Post-Abbas Scenario in Palestine

 BY Dr. Abdul Ruff

                                             I

After being the chief of PLO for over 5 year, Palestinian Authority (Fatah) President Mahmoud Abbas has announced on 04 November not to seek re-election in January24 poll, kicking off the future course of Palestinian freedom movement. Abbas declared that he would not stand for reelection because of an impasse in peace negotiations. As he announced his decision, Abbas accused the US of backtracking on its Middle East policy and refusing to persuade Israel to freeze the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Western, Arab and Israeli media claimed his announcement could be a tactical manoeuvre and he could change his mind.

Both the western Axis Evil leaders and Israeli Jews are unhappy about the new turn of political development in Mideast. They even argue that if carried through, the move could hamper efforts to secure Middle East peace, but refuse to say if any real progress has been made so far. They claim that Israel and the USA are interested in a Palestinian leadership that is responsible and pragmatic. For reasons unknown to others, the Israeli officials have expressed concern over the decision by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not to seek re-election. A supposedly worried Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister extremist Danny Ayalon said it was an internal issue for the Palestinians, "We don't interfere in others' internal affairs," he told Israeli radio but hinted at Israeli opposition to the move. The fascist Jews only terror attack and kill innocent people in neighbourhoods. However, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, a former PM, had issued a statement after Abbas's speech expressing hope that the announcement would not damage "efforts to launch negotiations and achieve a peace accord".

The four-year term of the Palestinian Legislative Council, or parliament, is due to expire in January 2010, at which time fresh elections must be held, according to the Palestinian constitution. Abbas' presidential term expired earlier this year but he has continued in office in the absence of a new elected president. Born in Safed in British Mandate Palestine (now northern Israel) in 1935; studied law in Egypt and gained doctorate in Moscow. Widely regarded as an architect of the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords, Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005. A founder member, with Yasser Arafat, of Palestinian political faction Fatah; Held security role within the PLO in the early 1970s; Appointed head of the PLO's department for national and international relations in 1980.  

It is thought that Abbas, 74, could stay in post for some more time, since the election that he called for 24 January may be postponed if Hamas carries through a threat to block the vote in Gaza.  Abbas took over as head of the PLO after Yasser Arafat died in 2004 and became Palestinian Authority president a year later. But he has struggled to make headway towards a peace deal in negotiations with Israel, amid deadlock over Israeli settlements, thinking appeasing the Zionist regime would be beneficial to the Palestinian cause. As he was seen moving towards the West against Palestinian interests, Abbas has also faced opposition from the Hamas movement, which won legislative elections in January 2006 following which the anti-Palestinian West and fascist Israel played havoc in dividing Gaza and West bank and got Fatah ousted from Gaza though a sort of civil war. Pro-Western Egyptian-led efforts to broker a unity deal between the two factions have so far been unsuccessful. 

If an election does happen as scheduled for Jan. 24, and Abbas doesn't stand, his one obvious successor in his Fatah movement is Marwan Barghouti, a charismatic member of the next generation of Fatah leaders. But he is serving five life sentences on murder charges foisted on him by Israel, for murder in an Israeli jail. Even in prison he is a considerable political figure - some people see him as a Palestinian Nelson Mandela in the making - and his supporters could put his name on the ballot. In a recent opinion poll, the highest proportion showed the people who said they wouldn't vote at all. Some Palestinians, fed up with infightings and Israeli genocides, are so disenchanted with the politics of peacemaking they say they are not bothered who is president.

It appears, Mahmoud Abbas might stay in office for some time anyway because his Palestinian rivals Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, say they would be illegal. Not only would Hamas not take part, they say they will make it impossible for anyone else to do so either. The body that supervises Palestinian elections has to decide between now and January whether an election that excludes Gaza should go ahead. Senior advisers to Abbas expect that without Gaza the election would be postponed. And since the president is not threatening to resign before an election, that leaves him in office.

