[News] PA parrots Israeli claims on Gaza attack

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  PA parrots Israeli claims on Gaza attack

Submitted by Jalal Abukhater on Tue, 07/22/2014 - 20:57
*http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jalal-abukhater/pa-parrots-israeli-claims-gaza-attack*

Last week, I wrote about how the Palestinian Authority stands in the way 
of the Palestinian struggle 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/jalal-abukhater/palestinian-authority-stands-way-palestinian-struggle>. 
The PA isn't helpless in the face of the atrocities being committed in 
Gaza, I argued; rather it has chosen to do nothing.

Nevertheless, if we consider the latest Israeli actions in Gaza as a 
very final test for the PA, I believe it can easily be said that it has 
failed in every possible respect.

As death and destruction in Gaza reach new heights, the reactions of the 
Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority sounds like something out of a 
farce. A considerable number of major PA officials in the occupied West 
Bank and abroad, including the president himself, seem to be rallying 
against the desire of Palestinians facing the daily terror in Gaza.

Officials have also been making plenty of statements to Palestinians 
locally and foreign envoys that serve to blame Hamas and score political 
points, rather than address the heinous crimes Israel is committing and 
has been committing since it imposed the siege on Gaza.

For example, in an interview 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIcFNqEwWh0> on 11 July with 
al-Mayadeen TV, the PA President Mahmoud Abbas accused Hamas of being 
"merchants of war" and called on them to accept the Egyptian ceasefire 
initiative and proceed with political negotiations later.

Five days later, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, director-general of the PA 
presidency and member of the Fatah Central Council, commented 
<http://www.ajnad-news.com/site/ajnad/details.aspx?itemid=18876> on 
Hamas's rejection of the Egyptian proposal. He accused Hamas of serving 
regional agendas and "sacrificing Palestinian blood in the service of a 
global Muslim Brotherhood plot."


    Ludicrous

Any rational political analyst following the situation in Gaza with 
sufficient background knowledge on the siege and on Hamas would know 
that Abdel Rahim's claims were ludicrous.

Riyad al-Maliki, the PA's foreign minister, has also reportedly said, in 
a conversation with Frans Timmermams 
<https://www.facebook.com/frans.timmermans/posts/760356067320588>, the 
Dutch foreign minister, that the current escalation in Gaza only serves 
Hamas's political interests. Abbas, Abdel Rahim, and al-Maliki's 
statements are only a sample of the rhetoric coming from the PA, which 
blames Hamas for the escalation rather than addressing the horrific 
daily reality in Gaza: the siege and closure of all border crossings; 
the contaminated water system; the destroyed basic infrastructure; the 
raging poverty and humanitarian crisis that has been plaguing the Strip 
for years.

PA officials are echoing the Israeli government's narrative, putting the 
blame on Hamas for the high loss of civilian life in Gaza and ignoring 
the reality imposed on the Strip. Mohammed Omer, an award- winning 
journalist based in Gaza, has written a report 
<http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-civilians-still-support-resistance-despite-heavy-toll-766547339> 
which reflects a reality that Abbas and the PA are trying to deny: there 
is popular support for the resistance in Gaza.  Omer writes, "The 
paradox of Gaza is that as the death toll increases, so does the 
defiance of its people." He quotes sixty-six-year-old Amnah Odeh who 
said: "This situation cannot continue, or return as it was even days ago 
-- under Israel's eight-years-long siege -- where life was equally, if 
not worse, long-term."

It goes without saying that Palestinians wish to see an end to the 
bloodshed. But returning to the slow-death status quo does not seem to 
be an option anymore.

If Abbas, as president of the PA, wishes to represent the interest of 
Palestinians in Gaza, he wouldn't be travelling to Turkey and the Gulf, 
where he has urged governments to seek that Hamas accepted the Egyptian 
proposal.


    Defeatist

Hamas has indeed put forward five realistic and achievable ceasefire 
conditions 
<http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/exclusive-hamas-puts-forward-ceasefire-terms-amid-intense-mediation>. 
Qatar and Turkey have sponsored an initiative 
<http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.606130?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter> 
that has seen significant support in Gaza. Yet, instead of backing those 
initiatives, the PA continues to mobilize efforts against what 
Palestinians in Gaza think serve them best.

People in Gaza want to see an immediate end to the bloodshed, but not 
according to the defeatist conditions put forward by Israel, Egypt and 
the PA leadership.

As I mentioned in my piece last week, the Palestinian Authority is still 
capable of invoking the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 
(ICC) and seeking justice through international law. The PA has always 
claimed to be pursuing that objective. When Abbas condemned Hamas's 
actions, he made sure to declare: "We will only fight them [Israelis] 
with what they fear most, international law."

The PA has never been true to that statement yet.

The PA has been able to seek access to the ICC since 2012.

In the interim, there have been two Israeli offensives against Gaza, 
thousands of new buildings have been constructed in Israel's settlements 
in the West Bank and hundreds of Israeli human rights violations have 
been documented. Yet the PA refuses to turn its words into actions.

The PA hasn't been serious about the international law to which it 
constantly refers. Its attitude towards the latest attack on Gaza is 
inexcusable.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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