Admit it, cooperation with the occupation is a mistake

A Palestinian journalist asked me recently what my expectations were in terms of freedoms or political arrests in 2015. I told her that I did not expect anything to change and that Israel will not stop its aggressive policies unless the status of its political authority and security changes entirely. The latter seems very unlikely, so I suggested that we should not expect any changes in the West Bank as long as it continues to be the central focus of the Israeli occupation; the Palestinian Authority continues to derive its authority from the occupation; and the PA continues to cooperate with the occupation on matters of security and the repression of legitimate national resistance.

It is fairly obvious that the security apparatus in the West Bank is not linked to the political compromises agreed between Fatah and Hamas. It is also not difficult to understand that the idea of progress or lack thereof in terms of national reconciliation does not affect security in any way. The fact of the matter is that we opted to remain complicit on the issue of security coordination with the enemy; when this happened, we underestimated and ignored the root of the problem in its very essence.

These days we read and hear a lot about the idea of consensus or national reconciliation to the point where we find ourselves becoming sick of it. This is not because the talk itself is too heavy on the heart; far from it. It’s actually because such talk does nothing to close the door on our pain and suffering once and for all.

Similarly, you find that people in the West Bank remain silent when it comes to the thousands of civil, legal and physical violations against those who affiliate with Hamas; in their silence they fail to acknowledge that what this truly shows us is the level to which Fatah complies with the needs of the Israeli security forces. While thousands of people on occasion seek to explain and present their opinions about events in the West Bank, at other times they fail to acknowledge the grave nature of our reality.

Two aspects in particular determine the declining interest in what is going on: the events taking place on the political level and those taking place on the security level. We no longer hear anyone talking about the possibility of a catastrophic peace agreement, nor do we hear anyone questioning the Palestinian Authority’s willingness to comply with the demands of the Israeli occupation in terms of security. Not many people are genuinely trying to comprehend the broad dimensions and effects that this has on the Palestinian situation.

The situation promotes dire confusion, lacking any concept of honesty in the wake of an aborted resistance project. The culture of resistance in Palestine has been attacked in a pathetic attempt to revive the status quo that has been the norm in recent years. Fear and repression now find themselves enjoying prime position in a society that once enjoyed a culture of lawful resistance to Israeli occupation.

Those who have cooperated with the occupation now have the responsibility to admit that they made a mistake, as past decisions come back to haunt them. Their presence at the eye of the storm means that they will have doubled their responsibility to counter oppression, even if it means standing alone on the battlefield.

Translated from Felestaeen newspaper 22 December 2014

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