Palestinian Outlook After President Abbas Speech « Kawther Salam

Palestinian Outlook After President Abbas Speech « Kawther Salam:

Palestinian Outlook After President Abbas Speech

Thousands of cheering Palestinians welcome President Mahmud Abbas outside his Ramallah headquarters. Pic. Credit: AFP. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli

“If Netanyahu wants to attack us, Welcome. If he wishes to cancel the agreements, Welcome. He is free to do whatever he wants because he is an occupier, not us. He occupies our land, and he is able to whatever he wants. But we will not accept that. We will oppose that with all peaceful and popular means at our disposal”. “If the US wants to cut aid, Welcome. They can do whatever they want. We will react according to what happens” said today President Mahmoud Abbas in his answers to the Al-Hayat Arabic daily newspaper in London.”
President Abbas Revered Like A Saint By Palestinians

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rose to the level of sanctity among his nation, including the opposition in Palestine, since he challenged the appeals of the US-Israel-Quartet representative to return to so called “peace talks” last Friday Sep. 23 2011 and asked the UN to recognize an Independent Palestinian State in the borders of 1967 and defended the Right of Return for all Palestinians who were expelled during the Nakba.

The speech given by President Abbas won huge Palestinian public and popular support, even among the Palestinian opposition. The speech directly addressed the lies of the USA and Israeli governments and a number of Western countries who claim their support for the Arab revolutions for democracy, but who stand against the will of Palestinians who have lived under the Israeli occupation since decades. The historical speech of Abbas could be described as a reiteration before the UN General assembly of the basic demands of all Palestinians in the occupied territories and in exile.

Before the delivery of the speech of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, there were widespread fears and tension among many Palestinians relating to the consequences of the American and Western pressures on the position of President Abbas to abstain from applying for the recognition of an Independent Palestinian State in the borders of June 1967 before the UN or mentioning the right of return and the other inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. Instead, the zionists and their fellow travelers want a return to the cycle of futile “negotiations” which only serve to extend the time of the zionist occupation in Palestine. The fears and concerns of all Palestinians, including myself, remained until President Abbas gave his clear and unambiguous speech, which reiterated the demands of the majority of the Palestinian people and directly defied the illegitimate pressures from the zionist American and Israeli governments and their fellow travelers.

Thousands of cheering Palestinians welcome President Mahmud Abbas outside his Ramallah headquarters.

The reaction of US President Obama to the speech delivered by President Abbas before the UN General Assembly, the irrational and fundamentalist opposition of the US President and government, elaborated in his speech, to the Palestinian people, to our right to self-determination, to our right as having a state recognized by the international community, to our right to be freed from occupation and to enjoy the same human rights as other people, confirms that the USA is not a State of laws or a democracy, but a vassal state dominated by a zionist clique, a fascist dictatorship inwards, an empire outwards and the lawless enemy of democracy everywhere.
The Palestinian people, including myself, we stand by President Abbas and what he affirmed in his historic speech. We consider his speech as a diplomatic victory and a milestone in his political career and mission. It is certainly a historical turning point for Palestine and all Palestinians.

A man holds up a banner depicting US president Barack Obama as thousands of cheering Palestinians welcome their president Mahmud Abbas. Pic. Credit: AFP. Photo:Abbas Momani

At the level of contradiction with the position of the US government from the Palestinian State recognition and Palestinian people rights and during United Nations General Assembly Sixty-sixth Session, a scandalous stink news was revealed the US secretly approved the transfer of 55 “bunker buster” bombs (GBU-28), a form of deep-penetrating bombs to the zionist state of Israel to bomb Palestinian in Gaza and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Raise your head you’re a Palestinian! NO to the USA!”
Several thousands of  demonstrators marched towards the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, the Muqataa, to welcome and celebrate return as a hero of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and to declare their allegiance and support to him. All demonstrators chanted against the USA and its allies. The major Palestinian anger was against the US government and the decrepit representatives of the “Middle East Quartet”for what they call “peace” (United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations). Demonstrators chanted against the USA, Tony Blair and Catherine Ashton. Palestinians don’t want to see Tony Blair in Ramallah, the zionist proposals carried by Blair and Ashton are all rejected, said the demonstrators today.
President Abbas answered the question of the Al-Hayat daily in London about the proposal of the “Quartet”, stating: “Unfortunately, the “Quartet” failed in the past years to reach deliver statements, also this year since September and so far, the “Quartet” failed to meet twice, and during their third meeting, the “Quartet” rejected the US proposals, not ours. Russia, Europe and the United Nations refused the Americans proposals. This means that what the Americans proposed was not accepted by anybody. The US talks about a Jewish state, considers the settlement blocks as a fait accompli and speaks about the security which will remain in Israeli hands. Those proposals were all rejected and then the Quartet’s envoy Tony Blair carried to us the same ideas. So I said, even to President Obama, that these ideas are rejected in their totality and out of hand.
Abbas said to Tony Blair, envoy of the “Quartet” during a meeting held this month in Amman that if the ongoing efforts in the recognition of Palestinian State failed, we would not allow the Palestinian power to remain merely “in name”.
Conclusion and Outlook:
In the current situation and after the aggressive speech given by Palestinian President Abbas at the UN General Assembly, the world has specific options and the Palestinians are confronted with specific commitments.
At the level of international community, the member states of the Security Council must choose between their own interests and the interests of the zionist Jewish lobby in the Arab region when they vote in the Security Council in the issue of the recognition of Palestine.
If the member states of the Security Council commit themselves to vote for the membership of Palestine in the United Nations, this means that the Palestinian request for recognition will succeed if the United States stays neutral and does not use their right of veto against such a vote. In this case, things will reflect positively on both sides of the conflict and the interests of the international community in the Arab region. It must be noted that, whatever the future developments materialize, the world has a moral responsibility and duty to end the Israeli occupation in Palestine before which comes before pursuing whatever other interests the nations might have in the Arab countries of the Middle East
Should the United States use its veto power against the Palestinian people and a recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN Security Council, or if the USA and other fellow travelers of the zionists realize their threats to cut off financial aid to the PNA and decided to use the immoral weapon of hunger against the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people, this would mean that PNA and Palestinians are in front of a number of open options, including some harsh options which could threat the security and stability of the countries involved in the conflict. Among other options are:  The Palestinian Authority will submit a request to raise the status of Palestine from the observer status at the UN to the full membership, and acquire membership of Palestine at all UN agencies and institutions, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), an option which terrifies Israel, the USA and assorted tag-alongs, as they are involved in the planning, financing, supporting and implementing of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians since decades.

