Divided Palestinians – The Consequences

Bassem Eid is a human rights activist, political analyst and commentator on the internal Palestinian politics who has been fighting for the human rights of Palestinians for decades. But Eid reports human rights violations by Palestinians as well as human rights violations by Israelis. As a result of his even-handedness and honesty, Bassem was labelled a “collaborator” by Fatah. After his freedom to criticise the PA was restricted within B’Tselem, he founded the Palestinian Human rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), but PHRMG later lost funding because its sponsors were uncomfortable with his criticism of the PA. On a visit to Sydney supported by AIJAC, Bassem Eid addressed The Sydney Institute on Monday 24 August 2015

DIVIDED PALESTINIANS – THE CONSEQUENCES

BASSEM EID

It’s an honour to be here at The Sydney Institute. I want to discuss “the situation” and “the future” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately, we Palestinians, have became a tragically divided society, noted well since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007. Many countries, mainly Arab countries, have tried to bring unity or reconciliation between the largest two political factions – Fatah and Hamas – but all efforts have failed.

In my opinion, the Palestinians still deserve their state. When we talk about a one-state solution, people say that will never work because the Israelis are still dreaming of their own Jewish state. This has led us to the two-state solution. Unfortunately, the picture now looks as if the Palestinians are demanding a three-state solution for two peoples. Hamas is fighting for its own Islamic Emirate in the Gaza Strip and Fatah, including the President Mahmoud Abbas, is fighting for its own empire in the West Bank. Then there is the state of Israel. Of course, the Israelis are very upset, and the Palestinian people are upset. But the Palestinian leaders seem more satisfied with the current situation. So how we can create unity, how we can create reconciliation.

As a Palestinian, I don’t see Fatah or Hamas with any kind of will that they want to such reconciliation or unity. And that keeps Palestinian society weak in the face of any future peace talks or peace initiatives. I believe that if Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, will meet the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow, the first question from Natanyahu to Abbas will be: whom you’re representing Mr.  President? Gaza Strip? West Bank? The Palestinian diaspora?  In my opinion, Abbas right now is represents only his two sons and his wife.

Palestinians are really not so keen about Abbas’ fight at the UN or the International Criminal Court. If you asked any ordinary Palestinian, “What are the three priorities you are seeking?” he would say a job to survive, an education system and a health system for my children. What about the settlements? Nobody mentions this. What about the wall? Nobody is talking about it. What about the foundation of the Palestinian State? Nobody is interested in talking about it.

The majority of Palestinians are people who are seeking dignity rather than identity. I have no problem with my identity, wherever I go, when asked, I say I am a Palestinian. People understand that. But if I say I come from Abu Dhabi, people have questions. Is it far away from Turkey? Is that where the President is killing his people? Is it in Asia or in Africa? Nobody knows where Abu Dhabi is. But everybody knows what it means to be “Palestinian”. So I don’t have a problem with my identity, I have a problem with dignity.

Dignity means that people are looking for a better future. And the majority of Palestinians in the West Bank right now are worried by the words “a better future.” In my opinion, dignity can come only via economic prosperity. In this, the international community should put aside the political issue, the peace negotiations, the whole issue of a peace initiative. Ordinary Palestinians are fed up with that, they are frustrated with that. It is time to put politics aside and start focussing much more on economic prosperity in the drive towards peace.

Economic prosperity can pave the way towards a lasting resolution for the Israelis and the Palestinians. Both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, right now are looking much more towards economic prosperity. And when I talk about economic prosperity, it shouldn’t involve only Israelis and Palestinians. I would love to see Jordanians inside, I would love to see the Egyptians inside. I have no problem even if Saudi Arabia would like to participate. Because, when we talk about economic prosperity, I am talking about a regional prosperity rather than just local prosperity. I would like to see negotiations including parties such as Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, if they are ready to be involved, over joint projects between the Palestinians and the Israelis. This is the only way that we might be able to, within at least five years, reach a kind of resolution.

I want to look at Gaza. There is no doubt that the people of Gaza are suffering. There is no doubt that ordinary people in Gaza have had Hamas impose three different wars on them. In an article, last August, in the middle of the war, I was unfazed as a Palestinian to write that Hamas was using its own people as a human shield. I didn’t wait for the Amnesty International Report to say that, I didn’t wait for the UN to say that. From my conversations with people in the Gaza Strip, I knew this. In the first week of the war, the Israeli army sent messages to the Palestinians living in Beit Lahia, in the north of Gaza, warning them to evacuate their houses. The Israelis had discovered that Hamas had built its tunnels under these houses. The tunnels could not be destroyed without the houses.

