Arab revolts. Is the West Bank next?

[dylans]

Revolutions take directions not initially foreseen by those who launch them. This is a truism of course but never more true than when revolts and uprisings take on a pan national dynamic. Who would have thought that the act of a single desperate man, Mohamed Bouazizi would literally shake the Arab world?

It seems inevitable then that the wave of revolts sweeping the region will at some point reach into the one place that could be considered the heart of the collective humiliation of the Arab world. Palestine.

The conditions are there for sure. Leaving aside the occupation for a moment. We have an increasingly despised and undemocratic leadership, widely considered to be corrupt and even treasonous. We have their lies and collaborative polices recently revealed by wikileaks. We have a young population increasingly disillusioned by their leadership. A leadership so afraid of its own people that it refuses to call elections.

Imagine how present events must look to a Palestinian. Watching impotently with a combination of both pride and humilation. Pride as the Arab world rises up against tyranny and humiliation at the knowledge that he remains under the boot of a corrupt, undemocratic and collaborator regime.

It is clear to anyone who looks at events that the Arab revolt will wind its way to Palestine and when it does the Palestinian people will for the first time be able to call on the solidarity and support, not of despots and dictators, not of empty words and hypocrisy, but to the newly liberated Arab masses. A prospect that should make both the Zionist occupiers and their collaborator puppets shake in their boots.

All roads must eventually lead to occupied Palestine and it is inconceivable that a revolutionary process concerned with democratic and national rights will not eventually engulf a people whose very existence epitomises the denial of such rights, occupied Palestine, particularly the West Bank. When it does Israel may find they are facing an occupied people newly energised and awakened in a world that has changed.

If Binyamin Netanyahu's govenment, and its lobby in Washington, were rational they would be rushing to plan Israel's evacuation from the occupied territories, and encouraging the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

That is because they would understand that the Arab revolution will not stop at the gates of the West Bank, especially when it is the occupation that unites virtually all Arabs and Muslims in common fury.

As for the Palestinians themselves, they are watching the revolutions with a combination of joy and humiliation. Other Arabs are freeing themselves from local tyrants while they remain under a foreign occupation that grows more onerous every day -particularly in East Jerusalem. While other Arabs revel in what they have accomplished, the Palestinians remain, and are regarded as, victims.

It is not going to last. The Palestinians will revolt, just as the other Arabs have, and the occupation will end.

But it is up to the Israelis to help decide how it will end (just as it was up to the Mubarak government and Egyptian army to decide whether the regime would go down in blood and flames or accept the inevitable).

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m75262&hd&size=1&l=e&fb=1

 

[ernestolynch]

Unfortunately the old M-L Palestinian lot don't seem to be as big as they were in the 70s...

 

[dylans]

Unfortunately the old M-L Palestinian lot don't seem to be as big as they were in the 70s...

I am assuming by M-L you mean Marxist Leninist?

True enough. Expanding from that we could say that the secular and democratic nationalist forces have taken a beating in general (I am including the marxist left in that) The Palestinian leadership, contemptuous of the Arab masses chose instead to court Arab despots, the very same despots who are the targets of the Arab uprisings and these same regimes offered only occasional cash handouts and more commonly only hypocritical words and betrayal.


Faced with an inability to call on mass action for support, the Palestinian leadership, including the leftists chose instead to turn to guerilla ism and elite armed struggle, a strategy that, though heroic, has spectacularly failed and led only to a dead end both militarily and politically.

The fatal mistake of the PLO historically was to assume the Arab nation was confined to its leadership and never applied the concept to the Arab masses, despite the widespread sympathy and support for Palestinian freedom amongst ordinary Arabs. And of course this contempt meant a dismissal of any strategy based on mass action which in turn led the Palestinian struggle to be increasingly isolated. The result of course was despair and hopelessness and spurred the rise of reactionary religious nationalists such as Hamas, as people turned away from secular leadership in their frustration and disgust


Worse, those very same secular leaderships increasingly chose petty self interest and corruption and in Fatah's case, outright betrayal and collaboration. The Palestinians were left with two rotten choices. The treachery of Abbas or the reactionary Islamism of Hamas. The revolts of the Arab masses offer a way out of these bankrupt choices.


