Politics, Fatah-Style
There is no single figure more publicly venerated than that of former Palestine Liberation Organization head, Yasser Arafat. The ferociously popular Arafat, a co-founder of the PLO and a figure of deceptively singular dedication to the well-being of the Palestinians, was a mendaciously venal, evil and destructive man. Time after time it was within his power to make good a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel, and time after time he was pleased to advance another agenda, one hidden to the world at large.This is the world at large, through the kindly auspices of the United Nations that never failed to provide massive amounts of funding for the Palestinian refugees. Funding that came also from the EU, the US, and other countries of the world, to ensure that the Palestinian refugees would not be abandoned in their plight. And huge amounts of that cash have never, ever been accounted for. Funding meant for civic infrastructure, for schools, medical clinics, and the foundation for a nascent state.
Even the Palestinians had full knowledge of the corruption of their Fatah-PLO leadership. Regardless of which, they remained loyal to the stridently belligerent Arafat. An uncouth and sly brigand whom the world body invited to address the United Nations as a figure of great importance in the Middle East, where he was able to stand at the podium, denounce Israel, and brandish a firearm. The current president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, was a confidant of Arafat's. And his immediate successor.
Lacking the vicious demeanor of Yasser Arafat, and doubtless, along with his new prime minister, genuinely seeking to advantage the future of Palestinians, Mahmoud Abbas has been no more successful, albeit less physically violent, than his predecessor. Fatah has come full circle, with its old guard insisting on a return to disengagement from potential peace, and re-engagement in ongoing belligerence and violence against Israel.
Violence and ill wishes are extended fulsomely also to its rival for Palestinian hearts, Hamas. Dissension within PLO, within Fatah and Hamas is its own story of the Palestinian inability to seek higher ground, to made something of itself, for and with its people. And, in the statement of Saudi King Abdullah, addressing the factional infighting between all three, there is more than adequate demonstration of what Israel can continue anticipating from its neighbours as far as 'acceptance' as an equal state in the Middle East is concerned.
"I'll be honest, brothers" the king wrote, addressing Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies. "The criminal enemy [Israel] could not over long years of continued aggression have inflicted as much damage to the Palestinian cause as did the Palestinians themselves in a matter of a few months. Even if the whole world agreed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with all the needed support and backing, it will not be established as long as the Palestinian house is divided."
Another question of what remains for the Middle East political scene is whether, under any circumstances, inclusive of an eventual settlement for peace and the reality of two side-by-side states, Israel will ever see acceptance. That there will be a surcease of agitation to violence and hatred toward a Jewish State established within a majority Muslim geography.
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Traditions
posted by Pieface @ Friday, August 07, 2009
<< Home