Over a year ago, Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas attempted to have Palestine recognized as a full member state of
the United Nations; unfortunately, the Americans vetoed this, causing many to
lose hope in US President Barack Obama. A little over a year later, Abbas is
planning to go back to the UN to rally up support in the General Assembly for a
vote on recognizing Palestine as a non-member state. While many Palestinians
have lost faith in Abbas, with time, he has shown that he is dedicated to see a
Palestinian state established in the shortest time possible.
For many Palestinians, Mahmoud Abbas has
betrayed them; two weeks ago, he appeared on Israeli channel two, and declared
in Arabic and English that he believed in the two-state solution, and has no
aspiration to return to live in Safad (Tzefat), his birthplace which is located
in the northern Israel. He declared that
for him, Palestine is the West Bank and Gaza strip, with Jerusalem as its
capital (shared with Israel). This
contradicts the will of many Palestinians who believe in the right of return to
historical Palestine, to the lands that they lived on before the 1948
Nakbah.
Realistically speaking, I think we all know
that for now the Right of Return is not on the agenda; and if so, it would be
for a limited number of people negotiated under a settlement. In any case, we
are so far from a settlement that under the circumstances, those who oppose
Abbas should reassess their stance. More than any other Palestinian politician,
Abbas has systematically demonstrated that he is dedicated to peace and a
struggle which is achieved through diplomacy. I would argue that he has made
serious progress at placing Palestine on the agenda. Now that Obama has won a
second term, Abbas can safely brush off Israeli claims that he is at fault for
not making progress towards a peace agreement.
Over the last almost four years, Israeli PM
Netanyahu and his very undiplomatic Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, have
demonstrated over and over again that they are not interested in peace (for more on Netanyahu/Lieberman and elections, click here). While the Iranian threat is real, Netanyahu
has used it as a way to divert attention from the Israeli occupation and the
continued colonization of Palestinian lands. Furthermore, Lieberman has not
missed an opportunity to try to delegitimize Abbas and the Palestinian
authority. More recently, Israel is threatening the Palestinian authority that
if they go to the UN for recognition, Israel will hold back revenues it owes them.
The real test now begins for Barack Obama
to push the Israeli government to either work towards a two-state solution, or
accept the consequences: a shared state with Palestinians; in other words, a bi-national state. With the Israeli
elections only two months away, a major speech concerning the Middle East is
more important than ever, and if Obama does have something in mind, it needs to
be stated even before the second inauguration. Let us not forget that
concerning foreign policy, Obama has a golden opportunity to make change; not
like domestic politics where his hands are tied by the Republican house, with
foreign policy he is free to set the agenda on his own. If he were to do this, the Israeli electorate
would have the chance to see that the game of stalling is over and the time has come to take a major step at ending the occupation, or to bear the consequences. By doing this,
Obama will place the peace process back on the agenda, breathing debate into the Israeli society concerning its future.
No comments:
Post a Comment