By Dr. Abdul Ruff
Fragile nature of the pathetic existence of Palestinians calls the PLO for extra caution to defend the interests of the defenseless Palestinians sandwiched between a turmoil Egypt and a fascist Israel now occupying larger parts of Palestine. Obama promised a “new beginning” with Islamic world during his historic Cairo address in 2009- heralding a new era in US Mideast diplomacy. Most critics saw a new phase in Palestine state establishment and some of them supported Zionists’ illegal settlements proliferation against the aspirations for a genuine Palestine state. Along a top U.S. foreign policy priority in Mideast as well as ties with Egypt has been the free flow of oil. Because of its longtime support of Mubarak, the US faces the hard task of midwifing a “transition” while staying arm’s-length from the waning regime. Does US want to make Egypt a perfect puppet like Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq that are now being remotely controlled from Washington? Protests are continuing in Egypt with the aim of ousting president Mubarak. But Mubarak, happy that no replacement impossible in Egypt for now, thinks his nominee Suleiman as Vice-President would continue to rule on his behalf until the turmoil settles down and he would resume his “duties” in due course. Mubarak perhaps thinks people want reforms and polls more than his own exit. The anti-government demonstrations in Egypt which had appeared to have lost some steam were re-energized on Feb 8 with an estimated 250,000 people filling Tahrir Square in Cairo. Reports from the scene indicated protestors dismissed the announcement by Suleiman that two committees are being established: one to propose constitutional changes and one to monitor implementation of reforms. Suleiman also promised that protestors will not be harassed by police or pro-Mubarak gangs. Palestinians look all Arab nations, including Egypt, for support against an occupier nuclear Israel, a fascist regime trying to control the Mideast. Israel talks ill of Islamic rule and wants military to take charge everywhere as arbiters and is opposed to an Islamic governments in Iran and Turkey; and Islamization of Palestine. The Egyptian army is reminded by Israeli agents of what happened to the Iranian generals when the Shah fell, and what is happening to the Turkish army as Turkey is Islamizing. Mubarak harmed the Palestine interests in a crude manner by using the terror blockades to squeeze the defenseless Palestinians, who are otherwise being crushed by Israeli aggressions. Mubarak has been for three decades the well-paid enforcer for the US and Israel, sealing off Gaza from the outside world and preventing aid flows across the Egyptian border. Mubarak and his family have become multi-billionaires, thanks to the American taxpayers, and the US government, both Republicans and Democrats, do not want to lose their heavy investment in Mubarak. Many Egyptians live in the Gaza Strip, so there are family ties; Many Gazan students go abroad to study in Egypt. These days Egypt has shut its official border crossing with Gaza, making the life of Gazans more miserable. Hamas security personnel guarded the other side of the border, however, preventing Palestinians from crossing into Egypt. At least 50 Palestinians wishing to exit Gaza were turned back by Hamas forces. The escapees for purchasing essentials came back bearing stories of torture and mistreatment by the Egyptians, fueling popular antipathy for Egypt’s ruler. Mutasem Al-Quqa, who earlier spent seven years in Egyptian prisons, said he was arrested on his way from Gaza to Cairo on charges of belonging to the ruling Hamas, which is outlawed in Egypt. Gazans suffered a great deal at the border crossing with Egypt. They often have to bribe soldiers, but the Egyptians had no mercy on people, whether leftists or Hamas members. They turned back even the patients who came for treatment.” Many Palestinians focus on the cultural and familial ties between Gazans and Egyptians, a result of geographic proximity and 19 years of direct Egyptian control between 1948 and 1967. Uncertainty in Egypt has forced the Palestine groups against taking any position as they always look forward to Egypt’s help to contain Israeli aggression. It seems both Fatah and Hamas leaders are afraid of any similar demonstrations against their own leaderships. Demonstrations of solidarity with the Egyptian people have been ruthlessly suppressed in both the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the PLO-controlled West Bank. Youth in Palestine are being wooed by Mossad agents to go for liquor culture instead of Islam. Private as well as personal wealth making among leaders has proved the PLO freedom movement to be illusory. In fact, the PLO was founded in 1964 as a bourgeois nationalist movement on the initiative of the then-Egyptian President pro-West Gamal Abdel Nasser. Today, the PLO and its pro-West faction, the