clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Abbas’ siege on Gaza: The goals and the financial benefits

June 30, 2017 at 5:35 pm

Image of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas [Wisam Hashlamoun/Apaimages]

Since Hamas’ victory in the parliamentary elections on 25 January 2006, the president of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, has been collaborating with the forces of the occupation to place Gaza under siege for approximately ten years now. These endeavours – directly or indirectly – have been aiming to suffocate Palestinian resistance and any potential to establish a viable and independent Palestinian state.

Abbas’ latest measures, which include cutting the salaries of the families of martyrs and the wounded, as well as all employees, including those in Ramallah whose personal allowances have been decreased from 50 per cent to 30 per cent, point to the intention of declaring Gaza a rebel territory. The goal is to incite Arab regimes into taking military action against the Palestinian territory.

A precedent has already taken place when Palestine’s permanent representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, spoke to the General Assembly about this without shame or hesitation. Abbas’ student did not shy away from calling on the Arab coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen from taking its units to liberate the Gaza Strip from Hamas (the resistance unit).

It is clear that Abbas has joined the number of countries that pledge allegiance to the Riyadh Summit, where it was announced that the next war is allegedly against “terrorism” as it is embodied by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The coalition has described Iran as the source of all crime and bloodshed in the region.

Read: Gaza is a ticking time bomb

In addition, a number of the ministers and leaders of the countries participating in the Riyadh Summit described Hamas as a terrorist organisation. There is no regard given to what implications this could have for the party in the future.

It is also a well-known fact that Abbas practices a clear and direct policy of collaboration with Israel and its occupying forces. The communication is clear to anyone who has been arrested by the PLO and subsequently handed over to the occupation’s forces.

A number of observers have noted that the number of Palestinian prisoners has increased since the start of the Intifada from nearly 5,000 to 7,500 detainees. Nearly 20 individuals are being detained per day and this is a reflection of the direct and clear communication and collaboration between the PLO and the Israelis in occupied Palestine. Recently, Mr Jason Greenblatt, an executive vice president working for US President Donald Trump, went to Israel with his son-in-law to discuss combatting terror with the Israeli and Palestinian officials. Greenblatt met with both Netanyahu and Abbas in Tel Aviv and has entrusted his son with the mission of overseeing effort.

Read: Pushing Gaza to suicide

The current head of the Palestinian Authority (Mahmoud Abbas) has been holding on to his role and its disastrous implications since he engineered the disastrous Oslo Accords. One of his demands from Netanyahu was to completely cut the power supply to the territories, which also impacted the amount of electricity that reaches Gaza. The electricity supply in Gaza was reduced by eight megawatts, a 15 per cent reduction. It was then reduced by an additional 12 megawatts, giving residents an estimated one to two hours of electricity.

#GazaSiege

Abbas has also been silent in the face of settlement expansion and the Judisation of the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. Not to mention, the PLO’s lack of action when it comes to the occupying forces’ control of religious sites and the temporal and spatial control of holy sites.

There is no doubt that future measures will be even more grave and dangerous and that a strong and unified national front will be required to counter the coming oppression. This is especially true in light of Abbas’ recent statements describing Khalil Al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas’ political bureau, as the largest obstacle to peace.

One cannot conclude without saying that the current Gulf crisis and the siege against Qatar, our sister state, is the result of demonisation taken out by a devilish axis in the Gulf against both Qatar and the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon. These events are also escalating conflicts in both Syria and Iraq. The resistance that has taken place over the last decade has been of remarkable strength. It has forced the enemy to reckon with the forces of the opposition. The future victories will be greater if God wills it.

Translated from the Palestinian Information Centre, 24 June 2017.

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