Let Netanyahu Be Silenced

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Media reports circulate that Netanyahu, prime minister of the Zionist entity, will put forward a new initiative to breathe life into the negotiating process with certain Palestinians that has continued over two decades, in order to avoid the repercussions of the accelerating developments on the Arab scene. It appears that the Europeans are pressuring the Zionist government hard to offer the Palestinian Authority something that would justify its continued commitment to the requirements of the Oslo Accords and the agreements built upon them. The Europeans see that the Palestinian Authority is living through a wretched state of morale because of its failure to achieve any gain regarding the established national rights of the Palestinian people, and that it finds it very difficult to keep marketing spoiled goods to the Palestinian people and the masses of the Arab nation. Consequently, they are pushing Netanyahu to offer something, however slight, to the Palestinian Authority, hoping this might help the negotiations continue.

The Europeans understand that the wheel of history has begun to turn in the Arab homeland, and that its turning is not as the people of the West and Israel would wish. They understand that what could once be tampered with in the Arab arena over long years is no longer possible now, because the will of the nation is gradually and increasingly emerging to shake off a humiliating past in favor of genuine national independence. The Europeans have seen Israel’s inability, in previous years, to achieve military victories against Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, but their hope of getting past these objective facts persisted because of the Arab cover for defeat and capitulation. Now, however, it seems their hopes have begun to recede before a broad popular will that is not confined to particular organizations.

As for the Zionist entity, it has remained under the shadow of the Hezbollah obsession since the year 2000, at the very least. The entity failed to achieve any agreement with Lebanon, and was routed out of southern Lebanon, dragging behind it the trailing edges of disappointment and defeat; it then suffered a crushing defeat in 2006, after it and its Americans had believed that the way was clear toward a new Middle East tailored to their will. Matters were even harsher for the entity when it failed to achieve any accomplishment in its war on the Gaza Strip. Israel was not as preoccupied with negotiations with certain Palestinians as it was consumed by the obsession of the reversal in the region’s strategic military balance. It has fully understood that the era of its victories has come to a final end, and that the era of its defeats has begun.

Whoever observes Netanyahu’s face now sees misery etched onto it, and sees in it confusion and gloom. Words of arrogance and superiority have all but vanished from his vocabulary, and a tone of softness has begun to creep into the chords of his voice. He has moved from the tragedy of the strategic military reversal in the region to the popular reversal that heralds new economic, political, and social equations in the Arab-Islamic region. Hezbollah had no supporters among the Arab regimes, nor did Hamas, and the hopes of Israel and the people of the West remained pinned on the idea that the two movements would be defeated from within Lebanon and Palestine, with the help of the Arab regimes. But those hopes are now collapsing along with the collapse of the Arab regimes, especially the Egyptian regime, which was the faithful guardian of the strategic security interests of both Israel and America. With the retreat of these hopes, Netanyahu had to bemoan his luck with the Arab regimes, concede a little of his excess, arrogance, and conceit, and speak of new initiatives for a settlement with his Palestinians.

The sword has struck before the reproach can land, Mr. Netanyahu. The people of Palestine were never willing to accept concessions, from the moment certain Palestinians decided to recognize your entity, and they were never prepared to give up their established national rights. If the people remained steadfast and resolute even while in a state of weakness, how will it be now that it sees the wheel of history in the region changing its course? Do not tire yourself with initiatives, because those to whom you direct them do not represent the people of Palestine; they are nothing but an offshoot of collapsing Arab regimes. And if you are weeping for your friends among the Arab regimes, spare a few tears for the Palestinians who have joined their ranks.

You want to keep building settlements? Go ahead. But I assure you that we will defeat you, we will uproot you, and we will hunt you down wherever you go and wherever you turn your face. Enjoy, for now, a little of your plundering of the land of Palestine and your building of houses, but you will be driven out of it like a terrified mouse that finds no hole to hide in. And you know for certain that what I am saying now is not the traditional Arab talk with no backing behind it, but Arab words guarded by the rifle of Arab resistance and by the blood of the martyrs flowing in the streets of Arab cities. So be silent, and cut that long tongue of yours short.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “لِ يخرس نتنياهو” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.