Why aren't
half the
Palestinian people voting?
U.S.-Israeli Chosen ABBAS/ALA/SHAATH REGIME
Running Fast
"The method,
if they can manage it, is to put in
place a new
'moderate' under control Palestinian regime, declare an end
to the
Intifada, pump in money for bribes and payoffs and to somewhat
improve
the terrible conditions for most Palestinians, train
much greater
numbers of 'security police', further repress any
and all opposition, and kill and
imprison those who continue
to fight."
"The goal is to create a
greater Palestinian police-state
client-regime
dutifully labled 'moderate' and 'democracy' however quisling in
reality that will accept the Palestinian fate, legitimize the worse
than apartheid realities, and sign some kind of historic 'final
peace
agreement' which will give the Arab 'client regimes' in the
region the
excuse they then need to be forced by the U.S. to
recognize Israel and open diplomat and trade
relations with
the Jewish State."
MIDDLEEAST.ORG - MER - Washington - 14
December:
With Arafat, Yassin, Husseini and many other of the most senior,
credible, and respected Palestinian leaders gone from the scene -- most
Palestinians
believing, rightly or wrongly, all by Israeli and American design --
those
who have not only been left living by the Israelis but very much
rewarded by them financially and through the many priviledges of VIP
status are now in the forefront. And it appears time for
the the U.S.
and Israel to try to cash in on their investments in this carefully
selected and protected 'Palestinian leadership'.
The
terms 'peace process', 'democracy', and 'freedom' all sound good and
warm and nice, but in reality it's not only all in the details but
also all in ones perspective and allegiances. And when it
comes to 'elections'
it's much
the same though even more complicated.
The U.S. and Israel only allow 'Palestinian elections' in
the first place on their terms, with their timing, and when their
candidates are in front and in need.
The
last time Palestinian elections were allowed in the occupied
territories, back in 1996, they were courting and grooming Yasser
Arafat to sign a
historic 'final peace agreement' with Israel -- hence he was promoted
for that election and given the status of most frequent foreign guest
to the American White House, wined and dine from European to Arab
capitals to modern-day Rome itself.
Since then the U.S. and Israel, at
first working in full coordination with the 'Palestinian Authority'
they created, and since then with
various degrees of cooperation with various persons in the PA, have
prevented any subsequent election...until now that is when they have
something similar in mind for the Abbas/Ala/Shaath regime, three men
they have in one way or another in their employ and all of whom are
viewed
with great skepticism by their own people.
While the far more popular Palestinian
leader, Marwan Barghouti, languishes in Israeli prison and has
been forced to end his candidacy; and while
his distant cousin Mustapha Barghouti is literally pushed into the dirt
by the Israeli army; Abu Mazen, Abu Ala, and Nabil Shaath are aided by
the U.S. and Israel to go everywhere from Paris to Kuwait, from Syria
to Lebanon, from Oslo to the U.S. And much new money and
help of various kinds is
being pumped into their pockets all along the way.
Indeed, as we have noted before, the
big U.S. and Israeli Palestinian push is on. The method,
if they can manage it, is to put in
place a new 'moderate' under control Palestinian regime, declare an end
to the Intifada, pump in money for bribes and payoffs and to somewhat
improve
the terrible conditions for most Palestinians, train much greater
numbers of 'security police', further repress any and all opposition,
and kill and
imprison those who continue
to fight. The goal
is to create a greater Palestinian police-state
client-regime
dutifully labled 'moderate' and 'democracy' however quisling in
reality that will accept the Palestinian fate, legitimize the worse
than apartheid realities, and sign some kind of historic 'final peace
agreement' which will give the Arab 'client regimes' in the region the
excuse they then need to be coerced by the U.S. to recognize Israel and
open diplomat and trade
relations with the Jewish State.
It's a very ambitious method and goal of
course. And there's a very great chance, in view of how
little the Palestinians are actually going to be offered and how deep
the distrusts and hatreds, that in the end it too will
fail. But even so world politics is such that it will be
enough for the Americans if they are seen to be 'trying' and enough for
the Israelis if they can further manipulate public opinion so the
miserably occupied are blamed for their fate rather than the brutal
occupier. Oh yes, at the same time the settlements are
still feverishly building, nearly half of the West Bank is under
Israeli control one way or another, and the Apartheid Wall is
essentially turning still more Palestinians into prisoners in
modern-day versions of ghettos and concentration camps.
