[ad_1]
By Ramzy Baroud
To stay as much as Israel’s expectations and to make sure its survival, the PA is keen to conflict straight with Palestinians who refuse to toe the road.
That is the right alternative for Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, to exit the stage. However he is not going to.
Abbas’ transient go to to the devastated Jenin refugee camp within the northern occupied West Financial institution on July 12 demonstrated the absurdity and hazard of the PA and its 87-year-old chief.
As he walked, Abbas struggled to maintain his stability, in what was promoted as a ‘solidarity’ go to to the camp.
1000’s of annoyed Jenin residents took to the streets, hardly chanting Abbas’ title. Some seemed on with disappointment; others requested the place the President’s forces had been when Israel invaded the camp, killing 12, wounding and arresting a whole lot extra.
The BBC reported on a “enormous armed deployment” to safe Abbas’ go to, the place “PA safety forces joined a thousand-strong unit of Mr. Abbas’ elite presidential guard”. Their solely job was to “clear a path” for Abbas into the camp.
On the preliminary and most threatening first day of the Israeli invasion of Jenin, Israeli media, citing army sources, mentioned that 1,000 Israeli troopers had been participating within the army operation.
But, it took extra Palestinian troopers to safe Abbas’ transient go to to Jenin.
Certainly, the place had been these well-dressed and geared up PA troopers when Jenin was preventing and dying alone? And why does Abbas must be protected against his personal folks?
To deal with these questions, you will need to study latest contexts, three vital dates particularly:
On July 5, Israel ended its army operation in Jenin.
On July 9, regardless of protests by a few of his safety cupboard members, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would do its utmost to stop the collapse of the PA. He acknowledged outright that the PA “works for us”.
And, lastly, on July 12, Abbas visited Jenin with a stern message to Palestinian Resistance teams.
These three dates are straight associated: Israel’s failed raid on Jenin has heightened the importance of the PA in Israel’s eyes. Abbas visited Jenin to reassure Israel that his Authority is up for the duty.
To stay as much as Israel’s expectations and to make sure its survival, the PA is keen to conflict straight with Palestinians who refuse to toe the road.
“There shall be one Authority and one safety power,” Abbas declared angrily, solely days following the burial of Jenin’s victims. “Anybody who seeks to undermine its unity and safety will face the results,” he added, additional promising that “Any hand that reaches out to hurt the folks and their stability shall be minimize off.”
The hand in reference shouldn’t be that of Israel, however any Palestinian who resists Israel.
Abbas is aware of that Palestinians outright despise him and his Authority. Simply days earlier, Fatah social gathering deputy Chairman, Mahmoud Aloul, was faraway from Jenin by indignant crowds.
The crowds chanted in unison, “Get out”, to Aloul and two different PA officers.
They did, however Abbas returned to the identical scene. He was flown in a Jordanian army helicopter. Ready for him, beneath, was a small PA military that had taken over the streets and the excessive buildings – or no matter remained of them – within the destroyed camp.
All of this occurred by way of logistical preparations with the Israeli army.
However why is Netanyahu eager on the PA’s survival?
Netanyahu desires the PA to outlive just because he doesn’t need the Israeli occupation administration and army to be totally chargeable for the welfare of Palestinians within the West Financial institution and the safety of the unlawful settlers.
Regardless of its close to full failure, the Oslo Accords succeeded in a single factor: it supplied Israel with a Palestinian power whose most important mission is to help the Israeli occupation in its quest to keep up complete management over the West Financial institution.
Abbas’ journey to Jenin was supposed to reassure Tel Aviv that the PA continues to be dedicated to its obligations to Israel.
One other message was despatched to US President Joe Biden, who has, in a latest interview, solid doubts on the PA’s ‘credibility’. “The PA is shedding its credibility,” Biden informed CNN, and that has “created a vacuum for extremism.”
The message to Washington was that the palms of the so-called ‘extremists’ shall be “minimize off”, and that there shall be “penalties” for individuals who defy the PA’s will.
Abbas appeared to talk, not solely on behalf of his Authority however that of Tel Aviv and Washington as nicely.
Even extraordinary Palestinians perceive this to be the case; in actual fact, they all the time have. The one distinction now could be that they really feel sturdy and emboldened by a brand new technology of Resistance which has succeeded in reclaiming a level of Palestinian unity, amid factional politics and PA corruption.
The PA is now seen by most Palestinians because the impediment within the face of full unity. That place is totally fathomable. Whereas Israel was ramping up its lethal operations in Jenin and Nablus, the PA police was arresting Palestinian activists, angering Resistance teams within the West Financial institution and Gaza.
If this continues, a civil conflict within the West Financial institution is an actual risk, particularly as Abbas’ potential successors are equally distrusted, even by Fatah’s personal rank and file. These males had been additionally in Jenin, standing shoulder to shoulder behind Abbas as he was frantically making an attempt to put out the brand new guidelines.
This time round, Palestinians are unlikely to pay attention. For the Resistance, the stakes are too excessive to again down now. For the PA, shedding the West Financial institution means shedding billions of {dollars} of Western monetary handouts.
A conflict between the Resistance and their common help, on the one hand, and the West-Israel-backed PA forces, on the opposite, will show very pricey for Palestinians.
But, for Tel Aviv, it’s a win-win. Because of this Netanyahu is anxious to assist Abbas maintain his job, at the least lengthy sufficient to make sure that the post-Abbas transition goes by way of effectively.
Palestinians should discover a technique to block such designs, protect Palestinian blood, and restructure their management, in order that it represents them, not the pursuits of the Israeli occupation.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He’s the creator of six books. His newest ebook, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Imaginative and prescient for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Communicate out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Analysis Fellow on the Middle for Islam and International Affairs (CIGA). His web site is www.ramzybaroud.web
[ad_2]
Source link
