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This is a war against every single Palestinian
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By NABIL MAROUF:



What we are facing now is a barbaric attack and state terror against civilians in Gaza. It is not a war against Hamas, it is a war against every single Palestinian living in Gaza, including children. Newborns, 1-year-old infants and 6-month-old babies are not Hamas members and they are not shooting Israelis.

At this point more than 800 Palestinians have been killed, half of them children, and 4,000 have been wounded. The entire infrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed, including ministry buildings, a university, mosques, schools and all governmental institutions. This attack is against the Palestinian people and, more importantly, this war is threatening the two-state solution.

We are in the midst of a peace process with the help of the international community. This process aims at establishing an independent Palestine alongside Israel and living together in peace. What is happening now is killing this dream.

Over the last 15 years we have faced the postponement of peace. The negotiations with Israel did not yield any results. The process started with the Madrid Conference and continued with the Oslo Accords in 1994, but we are now in 2009 and nothing has been achieved. In the meantime the settlements in the West Bank have doubled. In addition to this, they are building their wall of discrimination. This wall annexes 58 percent of the Palestinians' territory. They have dramatically increased the number of checkpoints in the West Bank; now there are more than 800 checkpoints between villages and cities. At those checkpoints the Palestinians are constantly humiliated and stripped of their rights. In addition to all of this, there are daily aggressions in all of the cities of the West Bank. Every day at least five Palestinians have been killed; every day Palestinians are arrested. Israel has not shown the will for reaching peace in doing all this. This has created a division in Palestine that is very dangerous to the Palestinian cause.

The postponement of peace has effects not just in Palestine, but throughout the entire region. Different camps in the region have emerged. Some regional powers are supporting the peace process and trying to push it forward, but there is another group of countries and powers that are supporting the extremists in the area. They are working against the peace process by arguing that there is no need for a peace process because Israel does not want it. The peace process is not working, so we have to resort to other options and fight against Israel, they argue.

Let's remember what happened in Gaza. The international community asked us to hold democratic elections and we did. Hamas won the elections, but the international community refused to recognize the results of the elections. Then a siege was imposed on us and made our life more difficult. This situation finally led to division inside Palestine and over time this division deepened.

The question is whether Israel wanted this division or, if not, whether Israel is benefiting from it. My assessment is as follows:

The only side that will gain from a divided Palestine is Israel. The Palestinians are making mistakes and falling into a trap on both sides, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas. The result of this division is negatively affecting the hopes of the Palestinians. The division of Palestine between the West Bank and Gaza is killing the hope of creating an independent Palestinian state.

Israel is closely watching developments everywhere, including Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, and if it feels that it will affect its interests, Israel interferes. Everyone remembers well the bombardment of the Iraqi nuclear facilities by Israel. Now they are closely watching the nuclear developments in Iran and threatening Iran. If Israel says this is about its security, what about Gaza, which is very close to them? They know all the details of Gaza. If Israel did not want a regime change in Gaza, it could have intervened in one way or another. Israel kept quiet because they wanted Hamas to take over Gaza. This is in their interest: a separated Palestine and Hamas establishing its own state in Gaza.

Let's add something else: In previous times when the border between Egypt and Gaza was open, arms smuggling was carried out despite heavy Israeli surveillance. But why? To give Hamas a chance to strengthen itself in Gaza and later to give Israel the pretext for attacking the people of Gaza.

This attack by Israel is not aimed at finishing off Hamas, but at changing the rules of the game. First of all, they cannot finish off Hamas; it is on the ground and among the Palestinians. Secondly, Israel's target is not Hamas, but the Palestinian cause.

On Friday the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza and the opening of borders for humanitarian aid. We hope that this resolution will be implemented entirely by all parties, but I want to point something out here. First of all, the Americans refused to put this resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would have made it militarily enforceable. The Americans abstained from voting as an indirect message to Israel that they did not support the resolution. Hamas has yet to accept the resolution and they say nobody has consulted them, although this does not mean that they will refuse it. It depends on what happens on the ground. I am expecting some problems in the implementation.

For us, the most important thing now is to establish a cease-fire and allow humanitarian aid to enter Palestinian land, reconstruct Gaza for the people and start work immediately on reconciliation among the Palestinians. If we don't go in this direction, the entire process will be at risk.

There are many parties in this reconciliation. In the Arab world there are two groups: One is in favor of this reconciliation and the other is against it. Turkey is trying to be a bridge between these groups, knowing very well that if this bridge can be established, Palestinian reconciliation will be achieved.

First of all, we should protect Hamas from Israel, from themselves and from their alliances. They should not rule Gaza alone. The best thing for them is to be partners and to be part of the solution, but not the whole solution. Friends of Hamas should advise them to be part of the solution, not to be the whole solution. Otherwise it would mean separating Gaza and the West Bank. If Hamas establishes itself in Gaza, it would be a real separation of the Palestinian territories and this would mean the killing of the dream of Palestinians having an independent Palestinian state.


todayszaman.com


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*Nabil Marouf is the Palestinian ambassador to Turkey.


11 January 2009

January 12, 2009 | 11:16 AM Comments  0 comments

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