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<font size="1"><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210630-the-assassination-of-nizar-banat-means-theres-only-one-solution-for-the-palestinians/">https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210630-the-assassination-of-nizar-banat-means-theres-only-one-solution-for-the-palestinians/</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The assassination of Nizar Banat means there's only one solution for the Palestinians</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Feras Abu-Helal - June 30, 2021 </div></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-post-content"> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p><strong>READ: <a title="Complicity and accountability in Banat's killing" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210629-complicity-and-accountability-in-banats-killing/">Complicity and accountability in Banat's killing</a></strong></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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".</p> <p>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.</p> <p><strong>READ: <a title="The puppet authority is killing the Palestinians" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210628-the-puppet-authority-is-killing-the-palestinians/">The puppet authority is killing the Palestinians</a></strong></p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <div id="gmail-attachment_480085" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210627-palestinian-authority-deploys-forces-during-protest-against-critics-death/cartoon-2-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-480085"><img src="https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Cartoon-2-scaled.jpg?fit=933%2C653&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1" alt="Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat? - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="452" height="316">
</a></p><p class="gmail-wp-caption-text">Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat? – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]</p></div><p><i>This article first appeared in Arabic in <a href="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" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Arabi21 </a>on 28 June 2021</i></p> <p>The
views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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