Abu Mazen, Abu Ala, and Nabil
Shaath dare not visit the refugee camps just a short distance from
their heavily guarded offices in Ramallah -- places like Jenin,
Deheishe, Aida or for that matter even nearby Bir Zeit
University. They
are not only afraid of what would be said to and of them, they
are afraid
for their lives. But while Shaath was in Oslo demanding to
collect more billions from the gullible Europeans to finance their
regime,
Abus Mazen and Ala made a surprise visit to Rashidieh Camp in Lebanon
as they hustled from Damascus to Beirut to Kuwait in their campaign to
take hold of the image of Palestinian leadership that has always in the
past been denied them. At some stops they declared the
Intifada to be over, at others they appologized for what they now
say were Arafat's policies, and at still other stops they promised to
adher to Arafat's policies and absolutely insist on the fulfillment of
U.N.
resolutions, Jerusalem as their capital, and the crucial 'right of
return'.
In a few weeks the U.S. and Israeli
approved and financed 'election' will take place. The most
credible and respected Palestinian leaders are gone. The
widely supported
Hamas organization is boycotting. 'Israeli Palestinians'
are not allowed to vote. 'Jerusalem Palestinians' will have
to vote absentee. And forgotten most of all are the
majority of Palestinians -- most of them still living in refugee camps
throughout the region from Jordan to Syria to Lebanon -- who will have
no vote at all thanks to the policies of Israel, the United States, and
the 'new Palestinian leadership'.
Palestinian Authority to follow in Arafat's
footsteps
Qorei: We 'insist on the
main principles' of our cause
By Mohammed Zaatari and Mayssam Zaaroura
Daily Star staff
December 10,
2004 - RASHIDIEH
REFUGEE CAMP, LEBANON: Palestine Liberation Organization chief Mahmoud
Abbas and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said Thursday that the Palestinian
Authority continues to follow the main principles of the Palestinian
cause and has not veered from the footsteps of its late president,
Yasser Arafat.
Speaking
during a visit to the Rashidieh refugee camp in Tyre, where they were
welcomed by the commander of Fatah in Lebanon, Sultan Abul-Ainayn,
Qorei stressed: "We cannot fill the void left behind by Abu Ammar
[Arafat], but we will try to follow in his footsteps and continue the
mission and fulfill the trust.
"All
of Arafat's principles, including the establishment of an independent
Palestinian state and the right of return, are a paramount will that
must be followed by every Palestinian."
Qorei spoke to the crowd
on behalf of Abbas after health reasons delayed his arrival.
In his speech, Qorei
reassured those gathered about their national rights under the new
Palestinian leadership.
Qorei
also vowed to continue the struggle toward statehood and allowing
Palestinians living in the diaspora to return to their homes in
accordance with UN Resolution 194.
"We will not compromise
over this right. We will cling to it and we will struggle for it,"
Qorei said.
He reiterated the
long-standing Palestinian position that East Jerusalem should be the
capital of any future Palestinian state.
"No
state without Jerusalem, no independence without Jerusalem, no peace
without Jerusalem - just like other national legitimate Palestinian
rights," Qorei told the crowd.
Speaking
on Wednesday at the Metropolitan Hotel in Beirut, Abbas had stressed
that there was no compromise on the Palestinian peoples' right to
return and on the need to provide a safe environment in the Occupied
Territories.
But he added that there
were no political talks taking place with Israel at all.
"There
are talks, but they are of an agricultural, economic nature ... or of
that kind, but no political talks. It is not the time yet," Abbas said.
Qorei
backed Abbas' statement, adding that the "region can no longer handle
the current situation," and that a "comprehensive solution" is more
necessary than ever.
On Thursday, Palestinians
in the camp welcomed their leaders with a marching band and honor guard.
The
gathering amounted to an election rally in which Qorei outlined the
process that led to Abbas' candidacy for the presidential elections to
be held on Jan. 9 - as appointed by interim President Rawhi Fattouh.
The
Palestinian delegation had visited Syria earlier in the week to mend
relations with Damascus and to try to reach a common goal with
Palestinian opposition groups there.
On
Wednesday, replying to reports that the Palestinian factions would be
boycotting the elections, Qorei said: "Everyone was afraid when Abu
Ammar passed away because we did not have his protection any longer.
But the factions and we want to agree on a common political agenda, and
the factions want to participate in the political process ... which is
their legitimate right."
Qorei also said talks with
the Lebanese government had gone well and that the situation of the
camps had been discussed.
"Steps are being taken to
improve the refugees' situation in the camps until they can return
home," he said.
