Trump Administration's Deal of the Century
Resurrecting the PLO Is Palestine's Best Response
- Ramzy Baroud -
Protest in Gaza City, March 6, 2019, against Trump's "Deal of the
Century."
Palestinian groups, Fatah, Hamas and others should not
confine themselves to merely rejecting the Trump Administration's
so-called 'Deal of the Century.' Instead, they should use their
resistance to the new American-Israeli plot as an opportunity to
unify their ranks.
Leaked details of the 'Deal of the Century' confirm
Palestinians' worst fears: the 'Deal' is but a complete American
acquiescence to the right-wing mentality that has ruled Israel
for over a decade.
 According to the Israeli
daily newspaper, Israel
Hayom,
a demilitarized state, 'New Palestine' will be established on
territorial fragments of the West Bank, as all illegal Jewish
settlements would permanently become part of Israel. If
Palestinians refuse to accept Washington's diktats, according to
the report, they will be punished through economic and political
isolation.
This is certainly not an American peace overture, but an
egregious act of bullying. However, it is hardly a deviation from
previous rounds of 'peace-making,' where Washington always took
Israel's side, blamed Palestinians and failed to hold Israel to
account. Washington has never refrained from supporting Israeli
wars against Palestinians or even conditioned its ever-generous
aid packages on the dismantling of the illegal Jewish
settlements.
The only difference between the U.S. 'peace process' of
the
past and today's 'Deal of the Century' is in the style and
tactics as opposed to the substance and details.
Undoubtedly, the 'Deal,' championed by Jared Kushner,
President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law, will fail. Not
only will it not deliver peace -- this is not the intention --
but it is most likely to be rejected by Israel. The formation of
Israel's new government under Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership is
centred round far-right and religious parties. It is no longer
politically correct in the new Israeli lexicon to even discuss
the possibility of a Palestinian state, let alone agree to
one.
Netanyahu, however, is likely to wait for Palestinians
to
reject the deal, as they certainly should. Then, with the help of
pro-Israel mainstream western media, a new discourse will evolve,
blaming Palestinians for missing yet another opportunity for
peace, while absolving Israel from any wrongdoing. This pattern
is familiar, highlighted most starkly in Bill Clinton's Camp
David II in 2000 and George W. Bush's Road Map for Peace in
2003.
 In 2000, the late
Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat,
rejected
then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak's 'generous offer,' an
entirely manufactured political hoax that, to this day, defines
official and academic understanding of what had transpired in the
secret talks then.
All Palestinians must reject the 'Deal of the Century,'
or any
deal that is born out of a political discourse which is not
centred on Palestinian rights as enshrined in international law,
a political frame of reference that is agreed upon by every
country in the world, save the U.S. and Israel. Decades of
fraudulent American 'peacemaking' prove that Washington will
never fulfill its self-designated title as an 'honest
peacemaker.'
However, rejection per se, while going back to
business
as usual, is inadequate. While the Palestinian people are united
behind the need to resist the Israeli Occupation, challenge
Israeli apartheid and employ international pressure until Israel
finally relents, Palestinian factions are driven by other selfish
priorities. Each camp seems to rotate within the political sphere
of foreign influence, whether Arab or international.
For example, Fatah, which is credited for 'igniting the
spark
of the Palestinian revolution' in 1965, has been primarily
consumed with the trappings of false power while dominating the
Palestinian Authority, which itself operates within the space
allocated to it by the Israeli military occupation in the West
Bank.
Hamas, which began as an organic movement in Palestine,
is
forced to play regional politics in its desperation for any
political validation to escape the suffocating siege of Gaza.
Whenever both parties verge on forming a united
leadership in
the hope of resurrecting the mostly defunct Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO), their benefactors manipulate the money and
politics, thus resuming disunity and discord.
The 'Deal of the Century,' however, offers both groups
an
opportunity, as they are united in rejecting the deal and equally
perceive any Palestinian engagement with it as an act of
treason.
More importantly, the steps that were taken by
Washington to
isolate the PA through denying Palestinians urgently needed
funds, revoking the PLO's diplomatic status in Washington and
shunning the PA as a political ally provide the opportunity to
open the political dialogue required that could finally
accomplish a serious Fatah-Hamas reconciliation.
Israel, too, by withholding tax money collected on
behalf of
the PA, has lost its last pressure card against Mahmoud Abbas and
his government in Ramallah.
At this point, there is little else that the U.S. and
Israel
could do to exert more pressure on the Palestinians.
But this political space available for Palestinians to
create
a new political reality will be brief. The moment the 'Deal of
the Century' is discarded as another failed American scheme to
force a Palestinian surrender, the political cards, regionally
and internationally, will be mixed again, beyond the ability of
Palestinian factions to control their outcome.
Therefore, it is critical that Palestinian groups at
home and
in the diaspora push for Palestinian dialogue, not merely for the
sake of forming a unity government in Ramallah but to revitalize
the PLO as a truly representative and democratic body that
includes all Palestinian political currents and communities.
It is only through the resurrection of the PLO that
Palestinians could finally return to their original mission of
devising a national liberation strategy that is not manipulated
by money and not subjected to regional politicking.
If history is any indication, the 'Deal of the Century'
is
another sinister American attempt to manage the situation in
Palestine to assert political dominance in the region. This
'Deal' is essential for American reputation, especially among its
disgruntled regional allies who feel abandoned by the progressive
American military and political retreat from the region.
This latest charade does not have to be at the expense
of
Palestinians, and Palestinian groups should recognize and grasp
this unique opportunity. The 'Deal of the Century' will fail, but
efforts to achieve Palestinian unity could finally succeed.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine
Chronicle. His latest book is 'The Last
Earth: A
Palestinian Story' (Pluto Press, London). Baroud has a Ph.D. in
Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and was a
Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and
International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 20 - June 1, 2019
Article Link:
Trump Administration's Deal of the Century: Resurrecting the PLO Is Palestine's Best Response - Ramzy Baroud
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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