[News] The assassination of Nizar Banat means there's only one solution for the Palestinians

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210630-the-assassination-of-nizar-banat-means-theres-only-one-solution-for-the-palestinians/
The
assassination of Nizar Banat means there's only one solution for the
Palestinians
Feras Abu-Helal - June 30, 2021
------------------------------

The assassination of political activist Nizar Banat during his arrest by
Palestinian Authority security services is a turning point in occupied
Palestine. It is no less important and dangerous than the shift represented
by the recent Jerusalem uprising, which covered Jerusalem, the West Bank,
Gaza and the territory occupied since 1948.

The occupied West Bank has not witnessed events like this before, and the
PA has never appeared as strategically and morally stripped as it is now,
because its failure in terms of managing internal affairs and human rights
has also been exposed alongside its flawed approach to national affairs and
resistance against the occupation. The only people who can't see this are
those who benefit from the status quo.

What made Banat's killing different from all of the PA's previous crimes,
both on the national and internal level, is that all of its flaws were
condensed into one operation. The first was the silencing of the
anti-occupation voice, as the difference between the latter and the PA is
not based on personal interest, or even to the management of domestic
affairs, but is essentially a dispute over the PA's performance and the way
it deals with Israel and its occupation. His killing followed Banat's
criticism of the shameful vaccine deal, according to which the PA would
hand over new vaccines to the Israelis in exchange for vaccines that expire
soon. This showed clearly that the PA favours Israelis over its own people.

Another national paradox for the Palestinian people is that the same PA
security forces that melt into the background when their Israeli
counterparts are on the scene — not least during the recent events in
Jerusalem — and never, ever, confront soldiers or armed settlers when they
attack Palestinians and their land, are the same "security forces" which
beat Nizar Banat to death after entering his home like thieves in the night
and dragging him from his bed. This paradox confirmed to every Palestinian
that the PA security forces exist solely to protect the occupation state
and oppress the people of Palestine under occupation.

*READ: Complicity and accountability in Banat's killing
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210629-complicity-and-accountability-in-banats-killing/>*

Banat's assassination also revealed the PA's indifference to human rights,
and its intolerance of criticism. It behaved like every other repressive
Arab regime that kills its opponents because of their opinions. Although
repression and human rights violations must always be condemned, they are
even more shocking and criminal when they come from a self-rule
organisation against its own people struggling under a military occupation.
The people face a double cycle of repression, at the hands of the Israeli
occupation — which is inherently repressive — and the PA, which is supposed
to represent their interests. The Palestinians can resist the occupation
but are helpless in front of the PA's repressive security forces, because
they know that the occupation is the main issue. Hence, the PA not only
adds to the repression of the people, but also distorts the national
compass.

After the killing of Banat, the PA behaved like a typical Arab regime. The
theory proposed by the late Yasser Arafat and applied to a large extent was
dropped; the so-called democracy of the forest of guns, which had little to
do with democracy, but was a slogan that allowed criticism and internal
conflicts without resorting to weapons, within the framework of the
Palestinian national movement. Arafat bore all criticism, accusations and
even splits, even though he had national legitimacy to represent all groups
of the Palestinian people at the time. The PA today not only coordinates
its security repression with Israel, but also lacks any national or
electoral legitimacy, and is incapable of accepting criticism. So it simply
kills its political opponents.

The PA resorted to its base instincts which are a disgrace for a national
liberation movement. It was in denial when it claimed initially that
Banat's was a natural death due to a pre-existing condition. Then it issued
contemptable statements about the investigation after the uproar at the
murder. It then sent in its security thugs in plain clothes to attack
protesters, and issued tribal statements in support of the president,
especially from Hebron, where Nizar Banat was from. All of this exposed the
PA like never before, as nothing but a primitive authority that identifies
with other repressive Arab regimes, with a leadership that is supposed to
represent a "national liberation movement".

Under normal circumstances, there is no "single" solution to any political
crisis, as politics is the result of the interaction of several complex
factors and profit and loss calculations. However, the killing of Nizar
Banat and the events that preceded and followed it have made matters clear
to every Palestinian. The national impasse has only one solution:
delegitimise and close down this authority.

*READ: The puppet authority is killing the Palestinians
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210628-the-puppet-authority-is-killing-the-palestinians/>*

The Palestinian factions, especially Hamas, must bear their responsibility
for this delegitimisation; they should refuse any dialogue with Fatah under
the Oslo umbrella. Dialogue must be established on a national basis to
agree on the way to resist the occupation, not on how to relieve Israel of
its responsibility and grant it an occupation that carries no political,
economic and security cost.

Ever since 2006, the Palestinian dialogue has been based on the wrong
foundations, and was thus unable to break away from Oslo. If Hamas and the
other factions are trying to end the division in this way, then they are
making a big mistake. Fatah, meanwhile, must choose between being part of
the people and their resistance, or standing with the occupier in an
authority that has failed nationally, legally and in managing internal
affairs.

This choice was clear in 2006, and many Palestinian writers and elites
demanded that it be made. Now, though, it has become clearer after the
Jerusalem Intifada and the victory of the resistance, as well as the
assassination of Nizar Banat.

[image: Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat? - Cartoon
[Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]]
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210627-palestinian-authority-deploys-forces-during-protest-against-critics-death/cartoon-2-2/>

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

*This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21
<https://arabi21.com/story/1368535/%D8%A7%D8%BA%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%84-%D9%86%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A3%D8%B2%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A#category_2>on
28 June 2021*

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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