PLO representation is not a sacred text ~ by Khalid Amayreh

[ PIC 29/10/2012 – 12:24 PM ]

By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem

Whenever the Palestinian Islamic liberation movement, Hamas, edges toward eroding the Israeli-American blockade of the Gaza Strip, the western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) becomes thoroughly convulsive.

This hysterical exasperation was so apparent during the recent visit by the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad al Thani to Gaza, that some PLO officials lost their composure.

These officials, speaking out of both sides of their mouths, were furious at the Qatari leader for visiting Gaza without their permission and consent. They were visibly doubly angry at Qatar for deciding to donate a few hundred million dollars directly in the coastal enclave in order to rebuild homes and infrastructure destroyed during the genocidal Israeli blitz on the strip in 2008-09.

This is an expected reaction from the kleptomaniac PA which is notorious for stealing and embezzling aid money donated by western and Arab countries. In brief, the PA-PLO wanted the aid money to come through its dubious system which even small Palestinian children know has no credibility and is lacking in transparency.

In addition, there are two other issues that seemed to have raised the adrenaline levels among PLO officials: First, the claim that the visit was impeding the task of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. But this is largely a vacuous claim, for since when was helping poor Gazans rebuild their lives and their homes an impediment to Palestinian reconciliation? Indeed, does leaving tens of thousands in a state of abject poverty help the task of reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah? Must Gazans, the last defenders of Palestinian dignity and honor, succumb to their misery and penury in order to satisfy PLO officials leading a lavish a life style in Ramallah, Amman and elsewhere?

But the PLO harbors other virulent and malicious calculations. The PLO hopes that leaving the people of Gaza in a state of unmitigated siege, blockade, poverty and misery would force the people to turn against Hamas and look to the PLO and Fatah as the sole savior. Indeed, the PLO has always hoped for a miracle that would deliver Gaza from the Islamists and allow PLO militias to maraud anew across Gaza, spreading chaos, moral decadence, insecurity and corruption all over the partially liberated enclave.

In fact, the PLO exposed its ill will and morbid designs against Gaza on several occasions.

During the above-mentioned Israeli blitz nearly five years ago, jubilant Fatah activists distributed the traditional Kenafa sweets to celebrate the attempted decapitation of the territory by Israel. Some unconfirmed reports indicated that some PLO officials relayed to Israel a bank of targets they requested Israeli army to hit to avenge PLO defeat in Gaza the summer of 2007.

Second, there is the odious mantra of PLO representation of the Palestinian people. Well, it seems the PLO is still living during the cold war era when the PLO was indeed viewed as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

However, since then, the PLO has effectively ceased to be the “sole legitimate” representative of the Palestinian people.

Today, millions of Palestinians at home and in the Diaspora no longer view a secular PLO as their sole and legitimate representative. Indeed, political currents and orientations among Palestinians have undergone radical changes since the heydays of the PLO in the 1970s when any Palestinian disloyal to the PLO was viewed as disloyal to Palestine and the Palestinian cause.

The fact that the PLO has chosen to ignore this outstanding fact doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. The PLO must therefore come to terms with reality, namely that it is no longer the sole and legitimate representative of all Palestinians.

We don’t spell out this argument in a spirit of vindictiveness. The PLO has made some worthwhile achievements. Indeed, thanks to its tireless struggle and strenuous efforts, the PLO kept the Palestinian cause more or less alive.

However, the PLO representation is not a sacred or Quranic text, especially for the many Palestinians who believe in the Islamic ideology.

The PLO has recognized Israel, but for the Islamists and others, Israel cannot be recognized since the criminal state was established and superimposed on another people, the Palestinian people. East European invaders stole our land using military might, destroyed our homes, bulldozed our fields and then expelled and dispersed the bulk of our people to the four winds. In light, how could such a state be legitimate? As far as we are concerned, such a state will not gain moral legitimacy neither now nor after a thousand years.

Then the same PLO effectively agreed to cede the paramount right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees, uprooted from their ancestral homeland at the hands of Jewish Zionist terrorists. Needless to say, the right of return represents the soul and heart of the Palestinian question. And the PLO has no right to give up the right of return even in return for a state covering less than 25% of historical Palestine.

PLO spokesmen and mouthpieces are likely to deny all these facts. But these denials are meaningless, given the agreements the PLO has reached with Israel, including the infamous Oslo Accords and other subsequent agreements.

A few weeks ago, PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas declared in a meeting with some Jewish religious leaders in Ramallah that Israel was created so that it would live forever.

Interestingly, not a single Fatah official uttered a word in protest against the blasphemous remarks of the PLO leader.




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