[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [GushShalom] The Hundred Days of Abu Mazen
Al Kagan
akagan at uiuc.edu
Sun Apr 17 12:12:54 CDT 2005
An useful update.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: "Gush Shalom" <otherisr at actcom.co.il>
> Date: April 16, 2005 4:39:59 PM CDT
> To: intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
> Subject: [GushShalom] The Hundred Days of Abu Mazen
>
> GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 www.gush-shalom.org
>
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> http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he and English at
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>
> [ Uri Avnery warns once more of the efforts of Sharon to undermine Abu
> Mazen, whose popularity in the White House Sharon cannot but perceive
> as a threat. So far Bush is not impressed and urged the Israeli PM to
> give Abu Mazen a chance. But Sharon still holds the key: the facts on
> the ground.]
> The Hundred Days of Abu Mazen
> Hebrew http://www.geocities.com/keller_adam/avnery_heb.doc עברית
>
>
>
> Uri Avnery
> 16.4.05
> Next Saturday, 100 days since Abu Mazen (Mahmud Abbas) assumed
> the office of President of the Palestinian National Authority, Jews
> will celebrate Passover, in memory of the Exodus from Egypt - one of
> the great stories in human annals.
> According to the story (Exodus 5), Pharaoh ordered the Children
> of Israel to produce bricks from straw, but did not provide the straw.
> "And the Children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying:
> Wherefore dealest thou with thy servants? There is no straw given unto
> thy servants, and they say to us: Make brick!"
> Abu Mazen might voice the same complaint. He is being asked to
> fulfill the task he has taken upon himself, without getting the
> minimum necessary to do so.
>
>
> After 100 days, what does Abu Mazen's balance sheet look like?
> In the positive column, there appear some impressive achievements.
> First of all, the very existence of his regime. That is a
> striking achievement by itself, which is being ignored because people
> have become so used to it.
> The sudden (and still unexplained) death of Yasser Arafat could
> have caused chaos. Instead, there was an astonishingly smooth
> transition to the new regime and democratic elections took place
> without violent incidents. Very few peoples have managed to do that
> after the death of the Father of the Nation. The entire Palestinian
> public must be given credit for this. It understood the gravity of the
> hour and united behind the successor.
> Second, the cease-fire. That is an impressive achievement, too.
> The armed Palestinian organizations ("resistance groups" or "terrorist
> organizations", according to taste) agreed to a cease-fire vis-a-vis
> Israel, in spite of the fact that Israel did not declare an official
> cease-fire vis-a-vis them. True, the informal agreement is being
> violated here and there, sometimes by the Israelis, sometimes by the
> Palestinians, but all in all it is honored much more than could have
> been expected.
> This is not the result of the weakness of the armed factions. On
> the contrary, it is possible only because the Palestinians have
> recovered their self-respect. In the fours years of the second
> Intifada, they have shown they have hundreds and thousands of fighters
> ready to sacrifice their lives. They have improvised arms, like the
> mortars and Qassam missiles, to which the Israeli army has not yet
> found an answer. In these circumstances, the cease-fire is not seen
> as humiliating.
> (The Israeli side accuses the organizations of using the
> cease-fire for rearming. Of course. That is the nature of any
> temporary cease-fire: both sides use it to prepare for the resumption
> of the fighting.)
> Third, unification. The agreement of Hamas to join the
> Palestinian Authority (and perhaps also the PLO) and take part in the
> elections is a very important achievement. The birth of a national
> contract augurs well for the future Palestinian state - especially as
> it happens in an intense national liberation struggle.
> Fourth: the change in the American attitude towards the
> Palestinian people. This should, perhaps, be put on top of the list.
> Up to now, the American attitude towards the Israeli-Palestinian
> conflict was 100% in favor of the government of Israel; now there is a
> shift in favor of the Palestinians. American support for the Israeli
> government has sunk to only 90%, or perhaps as low as 80%.
> Abu Mazen's personality must be credited for a considerable part
> of these achievements. Yasser Arafat, the leader of the fight for
> liberation, was an forceful, colorful, theatrical personality, who
> attracted blind admiration and burning hatred. Nearly everyone around
> the world knew the man in khaki with the keffiyeh headdress. Abu Mazen
> is almost the exact opposite: an introverted, moderate person without
> colorful mannerisms. When I got to know him first, some 22 years ago
> in Tunis, he was already wearing a business suit and tie. He does not
> arouse opposition. He fights for his convictions without much ado.
>
> Perhaps the negative column for Abu Mazen derives also from these
> traits.
> Arafat was a commander. Abu Mazen is an educator.
> Arafat, too, preferred agreement to compulsion. That comes from
> an ancient Arab wisdom, the principle of "Ijma". Discussion continues
> until a general consensus is achieved, with every single participant
> agreeing. For Abu Mazen, that is essential.
