteps but it has never entered the door.

            Apartheid Israel continues to delay any final status talks.  It never wants to discuss the status of Jerusalem, its borders and the right of return.  Why? Apartheid Israel delays peace because its internal politics does not allow it to accept peace.  Israel Is controlled by its minority, by the apartheid settler mentality, by the ultra-orthodox religious right wing fanatics.  The structure of Israel’s structure of government is that no one political party is capable of garnishing a clear majority in the Apartheid Knesset.  Therefore only coalition governments have governed Apartheid Israel, leaving each governing party to be at the mercy of the minority parties within the coalition.  

            With this governmental structure, Apartheid Israel is incapable of wanting peace!  Therefore, negotiations with Apartheid Israel are delusional.

            Apartheid Israel keeps demanding additional conditions upon the Palestinians that it knows the Palestinians will not accept.  After numerous demands upon the Palestinians, Apartheid Israel now wants the Palestinians to recognize it as a “Jewish State.”   Additionally, Apartheid Israel wants to restart negotiations without any preconditions.  It does not want to stop its illegal settlement building, does not want to negotiate the status of Jerusalem and does not want to discuss its borders.  It wants to leave these issues to final status talks that never materialize because it continues to put obstacles to those talks.

            With this mentality, Apartheid Israel is incapable of wanting peace! Therefore, negotiations with Apartheid Israel are delusional.

            Additionally, Apartheid Israel believes it can continue the status quo of its apartheid policies without any consequences.  Apartheid Israel rules two peoples with different discriminatory laws—apartheid.  Apartheid Israel builds by-pass roads for Jews only—apartheid.  Apartheid Israel builds a separation wall—apartheid.  Apartheid Israel has created Palestinian enclaves and ghettos and surrounded them with walls or electronic wired fences—apartheid.  Apartheid Israel cannot sustain these apartheid practices for long.

There are many indications that exposing the Apartheid State of Israel will be effective to change the status quo. The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is taking hold.  One good example is the bankruptcy of Agrexco, Apartheid Israel’s leading flower exporter, which was targeted for boycott by more than 20 organizations in Europe in 13 countries.  The Methodist Church had passed an “anti-Israel” motion demanding a boycott of goods from “illegal” settlements. Pension funds are divesting from companies that do business with Apartheid Israeli settlements. Cultural events are in Apartheid Israel are being boycotted.  Many musicians are boycotting Apartheid Israel. [1]

“The international campaign to boycott Ahava beauty products has recently won the support of a Dutch parliamentarian and an Israeli peace group. During the past few months, activists in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands have campaigned against the sale of Ahava products because of the company’s complicity in the Israeli occupation.”[2]

With the growing BDS movement that will increase month by month, Apartheid Israel will not be able to sustain its apartheid practices.  Therefore, negotiations with Apartheid Israel are not necessary.  Israel will self-destruct.

There are other indications that Apartheid Israel will self-destruct.  The Apartheid Israeli has passed laws that allow Jewish communities to decide who they want to exclude from their community an obvious way to segregate Palestinians from Jews.  Public buses that transport ultra-Orthodox Jews make women sit in the back of the bus.  Apartheid Israel has passed laws that require loyalty oath to the “Jewish and democratic” state pitting the left and right political parties against each other. [3]

Therefore, when Hamas calls upon the Palestinian Authority to boycott negotiations with Apartheid Israel, there are many reasons why this advice should be accepted.   Negotiating with Apartheid Israel is a waste of time.  Let us let time bring Apartheid Israel to abandon the occupation.

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[1] IS BDS Working?  Giulio Meotti  August 31, 20111 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4115718,00.html

[2] Boycott of Ahava Dead Sea products makes an impact Adri Nieuwhof The Electronic Intifada 

2 December 2009  http://electronicintifada.net/content/boycott-ahava-dead-sea-products-makes-impact/8563

[3] Israel approves loyalty oath, October 10, 2010 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/10/2010101013028364300.html

Israel Reaction to Hamas Joining PLO Is Smoke & Mirrors

The Apartheid Israeli Prime Minister Spokesman Mark Regev’s reaction to Hamas joining the PLO is preposterous and duplicitous. Additionally, by saying that if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "embraces Hamas, if he walks toward Hamas, he is walking away from peace," the Apartheid Spokesman is continuing the game of stalling a final status talks and ultimately makes a one state solution the only viable solution.

Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian Parliamentary “democratic” elections which were supervised by former President Jimmy Carter. After the democratic countries of the US, European Union and several Western states refused to recognize the results of the “democratic” elections by withholding aid to the Palestinian Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency, then appointed Salem Fayyad  as the new Prime Minister replacing Hamas leader Ismail Haniya.  Clashes ensued between Fatah and Hamas forces and Hamas took control of Gaza while Fatah took control of the West Bank.   Palestinians were dismayed as these clashes played right into the divide and conquer policy to Apartheid Israel.

Since then several attempts at reconciliation were made culminating in a final agreement signed earlier this year by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. Palestinians were elated at the final reconciliation of these two leading Palestinian parties as many believed the clash between them set the Palestinian aspirations back for years. The agreement allows Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other parties to join the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).   Apartheid Israel has long warned Abbas not to reconcile with Hamas.

Palestinians, on the other hand, welcome this reconciliation and hope that this renewed Palestinian unity can now focus on confronting the Apartheid State of Israel, whether in negotiations or on the ground.  

The Apartheid State of Israel’s statements that it will not negotiate with a Palestinian government which includes Hamas cannot be taken seriously as no party in a conflict can dictate who can and cannot be part of other party’s government or delegation.   Palestinian leadership has not and cannot tell the Apartheid State of Israel that they will not negotiate with it unless they remove the Shas party within their coalition government. 

The Shas Party, whose spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yousef calls for the annihilation of the Palestinians, does not want peace with the Palestinians and wants to continue to build illegal settlements in the West Bank, the land upon which Palestinians desire to create a State of Palestine. With 11 seats—just 9 % of the Israeli Knesset, it wields tremendous power—enough to pressure the Apharteid-in-Chief BiBi Netanyahu into concessions it favors.  

By the same token, Apartheid Israel cannot tell Palestinians that Hamas cannot be in a Palestinian government.  Allowing Apartheid Israel to dictate to the PA who can be in the Palestinian government is preposterous and duplicitous when the likes of the Shas Party is its government.

            Apartheid Israel’s position on the reconciliation of Hamas and Fatah is another smoke and mirrors argument meant to continue the conflict and continue the real truth, i.e. Israel wants to continue its illegal land grabs and continue its settlement expansion policy.  This is just a furtherance of Apartheid Israel’s policy of obstructing peace as it has no plans to discuss final settlement negotiations—always wanting to discuss interim agreements and to leave discussions on Jerusalem, the right of return and border issues to much later dates that never materialize

By the same measure, Israel continues to place obstacles to negotiations, such as continuing to build settlements during negotiations that should lead to the dismantling of those settlements and by its insistence that it be recognized as a Jewish State. These are just another set of preconditions after other conditions have been met.

Originally, the PLO was asked to recognize the State of Israel and renounce violence.  The PLO did.  Next the Palestinian Authority was asked to reign in the “extremists” with limited resources and it did.  The PA was then asked to be democratic and hold elections.  It did but the results were not adhered to because the Apartheid Israeli government would not negotiate with the winner of the Parliamentary elections—Hamas. Next the Apartheid-in-Chief Netanyahu came up with a clever demand of wanting the Palestinians to recognize Apartheid Israel as a Jewish State.

Now Apartheid Israel has renewed its objections to Hamas being a part of a Palestinian government or even the PLO. This is the latest smoke and mirrors argument that Apartheid Israel uses to delay, delay and delay.

The delay Apartheid Israel is causing works to its detriment. The birthrates of Palestinians visa vie Israeli apartheids will make the population of Palestinians a majority soon.  Then, the “Jewish State” which segregates Palestinians from Jews through its Apartheid Wall and builds Jews only roadways and controls military check points that confine Palestinians in enclaves and ghettos will find it hard not to be called an Apartheid State: a political system that separates the different peoples living under its control and gives privileges to those of the Jewish religion.

By continuing the smoke and mirrors arguments all Apartheid Israel is doing is delaying the inevitable: a one state solution. 


(  © 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.)