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<div class="entry-date">April 17, 2014<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/17/why-israeli-officials-are-chuckling/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/04/17/why-israeli-officials-are-chuckling/</a><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><big><b>The ‘Stable’ West Bank
Dilemma</b></big></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Why Israeli Officials are Chuckling</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle"><big><big>by RAMZY BAROUD</big></big></div>
<div class="main-text"><big><big> </big></big>
<p><big><big>Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Ze’ev Elkin, is a member
of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and his predominantly rightwing
cabinet. In a recent interview with The Economist, Elkin used the
familiar tone of being conceited and oblivious to such notions as
international or human rights, and reaffirmed his rejection of a
Palestinian state.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Instead, Elkin wants Israel to annex a chunk of the West
Bank. There is nothing new here, as such language is now official
Israeli discourse. But one statement stood out, one that many
Palestinians would find bewildering and exasperating.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>These days, said Elkin with a chuckle, the West Bank is
“the most stable part of the Middle East”.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The bewilderment would stem from the fact that the West
Bank is an occupied Palestinian territory. Its population is held at
gunpoint; they have no freedom, and enjoy no rights. Their land is
seized by force to make room for more settlements and illegal Jewish
settlers, now numbering well passed the half million mark.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Needless to say, the West Bank should not be stable.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Instead, Palestinians should be leading their own
revolution until they achieve their full rights and freedom. This is
not a call for violence, but a natural human course. However,
Palestinians are not rebelling. Many factors are holding them back, one
of which is the very Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. Its troops are
in constant ‘security coordinations’ with Israel. Its ‘elite forces’
are trained by US generals and Arab armies. The PA mission is not to
liberate Palestine, but to ensure the subservience of the Palestinians
while Israel carries on with a colonial project that has extended for
decades.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Deputy foreign minister Elkin knows this. Netanyahu
himself, along with every Israeli official, understands that the PA,
despite Mahmoud Abbas’ occasional attempts at appearing defiant and
rebellious, is no threat to Israel, nor will it ever be. This will be
so even if the US-imposed April 29 deadline for a ‘framework’ agreement
between the Israeli government and the PA passes and even if Abbas took
the seemingly daring step of signing the applications to join 15
international organizations. Abbas and his men understand that there
are red lines which they cannot cross under any circumstances.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Abbas may be weak, but he is clever. He knew that Kerry’s
peacemaking efforts would not go anywhere and that Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would find a way to thwart the process. If
Abbas were lucky, Kerry could even blame Israel for derailing the peace
process, as he already has. Then, Abbas would do what many would find
reasonable; seek further international recognition for the state of
Palestine. This might frustrate the Americans a little, anger the
Israelis a lot, but it would give his supporters reason to promote the
79-year-old leader as another Yasser Arafat, heroic and defiant to the
very end.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The Israelis still need Abbas. He is important in
maintaining ‘stability’ in the West Bank. This means the continuing of
the security coordination that ensures the safety of the armed
settlers, providing an extra layer of protection to Israeli soldiers as
they kill at will, seize more land, demolish homes and trees, erect
walls, dig trenches, and level mountains. So what if some imaginary
state existed on papers in the files of some international body in
Geneva or Brussels. For Israel, the law is that of its military, and
reality is what is taking place in Area C, not in some European capital.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>This is why Elkin is chuckling. He is at ease, in the same
way the Israeli political establishment is. Since the signing of the
Oslo Accords in 1993, a deal was struck between Israel and what became
a pervasive, controlling and corrupt Palestinian political class.
Israel maintained its military occupation, carried on with its colonial
project and continued to disfigure the occupied territories in any way
that it found consistent with its ‘security’ needs. Palestinian elites
were granted economic privileges and access that is denied to the vast
majority of the Palestinians.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The PA’s constant challenge is to maintain a level of
legitimacy. True, it uses its monopoly on force, which is readily
sanctioned by Israel, in order to arrest, torture and kill resisting
Palestinians when necessary. It uses the logic of trickledown economics
to hold the bulk of Palestinians hostage to winning their daily bread.
But that is not enough. It needs a brand to market itself as the
exclusive harbinger of freedom for Palestinians. It uses slogans, flags
and kuffiyas to promote that brand through its control of the media.
Many PA supporters dance to that tune and playact that Abbas and only
Abbas is capable of exacting the coveting liberation of Palestine from
the obstinate hands of the Israeli prime minister.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Palestinian officials are proficiently inflating Abbas’
image to ensure that Palestinians don’t question the wisdom of their
aging leader, after the latest and predictable failure of the peace
process, which was never truly meant to succeed anyway. A Palestinian
official spoke of Abbas’s refusal to heed a call by US Secretary of
State John Kerry to halt applications to join international treaties.
He claimed that Kerry warned Abbas of a ‘strong (Israeli) response to
Palestinian action. Abbas replied: “Israel’s threats scare no one. They
can do what they like.”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The words were repeated in Palestinian media. The Abbas
image is being overstated once more. There is no space for those who
question the man’s credibility, legitimacy or failed methods. More
posters of the old man are now erected in the occupied Palestinian
towns. His latest antics will help perpetuate the myth that the PA is a
platform for resistance, not capitulation.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>As long as the West Bank is ‘stable’, and as long Abbas,
and those that follow him continue to sell Palestinians old illusions
of revolutions that never took place, and heroes that only exist on
colored posters hung around the streets of Ramallah, Elkin will
continue to chuckle.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>And as long as the West Bank is ‘stable’, Palestinians
will never achieve their freedom, for submission achieves no rights;
only resistance does.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><i><strong>Ramzy Baroud</strong> is an
internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant and the editor
of <a href="http://www.PalestineChronicle.com"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.PalestineChronicle.com']);">PalestineChronicle.com</a>.
His latest book is “My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold
Story” (Pluto Press, London).</i></big></big></p>
<big></big></div>
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