<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[A PALESTINIAN’S VIEW OF THE ‘LEAKED PALESTINE&nbsp;PAPERS’]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="byline">Posted  			by desertpeace			on Monday, 			January 24, 			2011 			at 1:44 pm.</p>
<div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;"><em>I as a  Palestinian and millions of other  fellow Palestinians are denied the  right to enter Jerusalem whose character is  being transformed as the  talk about more talks goes on!</em></span></div>
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<div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/palestine-papers"><img class="aligncenter" src="https://i2.wp.com/static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/1/23/1295806859058/The-Palestine-papers-003.jpg" alt="The Palestine papers" width="300" height="180" /> </a></div>
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<h1><span style="color:#808000;font-family:Verdana;font-size:large;">Jerusalem and the unraveling of “the  peace process industry”</span></h1>
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<div><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">by Mazin B.  Qumsiyeh, PhD<br />
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<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;"> </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">“There is a  clear diplomatic impasse here which  will get exacerbated now that the  papers on the negotiations have been  revealed.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">Al-Jazeera  just announced the release of 1600  internal and classified documents  that reveal devastating information on the  nature and scale of  concessions offered by Palestinian negotiators. The Guardian  reported  that ” The overwhelming impression that emerges from the confidential   records of a decade of Middle East peace talks is of the weakness and   desperation of Palestinian leaders, the unyielding correctness of  Israeli  negotiators and the often contemptuous attitude towards the  Palestinian side  shown by US politicians and officials. ” I think that  it spells the end of the  peace process industry an 18 year sham that  facilitated colonization and  enriched a few individuals while  destroying our lives.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">Prime Minister  Salam Fayyad maybe the guy salvaged  from the process as he can claim  only overseeing the institutions to serve the  Palestinian population in  the ghettos and concentration camps in the rest of the  West Bank. The  gates to areas like what remains of Bethlehem district (13%) are  for  now open (yes there are literal gates). The message sent over the past  few  years is that life is bad for those who resist, easier for quiet  Palestinians,  and very good for collaborating Palestinians. There are  thousands of “general  managers” and other office holders in the  Palestinian authority. There are tens  of thousands of uneducated  individuals (selected for being uneducated and for  passing security  clearance by Israeli and American officials) who serve in the  many  security divisions of the Palestinian Authority. The rich get richer and   the poor get poorer here but this still meant that on average the GDP  is higher  in the Palustans today than 8 years ago (though per capita  not higher than  1999). In Gaza the situation is worse economically as  the whole pie is smaller  (mostly humanitarian aid and tunnel trade) and  thus while the rich there are  still rich and the poor poor, their poor  are far poorer than our  poor.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">I as a  Palestinian and millions of other fellow  Palestinians are denied the  right to enter Jerusalem whose character is being  transformed as the  talk about more talks goes on! I managed to enter Jerusalem  many times  like thousands of Palestinians do without seeking permission from the   occupying army. Years ago, I taught high school in Jerusalem and I know  the city  very well. This YouTube video from a recent visit gives you a  glimpse </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/4boo7qg"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">http://tinyurl.com/4boo7qg</span></a><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">I was both  saddened and yet strangely energized by  the visit. The relentless  effort to transform the city to make it “Jewish”  (whatever that means)  involved relentless efforts at ethnic cleansing. Just in  the past two  years, over 10,000 Palestinians from East Jerusalem had their  residency  rights revoked. This is done under 101 pretexts ranging from marrying   someone from outside the city to getting a job in another city or  renting or  buying a peace of real estate outside the city.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">The latest  bizarre situation is ruling that four  elected members of the  Palestinian Legislative Council must renounce their  election or face  deportation. One was already deported (for not showing  allegiance to  the Jewish state that illegally occupied annexed, and colonized  his  city). Three others have spent 205 days now in a tent in the yard of the  Red  Cross Building in Silwan. Yes, as I saw the amazing popular  resistance carried  out by all natives of Jerusalem against the colonial  occupiers, I was uplifted  in my spirits. It is just sad that many  world governments continue to be silent  on this.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">There is a  clear diplomatic impasse here which will  get exacerbated now that the  papers on the negotiations have been revealed.  Everyone had a “plan”  before and the question is will these plans  change:</span></p>
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<li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">The Zionist  leaders have a plan to recognize  Palestine as a state in so-called  “provisional borders” which will become  permanent borders but without  recognizing any of the basic Palestinian rights  (right to return, self  determination, freedom etc). The discussion between  extremists like  Lieberman and more moderates like Kadima is what are the  dimensions of  the Palestinian population warehouses (as a friend calls them).  This is  intended to solve the demographic problem for the state of Israel and   get the pressure off for Israel to take care of millions of unwanted  non-Jews in  the Jewish state. The size of these warehouses range from  Lieberman’s 42% of the  West Bank (itself with Gaza are 22% of historic  Palestine) to 60% (Netanyahu’s  maximum) to 92% (some Labor and Kadima  ideas). In other words will the  Bantustans end-up occupying 9% or 18%  (at best) of historic Palestine? It will  of course have no control over  its borders or its air space or its natural  resources or its tourism  industry. But the right-wing racist government in  Israel is ultimately  self-destructive. The world is wising up.