<?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[Fear and the Palestine&nbsp;Papers]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<table border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" width="100%" align="center">
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<td class="normal_text" style="padding-left:15px;" align="right">12:54 01/28/2011</td>
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<td class="caption_text" align="center">Release your own documents instead of shooting the messenger.</td>
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<td class="normal_text" style="padding-top:10px;"><strong>By Mazin Qumsiyeh<br />
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Ignoring  the hype about the Palestine papers is hard. I spent a lot of time  reading through page after page of the documents showing minutes of  meetings and other exchanges regarding the Palestinian-Israeli  &#8220;negotiations&#8221; (the quotes are warranted). The Guardian newspaper summed  up the back and forth arguments about these papers as follows:&nbsp;</p>
<p>&#8220;PA  and PLO leaders such as Saeb Erekat can be expected to point out that  one of the core principles of the negotiations is that &#8216;nothing is  agreed until everything is agreed&#8217;. As such they are not necessarily  committed to provisional positions that in the event failed to secure a  settlement – though Erekat made clear to US officials in January 2010  that the same offers remained on the table. Critics are likely to argue  that concessions – such as accepting the annexation of Israeli  settlements in occupied East Jerusalem – are simply pocketed by the  Israeli side, and risk being treated as a starting point in any future  talks.&#8221;</p>
<p>For me two things come out clearly from these painful  documents (some of them have parallel data in the US embassy cables on  Wikileaks). First it is not that the Palestinian officials are traitors  but merely (and this is bad enough) mistakenly and passionately going  through motions hoping against all odds that by talking and compromising  more they could achieve a tiny fraction of what we are entitled to. The  second observation is that Israel will not sign a peace deal regardless  of how low and ridiculous the concessions on the Palestinian side: hunt  down resisters (abandoning the internationally recognized rights of  resistance to occupation even unarmed one), give up on most settlements  built illegally on Palestinian lands, allow Israel sovereignty over  nearly 1/3rd of the occupied old city of Jerusalem, give up on the  refugee rights, allow Israel to keep looting natural resources in the  West Bank, give Israel the right to control our airspace, and even  assure a statelet devoid of sovereignty. Not even tourism income would  be allowed in this emasculated state. Some critics asked:  if, as the  documents show, the Palestinian negotiators were willing to accept all  of this then WHY did Israeli politicians hold out?</p>
<p>The answer is  obvious to anyone who ever faced Zionism. They believe (rightly or  wrongly) they can get 100% so why should they settle for 91% or even 99%  especially when the ceiling of the Palestinian requests kept dropping  in the past 22 years (since they accepted in 1988 to let Israel keep  most of the looted parts of Palestine 1948). Today, Israel&#8217;s three main  sources of income are dependent on a continued conflict and occupation:  the 6.5 billion military and security exports, the 6 billion US and  other western direct aid, and 3 billion from the captive markets in the  West Bank and Gaza. All three would be threatened with end of conflict  even if Israel gets to keep most of its stolen loot. Israeli officials  are keen to keep negotiations going to avoid an anti-Apartheid scenario  and for PR and normalization to keep pumping more money and more  settlers into the remaining small shriveling Palestine because it is  economically profitable.</p>
<p>The recorded meetings show no real  interest or even emotion or any sense of urgency on the part of the  Israelis or their American benefactors. Saeb Erekat comes out basically  pleading and begging sometimes and other times using the presence of  Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran to try and convince these officials. Jim  Jones, David, Hale, and (Israeli lobbyist Dennis Ross), Tzipi Livni,  Mofaz etc. all just repeat utter few selective words and simply drag  their feet to keep the &#8220;process going&#8221;. What would be the nature of the  conversations if there was no Hamas to wave as the boogeyman to US  officials and claim success in containing Hamas and other &#8220;extremist  movements&#8221; (In Egypt Hosni Mubarak uses the same notion of containing  Islamic Jihad but for the sinister goal of justifying his  dictatorship)?  US officials are very confident of their strength and  the Israeli strengths and the fact that they only need the Palestinians  to prevent any attempts at international isolation of Israel. This they  get just by innuendo or hints of threats on the Palestinians authority.  They studied the situation carefully and think that Abbas and company  have no other options but to simply keep negotiating and compromising  even if it takes another 20 years. In some very rare instances the  negotiators seem to connect with their humanity and actually feel sorry  for the fate of these Palestinian negotiators. But then you could sense  how they curb their own feelings (as irrelevant) and go back to the  scripted positions of their governments which are simply antagonistic to  anything that is not 100% in support of Zionism. Erekat&#8217;s occasional  threats of a one state seem vacuous and not serious. My book on Sharing  the Land of Canaan showed with lots of data that &#8220;two state for two  people&#8221; approach can never lead to genuine peace (if apartheid was the  problem in South Africa, why is it considered a solution here?).</p>