The
status of refugees in camps here is the worst in the region, and
although they cannot vote, their numbers - and the fact that their
cause has been at the center of the political dispute - keeps them an
important constituency.
Rashidieh
has an estimated 17,000 population and is controlled by Arafat's
mainstream Fatah movement. The Lebanese Army maintains
checkpoints at
all entrances - as it does at the other 11 camps in Lebanon.
Abbas
was awarded the President Arafat honorary shield by Abul-Ainayn. Qorei
received a similar shield. A meeting was later held by the visiting
delegation and Fatah officials.
Earlier, Qorei visited
Martyrs' Square in Tyre, laying wreathes to commemorate those killed
during Israel's 1982 invasion.
Fatah
official Brigadier General Khaled Aref said the delegation's visit
sought to reassure Palestinians that they will return to their
homeland.
However, Fatah's
general supervisor in Lebanon, Colonel Mounir Maqdah, expressed
surprise that the Palestinian delegation did not visit the Ain
al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon.
Maqdah
said he hoped all the Palestinian leadership, not just Abbas and Qorei,
would visit Ain al-Hilweh, which he called the "capital of the
Palestinian diaspora, as it is the biggest camp in Lebanon."
Ain al-Hilweh houses at
least 70,000 Palestinians.
Maqdah
said he hoped the delegation's failure to visit Ain al-Hilweh was not
due to rumors about security instability in the camp, and he reiterated
that the camp would welcome any visitor and provide the necessary
security.
"The delegation's
visit did not yield any results because refusing the settlement and
clinging to the right to return were already undisputed issues," Maqdah
said.
Abbas says armed struggle is over
Palestinian presidential candidate insists right of
return is paramount
By Mayssam Zaaroura and
Nada Bakri
Daily
Star staff
Daily Star, 9 December, BEIRUT:
Palestine Liberation Organization chief Mahmoud Abbas said the armed
struggle for the Palestinian people is over and it is now time for the
"democratic route to liberation."
His
comments came as he warned that the Palestinian Authority "would not
able to take control of Gaza if Israel withdraws" adding "it would lead
to a civil war ... we are not ready - security wise - to take over."
Speaking
during his historic visit to Lebanon Wednesday Abbas also reiterated
that all Palestinian refugees must have the right to return to the
Occupied Palestinian Territories in line with UN Resolution 194.
Abbas' comments came
during his first visit to Lebanon since the PLO's forced
departure from the country in 1982.
Referring
to the two-year-long intifada in the Occupied Territories, Abbas said
"Ninety-nine percent of Palestinian people are in favor of calming the
situation down. What we have now is not an intifada or armed struggle;
we merely have the use of weapons."
He
added: "The Palestinian citizen has lost all sense of security and
well-being, so if we provide him with security, his life is brought
back. It is an equation of providing safety in anticipation of
independence. Establishing security on the Occupied Palestinian
Territories and providing security and stability for the Palestinian
people is the paramount issue in our cause."
Commenting
on the death of Yasser Arafat, Abbas said: "The departure of Abu Ammar
created an expected chaos and we will never be able to replace him."
But
he added that "the chaos which arose" created the "need to unite
and
present a democratic establishment to the international community."
Abbas
recalled the secret negotiations that were taking place between U.S.
President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice prior to the Israeli
announcement of its intended withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
"Sharon told Bush
that he would withdraw from Gaza in return for keeping the settlements
in the West Bank," said Abbas.
But,
Abbas added that there were two "minor" issues that Sharon insisted
upon - keeping the West Bank settlements and rejecting the
Palestinians' right to return.
UN
194 for the Palestinians - whether the authority, the factions or the
people - is not an issue for debate and is a common goal, which since
the Oslo Accord in 1993 was not even ever allowed to be put forth,
according to Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei ("Abu Alaa").
Kuwaitis Get Apology From Palestinians
<>Palestinian
Leader Abbas Tours Mideast to Gather >
<>Support,Apologizes to Kuwait for
Supporting Saddam>
The Associated Press -Dec. 13, 2004 - Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas
apologized to Kuwaitis on Sunday for Palestinian support of Saddam
Hussein during the 1990-91 Gulf War, his latest gesture to mend fences
with Arab nations offended by the late Yasser Arafat over the years.
Kuwaitis had mixed feelings ahead of Abbas' visit, with many
holding a grudge against the Palestinians for supporting Saddam during
the war. On his arrival Sunday, Abbas provided a long-awaited apology
in response to a question.
"Yes, we apologize for what we have done," he said.
Kuwait's prime minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, had
said an
apology was not needed and the matter of the Palestinian leadership's
support for Saddam "has been closed."
