By Robert Inlakesh
Despite efforts to portray the two Palestinian-Israeli security summits as fulfilling both sides’ aspirations for calm, the reality is far less rosy.
Two controversial meetings between the Palestinian Authority and “Israel” took place, allegedly with the aim of reducing tensions throughout occupied Palestine and combating the new armed groups that have formed in the West Bank.
US efforts to stem the upsurge in armed struggle will not return to the old the state in whichon the contrary they will cause more blood to flow unnecessarily.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), against the advice of Palestinian public opinion, participated in a second “security summit” in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday to work with the Zionist entity on the coordination of the struggle against the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.
This summit is an extension of the one held in Aqaba, Jordan, in February, which brought together Israeli, American, Egyptian and Palestinian Authority officials for the same purpose.
Participants presented the two security summits as responding to a common Palestinian and Israeli yearning for calm, but the reality is far more grim.
The US administration of Biden has repeatedly expressed concerns about the steady rise in tensions in the West Bank. Since the beginning of the year, nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed and Palestinian armed attacks against settlers and soldiers are a serious challenge for the Israeli entity.
Bill Burns, the current director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), even publicly stated that what was happening in the occupied territories was very similar to the situation he experienced in the early 2000s.
The most notable development in recent months has been the so-called endorsement of a US proposal to restore relative calm in the West Bank.
This proposal, now called plan Fenzel was written by US security coordinator Michael Fenzel and aims to help the Palestinian Authority set up a special force to suppress resistance movements in the West Bank.
Since September 2021, when the Jenin Brigades armed group officially declared its existence, thousands of young Palestinians have joined or created resistance groups across the West Bank.
Individual attacks on Israelis have also increased, often in direct retaliation for deadly “Israeli” raids.
On March 31, 2022, “Israel” launched “Operation Break the Wave”, and increased violent raids in Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps. According to the UN, last year was the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005, and things appear to be getting worse.
On the other hand, nearly 50 Israelis have been killed in attacks since the launch of Operation Break the Wave, which is also the deadliest period for Israelis in the occupied territories since the early 1990s. 2000.
It is clear that “Israel’s” stubbornness to escalate violence and brutal killings of Palestinians, far from crushing the armed struggle, has the opposite effect.
Before the Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh summits, “Israel” committed massacres against the Palestinians and, while the two meetings were taking place, the Palestinian Resistance attacked Israeli settlers in the town of Huwara, located near Nablus.
The US Biden administration has repeatedly sent delegations to meet with Israeli officials this year, and Western media have repeatedly claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to reduce and/or delay the illegal expansion of settlements and to refrain from further unilateral actions, all of which were broken within an hour.
And, although top Israeli ministers like Bezalel Smotrich openly stated that, for him, the Palestinians do not even exist as a people, the Palestinian Authority continues to engage in talks with Israeli officials.
For the third time in a few years, the PA announced in January the end of its security coordination with “Israel”. She could have regained much of the long-lost trust in Palestinian society, had she continued down this path.
But instead of respecting her commitment, she decided to meet the occupiers to organize with them the fight against the Palestinian resistance. The PA has also stepped up its anti-Hamas rhetoric in recent weeks, raising tensions to a level not seen since 2014.
While it is in the self-interest of PA politicians, Israelis and the US government to bring calm to the West Bank, the PA’s open collaboration with Washington and “Tel Aviv” has the opposite effect.
The assassination of more than one Palestinian a day in the West Bank, resistance fighters and civilians alike, has a considerable impact on public opinion throughout the territory.
The current Zionist entity is the most extremist – in terms of rhetoric – in history, and it is violating all the agreements it has made with the United States and the Palestinian Authority.
If the Palestinian Authority continues to work with the occupiers to dismantle the armed struggle, it is signing its death warrant.
As we see with the recent diplomatic breakthrough brokered by China between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the world has entered a new era.
The era of the total domination of the United States and Israel in the Middle East is over, the Zionist entity itself is facing an internal crisis, and it is not by begging for crumbs from the Israelis that the ‘PA will calm the revolutionary fervor of the younger generation of Palestinians in the West Bank.
The new Palestinian generation has not experienced the “Oslo Accords” and does not believe in diplomacy. If the PA helps “Israel” suppress Resistance forces in the West Bank as the US wants, it will end up being treated as an extension of the occupation.
The only way for the PA to maintain its long-term power is to join the battle for freedom and politically exploit the armed struggle. The repression as violent as it is will not get the better of the armed struggle, and even if the new generation of fighters were defeated, another will rise to continue the fight.
Shooting Palestinians or arresting them will not alter the Palestinians’ thirst for freedom. The only way to restore calm is to give the Palestinians back their rights and their land.
23 mars 2023 – Al-Mayadeen – Translation: Chronicle of Palestine – Dominique Muselet