Gaza in the Equation of Palestinian Ruin

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

This truly is an equation of ruin, for it had never before happened that one segment of a people stood behind harsh measures against another segment of that same people — yet that is exactly what happened in the West Bank. Crowds came out in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, demanding an end to the Palestinian sanctions, so counter-demonstrations came out in support of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the very man imposing those sanctions on Gaza.

In other words, Palestinian crowds are backing the Palestinian measures taken against a Gaza Strip whose people are already suffering under a harsh Arab-Zionist-Western siege. This is ruin itself — a standing equation that corrodes the social and moral fabric, national culture and Arab chivalry, shared destiny and national unity, while lending support to the Zionist occupation.

Crushing the Solidarity Demonstrations. Nothing illustrates this ruin better than the Palestinian Authority’s crushing of the solidarity demonstration for Gaza in Ramallah, where the Palestinian security services behaved with brutality and savagery against the sons of Palestine, making no distinction between old and young, man and woman.

They beat women — and this is a great disgrace for us, we who always boast of our respect for our women and daughters and our refined, steadfast protectiveness toward them. The Authority moved to confiscate cameras and, wherever possible, prevented individual filming, evidence of its own shame and embarrassment at its own disgraceful conduct. Crushing the demonstration also amounted to a violation of Palestinian law, a law the Palestinian Authority — led by its president, Abbas — has grown accustomed to violating and dragging through the mud.

The Authority said it respects the law, but that the circumstances of the holiday compelled it to suppress the people. It said the demonstration was disturbing people and obstructing their movement during the holiday, and so, out of its supposed concern for the people, it suppressed the people.

If the Authority is so concerned about not disturbing people in the West Bank, how does it allow itself to further disturb the people of the Gaza Strip by partially withholding their salaries? Or are the people of the West Bank people, while the people of Gaza are not?

Anyone who genuinely wanted to make things easier for people could have advised and coordinated with the demonstrators to ensure a smooth, unobtrusive demonstration — especially since the demonstrators never overstepped the bounds of proper protest. But the Authority, it seems, deliberately chose to terrorize people rather than ease things for them during the holiday.

The Palestinian Authority acted with the utmost folly when it confronted the demonstrators with such brutality. Its conduct was devoid of the slightest intelligence, for it damaged itself enormously and turned broad segments of the public against it. It placed itself squarely in the line of harsh criticism, and placed the Palestinian people in a position of ridicule on the world stage.

Regional and international media carried footage of the crackdown on the demonstrators, raising questions about the Palestinian people’s capacity to build a genuine state. Those who have not even reached statehood are already practicing this level of repression against their own people — so what would they do if they actually became a state? What provoked the strongest reactions among viewers was the assault on girls and women.

The Palestinian people accord women a special measure of respect and value their role in Palestinian life and its various activities, yet the Palestinian Authority has lost all respect and regard, and did not hesitate to beat women — not to mention dragging people through the street in front of the cameras. A terrifying savagery took place whose images will remain fixed in the arguments of the enemies of the Palestinian people.

It is the height of brazen impudence that one of the Palestinian security officers stood before the camera to threaten people and warn them of further repression to come, and yet remains in his post, unpunished, with no action ever taken against him.

The people of Gaza felt a surge of relief at the demonstrations held in Ramallah in solidarity with them, and their morale rose in the hope that popular pressure might lead to the lifting of the sanctions against them. Of course, these demonstrations came late, even though people in the West Bank were well aware of the harsh conditions the people of Gaza endure — conditions that did not even provoke such a response during the successive wars on Gaza.

The Zionist entity waged three successive wars on Gaza, destroying, killing, and devastating, without the West Bank stirring in solidarity with Gaza. The people of England, Scotland, and other countries showed solidarity with Gaza, yet the West Bank remained quiet. The reason, of course, is that the Zionist and Palestinian security forces instilled such terror in people’s hearts that they lost the capacity to defend themselves.

That authentic Arab zeal and courage that Palestinian youth once possessed has deteriorated under the weight of financial debt, the erosion of national culture, and the rising burden of personal worries.

It is the responsibility of every son of the Palestinian people, wherever they may be, to rush to Gaza’s aid. People should not content themselves with demonstrating; they must adopt programs that ease the burden of the Zionist/Palestinian siege — a siege in which some Arabs and some in the West also take part. Gaza needs more than solidarity in the street; it needs giving, generosity, and sacrifice.

Gaza, Palestine’s Shield. A true statesman always works to close the ranks of his people and mobilize every available energy, resource, and capability to confront challenges and achieve aspirations, especially when the state is passing through crises. A statesman does not act out of a desire for revenge or vendetta, but according to the interest of the state and the people — otherwise, his fate is failure.

The Palestinian Authority should have mobilized when the Zionists laid siege to Gaza, marshaling all its energies, capabilities, and every segment of the people to confront the siege and help the people of Gaza to stand firm and resist, meeting the challenge with an even greater and fiercer challenge of its own.

Mahmoud Abbas should have rolled up his sleeves to support a large part of his own people suffering under the weight of occupation measures. He should have rushed to organize popular and official energies to serve the people of Gaza, and to provide immediate assistance to ease the burden of the siege.

He should have gone around the world seeking every kind of support for the people of Gaza to reinforce their steadfastness. Gaza should have been treated as a Palestinian disaster zone deserving special attention, even if that angered the Zionists.

None of this happened. Instead, we found some of the Authority’s men inciting against Gaza, trying to portray the Strip as a rebellious Palestinian region, wishing they were capable of waging war on Gaza themselves. Some of them incited the Zionists — indirectly — against Gaza, and grew angry at the Lord of the Worlds for not granting the Zionists victory over Gaza.

And so, instead of easing Gaza’s burden, the Palestinian Authority joined the Zionists and Egypt in tightening the siege. Egypt largely eliminated the tunnels, destroying most of them, while the Authority sharply restricted the Strip financially and took punitive measures, particularly in the fields of health and energy.

Mahmoud Abbas is not a statesman, and never has been at any point during his time in control. He has surrounded himself with a group whose national loyalty is deeply suspect, and they have poured their incitement onto the Hamas movement and the Gaza Strip in order to destroy the resistance.

Yet despite the severity of the siege, the hardship of life in Gaza, and the harshness of its people’s daily existence, Gaza has preserved the standing of the Palestinian cause, obstructed the solutions seeking to liquidate it, and hindered the Oslo Accord and its architects. Gaza withstood three successive wars and has remained steadfast despite the immense sacrifices it has made and continues to make.

The people of Gaza have set the greatest example of steadfastness, sacrifice, self-giving, courage, and dignity. The resistance has stood firm, the people have stood firm, Hamas has stood firm, and all of them together have written the most magnificent chapters of Palestinian heroism.

It is enough of a source of pride for the people of Gaza that they have restored the right of return to the forefront of world attention and to Palestinian and Arab memory. And so we say to the people of Gaza: do not despair, do not lose hope — this endurance and patience will not go to waste, for only the free can liberate.

Gaza was placed under such a harsh siege in the belief, among the enemies, that its people would rise up against the Palestinian resistance and change the political situation to suit the Oslo Accord — but instead, the demonstrations broke out in the West Bank against those who intended the opposite. Whoever digs a treacherous pit for others falls into it himself.

Source: Originally published in Al Jazeera on 2018-06-24. Translated from the original Arabic, “غزة في معادلة الخراب الفلسطيني”.