Mohammed al-Saqr, who heads Parliament's foreign affairs
panel,
praised the apology, saying a "new page in relations was now being
opened."
However, a group of lawmakers said in a statement Saturday
they
rejected the visit before the Palestine Liberation Organization "offers
an official apology to the Kuwaiti people for the sin it committed
against Kuwait."
One of the lawmakers, Mussalam al-Barrak, said Sunday the
apology was too brief and "simple."
"We want an official apology in an official statement," he
said.
Another lawmaker, Ahmed al-Saadoun, said, "Kuwaitis don't want
to
see the Palestinian leadership in Kuwait" even after an apology.
As PLO leader, Arafat supported Iraq in its 1990 invasion of
this
oil-rich country and opposed the subsequent U.S.-led war that liberated
it. He never visited Kuwait afterward.
In Iraq, Mithal al-Alusi, leader of the Democratic Party of
the
Iraqi Nation, welcomed Abbas' overture to Kuwait but argued that Iraqis
deserved an apology of their own.
"This is an incomplete apology because it failed to mention
the Iraqi side," he said in a statement.
He argued that Palestinian support for Saddam and his "whims"
had contributed to the suffering of Iraqi people.
Abbas made a low-key visit to Kuwait in May to attend a
conference
on the Middle East. His visit did not attract much attention. However,
when the late Faisal al-Husseini, then-PLO chief of Jerusalem, came
here in May 2001 for a conference, lawmakers slammed the visit as
premature.
Last year, Abbas then the prime minister condemned the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait in an interview with the state-owned Kuwait News
Agency and called the Palestinian leadership's position "incorrect."
However, he stopped short of apologizing.
Some 450,000 Palestinians lived in Kuwait before the 1990
Iraqi
invasion. Most were expelled or pressured to leave after the country
was liberated, and scores of Palestinians were convicted after the war
of collaborating with Iraqi occupiers.
Still, Kuwait continued to provide financial aid to the
Palestinian
people through the Arab League and international organizations.
Abbas' visit to Kuwait is the first leg of a tour of the rich
Gulf
states Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
"We tell our brothers in the Gulf we are always in dire need
of their support and assistance," he said at the airport.
He did not elaborate on what he was asking for.
Before coming to Kuwait, Abbas visited Egypt, Syria and
Lebanon amid
signs of movement in the Mideast peace process after Arafat's Nov. 11
death at age 75.
His efforts to heal old wounds began in Syria, where relations
with
the Palestinian leadership had been sour for years, mainly because of
Arafat's signing of unilateral agreements with Israel.
Abbas a leading candidate to replace Arafat in the Jan. 9
Palestinian elections promised Syrian President Bashar Assad the
Palestinians would coordinate in future peace efforts. Though a welcome
shift from the Palestinians' go-it-alone approach, Abbas' pledge fell
short of what Damascus wanted linkage of the Palestinian-Israeli and
Syrian-Israeli peace tracks.
In the first visit to Lebanon by a Palestinian leader since
Arafat
and his PLO guerillas were driven out more than 20 years ago, Abbas
spoke of a "positive page" in ties with the country, which views
Palestinians with suspicion.
Many blame Palestinian fighters for contributing to the
1975-1990
sectarian civil war and accuse them of running a "state within a state"
for more than a decade before being forced out of the country.
In Kuwait, Mohammed al-Jassem, editor-in-chief of the Al-Watan
daily
newspaper, said Abbas apologized to Kuwaitis because he "needs
political and financial support," and it would be difficult for the
Kuwaiti government to offer more substantial assistance without an
apology.
"My fear and the fear of many Kuwaitis is that Palestinians
would
return to settle in Kuwait," al-Jassem said. "Palestinians bring with
them their political illnesses and they come to stay."
Sharon: Peace Depends on Palestinians
<>Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Says >
<>Peace Efforts Depend on Palestinians
Reining in Militants>
AP -
Dec. 13, 2004 - The new
Palestinian leadership is
not doing enough to restrain militants, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon said Monday, after attackers blew up an Israeli army outpost in
Gaza and killed five soldiers.
The comments marked the first time since Yasser Arafat's death
last month that Sharon criticized Arafat's moderate successor, Mahmoud
Abbas, though he did not mention Abbas by name. It was not clear
whether the outpost attack would disrupt the fledgling good will
between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Islamic militant group Hamas and gunmen with ties to the
ruling
Fatah movement claimed responsibility for the attack they dubbed
"Operation Angry Volcano." Hamas said it had dug a half-mile-long
tunnel over four months to reach the outpost.
