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Abbas’ powerful UN speech

Sep 30,2014 - Last updated at Sep 30,2014

Without doubt, the speech Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered at the UN General Assembly last Friday was strong and explicit in describing the Palestinian situation. He could not have presented his people’s predicament any better.

Abbas was forthright accurate. He did not tailor his language this time to completely appease his international constituency, as he often did. Instead, for a change, Abbas chose to speak on behalf of his people, all of them, and dared expose the futility of his many wasted years in the US-sponsored peace process with Israel.

The change in tone is dramatic. He is now admitting that Israel is not serious about reaching a real peace settlement, about giving the Palestinians anything meaningful beyond the vague sloganeering and empty promise, let alone a state, and that the negotiations have been useless. 

“The future proposed by the Israeli government for the Palestinian people is at best isolated ghettos for Palestinians on fragmented lands, without borders and without sovereignty over its airspace, water and its natural resources, which will be under the subjugation of the racist settlers and army of occupation, and at worst will be a most abhorrent form of apartheid,” Abbas told a cheering General Assembly audience.

Over the years, Abbas managed to maintain secure American support for his mild and excessively conciliatory positions towards Israel.

He made it very clear that there will never be a third Palestinian uprising against the 47-year-old occupation. He also agreed with Washington to avoid any “unilateral” actions other than seeking the realisation of his people’s national aspirations through protracted and sterile negotiations.

Unilateral actions in this case meant exercising his right as PA president to bring the Palestine file back to the United Nations, holding Israel accountable for the war crimes he is accusing its forces of committing against the Palestinian people in his UN address and rethinking close cooperation, “sacred” security cooperation primarily, with the occupier.

The apparent change in Abbas’ language this time has angered both Americans and Israelis, not because he announced any specific action, but simply because he is now more explicit and equivocal in condemning Israel and demanding an end to the occupation.

The US State Department response to the speech was quick and quite harsh.

“President Abbas’ speech today included offensive characterisations that were deeply disappointing and which we reject,” said State Department official spokesperson Jen Psaki. 

Israeli leaders accused Abbas of incitement and telling lies. 

Abbas declared his intention to head to the UN Security Council for a resolution demanding the end of the occupation, but that has yet to overcome an almost certain American veto if the text is categorical and uncompromising.

How could anyone under the prevailing UN circumstances expect the Security Council to pass a resolution demanding the end of occupation up to the 1967 lines, which means the removal of all the existing Israeli settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, as the PA president demands?

But even this kind of a Security Council resolution would hardly change the reality on the ground if not supported by unanimous international — including American — determination to implement such decree.

Despite his powerful threat to pursue “war criminals”, Abbas’ speech lacked any specific reference to proceeding to the International Criminal Court for that purpose.

“In the name of Palestine and its people, I affirm here today: we will not forget and we will not forgive and we will not allow war criminals to escape punishment,” Abbas affirmed, without explaining how.

The deliberate exclusion of such specific references on the part of PA president must be to leave some bridges open with Washington and the Israelis for known practical PA survival purposes.

But both Washington and Israel were antagonised by Abbas’ speech, not because it was extremist in its content, but because it stated the truth as it is; because he exposed the futility of the negotiations that US Secretary of State John Kerry continues to press for.

“The idea that it is possible to simply return to the past patterns of work, which repeatedly failed, is naive at best and, in any case, is wrong, as it ignores the fact that it is no longer acceptable, nor possible, to repeat methods that have proven futile or to continue with approaches that have repeatedly failed and require comprehensive review and radical correction,” Abbas stated.

He added: “It is impossible, and I repeat — it is impossible — to return to the cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the substance of the matter and the fundamental question. There is neither credibility nor seriousness in negotiations in which Israel predetermines the results via its settlement activities and the occupation’s brutality. There is no meaning or value in negotiations for which the agreed objective is not ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the entire Palestinian territory occupied in the 1967 war. And, there is no value in negotiations which are not linked to a firm timetable for the implementation of this goal.

“We will not accept to forever be the ones being demanded to prove their good intentions by making concessions at the expense of their rights and to remain silent as they are killed and their land is stolen, and to understand the conditions of the other party and the importance of preserving its coalition government, while it entrenches its occupation.

“We are exhausted of the additional tests we must undergo to prove our efficiency, competence and eligibility to earn our natural, simple right to live a normal life and our inherent right to expect a stable and ordinary tomorrow, to dream about more beautiful days, and for our youth to be able to plan their coming days and years safely in peace and freedom over our land, like other peoples of the world.”

Good to finally hear this.

Abbas’ words are truly powerful, correct and revealing. If only they were matched by a plan of specific action! 

Abbas is not required to declare war on Israel or the US. All he is expected to do is to exercise his and his people’s legitimate right to bring his case to the many UN bodies and the ICC.

That may also require a radical revision of the entire post-Oslo process and the disasters it brought upon the Palestinians.

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