Palestine-Mandate

Late on Saturdan night in Washington, a plane carrying Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas touched down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, the Associated Press has reported.  The AP said that Abbas said, to journalists aboard his plane, “I am going to Annapolis in an effort to realize the dream of the Palestinian people for an independent state”. Abbas told reporters aboard his plane.  The AP also reported that “The Palestinian leader added that the anticipated presence of many foreign leaders at the conference ‘shows that the international community is determined to support the peace process’.

Palestinian Pundit summarizes, in a post taken from the Palestine Information Center (PIC) some recent Palestinian reaction to the imminent Annapolis event: “The Hamas Movement on Saturday denounced the participation of Arab countries in the Annapolis conference, describing it as a ‘big shock’ for the Palestinian people. Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, said in a press release that no justifications for Arab participation were accepted especially when such participation opens the door wide open for normalization with occupation and comes at a time of continued IOF diggings under the Aqsa Mosque. He further noted that Israel had put the condition of PA recognition of it as a ‘Jewish state’ in order to continue negotiation, and added that the Arabs go to the conference while ignoring the fact that Gaza is facing slow death under the tight Israeli siege. The Palestinian people were expecting an Arab unanimity on breaking the siege rather than unanimously agreeing to attend a meeting with occupation, Abu Zuhri said, affirming, ‘We believe that the meeting would only entail more failure and more harm to the Palestinian and Arab questions and rights’. For his part, MP Dr. Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, the secretary general of the Mubadara party, affirmed that the Annapolis conference had failed before it started. He charged that Israel imposed failure on the conference when it refused to discuss any essential issue such as that of Palestinian refugees, borders, Jerusalem and settlements. The MP deplored the fact that the Palestinian side had allowed the Israelis to pursue such a method. MP Khaleda Jarrar, a PFLP politburo member, stressed that the Palestinian people would reject any bargaining over the right of resistance or any attempt to conclude agreements infringing on the Palestinian basic rights. The popular struggle front secretary general Khaled Abdul Majid has warned of the seriousness of the Annapolis conference. In a statement to PIC, he said that the meeting was solely meant to serve American and Israeli interests, adding that it would serve as a cover up for expected American steps in the region to wipe out resistance and forces of rejection in the region. The popular resistance committees in Gaza warned the conferees in Annapolis against gambling with the Palestinian constants, adding that the meeting would only attempt to endorse occupation’s measures. The PFLP – General Command appealed to the invitees not to go to Annapolis, describing it as a ‘peace mirage’.” The posting on Palestinian Pundit is here.

The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh, however, writes that “The overall feeling in the Arab world in general and among the Palestinians in particular is that the United States is dragging the Arabs to the Annapolis peace conference against their will. Several Arab leaders, including Palestinian Authority representatives, have been trying over the past few weeks to persuade the Americans that this is not the appropriate time for such conferences, but to no avail. The main reason cited by the Arab leaders is that they don’t believe that the conference will lead to a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, largely due to Israel’s refusal to fully withdraw to the pre-1967 borders and accept other demands, such as a total freeze in settlement construction, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and acknowledging the ‘right of return’ for Palestinian refugees. But as much as they are afraid of Israel’s ‘intransigence’, Washington’s Arab allies fear the deep divisions and infighting that continue to plague the Arab world. Their major concern is that the Bush administration was planning to exploit the conference to create a US-led coalition to confront Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah“.

The JPost article continues: “The Palestinians are going to the conference at the peak of the bloody power struggle between Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas. In addition to Hamas, many other Palestinians are questioning Abbas’s right to represent them at a peace conference where core issues, such as the status of Jerusalem and the refugee problem, are once again on the table. In short, their argument is that he does not have a mandate to make any concessions to Israel on important and fateful issues. On top of all this, Abbas’s negotiating team appears to be divided not only over the Palestinian strategy at the conference, but also over which one of its members will go to Annapolis. The head of the negotiating team, Ahmed Qurei [Abu Ala] is said to be at odds with Yasser Abed Rabbo, one of the leading negotiators. Sources close to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah also have it that Abbas and his prime minister, Salaam Fayad, have been engaged in a behind-the-scenes power struggle for some time now. According to the sources, Fayad, who ran as head of the independent Third Way party in the January 2006 parliamentary elections, is already preparing himself for the post-Abbas era. Backed by the US and EU, Fayad has managed to consolidate his power in the past few months, much to the dismay of several top officials surrounding Abbas … And since Fayad is the one who’s paying salaries and attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid, there is no doubt that many Palestinians in the West Bank would prefer to see him sitting in Abbas’s seat … Some Palestinians continue to refer to Abbas as the ‘mayor of Ramallah’ because of his limited control over the rest of the West Bank”. The JPost pre-Annapolis analyis of Palestinian and Arab positions is here.

Palestinian commentator Khaled Amayreh, who has previously called on Mahmoud Abbas to resign, wrote last week in an article published by the Ma’an news agency that “Forecasting the failure of the Annapolis meeting is more than speculation. It is a realistic assessment of an event that is not intended to be successful, even if the declared desire suggests otherwise. Indeed, apart from the pleasantries which are meant to create positive atmospherics, Israel and the PA have failed to reach any modicum of agreement on the core issues that define the Palestinian problem. A few weeks ago, PA officials were almost euphoric about the conference. PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas vowed to boycott the Annapolis meeting unless Israel agreed in principle at least to end its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as accept a just settlement of the refugee problem pursuant UN resolution 194. But Israel, of course, agreed to non of that. Now, the PA will go to Annapolis without any assurance policy, relying mainly on George Bush’s ‘good will’, (whatever that means in real terms). I asked one high-ranking PA official in Ramallah this week how come the PA leadership was going to Annapolis, despite the clarion fiasco of the protracted meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials. Embarrassed by the question, the official said ‘we are going to Annapolis to demonstrate to the world the justice of our cause and the need for a just and durable peace in this volatile region’. I reminded him that ‘we have been doing this for ages but to no avail’. Disquieted by the rejoinder, the official looked rather attentively at me, saying ‘what else can we do? If you have some ideas, convey them to Abu Mazen’ …”

Amayreh’s piece continues: “Abbas looks really very pathetic. He had already placed all his eggs into the American basket which means that he won’t be able to say ‘No’ to the Americans even when he must. This is why all he can do to save his Palestinian Authority, which is actually devoid of any real authority, is to day-dream and implore the werewolf of the White House to press Israel to demonstrate true desire for peace. Day-dreaming, psychologists say, represents the highest degree of frustration. But, as the famous Arab poet Zuheir said more than 1400 years ago, he that doesn’t respect himself shall not be respected by others. Abbass should have himself to blame. He trusted Bush and Olmert too much to the extent that he has become a vanquished supplicant at their doorsteps. He maltreated his people and did many things that should not have been done, all to please and appease Olmert and Bush, but to no avail…”

Amayreh’s latest piece, which is too vitriolic for the pages of Al-Ahram Weekly magazine, to which he contributes regularly, is here.