Eurasia Press & News
I believe that for us Arabs to survive and progress we must have in common more than religion, language and rhetoric. We need unity, transparency and honesty.
We Palestinians are teetering on the edge of a precipice. Until very recently, every Arab leader, politician, cleric and pundit, given half a chance, would mount the platform and raise the Palestinian flag promising to do what is necessary to liberate the land and restore what is rightfully ours. Not any more.
The language has changed totally from support of the Palestinian cause to condemnation of us Palestinians, accusing us of being ungrateful architects of our own demise. The schism between some Arab regimes, especially in the Gulf and the Palestinians has been widening ever since the two Mohammads – Bin Zayid in the UAE and Bin Salman in Saudi Arabia took control. Both, may I add, are pretenders to their respective thrones yet they are taking vital, life changing decisions as if they were the actual rulers.
The dialogue and cooperation with Israel has been continuous, in all spheres of political, diplomatic, security and economic life. It culminated, in the full media glare of publicity, four weeks ago when Sheik Mohammad Bin Zayid of the UAE signed a peace agreement with Israel and then invited a delegation of Israeli officials to visit Abu Dhabi. Which they did, headed by none other than Mr. Jarad Kushner, Godfather to the destruction of Palestine, who boasted that the flight between Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi, which would, under normal circumstances, take seven hours took only three. Why? Because Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, allowed the Israeli carrier, El Al to use Saudi air space. And so the gap becomes wider and wider.
Meanwhile, more meaningless proclamations were thrown into the ring during the recent get-together between the various Palestinian factions in Beirut. Some came in person, notably Ismail Haniya, the Hamas political chief, while Mr Abbas, head of The Palestinian Authority and others took part through a virtual meeting from Ramallah. As usual, the same words of togetherness and unity were regurgitated and the same empty promises were made. They gave themselves five weeks to come up with answers that will combat and confront the sneaking annexation of Palestinian lands and the creeping normalisation between Israel and the Arab regimes, especially those in the Gulf. Judging by the record of these factions and the myriad of meetings in various capitals of the Arab world and the dismal results they achieved I, for one, am not holding my breath.
This schism became even more apparent during yet another meeting, this time in Cairo two days ago. The Foreign Ministers of the Arab League opposed a proposal put forward by the Palestinian side to condemn the UAE/Israel peace treaty. So, where is the unity? Where is the transparency? Where is the honesty.?
There is none.
You might think that this recent betrayal and open rejection should serve to bring the Palestinian leaders of all persuasions to a realisation that Palestine is not the core subject of most of the Arab regimes. Instead, the fate of the Palestinian people has been left for Israel, the international Zionist Movement and the United States of America to deal with as they see fit.
I don’t know what to say to those Arab leaders to convince them that any form of treaty with the Israelis is a folly. Israel is in it for whatever it can distort or squeeze from any Arab country for the betterment and expansion of Israel. If they need any evidence of this they should just look at what happened to Palestine at the hands of Israel, the United States of America and their acolytes after the signing of the Oslo Accord in 1993. Israeli illegal settlements mushroomed and the number of settlers on the West Bank quadrupled. Home demolitions increased dramatically, as did the incarceration of men, women and children without charge. The nightly raids on Palestinian families, the humiliation of fathers in front of their family and the dragging of their children into the unknown all continue without an end in sight. Gaza is besieged and suffocated within a breath of its miserable life. Israeli theft of Palestinian land has continued apace and now, since the advent of Mr Trump, a further 30% of the West Bank land is ear-marked for yet more major theft.
Do those Arab leaders think for one moment that when Israel establishes a firm foothold in their countries it will play fair?
If my words are not enough to convince those leaders to retract from this disastrous course that they are embarking upon, I entreat them to listen to what President Carter had to say.
“Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law. The United States is squandering international prestige and good-will and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories.”
Is there any sign of Israel complying with any law? Or UN resolutions? Or of the mighty United States of America complying with any agreements it might have mentioned with these Gulf states?
This is how President Trump, in a speech to his supporters two days ago, bluntly put it.