Fatah headed by Abbas, have been reduced to the status of willing tools of American imperialism and the Israeli regime, and therefore are extremely hostile to the Palestinian masses. Hamas was founded in 1986 as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood which is not able to take the lead in the revolution. Since they look forward to stronger ties with Egypt, no matter who rules there, Hamas and Fatah are both hesitant to take sides over the turmoil in Egypt. Despite the economic distress the unrest has created, some Gazans remained cautiously optimistic about Egypt. People here generally sympathize with what’s going on in Egypt. In Gaza, where the Islamic Hamas movement rules, officials were mum on the mass protests, which have brought Egypt to a standstill and forced President Husni Mubarak to dismiss his cabinet. In the West Bank, where the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) is in control, police blocked a demonstration backing the Egyptian protestors. The Palestine Authority (PLO) by the pro-West Fatah faction in West Bank obstructed a small demonstration in solidarity with the opposition across from the Egyptian embassy in Ramallah. Human Rights Watch reported a few dozen protesters were met by 20 armed police, who tried to confiscate cameras and intimidated demonstrators. Similar demonstrations would have taken place in Gaza, too, but people feared a crackdown by Hamas. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank expressed both hope and anxiety as unrest went into third week in Egypt, a country that has acted as a lifeline to besieged Gaza and a patron to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank but also as the object of anger and resentment. The Gaza Strip is completely dependent on Egypt for gasoline and other essential items. The price of gas coming in from Egypt was one Israeli shekel (28 cents) per liter, compared with 6.50 shekels for Israeli gas, a price beyond the reach of most Gazans. The chaos in Egypt is complicating life in Gaza as fighting between troops and protestors in northern Sinai closes the roads between Cairo and Gaza that bring commodities to the tunnels. By Monday, tunnel traffic had ground to a halt and gasoline reserves quickly ran out, forcing filling stations to shut down. Fearing a fuel shortage and ignoring government pleas against hoarding, Gazans flocked to filling stations over the weekend filling gas tanks and plastic containers to the brim. Even when the Egyptian gas runs out in the gas stations, there will still be plenty of Israeli reserves that the Hamas government has barred gas stations from filling containers to prevent stockpiling. Gaza’s diesel-fueled power stations were also likely to suffer from the smuggling halt, with power shortages to be expected in the coming days. Despite the antagonism between them, both Fatah and Hamas organizations of PLO (PA) represent the interests of rival wings of the Palestinian corporate class against the genuine interests of the freedom movement. Stability in both Gaza and the West Bank must be preserved and leaders fear that protests could “create chaos.” Even though Hamas has links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is half-heartedly supporting the Egyptian demonstrations, the organization obviously fears that the mass movement could spread to Gaza and threaten its own rule. On the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, has imposed a complete ban on solidarity demonstrations with Egypt. Underlying the ban is the close relationship between Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose overthrow would place the regime in Ramallah in considerable difficulty, as well as the fear of an uprising against the PLO’s own rule. Nevertheless, several hundred people took to the streets of Ramallah on February 5 to demonstrate their solidarity with the Egyptian protests. As they began to chant: “From Ramallah to Tahrir Square, the people want change”. World cares about 80 million people who yearn for freedom in Egypt. The Egyptian political system is entirely broken and the departure of Mubarak alone would start the search for a consensual political arrangement acceptable to the majority of Egyptians. The current parliament should be dissolved. Reforms and reshuffling will not be sufficient to make the state functional once again. In fact, the longer the current pre-transition phase lasts, the greater the damage to the security, political and economic elements essential for an orderly transition. The Egyptian economy is in free fall. Its key economic drivers: foreign commerce, tourism, banking and trade services have all been paralyzed. The growing uncertainty has led to a regional stock market crash, rising oil prices and other economic damage. The military—the one institution in Egypt that can guarantee an orderly transition and a stable security environment—is in a difficult position. Its passivity