Alternatives to negotiations with Israel

Some of the officials in the Palestinian Authority believe that there is no alternative to negotiations with Israel because it chose that approach as the sole method of dealing with Israel in order to achieve the dreams of our people and restore our national rights. There has now been news about secret channels for negotiations between the PA and Israel, according to Netanyahu and Lieberman; it is in this context that the meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Tzipi Livni was held in London, but not even the secret negotiations are making any progress. The nine-month time frame for negotiations between the two parties is over and it has ended without achieving anything other than more Israeli stubbornness and rejection of Palestinian national rights, and yet more conditions imposed on the Palestinian side.

The negotiations ended in failure as expected; if 20 years of negotiations has not convinced Israel of the rights of the Palestinians, why would nine months be enough? Will the secret negotiations do the job? Former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir once said, “We will prolong negotiations with the Palestinians for twenty years.” He was right; they have indeed gone on for that long and more, but there is no indication, not even a slight indication that Israel will let up on any of its stubbornness. As such, the Palestinian Authority needs to ask itself what next, not least because it has restricted itself to the option of negotiations and nothing else.

There are, though, alternatives. The PA could join all international organisations possible, including the International Criminal Court; achieve national reconciliation; restore the United Nations resolutions as a reference for Palestinian rights; end security coordination with the occupier; start a third Intifada; work towards a single, secular, democratic state solution; dissolve the PA itself and return to square one; and restore resistance by all means, including armed resistance.

I say this because the PA needs to learn the lessons from the negotiations experience which has dragged on since Oslo in the early nineties. Perhaps some of the most prominent lessons learned from this lengthy experience are the following: abandoning the option of negotiations altogether, as Israel’s illegal settlements have multiplied during the talks; Israel has increased its levels of aggression; Sharon re-occupied the West Bank; and the Israeli conditions for the Palestinians, and even the Arab world, increased while the Israelis have only accepted a limited agreement with the Palestinians. The Palestinian leadership is required to find an alternative to the negotiations, as their people are in the midst of national liberation and there are many popular questions that need to be answered by the Palestinian Authority. The situation makes it imperative to adopt a new strategy and a new political tactic as well, because the leadership cannot leave its people duped by the failed negotiations.

I fear that the PA and President Mahmoud Abbas, personally, will be put under international pressure, especially from the US, to resume negotiations with new promises that will not be fulfilled, just as the old promises remain unfulfilled.

The Palestinians can no longer count on the United States to be a neutral and honest mediator. America has acted as a staunch ally of Israel all along, in every one of the positions it has taken, supporting it in various ways with military, economic, political, scientific, technology and financial aid. Those in the PA who are counting on America to be a fair intermediary between the Arabs and Israel are deluded.

At the beginning of his first presidential term, President Obama promised to stop Israeli settlements and establish a Palestinian state within two years, but he has not kept either of these promises, and is now pressuring the Palestinians to negotiate with Israel without considering the illegal settlements as a hindrance to progress. America acts as Israel’s partner every step of the way, proven by the fact that once the PA announced it would begin to join UN commissions and organisations, and once Hamas and Fatah announced their reconciliation agreement, the US administration was upset and Congress moved to activate the “Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act”, which stipulates an end to US aid to any Palestinian government resulting from reconciliation with Hamas. Secretary of State John Kerry denied rumours that he said Israel will be an apartheid state if the two-state solution fails, but this is only the tip of the iceberg regarding the US positions. Does anyone from the PA doubt that the US is definitely on Israel’s side?

Israel has tried to deny national Palestinian achievements and the world’s knowledge of the just cause of the Palestinian people along with the support of most of the world for this cause; the establishment of the Palestinian identity and the recognition of the Palestinian people; and even recognition of the very existence of the Palestinian people. The truth has, however, shone through the Israel’s muddying of the waters. None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinians in all of its forms and means, mainly the armed struggle, which has proven to be serious and effective. On the other hand, the decline of the national Palestinian project and the disregard for national Palestinian rights has been caused mainly by the fact that the PA put an end to the resistance, considering it unjustified “violence” and “terrorism”; such facts should not be underestimated or overlooked regardless of the justifications. The effectiveness of armed struggle has been proven by every experience of national liberation movements across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

It is important for internal Palestinian affairs to be arranged and dealt with, as the division, loss of national Palestinian unity and the neglect of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation are all factors that have led to the decline of the Palestinian cause and the national project in general. The reverse is also true, as restoring Palestinian national unity, overcoming the division and reviving the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the Diaspora are all strong cards that can be played by Hamas, Fatah and all of the other national and Islamic factions in the Palestinian arena. The division cannot remain in any form; the reconciliation must be achieved and Palestinian national unity must be restored.

It is very important to have Arab and international friends supporting the Palestinian cause, because without organic unity with the Arab masses from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf and without the camp of friends, the Palestinian struggle remains incomplete; strength in numbers is an issue of paramount importance. We must first begin by developing the Palestinian national project and the new strategy must be put in place, then it will be possible to rally the Arab world around this project and strategy.

All of these tasks and questions require adequate and clear answers from the Palestinian leaders. There are numerous alternatives to negotiations and they are quite obvious to anyone searching for them.

Translated from Al Quds al Arabi, 22 May, 2014

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.