"Deal of the Century" is Not New and the PA Leadership is Not a Victim

It is hardly surprising that as of March 2018, 68% of all Palestinians want PA President Mahmoud Abbas to resign.

While Israel deserves most of the blame for its decades-long military Occupation, successive wars, and lethal sieges, the US too stands accountable for backing and financing Israel's colonial endeavors. However, the PA cannot play the role of the hapless victim.

What makes the "deal of the century" particularity dangerous is the truth that the PA cannot be trusted. It has played its role, assigned by Israel and the US, so well and for so long. PA policy served as the local arm in the subjugation of Palestinians, thwarting their protests and ensuring the demise of any political initiative that does not revolve around the glorifying of Abbas and his goons.

It is hardly an achievement when much of PA foreign policy in recent years was invested to ensure the complete economic and political isolation of impoverished Gaza, as opposed to unifying the Palestinian people around a collective fight to end the horrific Israeli Occupation.

For PA officials to decry the "deal of the century" as an infringement on Palestinian rights, while they have done little to respect these rights in the first place, is the very definition of hypocrisy. No wonder Kushner thinks the US can simply buy Palestinians with money in a "cash-in-your-chips, go-for-broke, take-it-or-leave-it (type of) deal," in the words of Robert Fisk.

What can the PA do now? It is trapped in its own imprudence. On the one hand, the PA's financial sponsor in DC is turning off the money source, while on the other, the Palestinian people have lost the last iota of respect for its so-called "leadership."

Trump's "deal of the century" may inadvertently mix up the cards leading to a "much-needed reckoning for all other parties involved," argued Anders Persson. One option available for the Palestinian people is the expansion of the popular mobilization model which has been manifesting itself at the Gaza-Israel fence for many weeks.

The US-PA fallout and the looming destruction of the status quo might be the chance the Palestinian people need to unleash their power through mass mobilization and popular resistance at home, coupled with an active role for Palestinian communities in the diaspora.

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).