Proposed legislation and the repercussions of PA security coordination

The deaths of three teenage settlers provided Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a scenario through which the continuous escalation of violence against Palestinians can be manipulated as a necessary tactic. Last month, an unnamed senior IDF official quoted on Israel National News affirmed that Operation Brother’s Keeper, the codename for the search operation when the boys went missing, would not be characterised by a definite timescale. “Part of our strength is our ability to hold this campaign for a prolonged time period,” the official claimed

Such prolongation has been essential to the consolidation of settler-colonialism in Palestine. Overnight as I write, Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has resulted in another nine victims. According to ALRAY, the Palestine Media Agency, seven of those killed were members of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. Settlers are also escalating their routine violence against Palestinian civilians and children; the brutal torture and murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, for example, has elicited widespread horror. On Facebook, Team Palestina compiled a list of atrocities committed by settlers in the past few days, including the attempted kidnappings of Palestinian children, an attempt in Nablus to amputate a man’s leg using an axe and the killing of two Palestinians in Tulkarem, run over by a settler in a car.

However, the combination of state and settler violence is predictably removed from the wider framework in order to provide space for the dynamics of prolongation and complicity. Following discussions in which the IDF stated that it was seeking the means to re-incarcerate formerly released Palestinian political prisoners, Israel National News reported yesterday that Likud MK Ze’ev Elkin has contributed towards this reality. Yesterday, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved a bill drafted by Elkin which, if implemented, will legalise the re-arrest and imprisonment of former Palestinian political prisoners.

According to reports, Elkin voiced his approval of the committee’s endorsement: “This law allows returning released terrorists to prison as soon as they go back to their corrupt ways or try to kidnap Israelis. This is a good first step in changing the rules of the game versus the terror groups, and I intend to submit this to the Knesset for legislation as soon as possible.”

Implicit within the drafting of the new law, yet marginalised in discussions, is the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with the settler-colonial state. The PA actually facilitated the terrorising of Palestinian civilian communities during Operation Brother’s Keeper, which resulted in disproportionate mass arrests, including over 50 former political prisoners who had been released in the Gilad Shalit deal. Israeli media is alleging that the former prisoners gave “material or moral support” in relation to the deaths of the three settlers.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has also exhibited a marked reluctance to address the ramifications of the recently proposed law within the context of continued security-coordination with Israel. In a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Robert Serry, Abbas requested the establishment of an international investigative committee to focus upon recent manifestations of settler-violence. Ironically, Abbas also requested “international protection to be given to the Palestinian people”, conveniently disregarding the fact that the international community has relentlessly, ever since Israel’s inception, given its approval to imperialist-supported colonial violence unleashed upon the indigenous population.

Both Israel and the PA have sought to eliminate three crucial aspects in relation to the recent developments. Primarily, the isolation of Operation Brother’s Keeper has simplified the extension of colonial atrocities into a mere “retaliation”. This isolation is in turn reflected in the separate discussions regarding the recently proposed law targeting former political prisoners and the issue of security coordination. In addition, Abbas has facilitated the empowerment of both Israel and the international community by persisting in the rigmarole of allegedly seeking protection through oppressive and collaborative entities.

The magnitude of conspiracy against Palestinian resistance, therefore, is both internal and international. Abbas’s contempt for Palestinian political prisoners emerged vividly in the course of the US-brokered negotiations, during which the bargaining over lives and dignity provided the backdrop for further colonial expansion. Just as the indecency exhibited by Abbas was normalised within imperialist discourse during the negotiations, the repercussions of intertwining the newly proposed law and security-coordination will ultimately become an extensive expression of the PA’s capitulation and collaboration with Israel to safeguard its corrupt existence at the expense of yet more Palestinian lives.

Speaking out against Elkin’s legislation and Abbas’s defence of security-coordination, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine spoke to ALRAY about the necessity of ending complicity with Israel and allowing the Palestinian population to defend itself against colonial atrocities and settler violence.

In a statement obtained exclusively for this article, Khaled Barakat, a PFLP leader from the Central Committee, discussed both the targeting of former political prisoners and the issue of security coordination as a continuous manifestation of historical domination. “Former prisoners are re-arrested constantly under a variety of pretexts and justifications, from new laws like this one to those that date from the era of British colonisation of Palestine, such as administrative detention… The objective is to turn the Palestinian people against resistance and divide the people from the resistance.”

On security coordination between the PA and Israel, Barakat recalled the arrest of PFLP General Secretary Ahmed Sa’adat, who was placed under administrative detention in 1996, as well as the arrest of other members and leaders of various resistance factions, even prior to the commencement of the Second Intifada.

Barakat also expounded upon the imperialist aspect of security coordination. “Security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation state is also a US policy, not just as a political position but as a practical matter. Its implementation is supervised by the US; reports are sent to a US General, because this is the condition under which the PA security agencies are funded and supplied, technically and financially.”

It is impertinent to perceive the recent developments within the transience of a reaction. Appending descriptions or semblances of metaphoric titles to colonial violence merely serves to promote a fragmented perception of Palestinian resistance. Beyond the farce of negotiations, Abbas’s adherence to security coordination is tantamount to authorising the prolongation of atrocities. Expectations to the contrary may seem abominable, given the relished cycle of internal and international impunity, as well as the efforts to disassociate security-coordination from the proposed law targeting those who epitomise Palestinian resistance. Hence, the resistance, irrespective of factions, should adopt unifying measures altering the supremacy that attempts constantly to limit the Palestinian struggle to the periphery of the whole scenario.

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