Only free men can negotiate

The beginning of this month was marked by a seemingly hopeful declaration of the relaunch of direct negotiations, but eyes were firmly fixed on the deadline of 26th September when Settlement building would be allowed to continue unhindered.

Of course, both sides entered into negotiations under pressure from the Americans after a long process of foot dragging the Palestinians into negotiations through a 'settlement building freeze' which looked nothing like a freeze. For 10 months I traveled around the west bank and could easily see construction activity going as usual especially in the southern areas of the West Bank. Jerusalem of course was excluded from this freeze. Of course, even Israelis didn't consider this as a freeze as Dror Etkes, in his op-ed, likens settlements to water as 'the only substance that expands instead of contracting when it freezes.'

Israel is trying to sell the idea that Palestinians are placing pre-conditions on the negotiations. But this is far from true. The negotiations are on the area of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) that will be under a proposed Palestinian state. Every new house and every new settler is actually an addition to the problem. Settlement building is in itself creating new facts that will mean less Palestinian land, more land to Jews. Each housing unit, is a further 4-5 settlers added to the problem, or maybe 10 in orthodox settlements. Each one of these settlers is an addition to the problem. each of them a new pre-condition on peace.

The situation in Jerusalem is even worse. An intifada is on the verge of breaking out. Settlers have the backing of the whole system to take land and houses, evict Palestinians residents and use them for Jews. A landmark court ruling, would entitle jews not only to houses they bought but also to houses they leased before 1948, putting dozens of families at risk of eviction from their houses. a further 80 houses are set for demolition in Silwan, just south of the old city, to make way for a park, courtesy of the settler organisation Elad. It is hard to envision such a grand plan to besiege the old city without the orchestrated efforts of all state organs working diligently to remove Palestinian presence in and around Jerusalem in favour of creating a Jewish majority in the area of the 'holy basin', the old city and its surroundings.

Abbas, entered into negotiations shouting and screaming that he will not tolerate the relaunch of settlement building, when settlement building was ongoing throughout. This illustrates the leadership crisis we are in. The Palestinian leadership is not capable of making a stand and standing by it. The are not masters of their free will. They declare that they will negotiate, and that negotiations are the only option they will explore. doesn't this mean that they are not free to walk out of negotiations? that they are not free to determine the course of negotiations?

This reminds me of Mandella's famous quote: Only free men can negotiate.

discourse analysis

I don't know if it was intended or not, but the above image is a screen print from Maan News Agency website. If we were to run a simple discourse analysis based on this image we will have a strange result.
Primarily, the Palestinians are divided: One front, two players (sounds like a one country two systems). The PA, represented by the president and his government, seems to act as a passive observer to a war that is being waged on part of its land. Eirikat, in this article asks the international community to interfere in imposing a ceasefire between the Palestinians and Israelis. As if, he's not included in the "Palestinian" side.
Haniyeh, has reached a point where he's willing to negotiate, but he has no partners. Abbas believes if Haniyeh is ousted by an "external" force then he might gain Gaza back without any concessions to Hamas. Such concessions would ultimately embarrass him with the Americans, Israelis and others. They might stall the peace process again and are likely to cut off the $$$ tap which was opened in Paris.
Haniyeh on the other hand must have realised that things are not as easy as he first thought. Staging a rebellion should necessarily be prepared in a much better way. When he took the Iranian example as a guide, he should have also taken into consideration that Iran was a well established country at the time of the revolution, not one which begs each and every other country to pay the salaries of its civil service and perform its day to day job. Add to that, he also knows that his life is at stake now. So he is willing to negotiate. He might even apologise and possibly agree to fresh elections. Of course in such case, him and his brethrens will present themselves as those who conceded for the public good trying to win more support, and maybe even have an eye on the Muqata'a.
Israel, simply, doesn't care. Hamas or Fatah, it is all "Palestinian Terror" and should be fought. Of course for Israel, toppling the Gaza regime will only be considered as a routine operation against terrorists. This, however, will secure its western border with the Gaza strip, and possibly allow Abbas to extend its authority to Gaza.

