clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

What are the Palestinian organisations and political parties waiting for?

January 27, 2022 at 1:13 am

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank, 25 May 2021 [ALEX BRANDON/POOL/AFP/Getty Images]

The situation inside the Palestinian arena is more dangerous than the Palestinian people think. The sense of being lost that the Palestinian cause is experiencing is likely to escalate, and the Israeli ambitions to achieve more political gains and achievements do not stop. Moreover, the removal of the Palestinian cause from the political agenda in the Middle East is progressing in full swing and promoting normalisation and security cooperation with the Israelis at the regional level is moving at full speed.

Without beating around the bush or the need to go into political analysis and intellectual diligence, the responsibility for the deterioration of the Palestinian situation rests with Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah Central Committee and the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. They are the first accused for destroying the Palestinian cause and putting the cause through the eye of the needle of security cooperation with the Israeli intelligence, in return for receiving financial aid and lifestyle privileges. This miserable situation weighs on the Palestinian people who are wondering: Where are the Palestinian organisations? What are they waiting for? What are the political forces counting on? Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abbas presents, on every occasion, and in every meeting with his central committee, the conclusive evidence of his disdain for the Palestinian people, contempt for their organisations and the exclusion of their political forces.

A few days ago, the disdain for the Palestinian people reached an unprecedented level, as members of the PLO’s executive committee were appointed at a Fatah meeting, and the head of the National Council was appointed at the same meeting. This disregard for the people’s will is in line with what some sources said about the intervention of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs within the US Department of Hady Amr and Israeli officials in the Palestinian Authority, as they informed Mahmoud Abbas last spring that it is best not to hold any legislative or presidential elections during the next two years (2022 and 2023). According to them, it is best during this period for Mahmoud Abbas to work on arranging the Palestinian house, in order to avoid any chaos related to his successor. The same sources also noted that the American and Israeli advice to Abbas is not only related to the arrangement of the dilapidated Palestinian regime, but is also related to Mahmoud Abbas’ health and age, as he is 86 years old.

Morality cannot be divided: How Netanyahu’s corruption has exposed Israel’s ‘democracy’

The information mentioned by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper does not need to be confirmed, as the facts on the ground confirm this, and the meetings of Civil Affairs Minister, Hussein Al-Sheikh, and Intelligence Chief, Majed Faraj, with Israeli Foreign Minister, Lapid, confirm this. Israeli satisfaction is the first condition for assuming any leadership position within the PLO’s executive committee and Fatah’s central committee. This raises these crucial questions to the Palestinian organisations: What are you doing? What are you waiting for? You have been swept away by torrents, drowned out by individual decisions and meetings with the Israelis have exceeded the fictitious reconciliation meetings in Algeria, so how long are you going to wait? What are you counting on?

It seems that the Quranic verse, “he fooled his people, and they obeyed him” applies to Mahmoud Abbas, who no longer sees in the Palestinian people any competence, leadership, ability or effectiveness that deserves to be respected, consulted with or listened to. He believes he has the right to do so, as long as the Palestinian people have organisations capable of bombing Tel Aviv, but they are unable to bomb the exclusivity of political decisions, unable to stop the aggression and seize their freedom, and the freedom of their people from the clutches of authoritarianism, and from the tyranny of Pharaoh, who continues to say to the Palestinian people: I only show you what I see.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Felesteen on 25 january 2022

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