The Palestinian Authority was set up in 1994 as an interim governing body on the way to proper statehood, but that process stalled long ago with the second intifada in 2000 and Israel’s reoccupation of the West Bank. The political battle has to end sooner than later and peace has to be ensured between the erring parties. The words chosen by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he had "no desire" to stand for office again, seemed to suggest that he might allow his mind to be changed. But what kind of shift in the political landscape would it take to rekindle his desire to be president?

Azam al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council, said the Palestinian president was likely to resign in the next month or so. “Why do we need anybody to take his place if the whole process is failing? Abbas failed in persuading the USA and Europe to become more actively involved in bringing about a two-state solution. It is now clear by two states, the West and fascist regime meant West bank and Gaza to fight each other to destroy themselves eventually- and not Israel and Palestine.  Since the 2007 split between the West Bank, dominated by Fatah, and Gaza, run by Hamas, parallel authorities have been established that refuse to recognize one another, blurring the legal definitions in Palestinian politics.

President Abbas has become a vital part of America's strategy. His attempts to accommodate President Obama - especially by trying to shelve the UN's Goldstone report into Israeli and Palestinian war crimes in Gaza - caused him serious political damage at home that must have contributed to his decision. If the Americans announced that their vision of a future Palestinian state corresponded pretty much exactly with the 1967 borders as suggested by Abbas, a capital in East Jerusalem, justice for Palestinian refugees and sovereign control of its borders and air space - then he might be persuaded to run again.

                                               II

Although Abbas claims his decision is not a political manoeuvre, a quick reading of his speech reveals that it has all the hallmarks of one. Far from abandoning the political scene altogether, Abbas said he would stay on as the chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). As his political enemies were quick to point out, the real purpose of Abbas’s gambit was to send an angry message to his mentors and friends in Washington and Tel-Aviv.

Since taking office in March, Abbas has repeatedly accused the Zionist regime of delaying peace talks and setting new additional conditions to squander the peace process. Acclaimed Israeli criminal and PM Netanyahu has introduced a new Israeli demand that the Palestinians recognise Israel "as a Jewish state. He said Abbas's potential departure could mean the loss of a pivotal partner for Middle East peace talks. The right-wing hard core Israeli may be deliberately ignoring Abbas's threat, seeing it as just another bid to press Israel to halt settlement construction. Israeli Foreign Minister terrorist Avigdor Lieberman, himself an illegal settler heading an ultranationalist party, said he did not take Abbas's threat seriously.

Earlier, terror Israel refused to co-operate with the UN team and has rejected its findings. Now as a show, the terrorist Israel seems to be considering a review of its internal military enquiries which cleared troops of alleged war crimes in last winter's offencive in Gaza only to "prove that there were no wrong doings”. The key reason for the Zionist Dec-Jan holocaust in Gaza was to boost the image of Olmert's Kadima ruling party, founded by the former Premier, hawkish turned dovish favouring Palestine, Ariel Sharon now in perpetual comma and which was legging behind the farther extremist Likud party. Globally, critics have accused the military enquiries of attempting to whitewash the army's conduct. The Pentagon linked Israeli military which had ordered for the genocides in Gaza, has opened about 100 investigations into wrongdoing in Gaza crimes against humanity during the 22-day war that Israel launched, of which about 20 are criminal. 

Hawkish Israeli president Shimon Peres- a Nobel peace laureate for his role in the first Israeli-Palestinian interim accord in 1993, but systematically skipped any attempts to create a Palestine state or peace in the region - appointed Likud party chief and former fascist premier Netanyahu for the premiership, against all democratic norms, although the ruling party Kadima had more seats. Like Indian terrorists on Pakistani developments, the Zionist criminals try to shed crocodile tears over the development. And extremist President Peres had called Abbas a day before his announcement and tried to persuade him to change his mind. "If you leave, the Palestinians would lose their chance for an independent state. The situation in the region would deteriorate. Stay, for the Palestinian people's sake." Simply, he is joking. 