Winograd-Abdul Rahim

Two events took place within one month of each other. In the 13th June 2007, Hamas took over the Gaza strip in an unprecedented coup in the PA. On the 12th of July 2007, Israel started a full fledged war against Lebanon, which has failed miserably. In both cases the governments of the PA and Israel, respectively, commissioned an investigation into the factors and actors that played a role in both events.
The Palestinians appointed Tayeb Abdul Rahim, a close aid of Abbas, who received a BA in commerce which he never used from Azhar University in Cairo back in 1967. Obviously he cannot be considered an unbiased evaluator, but lets put that aside. The man issued a report, within one and a half months of the incident, which is a de facto secession, without visiting the area under question. He told us what we already knew, the the security forces were corrupt, unprofessional and the recruitment sucked. The report remained secret, bar for a short statement void of any original content, although it is in the interest of every Palestinian to know what it is in it.
Elyahu Winograd, holds a Phd in Law, Former acting supreme court member, and president of Tel-Aviv District Court, headed the second commission. Excellent Choice for a commission head!
9 months after the war, and 7 month after the appointment his commission issues a preliminary report and takes a further 9 months before issuing the full report, yesterday. The report did not fear criticising the leadership of the world's fifth strongest army, and laid blame virtually on the whole government. Its findings are made public, and the press tackled their every aspect.
The difference between the two, is the same difference between one side which really wanted to know the truth about what has happened, and another which preferred to keep it hidden.
The consequences are the same, people who took responsibility for their actions, quit the IDF, a defence minister who was ousted by his party (remember Amir Peretz? that's partly why he lost Labour's leadership). On our side... well, nothing has changed, nothing ever will until the guys at the top learn what it means to play with people's destinies.

Mr. President

President of the Palestinian Authority
Chairman of the PLO
and all the other names and titles you claim for yourself!

Your excellency,
You once said, at the height of the PA's financial crisis that bread is more important that democracy. few months later, Hamas rebelled against the democracy that brought it to power. You, on your end, rebelled against Hamas. A few more months down the road, we don't have democracy anymore, we also don't have bread. You honourable government is doing nothing to fight the crazy hike in prices. We understand they are busy fighting Hamas, but what do we have to do with that?
Let me tell you where I think the blame can be laid: On Everyone, me included, but primarily you people in power.
Hamas won a fair elections. She came to a government that is totally yours. If we are such a pluralist country, then why does the whole nation have to celebrate the launching of your party? Why on earth did you replace the nice national anthem we grew up with in this land, with the anthem of your party? Why is it that on your party's anniversary, the campaign against stolen cars suddenly stops and Ramallah is full of these cars, driven by careless youths, so long as they carry your yellow banner? Isn't the police force and the army for everyone? Why do they carry your party's flag? And isn't the presidential complex for all Palestinians? What would you say if Hamas wanted to have a rally there?
You see, Mr. President, you never handed over power, your party continued to play as if it owns the country. And your followers made hell of the life of the new ministers.
Hamas, totally inexperienced in the politics of the modern world, thought the can do just the same. They never had money to pay the salaries, but still were oblivious to the needs of the people.
Tell me, had Fatah been in power during the financial crisis, would the so-called union of public employees ever gone on strike? Of course not!
So between your party's thirst for control, and Hamas's irresponsible attitude to us, we were lost in the middle. Then you guys start killing each other, what a nice ending to our national struggle!
Then you guys share the pie. Hamas in Gaza to do whatever she wishes, and you go on with your nice plan for the West Bank.
In a situation of National Emergency, you bring Fayyad, a professional, but still a neo-liberal. He tries to enforce his free market ideology. The thing is, we don't have a market, or an economy. So lets play the guessing game: What do you guess will happen?
Let me try to explain, if there is no substantial market in this country, and you opt for a free market policy, then people with money can buy everything, and can become filthy rich. People who are already poor, are likely to just get poorer. The socialist revolution in Latin America has had its roots in a similar situation, when the US was pushing its allies in despotic regimes across the continent to adopt a free market strategy. Now, two or three decades later, the situation has become unbearable for the poor majority that they are willing to rebel against this system that institutionalises their marginalisation. You, and your government, are doing just that.
You people (both in Fatah and Hamas) act as if this country is yours, and yours alone. You seem to be oblivious to the fact that what you are doing now is going to significantly impact the lives and aspirations of Palestinians for generations to follow. You have no right to decide for us if you are not sharing with us or getting our thoughts and wishes on your agenda.
You have no right to sell our rights to your private sector cronies, or to Israel. Just as Hamas no right to impose on us that financial crisis. If she could not deal with such a problem they should have had the courtesy to just leave office. It is people's lives you guys are playing with and it seems to mean nothing to you.
What we want is a country for US, all of US. A country to live in in dignity and to be able to make a decent living. If you are not going to do that, then you might as well pack and go. Better late than never!

sincerely,