The Return Marches and the Manufacturing of Crisis for the Zionist Entity

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

The weak possess no power with which to confront the powerful, and so they have historically worked to outflank raw power with hidden power, and with tactics that leave raw power unable to reorganize itself for an effective response.

We saw this, for example, in the tactics slaves used against the masters of Rome, in palace assassinations aimed at changing the pattern of rule, in Vietnam against the American forces, and in the tactics of the Palestinian and Lebanese resistances in confronting brute Zionist power.

In the Palestinians’ struggle against brutal Zionist power, it becomes necessary to work around the imbalance in military strength in order to produce a balance of terror, or to manufacture deterrence that does not necessarily rest on armed force.

Chief among the methods of circumvention is the necessity of manufacturing a crisis for the Zionist entity, in a way that draws in the world’s media and the attention of states and international organizations, so as to corner the entity in a position it may not be able to escape.

The steadfastness of the return marches: the marches were launched in Gaza and continued with great momentum, and they are expected to continue, since their continuation is necessary if the Palestinians want to achieve results.

Throughout the history of the struggle against the Zionists, the Palestinians have squandered several opportunities to achieve gains because they halted their activities against the Zionist invasion and occupation. The Palestinians would rise up in revolt or uprising and offer immense sacrifices in confrontations, but their leadership would call on them to stand down before the goals were achieved — what the leadership used to call the “fighter’s rest.”

This was always a genuine disregard for Palestinian blood, for the many sacrifices, the pain and the grief. With the “fighter’s rest,” the compass would be lost, conditions would calm down, and the equation would revert to what it had been before in terms of who dominates and who is dominated. This pattern must not be repeated now in Gaza.

The steadfastness of the people and their readiness to make sacrifices will lead to positive results, but success requires the following additional elements:

1. The scope of Palestinian mobilization around the right of return should be expanded, and activity should not be confined to the Gaza Strip. But the problem is that the political environment is favorable for expanding this scope in only two areas: the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

The political and national environment in the Gaza Strip is entirely favorable to a range of Palestinian activities in confronting the Zionists, foremost among them armed resistance, and the same is true in Lebanon. As for Syria, matters there have not yet settled, and the Palestinian refugees are suffering further displacement and a harsh life.

As for Jordan, it does not permit marches or activities that would trouble the Zionist entity, and in the West Bank there is no national environment conducive to Palestinian national activity confronting the occupation.

2. The second required point is the unity of the Palestinian people, which has not yet crystallized. The Palestinian street in Gaza is united, and the Palestinian factions are united to some extent, and we hope their unity will be strategic rather than merely circumstantial.

3. The marches need a political reference point to carry them and their goals to the world through its media, organizations, and states. There is no internationally recognized Palestinian political reference point other than the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and it is illegitimate and does not represent the Palestinian people.

The Ramallah authority does not appear to be interested in the matter, or serious about it, except as a way of shedding excuses; it is an authority that regards Gaza’s achievement as an achievement for the Hamas movement, and in keeping with the mentality of petty rivalry and zero-sum competition, its attention is fixed on failure rather than on success.

We remember well the Palestinian mobilization when the Zionists tried to take control of the gates of al-Aqsa Mosque: Jerusalemite Palestinians rallied and insisted on the measure being rescinded, and their persistence created a crisis for the Zionists.

Palestinian activists drew in the world’s media and the attention of states, especially Western states, which feared events developing into a wave of religious polarization, something that would call for even greater extremism in positions. For this reason, the Western states preferred to pressure the Zionists to retreat and stay away from the people’s holy sites.

Under media pressure, the Zionists found themselves facing a world public opinion that condemned and opposed them. The Zionists are sensitive to the matter of world public opinion, even if we Arabs see things otherwise. They have managed to win over world public opinion in their favor through their unceasing propaganda, and they do not want to lose this opinion, which constitutes an important electoral factor. The story of the gates ended with the Zionists backing down from their plans and the Jerusalemites succeeding in stopping them.

Manufacturing the crisis and capitalizing on it, in the same fashion: a crisis must be manufactured for the Zionists in Gaza through the return marches, which did not take up arms. But it seems this time that the Zionists manufactured a crisis for themselves and pre-empted what the Palestinians might have done, when they committed the Gaza massacre against the marchers.

They killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded thousands, with the world watching the scale of the brutality and criminality through the media, and in doing so the Zionists plunged themselves into a crisis with the media and with many states, especially in Europe, and with human rights associations and international organizations.

Even the United States began to hide, saying that the marches had nothing to do with the celebration of the opening of the American settlement in Jerusalem. Be that as it may, whoever indicts the Zionists indicts the Americans as well, because they are the state that sponsors the terrorism of the Zionist entity.

The worst thing that could happen is for the Palestinians in Gaza to take a “fighter’s rest”; if they did, they would squander the harvest. But I am convinced that the people of Gaza have learned the lesson, and they know that the Palestinians have paid enormous sacrifices in installments, when if they had paid them all at once they would have achieved at least part of what they aspire to.

The marches will continue, but the manner of their execution is expected to differ from what it has been, in order to reduce losses. Losses on the Palestinian side are a reality and unavoidable, and the coordination committees are required to think carefully about new operational tactics that do not ease things for the Zionists but do reduce Palestinian losses — especially since Gaza is living through extremely difficult and harsh conditions, and what it has borne so far on behalf of the Palestinians far exceeds its capacity.

If Gaza manages to breathe new life into the cause of the right of return at the Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, and global levels, then it will have succeeded. It has achieved a measure of success so far, but it has not yet fully ripened.

The Palestinian mass movement has restored Palestinian awareness of the cause of return to what it once was, and has reminded the world, Arabs included, that there are millions of Palestinian refugees still waiting to return to their homes and properties in the land the Zionists seized in 1948.

But sustained perseverance will bring this awareness, and the attention of international organizations and various states to this matter, to full maturity. And the masses will have succeeded even more if they topple the notion of the two-state solution and replace it with the right of return. For there is no state without the people, and the time for a state comes when the people return.

Many states defend the right of the refugee to return to his home and property, yet it seems the Palestinian is not included within the classification of refugees, despite international resolutions concerning his return. The right of return is a successful cause, one that is difficult for the states of the world to dispute, and it is essential to hold on to it as a major step toward realizing the right to self-determination.

Source: Originally published in Al Jazeera on 2018-05-19. Translated from the original Arabic, “مسيرات العودة وصناعة الأزمة للكيان الصهيوني”.