<p>I  have a suggestion for the Palestinian authority: try to deal with the  issues and do release your own documents instead of trying to shoot the  messenger. Take lemons to make lemonade. Help introduce an even stronger  resolution at the UN security council (e.g. in support of the Goldstone  report or to recognize a Palestinian state along the borders of 1967)  or a resolution at the UN General Assembly that calls for expelling  Israel from the UN since it has never honored its commitments when it  was admitted in 1949. Maybe announce publicly that the Oslo Process was a  mistake or at least is now dead (now every idiot knows it was and most  of those who are getting salaries from the authority know in their  hearts that it was contrary to basic human rights and to basic  international law). This suggestion essentially is to show courage and  backbone. It could also mean the difference: making mistakes is human,  continuing the path as in the past only validates those who accuse the  authority figures of treason. Abbas says he will surprise us in  September but I believe he and those around him do not have that kind of  time.</p>
<p>I, like Edward Said and millions of Palestinians,  disagreed strongly with the choices made by this Oslo group to built the  Palestinian autonomous administration (of the Palestinian people  warehouses or concentration camps) that relieved Israel from the burdens  of managing us and from International isolation based on not even  promises of freedom or return of rights. But I also can&#8217;t help but feel  sorry for those who took that path. It must be very painful for a human  being to go down a tunnel where there is no possibility of a light at  the end and during this trip into the depths of darkness feel the  leaches crawling up his back sucking his blood and voices from behind  calling him back (some of them his political enemies, others ex-comrades  in Fatah). Palestinian negotiators are fearful of going back because  they think it might give political opponents a PR tool. They are just  fearful of losing face; I am always grateful to a wise advisor who 30  years ago convinced me to drop this fear of admitting mistakes (a fear  common especially among men). They may also be fearful of losing a job.  The Palestinian people are very angry though many feel afraid to speak  out for fear to lose their sources of income, fear that the alternative  to Fatah maybe just as bad, fear of Israel, fear of the US or just  simply fear of their own power. But ultimately fear is a lack of  self-confidence to take another course. And their fear should be  balanced by the fact that people are literally dying for justice and  wanting leaders to care about them and not about themselves. [Here we  must remember the thousands of martyrs who gave their lives and hundreds  of thousands who were injured or lost homes and livelihood and still  yearn for freedom].</p>
<p>The status quo is to many humans a comfort in  the known/predictable. Taking another path is feared because humans fear  the unknown. I believe that fear is the most destructive and paralyzing  human emotion. Common people around the world are just beginning to  break the barrier of fear and speak up more for themselves. From Tunisia  to Egypt to Lebanon, the walls of fear are cracking. We common people  and even some leaders must realize that many of these walls are far  weaker than we may think. I can actually hear them cracking…</p>
<p>The  Arab world is in revolt. The fire is spreading.  Responsible people need  to step forward with courage and conviction. There could be surprises  along those lines even from Central Committee members of Fatah. Already  Nabil Shaath took a position different than Mahmoud Abbas. This is just  the beginning.  Palestine will survive. The Palestinian people are not  sheep. They are mature enough to take the truth and to rebuild our  national liberation movement. History marches on and I am 100% sure that  Zionism will fail and Palestine will be free.</p>
<p><em>&#8211; Dr. Mazin  Qumsiyeh is a Professor at Bethlehem University and author of the book  &#8220;Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment&#8221;  (Pluto Press, 2010). He was arrested three times simply for advocating  non-violent resistance to colonial occupation. He contributed this  article to PalestineChronicle.com.</em></td>
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<p><a href="http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=16593">Fear and the Palestine Papers</a>.</p>
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