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Keeping the Palestinian cause alive

March 15, 2016 at 11:34 am

The stabbings in occupied Palestine continue and the fears and concerns of Israelis are on the increase. The “knife” intifada has spread fear in the ranks of the illegal settlers as the estimates of human losses stand at dozens killed and hundreds wounded over the past six months. This spontaneous uprising in the occupied West Bank reveals a lot about the reality of the Palestinian cause today, which is going through one of its worst phases, even though preceding phases were generally not positive; the chaos and disorientation across the Arab world applies equally to the situation in Palestine. There is no single vision that dominates the scene, and there is an inability to determine clear goals for national work that can be spread around all of the Palestinian factions. What we can understand from the spontaneous youth uprising is that above all else it is an expression of frustration against the current leadership that has squeezed the Palestinian Arabs and their interests out of the West Bank in favour of the settlers, who have continued to invade the occupied territory ever since the Oslo Accords.

The negotiations associated with the so-called peace process have hit a brick wall. With the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to consider the option of armed struggle— or even a peaceful struggle — there is nothing left to do but watch the Israelis manipulate the Palestinians’ reality on the ground, encourage more and bigger illegal settlements in the heart of the West Bank, and besiege Gaza and punish its people due to their refusal to surrender after successive military offensives. There are no longer any parties who are concerned with going along the path to a final agreement, not even by means of media statements, slogans or even empty promises. The Americans have abandoned the Palestinian issue while Benjamin Netanyahu is at the helm in Israel, and although Barack Obama is “sick” of Netanyahu’s arrogance, he has basically left the Israeli prime minister to do whatever he wants; there has been no US pressure on him to stop the settlements or engage in any negotiations. This has made the PA’s only strategy totally useless.

Is this the Third Intifada?

Rising tensions in the Occupied Territories have led to dozens of deaths and hundreds of clashes.
Are we witnessing the Third Intifada?

The Arab positions on the Palestinian cause have ranged over the past few years from disappointing to conspiratorial, and Arab officialdom has dealt with the issue by describing it as a burden that must be got rid of at any cost. The crises caused by the Palestinian issue must be ended, they say, but this approach of finding a solution at any cost has faltered in recent years due to the internal issues in several regional countries, which is why Arab legitimacy has deteriorated, ending what little ideological cover there was ever associated with Palestine.

Arab officialdom also considers the cause to be a purely Palestinian affair and is afraid of doing anything other than preserving the governing authorities. The momentum for resolving the issue stopped with the rise of Arab and international distraction with other regional issues. Even the Arab masses who are emotionally linked to Palestine seem to be focused elsewhere, given their own distinct problems.

What is worse than this is that there appears to be no other option for the elites who control Palestinian decision-making; they are incapable and unyielding. I do not believe that the Palestinian cause has ever experienced such an inability to generate charismatic or influential leaders as it is going through today regarding the PA. It is one of the most incompetent of leaderships and the most willing to concede all Palestinians rights and disregard the interests of the people. Such “leaders” are at the top of the PA hierarchy and have no other option but to beg the Israelis and complain about a lack of response. However, they do not put any pressure on Israel in terms of internal action or activating international relations and solidarity with the Palestinian cause. They could gain friends for Palestine who will work internationally on isolating Israel. Rather than doing any of this, these elites respond positively to the US demand to avoid any escalation without receiving anything in return.

This inability of the Palestinian elite is the same as that seen in other Arab elites; finding someone with a vision to promote the interests of the Arab people and address the hot issues in our region is a difficult task. Running into the arms of the US and talking about its possession of the overwhelming majority of playing cards, as Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat did, has hurt the Palestinian cause. The Palestinians and Arabs lost other friends and did not gain anything concrete from the US or Israel; the result is the current disorientation.

We cannot address the internal reconciliation between the Palestinian factions as if it is a magic wand to solve all of our problems. If reconciliation is not based on unifying goals and strategic options, thus ending the conflict between those who adopt armed resistance and those who are against it, then the reconciliation talks will be nothing more than a façade resulting in a fragile consensus that will collapse quickly in the face of the first challenge. The problem today is that there is no one to review the decisions of the Palestinian elite; nobody to point out that the days of granting concession after concession to Israel are over, and that the increase in settlements means that the two-state solution is dead and buried.

The youth who are staging the uprising with their knives are screaming in the face of the elite’s inability to do anything; they are doing what needs to be done in light of the current Arab reality. Indeed, they are reminding us of the Palestinian cause and keeping it alive amid the chaos, destruction and shifting priorities. It is, along with the resistance in Gaza, an expression of the refusal to abandon the Palestinian cause and protest at the lack of a national Palestinian liberation project and the absence of the Arabs in terms of fulfilling their responsibilities towards Palestine. The knives of the West Bank are a manifestation of the refusal to liquidate the Palestinian cause; the youth must be supported by all of the Arabs who are still concerned with the Palestinian cause. The Israelis and their numerous, deadly, human rights violations are backed by the West; where are the Palestinians’ backers?

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid, 14 March, 2016.

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