"The riots in the Arab world give us hope. Tyranny will not last all eternity (...) is a matter of time before they get the time. And believe me: the Israeli occupation is by far one of the worst tyrannies in the region "
(Gideon Levy, lecture at Trinity College, Dublin, March 9, 2011)
The" Arab Spring " is changing the face of the Middle East and North Africa in unexpected ways. One region, which until recently was seen through the veil racist "western" as endemically dictatorial, has decided to put in place for their liberation from stale authoritarianism. The people in almost all Arab countries have begun to protest their most basic rights and living conditions, which creates a scenario in which nothing is solid and everything seems malleable, changeable, fluid. There is no fear and silence seems no longer an option. As is obvious, neither Israel nor Palestine can remain indifferent to the winds of change.
The importance of Palestinian resistance in the political mind of the Arab peoples mobilized against their own tyrants, it happens often overlooked in the mass media. But the Palestinian resistance is crucial for understanding the recent politicization of the Arab masses, this is a cause that has made us vibrate the heart of all Arabs for decades, and has generated deep resentment toward the majority of Arab governments who have contributed with Israel and have been complicit in the occupation. In fact, it is no coincidence that in both Tunisia and Jordan, Egypt and Yemen, popular protests against the rulers were frequently accompanied by representations graphs of the dictators with stars of David and the stripes and stars of the American flag. Across the Arab world were chanted songs denouncing the cowardice of the leaders who have been complicit in the oppression of Palestine. We could say that the Palestinian cause pain quintessentially Arab. But school is more educational about the iniquities of the system for millions of Arabs. Read more
When the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak fell on 11 February, the people of Gaza danced and celebrated in the streets all night, like the Egyptian victory had been his own triumph. And indeed it was:
"Mubarak for us has always been the hand of Israel among the Arabs. Overthrow Mubarak equivalent to overthrow a little Israel, so we see the Egyptian revolution as a triumph for the Palestinians. "
This expresses, Rian Sayed, a member of Abna'a Albalad (Earth's Children), a political movement base, composed primarily of Palestinians living in Israel, formed in the early '70s and was particularly active during the two intifadas. He is originally from a tiny village near Jaffa, but lives in Haifa. We met in a cafe in Cairo and had the opportunity to discuss a range of topics that illuminate the profound changes beginning to be felt in Palestine since the Egyptians decided to say "enough" and take its place in Tahrir, thus precipitating the fall of the dictatorship.
The opening of the Rafah crossing: the beginning of the end of the blockade on Gaza
All international opinólogos guessed the importance of Mubarak would fall for Palestine. And a few months after that event, the first signs of this change have already begun to manifest. On April 28, the Egyptian government announced the permanent opening of Rafah crossing, thus ending the medieval and criminal blockade which was subjected to the Gaza Strip for four years by the authorities of Israel. According to Sayed:
"The opening of the Rafah border is of enormous importance, beyond the concrete, the material. This reflects a deep transformation that reaches the psychological: the transitional government in Egypt want people to be with them and must make some concessions. As the Egyptian people deeply desire Palestinian liberation, have been forced to do so to please them. It is not us to trust too much, but this step has a positive effect.
Israel has said openly, through President Shimon Peres, that they prefer dictatorships in Arab countries, Arab dictatorships are good for Israel. They actually fear democracy, because democracy means the will of the people and the will of the Egyptian people is the liberation of the Palestinians. "
The former head of Mossad, Danny Yatom, said something similar when he began the demonstrations in Syria. Although not hide his contempt for the Assad regime, said the current demonstrations were of concern because they threatened the "stability" in the region, opening an uncertain outlook, which could establish a system "radical" would be even less desirable strategic terms for Israel. He also said that his primary concern was to prevent the catch on strongly protests in Jordan neighbor of Israel, with which it shares the largest portion of its border, near where he lives most of the Israeli population. After all, the current dictatorship, the status quo, have been extremely harmless to Israeli hegemony curious way of thinking of the elites of the country that boasts of being, supposedly, the only "democracy" of the Middle East! Sayed
returns the argument:
"There is a change in the discourse of Israel, are beginning to use new words not previously used. Now they say that if the Arabs are mobilizing for their liberation is not a good thing, it is not convenient, which is worrying. Speak with words, not with bombs. Before if you mention the word liberation by the mouth of an Arab, the minute an Israeli bomb fell. Are we talking about a reality that has changed, "the Egyptian army is strong, are about 400,000 men under arms, and if Israel attacks Palestine at this juncture, the mass popular pressure the Egyptian army will not be a mere witness, the reaction of the masses may precipitate a response. Is what we believe, although we can not have absolute certainty.
The Egyptian revolution means that the Palestinian people is now stronger. If they are attacked, they will have next to the Egyptian people to revert to Tahrir Square and will the government between a rock and a hard place, forcing him to respond.
Until recently it was unthinkable that opened the Rafah crossing. The natural response to Israel had been a bombing that would have forced the continuation of the blockade of Gaza. Now I regret, but can not do anything about it. "
Israeli commentators know, and there are many people in the Israeli media warned the government not to make irresponsible military actions, because the changing landscape in the region and it is unlikely that an action against Gaza go unanswered. The people on the streets would require the entire Arab world and military action is likely that the U.S. could no longer stop sanctions at the Security Council of the UN against Israel. In March, while Israel conducted some military operations in Gaza killed 13 Palestinians, the Egyptian foreign minister, Nabil al Arabi, warned Israel not to attack Gaza, otherwise, there would be consequences. That was enough warning to Israel, reluctantly, curb operations and show more caution than usual.
The Fatah-Hamas agreement: "government of national unity or unit in the resistance?
