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Onward,
Alexander, Jeffrey, Becky and Deva
November
10, 2006
Divide, Bribe, Coerce and Conquer
The
Treacherous Road to Oslo Begins Here
By RAMZY BAROUD
Attempts to coerce Palestinians into
submission have not always manifested themselves in the crude
form of a tank, a bullet, the withholding of aid or the denial
of freedom of movement. These efforts were at times more imaginative
and shrewd, through the sponsoring and espousing of factionalism,
the purchasing of the integrity of a politician, pressing Palestinians
themselves to promote foreign agendas, whether knowingly or unwittingly.
Coupled with the collective
punishment visited on Palestinians by the ever-indifferent international
community - i.e. Israel's friends in the West and a few Arab
and Muslim allies - such creative methods often reaped the desired
results, albeit for a little while. I became familiar with one
of these attempts recently in London.
It was recently revealed that
a few individuals, affiliated with the Hamas government and Hamas-dominated
parliament were allowed entry into Britain. News of the visit
was first unveiled by the disingenuous Israeli media, which concocted
a skewed version of the event, claiming that the delegation met
with Israeli 'academicians' in London.
The 'leak' was unsubstantiated,
but not in its entirety. The 'breakthrough' visit, as was viewed
by several observers, was timed to coincide with another visit
made by a Palestinian figure, who had indeed met with Israelis.
The hope though, was for the government delegation to join the
meetings, as a first step toward 'breaking the ice'. Disappointingly
to many, Ahmed Yousef, top advisor to the Palestinian Prime Minister,
as well as a less know member of Parliament - vehemently refused
to participate. Both meetings took place parallel to one another;
the Israeli media, whether by ignorance or by design, assumed
that the merger did in fact take place and reported the Hamas
concession worldwide.
If such a meeting had in fact
took place, national strife and internal Palestinian infighting
would have morphed into a completely new dimension: it could
be argued that what took the once dominant faction, Fatah, many
years to concede, took Hamas eight months.
But the rest of the meetings
in London, and later in Belfast, were not entirely innocent either.
Hamas, a government under siege, backed by most Palestinians,
is loosing its grip on power; the Palestinian economy is in complete
tatters; factionalism and chaos are taking hold to the point
that iniquitous civil war predictions are becoming part of mainstream
life in Gaza. Indeed, a siege from within and without, aided
by occasional, but determined Israeli onslaughts - the latest
in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza which has already killed scores,
including peaceful women protestors--is pressuring the government
to desperately seek alternatives.
Even before its advent as the
major political party in the Occupied Territories in January
2006, Hamas has long wagered on the support of the Arab and Muslim
world. That has proven to be a fatal mistake, since popular displays
of solidarity with the Palestinian people on the streets of Karachi
or Tripoli don't necessary reflect the full and unconditional
backing of the Pakistani and Libyan governments. The latter is
dictated by real politic, personal interests, regional checks
and balances, international obligations--particularity to the
United States government, etc.
The last eight months were
indeed long enough to force Hamas to reconsider its approach
to politics: breaking the siege on Gaza, it deduced, starts in
Washington, with Israeli consent of course. Washington, however,
is a long way from Gaza, since the distance between the latter
and Damascus and Tehran is too close for comfort from the US
viewpoint and its own checks and balances; London, thus, was
the most practicable destination.
The meetings in London were
held under the guise of 'dialogue', where Hamas would articulate
its position to an exaggeratedly sympathetic audience; and in
turn, the latter, would take their notes and lobby politicians
for a change in course. The content of the meetings, despite
the overt secrecy, was leaked, though not in full, all allowing
for the following deductions:
First, Neo-conservative elements
have for long, (but increasingly since Hamas' political rise,
envisaged an arch of Islamic extremism) that goes all the way
from Tehran to Gaza, passing through Damascus and South Lebanon.
Hamas would eventually become a major component in this arch,
due to the symbolic importance of the Palestinian problem to
Muslims worldwide, and the direct nature of its conflict with
Israel.
Second, the attempt to overthrow
Hamas with the help of disgruntled elements within its rival
Fatah, through numerous means has failed; a popular uprising,
an outcome of the collective punishment and pressure on the Palestinian
people through the withholding of aid is too slow and uncertain
a strategy. The waiting game is backfiring as 'extremist' elements
within Hamas are predictably falling prey to Iran's strategic
designs, while the 'moderates' are being marginalized to the
political fringes of Gaza. Thus, time was of essence.
Third, since Washington has
raised its conditions for engaging Hamas much higher than the
latter's ability to compromise, it was not possible for the Bush
administration to talk to the Islamic movement openly; the Blair
government however, who has always left a wide margin to politically
reposition itself more freely in the Middle East has a better
chance to engage Hamas, even if unofficially. The engagement
had to be conducted in a most careful manner, so as not to raise
suspicions regarding London's pro US and Israel stances, or doubt
the integrity of its so-called 'war on terror'.
Fourth, the 'discussions' in
London were clearly geared toward wooing Hamas to reveal its
moderate face, thus to offset and perhaps challenge the extremists
in Damascus, therefore, creating yet another rift within the
Palestinian camp, to be added to numerous rifts which already
exist within their ranks.
This rift would be much more
treacherous, because it carries all the symptoms of Oslo: good
Palestinians singled out and groomed for a photo op to be scheduled
later, secret 'dialogue', followed by 'memorandums of understandings',
then treaties, then VIP cards to those involved in the positive
engagement and lonely prison cells to those who dare defy it.
But it was this exact same plot that led to the killing of thousands
of Palestinians, and hundreds of Israelis, the destruction of
thousands of homes, the confiscation of more land to make way
for the illegal Jewish settlements and the Separation Wall.
Finally, if history is of any
relevance, Palestinian rights are not personal property with
which to be haggled by one government and inherited by another:
Palestinian territorial rights, especially those of occupied
East Jerusalem, the removal of all Jewish settlements and the
Wall, the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees, among all
others, are not political decisions to be made by Hamas, Fatah,
or any other Palestinian faction, no matter how widely represented.
Any decision concerning these inalienable rights is to be determined
by national Palestinian consensus, not only of Palestinians living
in the Occupied Territories, but Palestinians in Diaspora as
well.
All Palestinians and those
who genuinely support their rights must continue to call on the
international community, and world media to urgently rewrite
their priorities, to refrain from asking concessions from a besieged,
occupied and starved nation, and to focus its collective efforts
to bring an end to the Israeli occupation, for all the ills of
the region begin their, and rationally, it is there they must
end.
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