AMERICANS ABROAD
Tel Aviv. The Americans have landed. George Mitchell, Sec'y Gates, Dennis Ross and more-they are all here this week to meet with Israeli government officials and try to secure an agreeement to get the peace process back in gear. While the street is quiet in Israel, everyone I talk to who supports the peace camp says that they are 'waiting for Obama.' There is support for what the President wants to do, but it hasn't jelled yet, at least not as action on the street.
The meetings this week are no doubt important and most likely what happens and is not reported will be more important than what is reported, since no deal is expected on the settlement freeze quite yet. Israel is a country that lives by rumors--and too often, rumors end up reported as truth. That's why the important news will be a U.S. announcement, which I hope will be forthcoming, on a settlement freeze agreement. This will also move the process to a further step to get things moving back to a two-state solution.
But, as important as this week is with meetings in Israel, Egypyt and Syria, next week is even more important in the region. That's when the Fatah Party Congress will be held, the first one in twenty years-where new leaders will be elected and Abu Mazen will have a chance to move forward (his leadership is not contested) with a new slate that includes Young Fatah (now aging into middle age....) and a new mandate to make peace. The conference, slated for Bethelem on August 4th, is very important. Negotiations are going on right now between Fatah and Hamas regarding how many Fatah activists Hamas will let leave Gaza to attend the meeting. Israel has agreed for them to leave-but Hamas holds the key currently on these 470 delegates. When I was in Gaza last week, the Hamas officials I met were clear about the power they hold in their hands to decide on the movement of these delegates.
But Fatah must be strengthened to ensure a strong national camp for Israeli partnership and that strength will come from the forces around Marwan Barghouti, still sitting in an Israeli jail but keenly aware of what is happening. Barghouti will be a force at the Bethlehem congress, even --and maybe especially--from jail. How his forces do at next week's Fatah congress will also send a signal regarding hopes for a stable Palestine and perhaps even move toward a January 2010 election for a new Palestinian government.
Thank you for the very informative and lucid report. We'd like to hear more about Mr. Barghouti.
July 27, 2009 7:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Monday, July 27, 2009
The popular "Rogatka" (slingshot) nightclub in Tel Aviv is refusing entry to IDF soldiers in uniform.
IDF Uniforms are associated with oppression and genocide, and the IDF's violence is the reason for all violence in Israel, explained the club's workers.
"It's nothing personal, but ideological. Your uniforms symbolize genocide and violence." they were told by club employees and guests.
July 27, 2009 9:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder if any nightclubs, in Arab countries that actually *have* committed genocide, have ever refused entry to Arab soldiers in uniform . . .
Oh, sorry - I forgot that they don't have freedom of conscience in those countries. Sorry, again; I forgot that they're not allowed to have nightclubs.
The beauty of freedom and democracy . . . such an extraordinary pity that tiny Israel is its only exemplar in the vast Middle East.
July 27, 2009 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
We do have Turkey, no?
July 27, 2009 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exemplar? Of what? Killing hundreds of children? Launching a sneak attack on Gaza?
You are right. Israel is a real exemplar for so many things.
If only the Arabs could immitate the maggots in the IDF, they might also become more proficient at killing children.
July 27, 2009 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Exemplar? Of what? Killing hundreds of children? Launching a sneak attack on Gaza?"
Really Mythbuster? is that really the only thing you are able to see?
"If only the Arabs could immitate the maggots in the IDF, they might also become more proficient at killing children."
I know it would probably make you proud, but i am sure you could think of some positive things within Israeli society that Arabs can immitate...
July 27, 2009 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sure there are positive things for the Arabs to immitate. They could join those Israelis who reject the religious basis of their state, i.e., the lie that God "gave" the land to the Jews. They could imitate the minority of Israelis who are opposed to criminalizing the teaching of true history, i.e., the Nakba, instead of the false Zionist history.
July 27, 2009 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
When Jo Ann Mort makes claims that:
Abu Mazen will have a chance to move forward (his leadership is not contested)
I wonder, who is she referring to? Abbas' "leadership" certainly is contested among Palestinians and many Israelis (although for different reasons)
Americans, Tony Blair, and others (including Mubarak) desperate to annoint Abbas are pushing this line of BS in the face of the enormous mound of evidence to the contrary in the hopes that the latter will be ignored.
Hello? In the meantime, back on planet Earth:
Every once in a while, a kidnapping or a firefight reminds the world that the two parties governing the Palestinians really don't get along. Hamas won the parliamentary election in 2006 and seized control of Gaza in 2007. But Fatah, the party of Yasir Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, still controls the West Bank. Their squabbles—over control of fiefdoms like patronage networks and the police—have made headlines about the so-called crisis in Palestinian leadership in the past.