As the people began to evacuate their houses, Hamas sent their gangsters to Beit Lahia and pushed the people back to their houses, calling them Israeli traitors. To obey the Israelis made them traitors. Forcing people to stay in their homes, was one of the main reasons the number of Palestinian lives lost in Beit Lahia increased.

I know exactly the atmosphere that Hamas imposed on the people of Gaza. Hamas, like other extremist Muslims terrorists, sacrifices their own people; Hamas does not care. And, unfortunately, there are countries supporting such people. These countries are not care about the population of Gaza; they only listen to Hamas and its propaganda.

In last summer’s war, we lost around 2000 people. Thirty-five thousand houses were totally demolished. And people are still waiting for their homes to be rebuilt. For Hamas, the priority is not homes but to reconstruct their tunnels and how to reconstruct their military capability. That’s the priority of the Hamas. Most countries around the world use their rockets and missiles to protect their people. In Gaza, the picture is totally opposite. In Gaza, Hamas uses its people to protect their missiles and rockets.

For ordinary Palestinians, the UN offers no solutions. Their Arab leaders offer no solutions – and nor does the Palestinian authority in the West Bank. And there is nothing from Hamas itself in the Gaza Strip. So, where we are going? Who is going to take care of the people? On whom can these people rely so that one day something good will come? When I talk with people in Gaza and ask them what they waiting for, they answer, “for God’s help.”

The youngest of the Palestinian leadership is around 75 years old. These people cannot think for the future. They are stuck in history. Abbas belongs in the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s. But what about the future for my children?

Not only among the international community but also among the Palestinians, it is accepted that the Palestinian leadership is corrupt. Mahmoud Abbas is the Robert Mugabe of the Middle East. This is my fight right now. The Palestinians do not want an exit from the occupation. What they want is to get rid of their own leadership. I have been told this in Gaza. They even miss the Jewish settlements in Gaza because these settlements used to be a source of income for the people of Palestine. Now the settlements are closed. As well, there is the poisonous relationship between Hamas and the Egyptian regime. In Gaza, the worry is the blockade imposed by Egypt not the Israelis. The Israelis are still feeding Gaza. In the past few months, tens of millions of tonnes of cement have entered Gaza from Israel. Tens of millions of tonnes of steel have entered Gaza. When people in Gaza are asked why, when they have all that cement and steel, they have not started to rebuild homes, they reply that the cement and steel is on the black market. And who is running the black market? Hamas, of course.

When I say to my to Palestinians, imagine that tomorrow morning you woke up and not one Israeli soldier was in the West Bank, what would happen? People say, “Oh, my God, we will starve.” No one says that’s what they want. Palestinians feel they are alone. Nobody supports ordinary Palestinians. Nobody backs them. There is no benefit in a boycott of Israel for Palestinians either. There are 92,000 Palestinian workers in the West Bank who carry Israeli work permits. Every day, in the early morning, they are cross the checkpoints, going to work inside Israel. So when I see the 92,000 Palestinian workers entering Israel every day, it is clear why there is no boycott by Palestinian of Israel. And in the markets of Palestinian towns, the thousands of boxes and cartons of vegetables and fruits, with Hebrew writing, come from Israel.

Palestinian people want to survive. They are not looking for any kind of politics. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement) is another organisation seeking to gain power and money out of the suffering of the Palestinians. My problem with the BDS, is I do not know who authorised the BDS to speak on behalf of me. Who authorised them? I want to know. These people who are trying to kill our economy from within.

How we can pave the way towards economic prosperity amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. I think that that’s very important. In Canberra, I met with some parliamentarians and an influential Foreign Affairs person. I asked the official from Foreign Affairs how much the Australian government was donating to the Palestinian Authority? He said it was $65 million. So I asked where that $65 million was going? Had the Australian government tried to find out where the money given was used? Leaders are not donating from their pockets. By giving money to corrupt people you are not helping the real people. But, unfortunately, this is how things are managed around the world.

With current leadership around the world, forget any kind of solution between the Palestinians and the Israelis, at least for the coming generation. We need at least 20 or 25 years to recover from the tragedies of international involvement and the tragedies wrought by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. We need a long time to recover.