Despite the above-noted efforts for
a Fatah-Hamas accord over that past nearly half-century, problems of language
interpretation, sharp political differences, periodic obstructionism from both
sides, external interventions by Israel and the US, moves by some regional
powers to impose their own visions of reconciliation, as well as selective
implementation have prevented much substantive progress.
It is against this backdrop that an
important and refreshingly substantive conference on Palestine was held this
month in Beirut on the subject of Prospects and Challenges for Palestinian
Reconciliation. It was jointly sponsored by two well respected think-tanks, the
Johannesburg- based Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC) (www.amec.org.za) and
Lebanon's Al-Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations
(www.alzaytouna.net/), the latter now in its 1lth year.
The conference was attended by an
impressive assembly of academics, policy makers and officials from Hamas,
Fatah, the Population Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Palestinian
National Initiative, and Hezbollah among others. The two day gathering included
concentrated discussions and proposals from the Palestinian factions concerning
their stances towards reconciliation and its activation, the utility of
international paradigms for transnational justice, internal and external
factors affecting reconciliations and concrete proposals for solutions and
future prospects.
The American attendees sitting at the same table with Hezbollah's delegation sought the former's commitment and partnership in a reinvigorated civil right to work campaign in Lebanon to remove for every Palestinian refugee in the 12 camps the outlawing of working in more than 50 professions in Lebanon and to grant Palestinians the civil right to purchase a home should they have the money.
In summary the American participants argument to Hezbollah and others in attendance included their belief that such an important and long sought victory for Palestinian refugees here would transfer substantive hope and energize every Palestinian and reignite the Palestinian revolution of days past and that this realistic and imminently achievable victory would be to the credit of Hamas-Fatah and their supporters joining ranks, discussing peaceful civil rights campaign tactics, negotiating, compromising and working together. The right to work campaign would give both groups ample mutual contacts and 'break the ice' for working closely together for more shared victories to the benefit of their people along the lines of what is envisage by the earlier proposals for unity.
It is doubtful that there was one
delegate attending the al- Zaytouna-Amec conference on Palestinian Reconciliation
whose gut does not churn when the person reflects on the fact that for 67
years, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon continue to be denied the most
elementary civil right to work and to own a home. A right that under the 1953
Refugee convention, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, countless international
humanitarian law treaties, principles, standards and rules and international
customary laws which bind all countries and that are granted to every other
refugee in the world, including those suffering under Zionist apartheid
occupation and the colonists who are still living on their family homesteads in
Palestine. Palestinian refugees are today barred from dozens of jobs and
professions outside the squalid camps, including engineering, law and medicine,
nor are they allowed to buy property in Lebanon. In cases where Palestinian
refugees are able to find employment, often "illegal," their salary is less
than half that of their Lebanese counterparts and they are not eligible for
medical insurance or severance pay.
There are prevailing myths here in
Lebanon about dark consequences that would ensue the granting the most basic of
civil rights to Palestinian refugees until they can return home. From across
Lebanon's poisoned sectarian political spectrum- recently fueled also by the
spreading Sunni-Shia Bellum Sacrum, were Lebanon to comply with its legal,
moral and religious duty and treat Palestinians as humans these 'the sky is
falling' shrieks would likely dissipate.
Granted, the idea of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation
is yet another existential nightmare for the Zionist regime still occupying
Palestine. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman sarcastically announced this month
that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas must decide whether he wants
peace with Hamas or with Israel. Lieberman said it would be impossible for
Fatah to have peace with Israel while simultaneously being joined with Hamas.
Likewise, Benjamin Netanyahu gave Mahmoud Abbas, an ultimatum: either
reconciliation with Hamas or negotiations with Israel.
In summary, while many political
factions in Lebanon, alongside their internal and external sponsors, continue
to play the Palestinian card and pledge "Resistance", none are doing what their
frequently claimed religious and political principles would require.
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