> The entire world demands that he carry out "reforms". It is not
> quite clear why it should concern the world or the President of the
> United States how the Palestinians conduct their affairs and how many
> security services they have. (Arafat deliberately established several
> armed services, in order to prevent the concentration of armed power
> in the hands of any single person who might be tempted to carry out a
> coup-d'etat.)
> Abu Mazen is expected to consolidate the armed organizations into
> three services. That is easy to do on paper, but difficult to carry
> out. There are many commanders, most of them with subordinates who are
> fiercely loyal to them. None of them is looking for an opportunity to
> resign.
> In any case, it is difficult to carry out the reforms asked for.
> In every Arab society, and especially in Palestinian society, the
> hamulah, or extended family, is hugely important. Any attempt to
> ignore it in the implementation of reforms will meet with stiff
> resistance. Abu Mazen must move cautiously, slowly, trying to build
> consent. That is a prolonged process, which aims for durable rather
> than quick results. There must be no illusion about it: this is
> exactly what Sharon is hoping for.
> For him, the sympathy Bush holds for Abu Mazen presents a great
> danger. It is very uncomfortable for him to share American favors with
> a Palestinian leader. Any wavering in Washington's position of total
> support for the Israeli government turns on a red light in Jerusalem.
> Sharon is too shrewd to attack Abu Mazen frontally. That would
> infuriate Bush. Therefore, the pitch is: Abu Mazen is a good person,
> but weak. His regime is collapsing. He is lost.
>
> But the most serious failure of Abu Mazen, in the eyes of his
> people, is on the national level: in the first 100 days he has not
> obtained one single significant concession, neither from Israel nor
> from the US.
> Bush does really want to help him. He praises him publicly,
> rejects Sharon's efforts to belittle him, sends him respected
> emissaries. But nothing has changed on the ground: the Israeli
> occupation has not been eased, the daily humiliations at the
> checkpoints go on, and so does the building of the wall. Not one
> single "outpost" has been removed, the settlements are being expanded.
> The Israeli army carries on in the West Bank as if nothing has
> happened, killing here and arresting there. There is no significant
> movement towards the release of prisoners. Israelis continue
> addressing the Palestinians in the same overbearing, humiliating tone
> used by military governors towards their subjects.
> When Bush talks about a "Palestinian state with temporary
> borders", every Palestinian understands that this means the permanent
> occupation of most of the West Bank. Sharon's "redeployment" looks to
> them like a plan to turn the Gaza Strip into one huge prison, cut off
> from the world and the West Bank.
> Sooner or later, the Palestinian public is going to ask Abu
> Mazen: Are these the fruits of the cease-fire? Is this the value of
> American promissory notes?
>
> Several provocations have been designed to bring about
> violent reactions, so as to expose Abu Mazen's impotence. One was the
> announcement about the building of 3500 new housing units in Ma'aleh
> Adumim settlement. The same goes for the incidents in which
> Palestinians are killed, without anybody finding it necessary to
> punish those responsible or to apologize for the violation of the
> cease-fire.
> For the time being, it has not succeeded. Bush needs Abu Mazen no
> less than Abu Mazen needs Bush. The American president must prove to
> his public that his military adventures have created a new, free and
> democratic Middle East. Since the situation in Iraq is shrouded in
> doubt, Abu Mazen's democratic regime is the only example he can boast
> of (even if it is not clear what part he played in this). Abu Mazen's
> collapse would be a big loss for for Bush.
>
> Therefore, on the 100 th day of Abu Mazen, the accounts are
> still not balanced. Like the Children of Israel, he must produce
> bricks without getting any straw.
> But in the biblical story, there is a happy end: the Children of
> Israel were delivered from bondage. One way or another, that will
> happen to the Palestinians, too.
>
> #
> March - April
> TEDDY KATZ - New Historian / Gush Shalom Peace Activist
> to speak in different towns in Canada, US and Mexico
>
> 23-city schedule + contact data at:
> http://www.geocities.com/keller_adam/Teddy_Katz_speaking_schedule.htm
>
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> #
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>
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>
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> #
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> Now also with list of settlements
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> #
>
> #
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> --your itinerary is final?
>
> Send your ad and find the right contacts
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> #
>
> #
> Palestinian olive oil, new harvest - contact Hava Keller
>
> שמן זית! איכותי
> מיוצר באזור חברון. המחיר, לשני ליטר - 50 שקלים
> תרומה( נוספת תתקבל בברכה)
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> Produced in the Hebron area. Two liters - 50 Sheqels
> (additional donations appreciated)
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Al Kagan
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61820
USA
tel. 217-333-6519
fax 217-333-2214
akagan at uiuc.edu
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