[News] The 'Palestinian' Authority is actually Israel's auxiliary occupation force

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210627-the-palestinian-authority-is-actually-israels-auxiliary-occupation-force/
The
'Palestinian' Authority is actually Israel's auxiliary occupation force
Asa Winstanley - June 27, 2021
------------------------------

Palestinian activist and political candidate Nizar Banat, 44, was killed in
the early hours of Thursday morning.

But it was not Israeli soldiers that killed him.

Banat was a critic of the Palestinian Authority, or PA, condemning its
corruption and its central policy of "security coordination" with Israel.

His popular Facebook page (as of this writing) has more than 122,000
followers. The late activist, who lived in the Hebron area, regularly
posted videos online giving his analysis of the Palestinian political
scene, the latest crimes of the Israeli occupation, and the PA's
collaboration with the enemy occupier.

Banat had recently called for the European Union to stop funding the PA.

>From all reports of his death, it sounds like what happened yesterday was
nothing short of political assassination by the PA.

And indeed, opposition Palestinian factions – including Hamas and the
Marxist-Leninist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine –
in their statements have called it precisely that.

*OPINION: Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat?
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210624-why-did-the-pa-kill-nizar-banat/>*

According to Banat's family members, present at his home that fateful
night, no less than 25 PA "security" thugs barged in, in the dead of night,
at 3 am and beat him bloody. They then dragged him out, barely conscious.

That was the last time his family saw him.

[image: Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat? - Cartoon
[Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]]

Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat? – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

The PA's Hebron governor announced
<https://www.facebook.com/hebron.governorat33/photos/a.796276460393956/4239153849439516/>
two hours later that Banat had died, without mentioning any cause of death.

"A security force unit arrested him at dawn, during which his health
deteriorated and he was transferred to Hebron's public hospital," the
governor, "General" Jibreen al-Bakri claimed. "Upon examination by the
doctors, it appeared that he was dead," the statement continued passively.

It's very striking how much the gangsters of the PA have learned from
Israeli occupation forces. Surprise "arrests" in the dead of night, such as
that done to Banat, are a common tactic of the Israeli military in their
quest to suppress Palestinian dissent.

In the same way, the PA was furious at Banat for his incisive criticisms
and decided to stamp them out by simply killing him. This murder has
already caused mass disgust among Palestinians in the West Bank, who have
come out onto the streets to protest at the PA's murderous policies.

Aside from the simple and planned issue of their financial corruption, the
key criticism that Banat – like so many other Palestinians – had of the PA
was "security coordination". Unelected PA president Mahmoud Abbas once
infamously called this policy "holy"
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/mahmoud-abbas-collaboration-israeli-army-secret-police-sacred>
.

"Security coordination" would more accurately be described as a
collaboration – cooperation with Israel, the enemy occupier.

PA forces today in the West Bank have absolutely no power to arrest or even
question the Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers that regularly carry out
killings, abuses, and other crimes against Palestinians. If they ever
tried, they would be swiftly killed.

The only direction the PA is permitted to turn its guns is against the
Palestinian population itself. The location of Banat's home (in an area of
Hebron directly controlled by the Israeli army, with no pretence of PA
presence) makes it clear that the arrest had been directly coordinated with
and given the green light by the Israeli occupation forces.

Contrary to many misconceptions in the West (even among many on the left
and in the Palestine solidarity movement) the PA is not a "government" in
charge of a state. Ironically, considering its name, it has little real
authority and does not serve Palestinian interests.

In fact, its main and only real purpose is to quash Palestinian resistance
to Israel – whether armed or peaceful.

And the PA's policy of collaboration with the enemy is not a matter of
weakness, degeneration or of corruption (although the PA is also very
corrupt, with a well-known and well-deserved reputation for
misappropriating funds) – it is a matter of design during the Oslo
capitulation process.

The PA was *always* designed as a subcontractor for the Israeli occupation.
Every occupation force and colonial entity in history has sought to recruit
native informants and agents to its cause, and Israel is no different in
that regard.

*READ: PLO calls for 'transparent' probe into murder of activist Nizar
Banat
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210626-plo-calls-for-transparent-probe-into-murder-of-activist-nizar-banat/>*

The United States recruited Native American trackers and warriors to its
side in its wars of expansion, conquest, and extermination against the
indigenous peoples of North America. The British Empire is a past master in
the brutal colonial art of divide and rule. The Israeli occupation in South
Lebanon – before the Lebanese resistance drove them out in 2000 – ran whole
armies of Lebanese collaborators. The Americans in Iraq ran local sectarian
militias.

The PA are little different. The neutralisation of the PLO, the Palestinian
liberation movement, was long a dream of Israel. Not only did they achieve
this via the Oslo process in 1993, but they actually managed to recruit
former PLO fighters to their side – a big win for the Israeli occupation.

Today, the PA is one of the main, if not *the primary barrier* to
Palestinian liberation from Israeli occupation.

It must be dismantled.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20210627/2466b8d7/attachment.htm>