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What are the challenges facing the new Palestinian PM | 4 comments

[new] Challenges facing progressive intellectuals (Avg. Score: none / Raters: 0) (#4)
by GitaHashemi (gita@world.org) on Thu Sep 25th, 2003 at 12:15:27 AM EURODISCORDIA TIME
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Dear Daoud Kuttab,

Thank you for sharing your article. I have much respect for your work as a media pioneer in Palestine and for what you've started at Al-Quds University. However, I disagree with your analysis on fundamental issues. The main problem I see is that you have isolated the present-day manifestation of the conflict from its complex history of colonialism (I am refering to both European _and_ Zionist colonialisms here) and U.S. interventionism, and thus limited your analysis to only addressing superficial issues such as "leadership." The flaw shows, for example, where you refer to the U.S. as a "neutral third party" capable of monitoring a ceasefire, an assertion that even the Israelis would chuckle at since they consider the U.S. their biggest ally. (Surely, we don't need to be reminded of the 5-decades-long consistent flow of American military and financial aid to Israel?!)

Another example: Looking at Road Map as a "peace" agenda is, at best, misled. In essence, Road Map offers no substantial improvement on the Oslo Accord. There are no substantive provisons in Road Map for dealing with major issues such as the mushrooming illegal settlements (doubled in number since Oslo) and the right to return for Palestinian refugees (not only of 1967 but also 1948). And neither are there any mention of the rights of Palestinians living inside Israel, a sizable minority that is a demographic threat to maintaining the purist myth of an all-Jewish state. The Road Map, like Oslo, is a carrot offered to quel the dangerous popular discontent in the region with puppet regimes that have supported American wars in the Gulf twice now. It is important to remember that both of these so-called "peace initiatives" immediately followed the wars on Iraq. The U.S. successfully used the Oslo Accord to impose a "normalization" of the relations with Israel as part of its plan to bring Middle Eastern economies into the "new world order." Without an understanding of how these state-level political initiatives tie into neo-colonialist processes (a.k.a. globalization), it is not possible to address peace in a meaningful way. The Israeli scholar, Tanya Reinhardt, offers an excellent historical analysis of the Palestine-Israel war in her book, published in 2001, "The Palestine-Israel Conflict: How to stop the 1948 war." She tears through the rhetoric of "peace" to help us understand why the state of Israel in its current formulation and Zionist heritage is fundamentally incapable of making peace. In this book she also looks at Oslo and highlights the material conditions and Israeli state practices leading to, during and after the Accord that have fundamentally undermined the possibility of peace, and this while the Labour was the leading party in Israel. If anything, Israeli politics have taken a turn to the right, and there is little reason to believe that where Oslo failed Road Map can succeed.

Yet another flaw: The formation of the "Palestinian Authority" as such (as a dependent entity with severely limited domestic and foriegn policy authority) did not come through a democratic process. President Arafat, as he himself stated, about a week ago when he re-emerged from the rubble of his headquarters, was the only Palestinian leader who was willing to participate in a negotiation process that eliminated major issues of contention (such as the right to return and 1948 territorial borders) from the agenda. While I agree with you that the Israeli government has no right to impose Palestinian representation to its own liking, I see little advantage in representing Palestinians as politically homogenous. There is not a shortage of discontent with and criticism of current P.A among Palestinian progressive and _secular_ individuals and groups. It is not just the Hamas and other fundamentalists who disagree with President Arafat on major political issues. By the way, it is also important to remember that Abu Mazen too was kind of hand-picked and "approved" by the U.S. and Israel as a representative they were willing to speak to.

Finally, I must admit that I am truely surprised that you advocate secret negotiations as a way of achieving peace. Direct quote from your article:

"Finally such a ceasefire must be supported by concerted round-the-clock negotiations (preferably in secret with top US involvement) aimed at ending the basic reason for the violence, namely the occupation of the Palestinian areas and determining the issues of borders, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem."

Since when do we, as progressive and peace-loving intellectuals, have started thinking that secret, top-level, American-led negotiations can solve any problems let alone one with such a fraught history full of stellar instances of American interventionism in support of war? At a time when fascism and militarist colonialism (both led by the U.S.) are waging war elsewhere in the Middle East, I am utterly baffled by your proposition presumably as a way to "peace."

Of course, a ceasefire is crucial and there must be negotiations. The question is who negotiates with who and on what issues for what kind of peace?

Sincerely,

Gita Hashemi

p.s. Considering "negotiations" in the context of Palestine-Israel was the animating theme of a recent arts-driven initiative that I had an organizing role in. The event took place in Toronto, Canada in June 2003 under the title of "Negotiations: From a Piece of Land to a Land of Peace." You may find the programme, and soon documentation of the discussions, at http://negotiations2003.net

What are the challenges facing the new Palestinian PM | 4 comments

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