Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas never fails to surprise us all his friends and foes alike.
In an interview with the Israeli television last week Abbas declared that he had no right to live in Safad his home-town from which his family and thousands of other Palestinians were uprooted and expelled in 1948 at the hands of Zionist invaders from Eastern Europe who then occupied more than 75% of historical Palestine with the active support of Britain and other western powers.
“I visited Safad before once But I want to see Safad it is my right to see it but not to live there” Abbas told the Israeli channel 2 speaking in English from Ramallah in the West Bank.
Abbas said that as far as he was concerned Palestine included only the West Bank Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
“Palestine for me is the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is now and forever. This is Palestine for me. I am a refugee but I am living in Ramallah. I believe the West Bank and Gaza Strip are Palestine and the other parts are Israel.”
Furthermore Abbas said he wouldn’t allow a new intifada or uprising against Israel as long as he remained at the helm of the regime in Ramallah.
Referring to Palestinian resistance against the Israeli military occupation as “terror” Abbas said Palestinians would never start a new intifada under his leadership.
“We don’t want to use terror; we don’t want to use force. We don’t want to use weapons. We want to use diplomacy. We want to use politics and negotiations and peaceful resistance.”
Thoroughly demoralized
In his tone of speech Abbas seemed thoroughly demoralized having seen the so-called peace process with an irredeemably covetous Israel that is constantly seeking more and more lebensraum at the expense of the Palestinians torn into smithereens.
In fact Abbas a co-engineer of the infamous curse known as the Oslo agreement has never stopped trying to sell Palestinians pipe dreams.
We all remember his numerous games of make believe- from his notorious agreement with Yossi Belin to his many theatrical declarations and empty entitlements- (the September entitlement the road map the Annapolis conference etc. etc.).
Now at 76 Abbas realizes that all his hopes let alone wishes have evaporated due to Israeli intransigence and arrogance of power.
However instead of putting up a dignified stance in the face of Israeli insolence the PA leader is readily groveling at Israel’s feet thinking that Israelis would relent show magnanimity and give the PLO a viable state on less than 25% of mandatory Palestine.
Interestingly Abbas’s shocking remarks coincided with the annual anniversary of the infamous Balfour Declaration which gave Palestine to Zionism on a silver platter.
Needless to say the inauspicious coincidence shows that the present PLO leader lacks even the elementary historical consciousness which every Palestinian leader must possess in order to keep the long march toward the ultimate liberation of Palestine going.
We don’t want to heap epithets of treason and perfidy on Abbas. After all the man is not Salahuddin. He is not even Yasser Arafat who would never give up the sacred right of return despite the immense pressure the late Palestinian leader reeled under from friend and foe alike which eventually cost him his life.
None the less Abu Mazen has gone too far by every conceivable standard of national and Islamic morality which raises serious question marks about his ability and fitness to remain at the helm of the PA.
A few weeks ago he told a visiting rabbi in Ramallah that Israel was established in order to stay for ever; The repulsive remark was made in Arabic which showed that Abbas had little or no respect for the tens of thousands of Palestinian and Arab martyrs and victims who lost their lives in the course of the struggle against Zionist occupiers and oppressors.
And now he is saying the refugees have no right to repatriation to their homes and villages from which they were expelled at gun point by Zionist terrorists. This is tantamount to a national apostasy. Abbas has no right to say what he said. Palestine is not his family’s private commonwealth to cede to Zionism. In fact the only way he could atone for this blasphemy would be his instant resignation from the chairmanship of the PLO and presidency of the PA. But does he have the moral courage and rectitude to submit his resignation?
Abbas is said to have a Ph.D. in political science. If true he should be aware of the fact that the right of return is a well-established right in international law as encapsulated in UN Resolution 194.
Indeed if the Palestinian refugees have no right to repatriation and indemnification in accordance with UN resolution 149 then by the same token Palestinians should have no right to demand Israeli evacuation from the territories seized by Israel in 1967 pursuant to UN Security Council 242 let alone have a viable state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
There is no doubt that Abu Mazen’s remarks reflect a great deal of despair frustration and even depression in light of Israeli arrogance America’s complicity and Europe’s ineptitude as well as Arab-Muslim weakness.
However Abbas his hangers-on and Palestinians in general must internalize the fact that this is a historical conflict that will only end with the demise and ultimate disappearance of this evil entity known as Israel.
We don’t deny that Israel and its allies are currently militarily powerful. We would be blind and utterly foolish if we didn’t recognize this outstanding fact.
But political and military realities are not immutable constants; they are rather changeable variables.
The late Sheikh Ahmed Yasin who was murdered by the Nazis of our time nearly ten years ago understood this important historical formula. He said “the strong doesn’t remain strong for ever and the weak doesn’t remain weak for ever.”
Another point. It is really shameful that the bulk of the Fatah leadership has remained silent refusing to publicly condemn their leader’s ignominious words which really border on national treason.
In fact some Fatah leaders including Nimr Hammad and Nabil Abu Rudeina have sought to distract attention from the latest scandal. One PA operative suggested that Abbas didn’t know what he was saying.
Well. If Abbas didn’t know what he was saying then he should retire quietly and stop wreaking more damage to the national cause.
Moreover the shocking reticence of the Fatah leadership is further evidence that Fatah in its present structure is utterly unfit to lead the Palestinian people to the shore of safety.
And now a few words to the arrogant Zionists intoxicated by military might and domination over the American government.. You are advised not to give much credence to Abbas’ frustrated words. His remarks don’t reflect the views of the vast majority of Palestinians.
This is quite perspicuous from the stringent reactions coming from many quarters within the Palestinian community including from within the PLO itself.
At the very best his remarks should be construed as another expression of frustration and despair on the part of a demoralized leader who apparently has a hard time making a distinction between pragmatism and capitulation.