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">Mr. Mahmoud  Abbas plans to continue down the line  of working with Western  governments and Western-backed Arab leaders to maybe  have them apply  just a little bit of pressure on Israel to end its settlement  activity.  After dropping the ball on the International court of Justice ruling   on the wall and dropping the ball on the Goldstone report, the  leadership  introduced via to the UN Security Council and the US may or  may not veto it.  Abbas says publicly that there may be more  “initiatives” coming but ultimately  he is tied by Oslo agreements and  the maximum he could ask for is 1967 borders  with some 3-5% territorial  swap (which happen to be the best areas of the West  Bank) and  certainly he is not going to be allowed to demand the internationally   recognized rights of refugees to return to their homes and lands. The  leaked  documents at best weaken that branch of Fatah led by Abbas that  compromised  basic Palestinian rights. They could even lead to the  demise of this authority  whose terms had expired anyway. Of course  there is a remote possibility that  Abbas will manage to avoid both  assassination and irrelevancy by coming clean  with his people and  offering a new real innovative approach (like dissolve the  PA and call  for an anti-Apartheid struggle led by new leaders).</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">Hamas has a  plan to essentially hold on to Gaza  and hope the now clear failure of  the “peace process” gives them more popular  support among Palestinians.  By controlling the launch of home-made projectiles  from Gaza, they  could hold on for years waiting for change in powers. Iran and   Hezbollah are also hoping the continued disregard for international law  by the  world powers validates the strategy of relying on military  strength and  “resisting” to get rights. Their arguments in the absence  of meaningful  enforcement of international law vis a vis Israel is  difficult for others to  refute. But many moderate and secular people  here wonder what kind of a future  will unfold under regimes that do not  separate state power from religious  authority. And even in Gaza,  people would not vote for a party that will offer  only vague notions  about “Islam is the solution” without a clear strategy or  vision for  the future.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">Left Parties  have partial and unformulated plans.  Many still cling to old rhetoric  and old divisions and are not able to think  innovatively to design a  strategy to recapture their popular support that  declined in the past  few decades let alone articulate a clear unified vision for  goals and  ways to get to these goals.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">The US (and  by extension subservient EU) have a  plan to support the compromising  section of the Palestinian authority but only  to the extent that the  strong AIPAC (Israel lobby) approve of. The leaked  documents show that  the ceiling for the PA demands must always be continuously  lowered to  accommodate Israeli society’s increasingly fascist government  demands.  Recognizing Israel is not enough anymore, the PA must also recognize   the racist NATURE of Israel (as a JEWISH ZIONIST state) and renounce   internationally recognized rights like the right of refugees to return.  If they  do that, will they be then required to recognize that God is  indeed a tribal God  with his chosen people and that the Goyim are  sub-human and not deserving of  even the Bantustans that they are  allowed now to live on?</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">The Civil  Society around the world which supports  human rights has a plan of  Popular Resistance, Media work, boycotts,  divestments, and sanctions to  arrive at justice and ending apartheid. As the  pressure builds to  isolate the apartheid (aka Hafrada in Hebrew) regime, these  activists  believe more Israelis and others around the world will come around to   see that giving back what was stolen is the only real road to peace (at  least  partial restorative justice). It is an uphill battle because of  all the  brainwashing that goes on by subservient media and essentially a  populace around  the world that is largely apathetic. But the vocal  minority that always changes  things is getting more vocal.</span></li>
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<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">As I say in my  lectures: collectively all humanity  has a choice and it is not between  one-state or two-states, colonialism or an  Fundamentalist state  structure (whether Islamic Jewish, or Christian). The  choice is between  having a set of International laws and human rights that apply  to  everyone (beginning with the 7 million Palestinian refugees and  displaced  people) OR a law of the jungle where “might makes right.” The  latter choice is a  lose-lose scenario since we are in an era where  biological, nuclear and chemical  weapons are easy to come by and can  destroy civilization. The former choice  requires we begin by educating  our selves on our own civil society power. Simon  Bolivar, the visionary  revolutionary who pushed for independence and unity of  countries in  South America once said: “They have succeeded in dominating us more   through ignorance, than through force”. Indeed. La Luta Continua.</span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;">The above post is dedicated to our friend Anna  Aschenbach who died shortly after suffering a<br />
stroke while receiving an award  from the International League for Peace  and Freedom (WILPF) yesterday.  Antizionist feminist and humanist from  Connecticut. </span></em></p>
<p><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;"><strong>Be sure not to miss the following post…</strong></span><em><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;"> </span></em></p>
<p><strong><a title="BIGGEST LEAK OF THE DECADE" href="http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/2011/01/24/biggest-leak-of-the-decade/">BIGGEST LEAK OF THE DECADE</a></strong></p>
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<p><a href="http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/category/palestine/"><br />
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<p><a href="http://ps.hadnews.com/a-palestinian%e2%80%99s-view-of-the-%e2%80%98leaked-palestine-papers%e2%80%99.htm">A PALESTINIAN’S VIEW OF THE ‘LEAKED PALESTINE PAPERS’ at PS.HADNEWS.COM</a>.</p>
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