But that fracas is obscuring the truly epic fight brewing among Palestinians. It's not between Hamas and Fatah, it's between Fatah and Fatah. The original liberation group—and the only Palestinian party that Israel (and the United States) will work with—is breaking apart, and it could set back Middle East peace by decades.
A power struggle inside Fatah has been brewing for years
http://www.newsweek.com/id/208125
I really don't see the utility of painting pretty, impressionist pictures and insisting that they are snapshots of reality. It's counterproductive.
At best, waving the magic wand of "legitimacy" over a hand puppet can only result in turning him into a marionette.
July 27, 2009 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Josh Landis recently had an interesting article on his Syria Comment site about Abbas's real concern about Hamas in Gaza. After Hamas routed Fatah they captured many documents that revealed some pretty nasty secret dealings between Egypt, Israel, and Abbas. Apparently, Hamas shared those documents with the Syrian government. Not coincidentally, the Arab states and Abbasnow now are cozying up to Damascus.
Abbas is a disaster for the Palestinians.
July 27, 2009 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Off-topic: Jo-Ann, your photo looks like one side of your face is blue. Every time I see it I think I am looking at one of those cheesy aliens from the original Star Trek TV series. Can't you get someone to shoot a better pic of you?
July 27, 2009 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I recall the news about the capture of incriminating documents at the time of the rout of Dahlan's forces and the takeover of his manse in Gaza.
The recent allegations that Abbas and Dahlan were co-conspirators in the murder of Arafat are another factor contesting Abbas' "leadership":
The world is abuzz with the accusations made by senior Fatah member Farouk Kaddoumi (Abu Al Lutf), against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former security minister Mohammad Dahlan for having allegedly conspired with former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to get rid of Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Jordan, Kaddoumi revealed the contents of a secret document - apparently shown to him personally by Arafat - regarding a meeting between Sharon, Abbas, Dahlan, US undersecretary of state William Burns and a number of CIA officials.
The meeting was aimed at eliminating Arafat and Hamas leaders Abdul Aziz Rantisi (assassinated by Israel in April 2004), Esmail Haniya and Mahmoud Zahar.
Abbas, who shared a close relationship with both Kaddoumi and Arafat since the 1960s, claimed that the accusations were "lies" intended to show him in poor light at the upcoming sixth Fatah General Congress, scheduled for August 4, 2009.
snip]
Whether Kaddoumi's accusations are true or not is unknown, but clearly the statement creates an unprecedented crisis for Fatah ahead of its much awaited congress.
Kaddoumi is furious that Abbas has called for the Congress in the Occupied Territories, arguing that it is illogical for a national liberation movement to convene its most important convention under Israeli occupation.
He claims that Israel, rather than Abbas or the PNA, will have the final say on who will attend the event. Abbas loyalists argue that Kaddoumi is trying to play spoilsport
because he doesn't plan to attend the conclave.
snip]
The PNA's democratic character allows for challenging the head of state but while it doesn't look likely that the allegation will lead to Abbas's impeachment, his record may lie tainted, especially with many of his opponents more willing to believe that Kaddoumi is saying the truth.
http://www.mideastviews.com/
July 27, 2009 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
"They could join those Israelis who reject the religious basis of their state, i.e., the lie that God "gave" the land to the Jews."
How about they join fellow Palestinians to reject there own crazy religious beliefs:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Waqf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it."
"The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinct Palestinian Movement which owes its loyalty to Allah, derives from Islam its way of life and strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine. Only under the shadow of Islam could the members of all regions coexist in safety and security for their lives, properties and rights. In the absence of Islam, conflict arises, oppression reigns, corruption is rampant and struggles and wars prevail."
Straight from the democratically elected charter of Hamas. Just the other day they began enforcing a new law forcing women to cover there faces - sweet country the Palestinians are building in Gaza. They should really continue to imitate the Taliban instead of Israel - great idea sir. Very smart advice you give to the Palestinians.
July 28, 2009 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
I would advise them to riot for three days when the police arrest a women for starving her mentally disabled child. (Like the Ultra-Orthodox.)
Or maybe they can riot over someone trying to open a parking lot?
Or maybe they could hold a rally and call our president racist epithets?
I know these are derivative ideas. But, hey, aren't you Zionistas always telling the Arabs to imitate Israel?
July 28, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
like i said in my previous posts - you have great ideas. With advice like yours the Palestinians will get far. Keep supporting there Taliban ways while responding with how Israel allows all kinds of freaks to do what they want. You seem to care more for bashing Israel at every opportunity than doing anything positive towards peace or having a positive dialog. But hey what ever rocks your boat. Ive learned one thing from TPMcafe - progressive leftists like you are really no different than the neocons or right wingers posting on sites like littlegreenfootballs - same shit just flowing in the opposite direction.
July 29, 2009 6:04 AM | Reply | Permalink