My good friend
Jeffrey Blankfort hit the nail on the head in this on-time article about Uncle
Tom Abbas. IMHO, there will never be peace in the Middle East unless and
until Israel is transformed into a one-state, secular, democratic nation with
"liberty and justice for all." Power to the Palestinians and
all freedom loving Jews, like Jeff :).
August 31, 2010
By JEFFREY BLANKFORT
This
coming week we will witness the latest challenge for the man who is arguably
the most extraordinary double agent in the Middle East. What is unusual about
Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen, as he was known when his fellow Palestinians had
yet to take his measure, is that most of what he does for his Israeli and US
masters he does in plain sight.
To
which of the two he is most beholden will be determined during his upcoming
visit to Washington for the latest chapter in what has euphemistically been
referred to as the “peace process” since it was launched in the aftermath of
the Oslo Agreement. The odds are it will be Israel. In Oslo, it should be
recalled, Abbas, as the chief Palestinian negotiator, played Neville
Chamberlain for Tel Aviv, agreeing to surrender occupied Palestinian land with
a view toward putting a permanent end to Palestinian resistance and,
immediately, to the first Intifada.
If
any reader still harbors the illusion that Oslo was anything but a sell-out by
the Palestinian leadership, Abba’s negotiating counterpart, former Israeli
military intelligence chief, Shlomo Gazit, put that notion to rest on the
evening of November 17,1993. When challenged during a speaking engagement
at Congregation Beth Shalom in San Francisco by an angry questioner who
compared the agreement to that signed with Nazi Germany in Munich in 1938,
Gazit calmly replied that while he was reluctant to make such comparisons, “if
it’s another Munich, we’re the Germans and the Palestinians are the Czechs.”.
Since
assuming the leadership of the Palestinian Authority with the death of Arafat,
Abbas has continued on the same path, using the US and Jordanian trained PA
militia, for example, to suppress demonstrations protesting Israel’s 2008-2009
bombardment of Gaza, and just last week, to violently quash a protest in
Ramallah against his going to Washington to negotiate with Netanyahu. He
has become what critics of Oslo had predicted would be Arafat’s role, Israel’s
sheriff in the West Bank.
It
has not gone unnoticed.
“There
has been a surge in cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
(PA) ever since Hamas ousted security officials and the mainstream Fatah Party
from Gaza more than three years ago,” wrote the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy’s David Makovsky in the Washington
Post, April 24.
“Security
cooperation between the PA and Israel has substantially improved. In 2002, 410
Israelis were killed by suicide bombings and other attacks emanating from the
West Bank; in the past three years, Israel has suffered one fatality from one
such attack….[Since 2007, Israel troops have killed 158 West Bank Palestinians.
JB] Israeli charges that the Palestinians have a "revolving door"
approach of releasing terrorists after quick arrests -- rampant during the
Arafat era -- are no longer heard…
“For
its part,” Makovsky pointed out, “the PA no longer attempts to hide its daily
security cooperation with Israel. In recent months, the PA even hosted Israeli
senior security officials in Jenin, Tulkaram and Jericho. During the Gaza
conflict of 2008-09, the PA kept the West Bank calm. Because of the improved
security, Israel has reduced the number of major manned checkpoints in the West
Bank from 42 in 2008 to 14.”
Let’s
recall that Abbas also joined with Israel in its attempt to suppress a UN
investigation into the Goldstone Report and that his criticism of Israel’s
siege of Gaza had been relatively muted until the Israeli attack on the Mavi
Marmara after which he obviously could no longer keep silent.
Belief
in Gaza and among sectors of the West Bank that Abbas actually supports the
continuation of the blockade was reinforced in June when Mahmoud Ramahi, a
Hamas legislator from the West Bank, pointed out that “Amr Musa [the Arab
League general secretary] had to ask permission from Abbas to come to Gaza.
This shows that the PA is participating in the siege because it doesn’t want
the world to deal with the government there and grant legitimacy to Hamas.”
Given
the rivalry between the PA and Hamas, Diana Buttu, a former legal advisor to
the PLO, and now a Ramallah-based analyst, was quoted in The National as suggesting
that Abbas’ failure to clearly denounce the blockade in 2007 and his actions
since indicate that there is some “indirect support” for the blockade. “It’s
easy for people to believe the report with that in mind,” she said.
Given
that background, is there any reason to assume that this “cooperation with
Israel” will not continue when Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu and
Abbas meet with Obama in Washington and is there any reason not to suspect that
they have been in close communication well before this?
We
have been led by the media to believe that Abbas is only coming to Washington
due to pressure from the Obama administration, that he had been forced to back
down from his insistence not to hold direct talks with Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu unless Netanyahu agreed ahead of time to extend the
so-called “settlement freeze” that expires on Sept. 26. That is no doubt
true.
However,
if one looks at the upcoming scenario in Washington from the perspective I have
suggested, that they are both on the same side, master and servant, then Abbas’
subsequent statement that he would leave the talks and return to Palestine if
Netanyahu resumes settlement construction on the 26th is exactly what the
Israeli prime minister wanted him to say since he has absolutely no interest in
pursuing negotiations and reaching any settlement with the Palestinians.
But
is that also Abbas’ position? Unpopular even within the ruling circles of the
PA and legally out of office since his presidential term ended in January,
2009, his only hold on power is based on the situation remaining as it is and
his ability to keep a modest amount of aid flowing from the US Treasury’s
coffers.
And
what of Obama? His hands are tied by the fact that the US Congress answers to
AIPAC and not to him when it comes to Middle East issues.
The
Washington Post’s
Dana Milbank bravely pointed out his problem in his July 7 column the day after
Obama rolled the red carpet out for Netanyahu after being widely criticized for
having been rude to the Israeli premier on his previous visit in March. It was
initially headlined, “Alliance or Dysfunctional Relationship,” but was softened
by the Post for its internet edition to read, “Netanyahu hears no discouraging
words from Obama.”
“Four
months ago,” wrote Milbank, “the Obama administration made a politically
perilous decision to condemn Israel over a controversial new settlement. The
Israel lobby reared up, Netanyahu denounced the administration's actions,
Republican leaders sided with Netanyahu, and Democrats ran for cover…
“Obama
came to office with an admirable hope of reviving Middle East peace efforts by
appealing to the Arab world and positioning himself as more of an honest
broker. But he has now learned the painful lesson that domestic politics won't
allow such a stand.” (Emphasis added)
Milbank’s
column predictably drew the rage of the pro-Israeli zealots with his very first
paragraph, one that graphically captured the nature of the Israel-US
relationship under the current administration and the two that preceded it.
“A
blue-and-white Israeli flag hung from Blair House, “he wrote. “Across
Pennsylvania Avenue, the Stars and Stripes was in its usual place atop the
White House. But to capture the real significance of Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu's visit with President Obama, White House officials might have
instead flown the white flag of surrender.” Can we expect more from
Abbas?
Thus,
the upcoming "negotiations" are little more than a late summer farce
and a distraction from Israel's ongoing plans for its next war which, as
before, will be waged with US support.
--
End the Blockade of Gaza!
Tear down the Apartheid Walls!
End the Israeli collective punishment on the Palestinian people
Free Palestine!
Support the Free Gaza movement & US Boat to Gaza break the siege on Gaza!
http://www.FreeGaza.org
http://www.UStoGaza.org
Support ISM volunteers in West Bank and Gaza Strip!
http://www.palsolidarity.org
Donna Wallach
donna@freegaza.org
Skype: palestinewillbe
(h) 408-293-4774
(cell) 408-569-6608