There is a basic consensus among Palestinians of differing political beliefs regarding continuing negotiations with the Israelis, while the Israelis seem to be deliberately resorting to using devious methods in the goal of evading any consequence affecting their seats at the negotiating table, from obligations or undertakings that cause them to fail to meet those obligations. So we see them resort to using a style of procrastination that puts off making decisions that may lead to a solution to the conflict. So the Palestinians do not delay their response, condemning the Israeli obstructionist position in the form of a definite lack of seriousness, and evading addressing outstanding issues that represent the agreement that will achieve a road leading to a final solution.
Then the positions are concealed for a moment, to allow for the Palestinian leadership to return and then exhume negotiations in an attempt to breathe new life into the dead. They return to the road, leveling appeals to the higher-ups in regional and international parties, asking them to exercise pressure on the government in Tel Aviv to reduce their intransigence and come to the negotiating table and really desire the achievement of peace. This is the command that reflects positively on the overall situation in the region. The Europeans remain silent and their leaders refrain from giving statements even implicitly, leaving the task of any action to the United States of America, which have proclaimed themselves the king of any Middle Eastern issue. So the official spokesmen for the White House and the Department of State come out with statements urging the discovery of ways to ensure a return to negotiations without any preconditions.
This is in reference to the Palestinian demand to freeze settlement building absolutely as a precondition to returning to negotiations. On the other hand, they are not reluctant to completely support Israel in different political, economic, military, and security areas. This is not new. Successive American administrations pursued biased policies through the grants of the donations and loans of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and provided various types of weapons and war equipment with the goal of retaining military supremacy over the rest of the nations in the region. Current American officials are following an approach that excels that of their predecessors in its bias on the side of Israel, especially with respect to security and logistical coordination, so the announcement of the sanctity of their commitment to protect Israeli security doesn’t hurt them. In this case, some go so far as to say that this is a matter of begging and ingratiating, hoping to obtain the votes of members of the Zionist lobby as the date of the presidential election approaches. We find that candidates from both the Democrat and Republican parties are racing to show their alignment on the side of Israel and their support for Israel’s positions, despite its being an aggressor that is occupying another land that expresses patterns of sowing chaos and bullying, hatefully impinging upon the rights of sufferers. By this, we mean the occupied West Bank, where they bring more settlers in the hope of changing the demographic composition of the population, turning Palestinian citizens into a minority and then dealing with them as though they are a minority from a different country. It seems that Israel’s sin is forgiven in the eyes of the Americans, upon whom the Arabs rely to solve their problems. Ninety-nine percent of Palestinians believe that the solution is in the hands of the Americans, as was reported in the time of the late president Anwar Sadat.
But the truth says otherwise. Palestinian leaders are better able to expose the falseness of this statement. This is because they have devoted so much time and energy to discouraging American presidents from adopting the policies that previous governments have adopted with respect to all the issues of the region, especially the Palestinian issue. Here, some of them show more patience and perseverance and enjoy larger doses of optimism as they wait for an opening. It is beautiful for people to be so patient, persevering, and optimistic. But this does not mean that more concessions are provided to appease the occupying enemy, with its excessive behavior. Instead, they arrive at the point of accepting pain, which means surrendering to terms and dictates.
But we do not believe that Palestinian leaders who have devoted their lives to the struggle to realize their national goals would be satisfied to lose the issue amongst “the stall and the door,” as it is popularly said, and so allow all their rights to be disregarded, though repented. We say this not to flatter or praise, but because we know from bitter experience which we have lived individually and as a society when we experienced the enemy close-up and became skilled in detecting deceptive methods and evil goals. But who wonders here when this situation will draw to a close? We wait in anonymity, after it is known near and far that the Americans and Israelis are not serious about the quest to find a solution to this conflict.
It has become necessary for the Palestinians to find another way to salvage the hope for emancipation from the yoke of occupation, and take on the task of building a democratic Palestinian state, a state of justice and equality that the people have dreamed of after lengthy suffering.
The arrogance behind this article is rather astonishing. It is, of course, the Palestinians who have refused to negotiate, and who continually come up with reasons not to settle the dispute peacefully. It could be noted that the two factions of the Palestinians refuse to even negotiate with each other, much less with Israel. And Hamas has even stated that it will not honor any agreements whatsoever, even if the Palestinian people (remember them) vote to accept them. The argument about Israel stopping their expansion before negotiations is the reddest of red herrings. First, Israel agreed to that, and unilaterally put into place a moratorium that lasted for 10 months. But once again, the Palestinians reneged. Second, one doesn’t make demands BEFORE negotiations. That, in fact, is what negotiations are for. If the Palestinians believe that they have some sort of legal right to territory west of the Jordan, they are more than entitled to make their claims at the time of negotiations. But for them to arbitrarily make demands is simply unrealistic, if not quite ludicrous.
But the real arrogance is the idea of people from Jordan calling for a “democratic” Palestinian state. Jordan, as some might remember, is a monarchy, and one, mind you, that has no legitimacy, was set up arbitrarily and illegally by the British just a few decades ago, and which, by the way, is illegally occupying Palestinian territory, and which systematically denies its Palestinians citizens any rights whatsoever. It is certainly not democratic in any way, and for it to criticize other nations for not being democratic is the very height of hubris. It is certainly true that the Palestinians have endured “lengthy suffering,” but unfortunately the Jordanian monarch does not seem to care about that or desire to take any measures to reduce the suffering he is imposing on his subjects.
Thank god that the Israelis are not fools, and can easily see this kind of rhetoric for the self-serving, anti-semitic nonsense that it is. Please keep in mind that Palestinians who live in Israel have infinitely more rights than those who live in Jordan. Perhaps putting the focus on Jordan rather than Israel might be more beneficial for Palestinians everywhere.