The past several days have witnessed the epitomes of irresponsibility symbolizing the failure of politicians and self-professed peace-makers. An internal power struggle left the Palestinians sans leadership; Israeli assassination operations ensured the rigor of violence, while American disengagement has shrouded the Middle East under a cloud of abandonment. The amateurish, and quite frankly incompetent, handling of the events as they unraveled by all concerned parties reigns grave concerns about the viability of any peace plan at this stage.
A façade of the promise Mahmoud Abbas was intended to fulfill, could not disguise the underlying decrepitude his term evinced. The ambiguity of his powers, coupled with his image of consistently succumbing to US and Israeli demands eroded the little street credibility he had. Perhaps his biggest mistake was not anticipating the power struggle that ensued between him and President Arafat almost instantaneously after he was sworn in. The position of prime minister as drafted required a balancing act by a savvy politician to avoid the minefield that Mahmoud Abbas seems to have heavily treaded on.
Of course, President Arafat played a significant role in the demise of the current government. It is plausible that Abbas’ term only served to show the international community the impossibility of forcing Arafat to the sidelines. In fact with every embarrassment Abbas suffered, Arafat’s popularity grew. Yet on the international arena Arafat continues to be isolated and his options for an intermediary representative have been halved by the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas, leaving him with only one possible appointee, Ahmed Qureia. Should his desired appointee fail to gain the approval of the US, or even worse fail at his new post, Arafat would have effectively isolated the Palestinian people from the international community.
Sharon and his right wing government have also miserably represented the best interests of their people. Having found a peace partner in Abbas, they set out to destroy him with an onslaught of widespread curfews, closures, arrests and targeted killings. If that was not enough, the accelerated building of the separation wall “snaking” through Palestinian territories only served to add insult to injury. Israel has abandoned the “road map” believing its acceptance of the peace plan “in principle” was more than generous. The recent calls echoed throughout the Israeli government to exile Arafat, with some extremist such as Yuval Steinetz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, demanding the expulsions of all the Palestinian officials who were involved in the Oslo Accords, demonstrates the epitome of irresponsibility and adventurism practiced by the state of Israel during these extremely sensitive and fragile times.
Finally, Washington should shoulder some of the blame for the fiasco that took place rather than simply pointing the finger at Arafat. The “road map” is in tatters not because of the Palestinian internal conflict taking place, but because the US failed to police both sides to carry out their obligations. Neither side was called to public account when they failed to do all that was promised in June. Even U.S. officials now say the decision not to be more visible was a mistake. Moreover, the ambiguous position and the lack of visible support the US displayed regarding the demands Abbas made coupled with their unwavering attack on Arafat and embracing of Abbas as the only Palestinian leader, resulted in them killing him with kindness.
The collapse of the peace process undercuts one of Bush's fundamental arguments in favor of going to war with Iraq, namely that toppling Saddam Hussein would pave the way towards a climate of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In fact, the mess of dealing with postwar Iraq has meant that Bush is unlikely to devote necessary time and attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Moreover, progress in the Middle East usually requires US pressure on Israel to take difficult steps, hardly something Bush is willing to get into during an election year. The White House continues to promise the international community that it will be deeply involved in the peace process, while distancing itself for all practical purposes.
As Palestinians race to appoint Ahmed Qureia, currently the Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker, as the new Prime Minister and avoid the collapse of the Palestinian National Authority, the real problems and solutions within Palestinian internal politics remain in the background. The problem is not the cabinet, nor the president or the prime minister. It is within Fatah and the political culture that exists in Palestinian society today. The solution is to have genuine elections to get rid of the old guard. Sooner or later people should learn the concept of a gracious exit. In the short term, the Palestinian leadership must at all costs avoid internal conflicts and personal power struggles and focus on how to build a system of government that will empower Palestinians to deal with external challenges.
Believing in Jerusalem
Date posted: May 27, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.
Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.
Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.
The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.
The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.
What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.
Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.
The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.
That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Let Mohammed rest in peace
Date posted: May 20, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.
The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.
My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.
Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.
Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.
That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Recognition and justice is our demand
Date posted: May 13, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.
This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.
It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.
But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.
We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