The Palestinian Authority will discuss another option such as the return to the useless “negotiations”. If the PNA chooses to continue “negotiating” with Israel without that Israel at least freezes the expansion of the settlements and commits unmistakably to the 1967 borders as a reference for the negotiating process, such a decision would have a negative effect on its credibility, and I doubt that the PNA will sacrifice their credibility among Palestinians after the full support which President Abbas received because of his challenge to the threats of the USA and Israel. The difference between this full support and the doubt of most Palestinians about him and the PNA was clear enough to see after his request for the recognition of Palestine at the UN and his defiance of the occupation.

The other cruel and harsh option is, if the US and EU carry out their threats against the Palestinians and the PA and continue supporting the occupying forces in Palestine, then the Palestinian Authority may dismantle its bodies and put the Palestinians against under full responsibility of the Israeli occupation. This option has been amply discussed because it is known that the Israeli side avoids it at all costs, as it would establish their irrefutable responsibility for all Palestinians in international law, delegitimizing the occupation and the israeli position over night. It is difficult to see Israel desisting from its crimes even in this case, and this scenario would mean that all options and solutions are available to the people, including armed struggle or struggle by other means against Israel and its interest in and outside Palestine. This option would mean a return to the years before the start of the first Intifada.

A last scenario, remote but not unimaginable, is the possibility that the appearance of Abbas at the UN was a charade set in scene by the PA, Israel and conspirers, a scheme calculated to gain Abbas the needed popular support to cement a legitimacy he lacks as a result of the expiry of his mandate in 2009, so that he and the PA could then proceed to sell off all of Palestine and all rights of the Palestinians to the occupation. If such a scenario came to pass, it would also mean an end of the legitimacy of the PA and a return to the times before the first Intifada, including armed struggle and many other dangerous appearances.

We will see what unfolds during the next days and weeks as a result of the speech of Abbas at the UN. What must be understood is that, despite its apparent invincibility because of its military superiority and the protection by the USA, the position of Israel is precarious and ultimately unsustainable if they continue operating under their current strategy of unnecessarily seeking the enmity of everybody in the region.
From the military point of view, Israel does not have an economy able to sustain by itself a military machine far out of proportion to its size and its needs. What the Israeli economy lacks is currently being made up by the USA, the EU and various member countries, and the donations of rich jews from around the world. Both the USA and the EU are currently under increasing economic and political tensions, and both can be said to be in the process of becoming bankrupt or breaking up due to gross economic mismanagement. If either the USA or the EU (or both) become unavailable as funding sources, Israel will dissolve within a short time. The many tensions within the israeli society will explode when there is no money to support 5-6 millions of people accustomed to a life financed on prebends. A massive self-chosen repatriation of the jews who came to Palestine believing the false promises of zionism would be the result.

Looking at Israel through the lens of international law and institutions, Israel has also managed to firmly establish itself as the problem of everybody. While israelis and their supporters around the world constantly protest about a supposed “right to exist” to distract from the real problems, the prosaic reality is that the governments of many nations have recognized that there is no reason for Israel to reject Palestinian statehood without delay, without reservations and unconditionally. If Israel continues on its rejectionist and violent path, the results will be worse for all involved.

Israel and its allies would do better if they stop delaying, hindering and denying the political will and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian nation. It is the only solution which will allow for any measure of peace in Palestine and the region.