Palestine
THE situation in the Palestinian territories has progressively deteriorated since Benyamin Netanyahu's extreme right Likud Party-led coalition came to power for the third time in March 2013.
The main reason for the sufferings of the Palestinians can be summed up under two headings -- disunity among the different factions of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and mounting discord among the members of the League of Arab States (LAS) over major issues, including Palestine.
PLO is the umbrella organisation bringing together at least 10 different factions, each with different ideology and strategy on how to liberate Palestine from Israeli occupation. It was founded in 1964, in Cairo at the first Arab League summit, to create the independent “State of Palestine.” Yasser Arafat led the PLO from 1969 till his mysterious death in 2004. These factions constantly vied for supremacy over one another. But Yasser Arafat had the extraordinary ability to keep them under his effective command.
Secular, left-wing, nationalist “Fatah” is the largest faction in the PLO. Fatah was led by Yasser Arafat. “Hamas” came into being much later in 1987 during the first Intifada (uprising) as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since Hamas believes in armed struggle to liberate Palestine, Israel and the West have declared it a “terrorist organisation.”
In 2006, when Hamas won a majority at the Palestinian Legislative Council, Israel and the West got alarmed. The West quickly imposed sanctions on the new Hamas-led Palestinian government led by Ismail Haniyeh and refused to recognise it. Since 1987, Fatah and Hamas have fought with each other for supremacy. Tension between Fatah and Hamas developed into a civil war situation in Gaza in 2006. When Fatah supporters were driven out of Gaza, Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh in June 2007.
Thus two Palestinian administrations came into being – one under Abbas, President of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in control of the West Bank, and the other under dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza. Surprised at Hamas popularity, worried Israel immediately imposed a total blockade of Gaza, turning it into an open-air-prison.
The PNA-Israeli direct negotiations, which began in Washington in July 2013 under US sponsorship, collapsed in April 2014. The main reason for the deadlock was Netanyahu's obstinate position to build Jewish homes in East Jerusalem and his demand that Israel be recognised as a “Jewish State.”
Realising that he had become irrelevant to Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas started a reconciliation process with Hamas. Abbas also wanted to enhance his bargaining power with Israel and formed the unity government in June 2014. Hamas, which was banished from the PNA, was brought back on board. By joining the PNA, Hamas wanted easing of the blockade imposed by Israel since 2006.
Netanyahu refused to recognise the unity government and declared that unless Hamas recognised Israel there would be no peace talks with the PNA. Netanyahu's primary objective has been to keep the PLO as disunited as possible, and the objective of the attack on Gaza was to destroy Hamas.
Over the years, most Hamas leaders in Gaza have been killed by Israeli aerial strikes. Hamas leaders Khaled Meshal has fled to Qatar and other leaders are in hiding. Hamas in Gaza came under repeated brutal Israeli military incursions over the past eight years. Apart from “Operation Cast Lead” 2008, “Operation Pillar of Defense” 2012 and “Operation Protective Edge” 2014, there have been numerous aerial attacks on Gaza.
Had Fatah and Hamas stuck together after the elections of 2006, Israel would have found a powerful PNA to reckon with.
At the other level, the Arab League is as disunited as ever. The LAS was set up in 1945 to look after Arab interests and thwart Zionism. But this 22-nation organisation has failed to deliver. Within the organisation, member states constantly try one-upmanship. The political architecture in each country is so different -- monarchy, military strongman, dictatorship, theocracy -- that convergence of ideas has become extremely difficult. To these is added the problem of sectarian politics -- Shia and Sunni. However, what make these LAS members extremely important are their vast oil and gas reserves, making them very rich, and their strategic locations.
The last Arab League summit held in Kuwait in March 2014 ended without any consensus over the civil war in Syria and Iraq. On the question of Palestine the summit was surprisingly unanimous. The final declaration said: “We express our total rejection of the call to consider Israel as a Jewish State ….. and reject all pressures to this effect on the Palestinian leadership.”
Israel wants to be recognised as a “Jewish” state, meaning that non-Jewish Palestinian refugees, who are mostly Muslims, lose their “right of return” to their homeland. Netanyahu insists that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people only.
Whatever the summit declarations state, the situation on the ground has been totally different in dealing with Gaza. Turkey and Qatar supported Hamas, while Egypt and Saudi Arabia wanted Hamas to be eliminated. Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia are extremely wary of the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt's General Sisi overthrew President Mohammad Morsi in 2013 and has outlawed all Muslim Brotherhood activities.
One of the main reasons why the Arabs have failed to unify is the creation of Israel in Palestine. The Arabs fought two devastating wars with US-aided Israel in 1948 and 1967 and lost significant territories. After the 1973 war Egypt regained Sinai and in return had to sign the Peace Treaty with Israel. The West Bank and Gaza are only 22% of the original Palestine. Both territories are under Israeli occupation.
Israel is bolstered by the fact that the frontline Arab nations -- Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen -- are in disarray and unable to challenge it. The West is also unworried as Israel is under no serious threat from its neighbours.
Only if the Organization of Arab Oil Exporting Countries (OAPEC) can reenact the 'oil embargo' of 1973, will the West put pressure on Israel to make real concession to the Palestinians. But that would require the Arabs to unite and resolve the seven decade old Palestinian-Israeli conflict once and for all.
As long as the Arabs fail to unite, Israel will continue to deny the Palestinians their rights.
The writer is a former Ambassador and Secretary.
Comments