The international effort for peace "aims to kill the Palestinian cause"

A former Egyptian diplomat has suggested that the chances of success with the latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are extremely slim. Political science professor Abdallah El-Ashaal believes that the efforts made by the international community, including the Arab nations, are intended only to “kill the Palestinian cause”.

In an interview with Quds Press, Professor El-Ashaal said, “I don’t believe that there will be peace between the Palestinians and Israelis as long as the Arab world has no will of its own owing to pressure from the US and Israel, and as long as Israel is in a powerful position from where it can offer nothing to the peace process”. Prof. El-Ashaal pointed out that Israel appears to be unique in the world: “Israel is a strange phenomenon because what applies to the rest of the world, for some reason does not apply to Israel.” The Arab world, he added, has virtually abandoned any role it once had in helping the Palestinian cause. “Instead, all the Arabs do is talk about the cause; it’s like a game for them so they are defrauding the Palestinian people.”

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Speaking about Egypt’s role in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, Prof. El-Ashaal said that the Egyptian regime is part of the international conspiracy to kill the Palestinian cause; this system is imposed on the Egyptians and it plots against Hamas, Gaza and the Palestinian people.

Professor El-Ashaal’s pessimistic note was also applied to the efforts towards reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas; he holds Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responsible for this failure. “I don’t think that there such a thing as ‘reconciliation’ between Hamas and Fatah, as that entails the presence of a problem between two parties and the need to resolve it. The people should be aware about which group aids the occupation and which one resists it, he said.