Negotiations in Cairo and more in Riyadh

Another round of negotiations are taking place between the united Palestinian delegation and the Israeli delegation in Cairo after Egypt’s efforts to reach another 72 hour cease-fire to stop the war in Gaza for the second time were successful.

The current Cairo negotiations are pointless and waste the Palestinians’ time in favour of Israel. Some Palestinians have tried to negotiate with the Israelis for over 20 years but have never regained any of their rights from Israel, instead, they have sustained more losses on the ground, including human losses, either through arrest or by being killed by Israel under various pretexts and the increased settlement construction as well as the multiplying number of settlers who increase their violence against the Palestinians. Then there is also the separation wall which is snaking its way through the West Bank while no one in the PA is paying attention to the International Court of Justice’s opinion that this wall is illegal and must be removed, indeed the PA in Ramallah are silent on this issue.

Perseverant people of Gaza, post-coup Egypt is not genuine or honest about ending the suffering of Gaza and its people. How can post-coup Egypt be an honest mediator between an enemy occupying Arab land and defending its land? How can it be an honest mediator while Egypt is besieging Gaza and cutting off Gaza’s lifelines? It is a key player in the aggression on Gaza by unjustly and hatefully besieging Hamas on the grounds that it is part of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which Al-Sisi’s Egypt branded a terrorist organisation, dissolving the party and seizing its money and assets. It is obvious that the Egyptian administration is pressuring President Mahmoud Abbas to accept Israel’s demands and pressure the negotiating delegation to do so as well, but if Abbas refuses to do so then the alternative will be ready and waiting in the hotel next door to the negotiating delegation. Will President Abbas succumb to the Egyptian-Israeli pressures?

The real question is how long the armed security forces and the general public in the West Bank will remain silent without taking real action to help their brothers in Gaza and defeat Israel? The West Bank is very close to densely populated Israeli towns and cities, whilst the resistance’s weapons are effective on life in Israel due to the proximity of the targets that would harm Israel. So, why is this front not opened and the security coordination agreement between Israel and the PA cancelled? This is the one and only solution to force Israel to respond to the current demands of the Palestinian people and withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967 and establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

While we have been distracted with Palestine, the United States resumed air strikes in Iraq against the Islamic State (ISIS). Information suggest that Islamic State was created by the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Damascus, Al-Maliki’s regime in Baghdad, and the regime Tehran. Those who believe this have based their information on the fact that the Syrian regime’s army did not clash with this organisation in Syria, and instead, carried out air strikes and launches missiles to facilitate the Islamic State’s movements against the opposing Free Syrian Army and other Islamic factions. The Islamic State has committed major crimes in Syria against organisations opposing the Syrian regime as well as against helpless civilians who have no way to defend themselves, despite the fact that that the Syrian opposition armed received support from the United States and some Arab countries.

The Syrian state army’s crimes against the Syrian people have used internationally banned weapons against civilians and aircraft to drop explosive barrels on helpless civilians in their homes. However, the American administration has stood by and done nothing to defend the Syrian people who have been subject to a fierce war for over three years. America has not taken any military action in Syria nor has it armed the Syrian opposition with arms that could overthrow the regime and the Islamic State. The US has not carried out any military action against Al-Maliki’s government when its forces and militias launched air and ground strikes against Sunni cities and villages in Anbar, Saladin, Nineveh, Diyala and other areas, so why is America now pushing its air force to only hit the Islamic State when it edges closer to Iraqi Kurdistan and the oil wells there?

Our eyes and ears are fixated on Riyadh and Jeddah, awaiting the outcome of negotiations between King Abdullah Al-Saud and Egyptian President Al-Sisi. What will the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Al-Saud say to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi about Gaza, the war and the Egyptian siege imposed on the people of Gaza?

Since its establishment, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been concerned by the Palestinians since the early years of the Jewish immigration to Palestine and opposed such immigration, advocating for the liberation of Palestine from the Zionists. It took honourable positions on every level and we did not doubt that the Kingdom spared no effort in supporting the people of Gaza by lifting the siege imposed on them.

Today, everyone across the world is focusing on the Kingdom’s role in stopping the Zionist war on Gaza immediately, lifting the unjust siege imposed on it by Egypt and the Zionists, stopping the Jewish attacks on citizens in the West Bank and putting an end to preventing Muslim worshipers from praying in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Given its international position, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is capable of commanding the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to lift the siege in all its forms imposed on the Gaza Strip. It is also capable of putting economic and political pressure on the American administration in order to deter Israel and put an end to this unjust war on Gaza as well as force Israel to refrain from persecuting Palestinian citizens in the West Bank and preventing them from performing their prayers in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In the end, I say, Palestine, Iraq, the Levant and Yemen are calling on you, O the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques; will you answer them? You are a man of the people, Abu Mutaib, son of Abdul Aziz.

Translated from Al-Sharq newspaper, 12 August, 2014

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