Something deep and painful was broken in Ramallah this week: along with the bones broken by violent Palestinian plainclothes and official security officials dealing with a protest, Palestinian trust was permanently wounded.
The protests were called for by non-partisan youth protesting the intended, unprecedented, visit by the Israeli vice premier, Shaul Mofaz, to Ramallah. Palestinian protesters made a strong argument for their opposition to the Mofaz visit.
They explained that Mofaz cannot make it to many countries around the world because of his role in executing war crimes against Palestinians, including the killings in Jenin and the crimes that took place during the Israeli army's reoccupation of major West Bank cities in 2002. They also accused Mofaz of assassinating PFLP leader Mustafa Abu Ali and Hamas' handicapped leader Ahmad Yassin, and of the imprisonment of Fateh leader Marwan Barghouthi.
The Mofaz visit was eventually called off, but the demonstration continued and was met with a violent crackdown. It is unclear why the visit was cancelled. Israeli media talked about conflicts within the Israeli government, while Palestinian leaders tried to take credit for the cancellation.
Regardless of the reason, the violent attacks against protesters brought to the front images of the Arab Spring. The acts of plainclothes security under the eyes of the head of the Ramallah police reminded many of similar attempts by thugs and shabiha in various Arab countries.
The scores of injured in the July 1 demonstration triggered a second demonstration the following day, in protest of the crackdown, and again Palestinian security used violence to prevent hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the Palestinian Authority's Muqata headquarters.
While the successive crackdowns received minor coverage in the Palestinian press, and even on some of the most read websites, the news and pictures of Palestinian violence trended on social media. To her credit, the PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi was among the first to publicly denounce the violence against nonviolent protesters.
It took Palestinian human rights organizations and civil society groups a few days to gather the evidence and issue a strong statement of protest.
Eventually, the Palestinian minister of interior issued a statement saying that an investigation will be conducted into what happened. Few Palestinians trust such a statement because of previous promises when investigations either never took place or the results were not made public.
The Palestinian leadership's apparent impunity increased the attacks by many of its opponents who accuse it of being out of touch with the Palestinian reality and changing political landscape. Palestinian leaders deal with protests according to the ideology of the party they belong to, rather than as an inalienable right to express freely.
Traditionally, the Fateh-dominated Palestinian security leadership is tolerant of protests initiated by one of the PLO factions. Even Hamas-led protests are usually tolerated because of the fear that Hamas leaders might take revenge on Fateh cadres in Gaza.
The fact that the latest protests came from young people that do not belong to either PLO factions or Hamas seems to have made the security apparatus feel that it can act with impunity against them. This has proven to be a mistake and, if it continues, it will bring long-term damage to the Fateh leadership.
It is unlikely that the current protests will produce anything close to the two intifadas that shook the earth of the occupiers. If anything, the current protests and the dynamism created by the security's crackdown will produce large protests against the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinian resentment at the unending West Bank-Gaza split and the disgust with the negotiation process will most likely lead to a strengthening of this popular anti-PA movement. And if the demands and aspirations of these protesters are not taken seriously, the very foundation and legitimacy of the current Palestinian leadership will be seriously put to test.
The Arab Spring might have taken some time to reach Palestine, but as one Arab leader said, spring is a season that comes back every year.
For a long time Palestinians were willing to put aside differences because of the need to unite against the Israeli occupier, which does not differentiate between Palestinians. However, more and more Palestinians are becoming convinced that their acquiescence to and support for the current Palestinian leadership should not be taken for granted.
The bones that were broken in Ramallah this week will take long to heal. The political hurt is likely to be felt much after the physical injury heals. The faster this issue is taken seriously the better for all.
Follow Daoud Kuttab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/daoudkuttab
Dr. Josef Olmert: The Six-Day War at 45: Then and Now
Victoria Fine: Palestine Beyond the Protests
Of the many questions that arise, one would like to ask only a couple:
1) Why does the author, and the "protesters", need to blame an outsider - a man who is eager to bring about an accommodation of peaceful coexistence and who is coming as the representative of Israel in this regard - instead of realizing the fact that internal tension should be resolved internally?
2) Wouldn't matters be different, for the better, if only the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s Palestinian Authority simply accepted Israel's RIGHT to be, to exist as the sovereign NATION-STATE OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE, and came to the negotiating table in order to resolve the conflict by reaching a Final Status Agreement that will represent the END OF THE CONFLICT and the END OF ALL FUTURE DEMANDS?
One has been eager to see this day for many decades...!!
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=276300
Maybe Mr. Kuttab would prefer this for a government:
http://viewsfromthesofa.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/names.jpg
Because that is the alternative.
One more thing. Hanan Ashrawi has weathered the tides of time. She was never a preeminent leader, but from behind the scenes, she has done way more then her share of damage. She was as responsible as anyone for the emergence of the "First Intifada". At that time, (1987) most of the complaints which the Pal-Arabs have today did not yet exist. Ms. Ashrawi fomented unrest over her outrage that Jews being allowed to leave Russia were allowed to become Israelis. That unrest translated into 1,265 Israeli and Arabs deaths (against each other), plus "1,000 other Palestinians as alleged collaborators, [summarily executed by other Palestinian-Arabs] although fewer than half had any proven contact with the Israeli authorities."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_intifada
On the wiki page, after this paragraph it says "Citation needed"....
In that case, here are some addt'l statistics that you will no doubt disbelieve:
The practice of summary executions of alleged "collaborators" (Arabs against Arabs) goes back at least as far as 1920. While you may disbelieve it, the actual players are only too proud of their methods. Prof. Bernard Lewis reports in "Semites and Anti-Semites" that between the years of 1920 and 1947, some 3,500 Palestinian-Arabs, mainly community leaders, teachers, assorted intellectuals and even some clerics were executed (one at a time) as 'collaborators' by militant (Arab) 'enforcement' squads. (This does not even begin to count the numbers of non-Palestinian Arabs so victimized during the same time-frame, over other conflicts of which there were many). What is especially interesting about this 3,500 statistic is that this number is FAR higher then the corresponding number of Jewish civilians murdered by Arabs mob violence during the same years. One might conclude that these 3,500 Arabs were reasonably to be considered 'Arab Zionists'. I for one think that not enough respect has ever gone to their memory. They were perhaps the most courageous victims of this entire 93-year old sectarian war. At least the (unknown percent) who were REALLY 'collaborating', as opposed to the number who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
(More)
This has been their standard and customary method of internal justice for at least a century. This is also why it would be nonsensical to assert that the "Arab cause" is fighting for "self determination". Only those 'selfs' who have no fear of such reprisal should rightly be counted. Probably not that many qualify.
I *predicted* well before the events, that the visit would be called off. And how did I get so *smart*? I am not all that smart. I have a strong background in magthematics and statistics (economics), and there is a steady pattern of avoiding Peace Negotiations. Of course, there were oher *indicators*, such as pronouncements, a.o. in CAIRO by a certain Abbas, promises and actual attempts to go to the UN again, in order to prevent PEACE NEGOTIATIONS and the creation of The Palestinian State, excuses for not holding elections, again, by the PLO and Hamas, and so forth.
All that keeps Abbas and the Hamas brothers in *power* and in the money. However, both these fancy deadbeats regularly do not even pay government employees' salaries.
Well. I am not a Palestinians, but if I were, I would be asking: *where is the beef*? You have sold me a hanburger with a pickle only and at an exhorbitant price.
Classic.
In other words, whether it's true or not, they like to be seen as opposing diplomacy and peace talks.
Tell me again how the palestinians and their leadership want peace?