The cart before a dead horse
This is a letter I address publicly to Mahmoud Abbas and all
Palestinian (and other) people
A while back I was invited to a meeting of Palestinian business and
political leaders. One of the prominent speakers was a prominent member of the
revolutionary council of Fatah. Wikepedia said he was accused of corruption
repeatedly. The meeting was to address the financially precarious situation of
the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and ways to respond to the Bahrain
conference. I heard much “political” posturing and useless talk including an
interesting note that the politician said that the authority “cannot” prevent
people from going to Bahrain (because then it could be said that the people did
not attend because of pressure”. I commented: If our objection to the Bahrain
conference is that it is trying to subvert Palestinian legitimate rights of
return to their homes and lands and self-determination via “bribes” of economic
improvement, then this is precisely what the Oslo agreements were about. If we disagree
with that approach, then we should start by removing all the agreements of Oslo
and its appendages like the Paris economic agreement that gave Israel responsibility
to continue its economic profiting from the occupation. Someone asked what is
your solution? I said go back to be a real Palestine Liberation Organization:
Palestine is all of Palestine not 22% of it, Liberation is self-explanatory and
it is for all 13.5 million of us Palestinians, and organization means more than
one person we “pledge loyalties” to. The well-dressed politician came after the
meeting to chastise me before he got into his fancy black Mercedes (which was
left running all the time) with his body guards. Many of those attending came to
tell me that they supported what I said (I told them they should have spoken
out in public). Many are genuinely afraid but it is now an existential issue
and we cannot remain silent. I told them more people are speaking out. The
social media is a very strong tool in our hands.
The Bahrain conference concocted by racist Zionists Kushner/Greenblatt/Freedman
uses exactly the same language as encoded in Oslo. You can compare for example
the economic texts of Oslo II agreement signed in Paris (available here https://www.paltrade.org/upload/agreements/Paris%20Economic%20Protocol.pdf
) with the text of the Bahrain “Peace to prosperity” working documents (available
here https://www.whitehouse.gov/peacetoprosperity/
).
To be blunt: those who signed on to Oslo I and II and still follow them
are no more or less than those who sign on to Bahrain I (yes, there will be
Bahrain II). In public speeches they claimed it is somehow a different thing
and now putting the cart (economy under occupation) in front of the horse
(political solution of two states). Sorry, the cart had run over the horse and
killed it back in 1993 (some say the beginnings was in 1974 and 1988). So it is
time to get a new horse proverbial horse (A PLO reclaiming its charter of a
secular democratic state), remove the trash that was accumulated in the cart
and get a new beginning. It is thus not enough for us to protest things. It is
time to take our own initiatives. It is time for a new PLO that reflects the
will of the people and can then harness their amazing power. If anyone wants to
know about the amazing power of the Palestinian people to get new horses,
please read my book “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and
Empowerment.” In it I explain for example how the uprising of 1936 forced
dissolutions of many factions, reshaped others, and created new ones. We must
learn from our history the right lessons. The best lesson to learn is that it
is never too late to admit mistakes and go back to the people. I do have real
faith in the people. The self-declared leaders know in the deep recess of their
calcified hearts these facts and know that risking positions and money is
nothing compared to the certainty that if they stay the course, the end will be
clear. We all die. The question is how do you want to be remembered? You have
two models 1) Collaboration/selfishness: e.g. Marshal Philippe Pétain (head
of the French Vichy regime 1940-1942) and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (corrupt US puppet
president of South Vietnam 1967-1975), or 2) enlightened leadership like Omar
Al-Mukhtar and Che Guevera? The choice is yours/ours.
I Murder 200,000+ People… Every Day