Recently, Netanyahu rejected any suggestion of a chill in ties with Washington over obstacles in the way of Obama's goal of renewing peace talks, stalled since the Gaza war. Once again, fanatic Netanyahu coolly flew to Washington on Sunday the Nov 09 to meet Obama to talk about “Middle East peace drive in crisis” over a threat by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stand down. Netanyahu is hopeful he could employ the “Iran card” to get what he wants from Washington and said the pair would discuss the peace process and the nuclear stand-off with Iran.

Fascist leader Netanyahu insists he needs to accommodate the needs of growing families in Israeli enclaves in the West Bank, but President Obama must advise him to resettle them inside Israel in stead of creating a big fuss about them. Concessions from Israel's prime killer Benjamin Netanyahu are not likely. He also has refused months of American requests to freeze building for Jews throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. A criminal authority, Netanyahu won't change his mind- Israel’s history shows that.

President Obama hasn't been able to get Israel to freeze settlement building, even for several months now, chiefly because Israel depends on the Pentagon-CIA master rogues to twist the White House decisions in favor of Mossad led Israel. Will Obama want to up the stakes? Sooner or later the Americans will have to say what kind of Palestinian state they have in mind protected by he Zionist terrorism. But Obama would touch off the mother of all political battles with terrorist Netanyahu and his CIA plus lobbyists allies in the USA.

Fascist Israel has been under pressure to set up an independent investigation into war-crimes allegations raised by the fact-finding mission led by South African judge Richard Goldstone for the UN Human Rights Council. Under tremendous pressure from USA, France UK and Israel, Goldstone has said he will be satisfied if Israel sets up an independent commission of inquiry, but it is insufficient for the military to investigate itself. Can fascist regime conduct any independent enquiry on its own terror conduct against Palestinians? 

But what is the point of all such meeting of Israeli fascists meeting the US leaders frequently? Or, Netanyahu’s meeting with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, a Jew? Why the President Obama gives audience to a known state terrorist by any name from Israel, when he, like his processor quirk Bush Jr. and the like, refuses to invite Hamas leaders for talks? It is a mere fancy, if Obama thinks a Palestine state could be established by only talking to Israeli leaders and avoiding Hamas, the genuine, legitimate Palestine ruling party?

                                             III

Zionist Extremist Netanyahu has declined to commit to a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, including East Jerusalem but favours endless fake negotiations without preconditions and intermittent air strikes over Palestine to silence the freedom spirits of the defenseless Palestinians. Apart from Obama, when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Jerusalem last week, she asked Netanyahu to include in negotiating guidelines specific references to the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and in Jerusalem. He declined. President Obama took his time before granting the prime minister’s request for a meeting. Israel mocks at USA, UN, UNSC, international law and international community, at the same. And it thinks it can afford to do so. That is the major tragedy today. 

Israel does not think USA can afford to annoy fascist Israel. Apart from military links including illegal weapons transfers, Israel offers plump construction contracts of illegal settlements to American companies supporting both Republican and Democratic parties. These companies exploit the defenselss Palestinians to building such illegal blocks on Palestinians lands cleared by the Zionist regime by killing Palestinians or driving them away by brute force. UN, UNSC and world legal institutions keep silently watching the Israeli terror shows. Whenever Israeli premier is summoned to Washington, a list of such economic and military commitments to USA would be handed over to the US president. That is US-Israeli business, as usual.

In order to appease the Israeli fascists and Western Axis leaders on their deadly democracy demands, Yasser Arafat in fact had created a key problem for the Palestinians by creating a political wing Fatah to win polls ad strengthen his power and hold among the people, but eventually the move hopelessly divided the Palestinians. Abbas who took over the reign from Arafat, he did more damage to the movement by dividing the Palestinians into two into segments, Gaza and West bank of Hamas and Fatah respectively.  