The attack at sundown Sunday was seen as a challenge to Abbas,
who
has been trying to persuade militants to halt attacks on Israelis ahead
of Palestinian presidential elections Jan. 9. Abbas has criticized the
armed Palestinian uprising and enjoys the support of the international
community.
Hamas has not given Abbas any guarantees. However, it has
limited
its attacks to the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, as part of what appears
to be a tacit agreement not to carry out bombings inside Israel.
Hamas and other militants have stepped up attacks on Israeli
soldiers and settlers in Gaza in recent months, as part of an internal
Palestinian power struggle ahead of the planned Israeli withdrawal from
the strip in 2005.
Sharon said Monday that progress in peace efforts "depends on
the Palestinians, if they will act against terror.'
"By now, we don't see any change," Sharon said, speaking in
English.
"Myself and my government would like to move forward toward
peace,
but it depends on one thing, that it should be quiet and I'm really
sorry to say that by now we don't see any changes," he added.
Israel has not said whether it will freeze the possible
release of
up to 200 Palestinian prisoners. In a first response, Israeli
helicopters fired five missiles early Monday at what the army said were
Hamas weapons workshops in Gaza City. There were no casualties.
The five soldiers killed Sunday were identified as Bedouin
Arabs,
all members of Desert Reconnaissance Battalion. The battalion, which
consists largely of Bedouins, patrols the Egypt-Gaza border, one of the
most dangerous areas during more than four years of Israeli-Palestinian
fighting.
Five soldiers were wounded in the double blast, which brought
down
several structures in the outpost. After the initial explosion,
Palestinian gunmen rushed the base, followed by another, smaller blast.
A gunman who escaped said he tried to kidnap a wounded soldier, but
killed him because the soldier resisted.
The preparations for the attack and the explosion were filmed
by
Hamas, a method used in the past by the Lebanese guerrilla group
Hezbollah, which is increasingly training and funding Palestinian
militants.
The Hamas video showed masked men lowering barrels presumably
containing the explosives into the tunnel. Another shot showed a huge
black plume of smoking rising into the air.
The Israeli military said Monday that the tunnels have emerged
as a
major threat against troops in Gaza, and that there is no easy way to
detect them.
Palestinian smugglers have been digging tunnels in Gaza for
decades.
During the current round of fighting, tunnels have been used
increasingly to smuggle weapons into Gaza and also to attack outposts.
Maj. Sharon Feingold, an Israeli army spokeswoman, said the
military
has spend millions of dollars on technology aimed at detecting tunnels,
so far to no avail. "So now the army is using low-teach means,
intelligence and searches for houses where the tunnels start," she
said. "It's a strategic problem for the state of Israel."
In another development, imprisoned Palestinian uprising leader
Marwan Barghouti on Sunday withdrew from the race for Palestinian
Authority president, boosting Abbas' chances to win the Jan. 9 election.
Barghouti had wavered in recent weeks, twice announcing his
candidacy and twice withdrawing. Barghouti, 45, is a leader of Fatah's
young guard, which has complained that it is being kept from leadership
positions.
His candidacy had threatened to split Fatah and open the way
for a
third candidate to win. Since announcing his renewed bid a week ago, he
has come under growing pressure, including from his supporters, to
withdraw.
Abbas, 69, is part of the old guard of politicians who
returned with
Arafat from exile in the 1990s. He has promised reforms, including
holding internal Fatah elections in August, in hopes of appeasing the
restless younger activists.
In a letter from prison read at a news conference Sunday,
Barghouti
endorsed Abbas, but was harshly critical of the Fatah leadership.
Barghouti listed several demands, but said they were not a condition
for his support of Abbas.
Barghouti rejected efforts to disarm militant groups, a key
Israeli
demand, and said no agreement should be made without release of all
prisoners.
Israel has said Barghouti, serving five life terms after
convictions in deadly Palestinian attacks, will not be freed.
Polls last week showed Barghouti and Abbas running a close
race.
In Israeli politics, meanwhile, teams from Sharon's Likud
Party were
negotiating with the moderate Labor and ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas
parties to expand Sharon's shaky coalition to enable implementation of
Sharon's Gaza pullout plan next year.
If you don't get MER, you just don't
get it!
MID-EAST
REALITIES - www.MiddleEast.Org
Phone: (202)
362-5266 Fax:
(815) 366-0800 Email: MER@MiddleEast.Org
Copyright ©
2004 Mid-East Realities, All rights reserved
|