The unity agreement between Palestinian parties Hamas and Fatah sealed this week in Cairo, is another effect of the "Arab Spring" has revitalized the spirit of resistance. This agreement represents a blow to peacemaking and conciliatory spirit which has characterized the nationalist Fatah movement since the Oslo Accords in 1993, when he decided to create a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, which was born this monstrosity known as the Palestinian Authority, which is nothing but a colonial captaincy entirely in the hands of Israel and the U.S.. It has also put on the horns of a dilemma to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority in the hands of the meek and submissive and Mahmoud Abbas Salam Fayyad, which is characterized by the same practices collaborators with imperialism that Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Ali Saleh, etc., by the same corruption shameless, and for the same bullying attitude of dissent.
To understand the scope of this agreement, give a brief review of the tensions between the two factions since Hamas won the elections by an overwhelming majority of the Palestinian Authority in 2006. Immediately, the U.S., Israel and the European Union began to put all kinds of objections against this unwanted democratic outcome, which gave the government a "terrorist" who do not recognize "Israel." In 2007 Fatah thugs intentarion a coup against Hamas, which was sponsored by Israel and the U.S., and led by a mercenary named Muhammad Dahlan. This attempted coup and the whole strategy of destabilization and isolation of Hamas, ended with the expulsion in June 2007 from Fatah in the Gaza Strip, leaving this faction in "control" the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
More recently, the treacherous nature of the Palestinian Authority, Abbas and in particular, was evidenced by the publication by Al Jazeera in January, a series of classified documents which revealed that they were willing to do all sorts of concessions regarding Jerusalem, to sacrifice the right of return of refugees, further "cooperation" on security matters with Israel, and also revealed his complicity (with Mubarak) with the criminal Operation Cast Lead-Israel attacks Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009 that left at least 1,400 Palestinians dead, a third of them children.
Amid growing popular pressure, Abbas had no choice but to move to unity with Hamas, thus breaking the deadlock for the resistance reached in 2007, or face a new Intifada, this time against him and his corrupt Palestinian Authority, which has already experienced a strong day of protests in March. The fall of Mubarak and the winks of the transitional government to Hamas Egypt, opened a space conducive to further negotiations and agreement. Obviously, these negotiations did not like to nothing to Israel. Bibi Netanyahu made a veiled threat to Abbas: "Peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. The one or the other, peace with the two is not possible. " But Abbas, even though a thousand times prefer peace with Israel (peace that brings substantial economic benefits), had no choice but to make peace with Hamas or exposure to turmoil libertarian who runs the Arab world. In a rhetorical shift, these days Abbas summoned Israel to choose between "peace or settlement."
Sayed, like most Palestinians I know, does not hide his optmismo, although be careful:
"Neither Fatah nor Hamas have changed nothing, so I have a cautious optimism, but I believe that this alliance will slow down the negotiations with Israel, because they would never negotiate with Hamas. Another effect of this agreement will be that will stop Fatah's cooperation with Israel. This agreement is obviously a product of the 'Arab Spring'. The Palestinian people, of course, respects and supports this partnership because it understands that this is a step forward. Mubarak represented an obstacle to the alliance, which is possible because the system we have now can not favoring Fatah. "Sayed
confesses that he hates hearing the word" peace. " Not because it is a person of a violent nature, but because he feels that the discourse of peace and negotiation has served as an excuse for further pillage, plunder and systematic violence against the Palestinian people.
"It bothers me to hear talk of peace when this does not mean that there is social justice. The peace that Israel and the U.S. wants is a peace with blood and flowers to the tomb of resistance. Is not it time to talk about peace, but it's time to talk about the resistance. Palestinians negotiate because they feel weak. Negotiate the 1967 borders is an insult, not talking or even 22% of the original territory of Palestine. And not even talk about the issue of refugees and their right to return. Nobody wants this kind of peace. "
And in fact this kind of peace is unsustainable, even for the Palestinian Authority, always more ready to meet all the increasingly capricious demands of Israel and the U.S. that serve the cause of Palestinian liberation. The latest round of these endless negotiations going nowhere, broke in late 2010 because Israel was not willing to freeze construction of new settlements in the West Bank, despite Abbas was ready for all kinds of concessions.
Although the government's discourse of "National Unity" is an antidote to the conflagration that consumed fratricidal Palestinian factions (Hamas-Fatah agreement was signed by 11 other Palestinian resistance organizations), we can not overlooked that this unit is being achieved on the basis of the 1967 on the acceptance of the future existence of two sectarian states, one Palestinian and one Jewish, and this empty shell called "Palestinian Authority" whose sole role is to manage under the supervision of the Israel-US Palestinian misery. This "unit", but becomes an organic unity in the resistance, may soon become an obstacle for Palestinian liberation struggle.
This occasion should serve to re-rethink the revolutionary project for Palestine and the popular sectors seek unity in resistance beyond superstructural arrangements. It's hard to know what will happen, especially with the possible breakdown of negotiations with Israel and Abbas project to launch the Palestinian state in September. The truth is that this unit, now allows a political space for mobilization from below in the street, and probably for this process is accompanied by a third intifada against Israeli occupation.
None of this would be possible without the "Arab Spring" which again goes to show that the fate of the Palestinian people is not separable from the fate of the rest of the peoples of the region. According
Sayed: "The first thing that happens is that now there is pressure from down the Palestinian people know and feel stronger, does not recognize previous agreements. This will lead Israel to close the doors to negotiations, which will trigger resistance. George Habash, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that the road to Palestine began in the capitals of the Arab world. That is why we wholeheartedly support freedom of all Arab peoples, because we know well the way to our own liberation will be a little shorter. "
José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
May 6, 2011
Source: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/19513
0 comments:
Post a Comment