10) "THE ARAB SPRING" REACHES PALESTINE
The Palestinian People's Party has issued its views on the "reconciliation agreement" in Palestine and recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa. The full commentary is available at SolidNet, http://solidnet.org.
Having all Palestinian political factions come together for national reconciliation was an emotional experience for all who witnessed the events taking place in Cairo. The Arab Spring has finally reached Palestine.
All the parties across the Palestinian political spectrum, with the support of the new Egyptian government, reached an agreement to establish a technocratic government in order to hold elections within one year and rebuild the Gaza Strip. This is a critical step in our path toward freedom and independence.
Our party has an important part in this reconciliation. We have worked through the past four years in order to end the division and retain Palestinian unity. At the same time we should not overestimate what has happened. This is the first right step towards unity. The next step is to form a new unity government of technocrats and independent figures for one year.
Politically speaking, Hamas has mostly agreed to go on according to the political platform of the PLO, in exchange of lifting the siege from Gaza, mainly opening the Rafah entrance, rebuilding Gaza after the destruction inflicted by the Israeli aggression there in 2008/2009.
Even with this positive development there are still problems. The main cause for the division is not solved yet. The main discussion after forming the unity government will be on the comparative representation of each party in the civil and security establishment (and) in the Authority. As a party we think that this problematic issue could be a ticking bomb. The only solution is through general elections and through consolidating the democratic base of the Palestinian National Authority. This necessitates a collective national effort and not a monopoly of Fatah‑Hamas.
It is quite obvious that the revolutionary developments in the Arab world affected positively the developments in Palestine. The reverberation of the Arab revolutions, especially in Egypt, has been reflected quickly in Palestine. The movement of young Palestinians to end the division proved that the people here will not tolerate any more this split.
The main slogan in the Arab world is "The people want to overthrow the Regime" and the main slogan here is "The people want to end the division". So we were inspired by what is going on in the Arab states. The timing of the reconciliation proved that. We think that Fatah and Hamas were obliged under the pressure of the mass movement in Palestine and the Arab world to step forward in the right direction.
Besides that, we should notice that the previous negative positions and pressures by certain Arab states have been negated by the revolutions there. The Palestinian leadership felt itself freer to do what it wants to do. That feeling made President Mahmoud Abbas initiate his visit to Gaza, which triggered the walk towards reconciliation.
As usual the US has a negative position toward these developments in Palestine. In the Annapolis meeting in 2008 the issue of Palestinian unity was raised, and it was declared then that any peaceful solution should be with one representative of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Ironically, now the American administration is following a wait and sees position. It declared that it will take a final position after the formation of the Palestinian unity Government... We consider that such a position is an unacceptable intervention in the internal affairs of the Palestinians. Threatening to withhold financial support for the Palestinian Authority is a rude and one-sided policy in favour of the Israelis. It is an extortion and a way to dictate the Palestinian agenda. We reject that completely.
Directly after the Palestinian reconciliation, the Israeli finance minister declared that his government decided not to transfer the Palestinian tax money collected by the Israelis to the Palestinian authority... As a result, the Palestinian government stopped the monthly salaries of about 151,000 employees. Israel is using the financial leverage to thwart the reconciliation, under the pretext that this money will go to Hamas.
Prime Minister Netanyahu complained to the international community that the Palestinian reconciliation is a unity of war against Israel. This is a false accusation because whoever listened to Khalid Mashaal's speech in the reconciliation ceremony in Cairo will understand that there is a big change in the Hamas approach. It accepts now an Independent Palestinian state within the borders of June 4, 1967.
What Israel wants is to keep division in the Palestinian society as long as possible. Before the reconciliation Netanyahu was asking all the time: Shall I make peace with Gaza or with the West Bank? We can now reply: You shall make peace with a unified Palestinian entity, you should make peace with the State of Palestine. But Netanyahu will persist to find excuses how to fail all chances to make a just and comprehensive peace.
With the establishment of a government of national unity, we will close one of the darkest periods in the history of our people. Palestinians are looking forward now. We will continue to work hard on gaining international recognition for the State of Palestine in the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Today, we have received such recognition from 112 countries. The latest vote in the UN Security Council calling for an end to settlement expansion (14 countries in favour and the United States against) shows unprecedented support for the Palestinian position: the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land must end.
According to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the European Union, Palestine has reached a point where it is ready to take the reins of state. Only the Israeli occupation stands in the way of our progress.
In September 2011, a united Palestinian people will go to the United Nations to request that the State of Palestine be admitted as a full member of the UN. It is time for Israel to stop denying freedom to the Palestinian people. We deserve to live free, just like all other peoples in the world. Our message is very simple: the Palestinian people will not remain hostage to Israeli intransigence and unilateralism; settler violence and expansion are not going to stop us.
National reconciliation will also re‑energize and empower our struggle for justice and peace. So as we continue our efforts at uniting our people and building our state, we call on Israel not to interfere in domestic Palestinian politics.
The choice is not between Hamas and Israel, as Prime Minister Netanyahu has suggested. The choice is between settlement‑colonies or Palestinian state: between accepting two states with the 1967 border outlining the shape of the future for Israelis and Palestinians where real peace is possible, or maintaining the occupation and a relationship with Israelis as one of oppressor and oppressed.
The way to peace is through reconciliation and democracy. We hope that the international community will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in order to support peace and reconciliation by ending the Israeli occupation and consolidating a sovereign Palestinian state in the 1967 border.
(The above article is from the June 1-15, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)