during the violent clashes in Tahrir Square has affected its reputation; this will complicate matters further. So far, the western terrocracies control the rest of the world. Touring the Mideast region to support anti-Islam regimes in the name of democracy and regime change, which would benefit the GST nations led by the US-UK, William Hague, the UK foreign secretary has warned Middle East peace process could become a “casualty” of the calls for change sweeping across the Arab world. Hague’s bold language appears to be a reflection of his frustration at Israel’s refusal to compromise on settlement building in and around Jerusalem, and the Obama administration’s failure to set a clear timetable for negotiations. Hague said it could “lose further momentum” if international focus shifts to countries like Tunisia and Egypt and urged Israel to avoid “belligerent language” and called for “bold leadership” from the USA. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to “reinforce the might of the state of Israel” whatever the outcome of the unrest. Time for bold leadership on Middle East Peace Process from the US and equally bold steps by Israelis and Palestinians. Turkey is pursuing the Palestine cause against Israeli advice and the shift by Turkey toward Iran and Syria, etc. have now compelled Israeli terror strategists to fear that the more time passes, the more the neighbours of region are against Israel. Then, today’s arrogant power Israel would have to listen to everybody. After losing Turkey as an ally, Israel has just seen Hezbollah come to power in Beirut and the Palestinian Authority stripped of its credibility by the Wikileaks exposure of its groveling to America and Israel. Now Israel faces the near certainty of a more hostile Egypt. Zionism exists illegally and kills Palestinians by illegal means. Like all Jews anxiously want, Israeli Netanyahu also expects a pro-Zionist and essentially anti-Islamic terrocracy to replace Mubarak regime with which the Zionist regime could continue the terror-blockade operations against Gaza Palestine; and a continuity in Egyptian regime even with a new leader the Mossad and CIA could establish secret deals with Egypt’s secret outfits against Palestine and Arabs. Israel is already opposing Islamic Iran and Netanyahu has warned of the dangers of an Iranian-style regime in Cairo led by “Islamic extremists” arising out of the political chaos sweeping through Egypt. By “stability” Netanyahu means the unimpeded ability of Israel to continue oppressing the Palestinians and stealing their country. Mubarak has been for three decades the well-paid enforcer for the US and Israel, sealing off Gaza from the outside world and preventing aid flows across the Egyptian border. However, notwithstanding all this, emerging pressure situation has further reduced Israeli options to prolong the occupation and illegal settlement proliferation in Palestine, Tel Aviv would still like to consider, rather haplessly, if there are still some more options other than the peace “talks” and deal. Today, unfortunately, no one is seen rushing to make a deal with the badly divided Palestinians. Mubarak was one of Mahmoud Abbas’s key allies and the Palestinian leader has already been reeling from the Al Jazeera-leaked documents from the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and from the general perception that he had failed to make progress in the negotiations or to secure a freeze on Israeli settlements. Without an agreement with Hamas, he is in an even more difficult position to deliver and sell an agreement given the inevitable compromises. There has been a positive sign as more and more statesmen around the world rightly think if arrogant Israel makes peace with Palestinians, not only a peaceful Palestine state would emerge to raise the children without fear of aggression, but also a more prosperous and enlightened region would emerge too. This thinking is not new, though. It seems the western powers, including US and UK, are urging the Zionist regime now led by hawkish Netanyahu to “urgently” address the deadlocked peace negotiations with the Palestinians in light of the volatile situation in Egypt which could adversely affect the Israel’s future operations in Palestine. Arab disunity has long been the means by which the Western countries have dominated the Middle East. This fact also is responsible for the continued Zionist occupation of Palestine and genocides there. Without this disunity, Israel and the US could not abuse the Palestinians in the manner in which they have for decades, and without this disunity the US could not have invaded Afghanistan through Pakistan and Iraq. This is for this reason the US-Zionists are arrogantly seeking to invade Islamic Iran! However, it is unlikely that the Arabs will suddenly unite themselves. May Allah help them and save Muslims!
abdulruff_jnu@yahoo.com
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