We stopped security coordination. We will stop security coordination

Abbas announced that he sent two messages to Netanyahu and Trump, stating that he would stop implementing the agreements and halt security coordination with the Israelis, as part of his protest of Trump’s deal. However, it seems that this statement was not translated on the ground, and did not become fait accompli. The Palestinians rejoiced at the decision to stop security coordination, and they smiled with joy at the transition to a new stage of confrontation with the enemy. The people have always considered security coordination to be a great betrayal of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people. Everyone was waiting eagerly to lift the heinous shame overcoming the Palestinian resistance and preventing its heroes from taking action.

However, the rejoicing was short-lived, as Abbas announced before the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), who held a meeting in Saudi Arabia, that he would end security coordination. This statement clearly suggests that the security coordination did not, in fact, stop. Abbas has remarked in the past, before Trump announced his deal, that he would cease security coordination based on the decisions issued by the PNC and the Palestinian Central Council. It became clear, however, that it was not an honest statement and that security coordination remained ongoing. Thank God that we have enemies who speak the truth.

Abbas’s statement at the OIC conference implies that security coordination was not suspended, despite the messages reaching Netanyahu and Trump. The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) visited Ramallah, despite the official Palestinian boycott of the US administration. It is very clear that the CIA director was carrying a heavy stick when she came to Ramallah and met with Palestinian security officials, and she certainly waved her stick in their faces, showing them who was boss. Therefore, they decided to back down from what they thought would raise their popularity amongst the Palestinian public. Of course, the director used harsh language when speaking to the supposed security forces, threatening their personal interests and those of Abbas himself. Of course, ending political bids is more favourable to jeopardising personal interests.

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Security coordination with Israel is justification for the existence of the Palestinian Authority (PA), and if this coordination were to stop, then the US measures would affect several officials in the PA. It may even impact on a good number of those who Israel allowed to enter the West Bank and Gaza, after the Oslo agreement.

After surrendering from halting the security coordination, Abbas will return to making statements that the security coordination is sacred, that it will be necessary for a sheikh who lacks the support of God and who is corrupt and hypocritical to issue a fatwa to develop a prayer for security coordination, in order to remain loyal to Israel and to preserve its sanctity.

Our conviction is that the PA cannot stop security coordination, unless its people want to risk their political and financial situations. The US and the Zionists control the Palestinian officials, and they are the decision-makers. If any of the illegitimate leadership tries to rebel, they will find deprivation.

These people involved the Palestinian people, and traded us for the shoes of the enemy. Changing our situation requires continuous and major popular efforts; otherwise we will no longer have any rights, nor a homeland. The people should have been the constant protectors and guardians of the Palestinian cause, and the interests of the country should rise above all personal interests. However, the people of the Oslo Accords succeeded in deviating many Palestinians from their loyalty to their historical guardianship, which is a duty for us all. Personal interests dominated their actions and approaches, and took priority over national interests that are supposed to be sacred. The most significant despair we witness, is the feeble popular reaction to the Trump deal.

Our silence is our downfall. The Israelis and the US do what they see fit for them, while we are satisfied with loud slogans and trivial speeches. We have to hold our cause in our hands, and there should be no one keener to protect the Palestinian cause than the Palestinian people themselves. Idleness is a disappointment and a waste of our rights. After our actions, we cannot blame all of the Arab and non-Arab conspirators.

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This is the season of the attack on Sudan’s Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. A season led by Palestinians who have betrayed their homeland and people, and forged intimate relations with the Zionists. They are the normalisers amongst us, conspiring against the security of the Palestinians attacking Burhan. Burhan certainly deserves to be attacked, blamed and condemned, but the Palestinians who beat him to it, do not have the right to fight him.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 6 February 2020

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