We are seeing those very same corrupt and collaborationist leaders being overthrown one after the other by the very masses that the Palestinian leadership dismissed as dead wood for so many years. In addition these revolts are overwhelmingly democratic and secular in their aspirations. This is the key to freedom and it seems a given that these revolts can only reinspire and reignite a Palestinian revolt which in its turn will be explicitly inspired by these events (and be inspired ideologically) Events whose significance is not lost by both traitors like Abbas or religious reactionaries like Hamas I am sure. It is no accident that both Fatah and Hamas moved quickly to smash demonstrations of solidarity with Egypt in both the West Bank and Gaza.

 

[elbows]

Abbas further undermined his reputation by issuing only weasel words about Libya in recent days.

 

[SpookyFrank]

The egyptian revolution may also have a direct effect on the blockade of Gaza if a new government decides to open the Rafah border. Without the blockade Hamas would lose their stranglehold on Gaza pretty much overnight, their control of the tunnels suddenly rendered meaningless. With Hamas weakened the Israelis would also have less justification for continuing the blockade on their side, and a blockade on only three sides would be pretty pointless anyway.

 

[elbows]

Unfortunately as people are finally realising in increasing numbers in recent days, the Egyptian government isnt new.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Unfortunately as people are finally realising in increasing numbers in recent days, the Egyptian government isnt new.

Indeed not, or at least not yet. That's why I said 'a new government' not 'the new government'.

 

[dylans]

The egyptian revolution may also have a direct effect on the blockade of Gaza if a new government decides to open the Rafah border. Without the blockade Hamas would lose their stranglehold on Gaza pretty much overnight, their control of the tunnels suddenly rendered meaningless. With Hamas weakened the Israelis would also have less justification for continuing the blockade on their side, and a blockade on only three sides would be pretty pointless anyway.

The blockade is the most obvious issue but I am more interested in the inspirational effect of the Arab uprisings. Firstly the inspirational effect in terms of the potential for stirring another intifada and a movement against Abbas and secondly the ideological impact of democratic secular movements. in terms of raising challenges to the Islamism of Hamas and the treachery of Fatah. As far as the blockade and the peace deal are concerned it is becoming increasingly clear that we can expect little from the military. Rather it is the domino effect of the pan Arab uprisings that give cause for hope.

 

[likesfish]

when the Egyptians sort themselves out.
border will probably open.
doom for hamas and hopefully fatah as well and big big problesm for israel

 

[SpookyFrank]

The blockade is the most obvious issue but I am more interested in the inspirational effect of the Arab uprisings. Firstly the inspirational effect in terms of the potential for stirring another intifada and a movement against Abbas and secondly the ideological impact of democratic secular movements. in terms of raising challenges to the Islamism of Hamas and the treachery of Fatah. As far as the blockade and the peace deal are concerned it is becoming increasingly clear that we can expect little from the military. Rather it is the domino effect of the pan Arab uprisings that give cause for hope.

I think, or rather hope, you're right. The credibility of Hamas and Fatah must have taken a big hit already.

 

[SpookyFrank]

when the Egyptians sort themselves out.
border will probably open.
doom for hamas and hopefully fatah as well and big big problesm for israel

I sincerely doubt that Israel is looking forward to the establishment of a democratic Egypt.

 

[dylans]

I think, or rather hope, you're right. The credibility of Hamas and Fatah must have taken a big hit already.

Exactly

 

[quimcunx]

Are there demonstrations scheduled for tomorrow?

 

[Kid_Eternity]

I think I read somewhere about a call for all Palestinian parties to unite or something...

 

[dylans]

I think I read somewhere about a call for all Palestinian parties to unite or something...

Article on planned demonstrations for 15 March here
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m75305&hd&size=1&l=e&fb=1

Also there was a unity demonstration in Ramallah today. Abbas banned it as usual

February 24, 2011

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinians rallied Thursday in the center of Ramallah protesting against both the state of internal political disunity and the Oslo Accords with Israel, leading to brief skirmishes between the sides.

About 1,500 protesters took to the main streets of the city carrying flags and banners and calling for unity and liberation. Protesters represented every faction, among them Hamas, Fatah, and the leftist parties.

Khalida Jarrar, a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine lawmaker, said it was time to "wipe this page from our history."

Rally organizer Hassen Faraj said the "Palestinian youth want to convey a clear message on the necessity of ending division and to return to unity, enough with division."

He added: "We must return to unity. We're too complacent with the division. If we unite, we could confront the Israeli occupation and restore our rights and stand behind our leadership."

Authorities in Gaza banned the rally, Faraj said. He considered the move disappointing.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m75314&hd=&size=1&l=e