Abbas was hailed by Israeli and American leaders as a very different man but he let himself manipulated by both to Israeli advantages. Abbas wore suits. He made a point of condemning Palestinian military actions against Israel as “terrorism” and saying that the second intifada was wrong. He gained the confidence of former hard-liners like “comma” Ariel Sharon and terror Ehud Olmert, and he was widely admired on the Israeli left. What is clear is that Abbas and those who work closely with him were shocked when the United States backpedaled on a demand that Israel freeze settlement building in the West Bank.

Abbas’s tenure as Arafat’s successor has proved an unmitigated disaster. In fact, not everyone regrets the expected departure of Abbas anywhere. Abbas should have gracefully quit his position when he lost the Palestinian parliamentary elections to Hamas in 2006, but, in stead, he, pushed by both Israel and Western anti-Islamic states, fought against Hamas and divided Palestine territories into tow to enable the Israeli fascists to play terror games with Palestinian lives. Under US pressure, he has managed to simultaneously doom himself among the Palestinians over the selfsame issue.”

The Israeli extremists and their western collaborators are keen to keep the divide alive in Palestine. Israel always intentionally let opportunities missed so as to promote illegal settlements. The rumour says a year ago Olmert, while still Israel’s prime minister, offered Abbas a deal that included nearly all of the West Bank, land swaps for limited settlement blocks But Abbas turned it down because of the Israel’s knotty postures and demand for  shared sovereignty over Jerusalem. Israel put tremendous pressure on Abbas not to press the UN report by a team led by Judge Richard Goldstone, which accused Israel of extreme war crimes during the recent Gaza war, but failed.

American human rights double standards are known already. The congressional rejection of the Goldstone report is yet another blot on US misbehavior and though may suggest that a new U.S. foreign policy is still a distant prospect. Today, an innocently looking Abbas feels betrayed by his promoters in the West and Israel. The USA, Israel, European collaborators and the Arabs could play their own games, but Abbas has to make the Palestinians unite. He has to help elect a legitimate Palestinian as his replacement just a new leader form Fatah would lack legitimacy with the Palestinians. USA and Israel- CIA and Mossad- have done enough damage to the unity of Palestinians as single entity.

Possibly, Mahmoud Abbas has really quit the presidency to make room for Hamas-Fatah Unity. But he an equally important job to do in post-office life in guiding the Palestinians both Fatah and Hamas and bringing them together back as a homogeneous nation to collectively fight for sovereignty. Abbas should help elect a Hamas or a truly Palestinian leader. However, ultimate aim should be to make one unified PLO movement by merging both terribly divided factions. The connections Abbas has built over years with West and fascist Israel, though they worked against Palestinian cause, could be useful in getting legitimacy for a unity government and establishment of much delayed Palestine state.  

A big responsibility lies on his shoulders and he has to fulfil his task intelligently and cautiously. Most importantly, still supported by the West, Abbas having a long tenure with PLO should have clear ideas about CIA-Mossad operations inside Palestine spoiling both Fatah and Hamas groups and making them fight each other. It is urgent to weed out the PLO of such foreign nefarious elements. Although a pro-western Palestinian, groomed by the Bushdom rouges and Israeli criminals, Abbas have changed his potion in recent months, especially after the Dec-Jan holocaust unleashed by the Zionist fascists and taken firm stand on Israeli gimmicks.  Abbas rightly accused Washington of retreating from its demand for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank before peace talks resume.

All Muslims nations should be requested for material help, including arms to protect the Palestinian people and land. All those Muslim nations that have recognised Israel in favour of Palestine state or by mistake for better ties, should derecognize the Fascist regime until Palestine state is created. A unified Palestinian movement PLO and Unity government are the need of the hour. Hopefully, Abbas will leave behind a unified PLO only to be nurtured for  achieving the goal of Arafat who died a unhappy man.   

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Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Specialist on State Terrorism

Independent Columnist in International Affairs, Research Scholar (JNU) & the only Indian to have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South Asia.