Thursday, April 22, 2010

Is al-Fatah actually a moderate faction?

Not only what the mainstream media shows about Israel and its conflicts is important; we must also take into account those facts which are not told by Spanish newspapers. And Israeli daily AURORA DIGITAL, which is written in Spanish on the Internet, has published two articles whose content rarely appears in El País or Público.
One of the articles is entitled Analysis: who are the moderate Palestinians? Almost the entire article below (as accurate as possible, between quotation marks):

"Al-Fatah, the main component of the Palestinian Authority, is in some kind of stew. It would like to launch a third intifada (an armed uprising against Israel) but it thinks it has not the power at this moment.
The source of this is none other than Nabil Shaath, an al-Fatah's veteran civil servant. He would like to see the 'popular resistance' against the West Bank security fence (which prevents suicide attacks and has brought some peace not only for Israel but for the Palestinians, and which has allowed the Palestinian economy to strengthen itself); against the construction in the east of Jerusalem by Israel (although he is not opposed to the Palestinian construction in the east of Jerusalem, which in some way is never reported), and against the Israeli settlements in the West Bank (which occupy approximately the 9% of the West Bank, almost insignificant for the dreams of the Palestinian society).
He also sees as a justification for an armed struggle against Israel, the 'siege' of Gaza. Gaza, dou you remember? The area from which Israel entirely withdrew in 2005? Gaza, the zone from which Hamas fires rockets against Israeli cities, like Sderot? Gaza, where all the gun-running passes through the Sinai peninsula to fire much more powerful attacks against Israel?
'We are not talking about here whether we have the right to do it or not [to initiate another intifada]', said Shaath to the Jerusalem Post, 'we are talking about whether it would be effective and whether we have the capacities and the desire'.
Take into account that an 'armed uprising' or 'intifada' is not but other word for a terrorist attack: bombings against cafés, pizzerias, discotheques, buses and other public places. This is what Nabil Shaath, a high-profile Fatah's civil servant, considers undoubtedly to have the 'right' to do.
Is that moderate? If it is so, with the moderates as potential associates of peace, who does need 'extremist' enemies? Which is actually the difference between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas?
Within this hate and this thirst for violence, there is an opportunity for peace. The reason for which Shaath doubts whether Fatah has the 'capacity' or not at this moment are the big losses which the Palestinians suffered during the last intifada. Israel's high fire power, specially demonstrated during its counteroffensive after the 2002 Pesach massacre in Netanya, restored Israel's deterrence, at least regarding the West Bank. (It took many more years of Hamas' provocations until Israel restored its power of deterrence over Hamas in December 2008 and January 2009).
Those are the good news. The bad news are that both the 'moderate' Fatah and the 'extremist' Hamas are now preparing themselves to the next clash ('popular resistance'), trying to acquire much more powerful rockets, launchers and weapons.
Are these Palestinian leaders like that kind of people who want to live in peace with Israel, inside the borders of their own State? Palestinian State. Two-State solution.
Will be this one a solution? Not if the leaders of the 'moderate' Palestinian Authority are in charge."

1 comment:

  1. I just simply want to say Thank You for your efforts to help Israel fight the good fight. It's invaluable - every help counts!
    I would like to see Spain change its attitudes toward Israel and the Jews in general. Unfortunately it has very very much work to do.

    With Friendly Regards,

    Gábor Fränkl (31)
    Budapest, Hungary

    ReplyDelete