To Mr. Mahmoud Abbas

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

I hear you speaking about Hamas backing away from its “coup,” at a time when the Palestinian people are creating a great historic moment that transcends every Palestinian faction. For the first time since 1967, the borders separating us from our fellow Arabs are being broken down by a pure, free, and proud Palestinian will — and you, sir, as President of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, are preoccupied with internal disputes that the Palestinian people despise and regard as just one more burden weighing on their shoulders. And on top of that, you are setting a date to meet with Olmert.

Before a historic event, leaders rise to the occasion and act as statesmen; they do not turn their faces away from a blazing truth that the whole world sees on its television screens at every moment, and that vast crowds across the length and breadth of the Arab homeland are cheering. At this historic moment, in which the Palestinian people are forging a new equation for the ongoing conflict, all of us must turn our hearts, our eyes, our ears, and our minds toward thinking about the next step on the road to deliverance from the enemy. The hours of tragedy and of triumph, Mr. President, are not for petty squabbles, but for taking the fitting historic stand that pushes the wheel forward.

If you sat calmly in front of the television, remote control in hand, and flipped through the channels, you would see the demonstrators chanting against Israel and America, and you would see the banners of Hamas flying high in the hands of the crowds from Manama to Rabat. Where are you in this picture? Some media outlets mention you when they speak of President Mubarak’s invitation to the Palestinians for dialogue, but that mention gets lost in the midst of this great event.

…talking on screen, and I suspect you are not looking for the truth if you keep listening to them.

Tactically speaking, even if only for appearances’ sake, you should have merged yourself with the event, rather than sitting there watching regretful people gnawing their nails from the sidelines. You are the president of an authority, and I do not think it wise for you to remain on the margins of the event.

Furthermore, you speak constantly of “the coup” and “the coup-makers.” Do you really think that what you call a coup came out of nowhere? One of the greatest mistakes a statesman can make is to try to deal with matters only by their final appearance. The final appearance, Mr. President, is merely the last in a long line of sins or mistakes, and there must inevitably be a flood of prior mistakes and sins that led to it. Do you want to peel away the crust without ever touching the rot beneath it? As a Palestinian citizen, I want the causes addressed, so that the visible symptom can be eliminated. I want to go back to the corruption and the corrupt, to the security coordination with the Zionists, to the violation of the clauses of the Palestinian National Charter, to the disregard of the PLO’s revolutionary law, to the suspension and trampling of the laws of the Palestinian Authority, and to the recent Palestinian-Palestinian infighting that claimed the lives of about 500 Palestinians.

The issues, Mr. President, are very many, so do not dig too deeply into the failings of others, lest the flaws of your own associates be exposed. And if you wish this people well, I believe you should shake off the dust that clings to you and clear the way for independent, professional Palestinians unaffiliated with states or organizations, so that they may think through what we ought to be doing. If there were any good in the existing teams, we would have seen it emerge before us by now; and if there were any good in your negotiations, they would not still be withheld from us to this day. I know that you are not a person given to deception, and I believe it does not suit you to remain a victim of deception.

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “إلى السيد محمود عباس” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.