Following the recent U.S. announcement that its new embassy in Jerusalem will open in May 2018, to coincide with Israel's 70th anniversary,[1] senior Palestinian journalist 'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan, editor of the online daily Rai Al-Yawm, wrote that this decision is the result of the feeble Arab responses to the U.S. administration's previous moves. U.S. President Donald Trump, he said, was right in his assessment that the Arab rage over the decision to move the embassy would be short-lived. Slamming the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Arab states for continuing their normalization with Israel and even accelerating it recently, 'Atwan called on the Palestinians to step up their resistance against Israel and to dissolve the PA. He concluded by saying that the current events are an "Arab disgrace," and that the current period is "the worst and most humiliating period [for the Arabs], which makes [even] the loss of Andalusia pale in comparison."
The following are excerpts from his article: [2]
'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan (image: raialyoum.com)
Instead Of Halting Security Coordination, The PA Has Tightened It
"U.S. President Donald Trump was right when he said that the Arab and Islamic anger about his decision to move the American Embassy to occupied Jerusalem would last [only] a few days and would soon wane, and life would go back to normal. And now, several months later, he has delivered yet another slap in the face [and] an even more audacious provocation with his announcement that the relocation [of the U.S. embassy] will be accelerated, so that the embassy will open this coming May, on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the occupation state of Israel.
"The Palestinians responded by convening an urgent session of the [PLO] Central Committee, in which President 'Abbas delivered a brilliant speech and it was decided to stop all types of security coordination and to sue the Israeli war criminals at the International Criminal Court. However, what [the PA] did was the exact opposite, for the Palestinian security forces did not stop their security coordination [with Israel], but actually increased it and played a central role in providing information to their Israeli counterparts that contributed significantly to the assassination of the martyr Ahmed Nassar Jarrar, the commander of the cell that killed the Israeli rabbi in the settlement near Nablus.
"The decision of the Hamas movement and the [Palestinian Islamic] Jihad not to participate in the [Central] Committee meeting was correct and reflected an accurate reading of the PA position. However, [their decision] was not effective, since it was not accompanied by practical, deterring measures, first and foremost stopping the spreading of reciprocal lies [touting] the so-called 'reconciliation,' increasing popular protests against both the PA and Israel, and understanding the encroaching dangers."
The Arabs' Normalization Of Relations With Israel Is A Disgrace
"The Arab response to this slap in the face was [as follows]: The Egyptians signed the gas agreement of the century with the occupation state, to the tune of $15 billion for a ten-year period. [This deal] made Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu dance with joy, and not only because of its immense [monetary] value and its significance in terms of normalization [between Israel and Arab countries], but also because the Egyptian regime has assumed the task of marketing the surplus Israeli gas, stolen [from the Palestinians], to [other] Arab countries and to Europe. That is the gravest sin of all.
"As for Jordan, whose ruling Hashemite family might have been expected to assume religious guardianship over occupied Jerusalem and the holy Muslim and Christian sites there – its government reopened the Israeli embassy [in Amman], on the pretext that it had received an Israeli apology for the deaths of three Jordanian citizens and a commitment [from Israel] to bring [those responsible] to justice. However, it later emerged that there had been no apology and the Israeli murderers are still at large.
"Expressions of normalization between Arab countries and Israel are steadily increasing. For example, the Tunisian parliament rejected a bill that would define normalization with the occupation state as a criminal act, and [Israeli] military spokesman Avichay Adraee appeared numerous times on Al-Jazeera to threaten the Arabs and defend Israel's position. Further, Mr. Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, stresses that Iran, and not Israel, is the single most dangerous enemy threatening the stability of the region and the entire world. And there are many other examples of this Arab disgrace."
Palestinians Must Escalate Resistance, Dissolve The PA
"The PA's shameful and embarrassing responses on the first day following [Trump's] decision to move the [U.S.] embassy [to Jerusalem] is the main factor [that led] to the provocative and humiliating steps that ensued, the last of which was a huge prize for the occupation state, [namely the announcement] that the inauguration of the American Embassy [in Jerusalem] will take place in three months' time, on the day marking the Palestinian Nakba.
"What will President 'Abbas do and how will the PA react to this slap in the face, apart from [making] more declarations and [voicing] more condemnations whose words we already know by heart? Will he dissolve the PA? This seems unlikely. Will he announce the disbanding of the Palestinian security services and the cessation of security coordination [with Israel]? He doesn't have the guts. Will he ignite the spark of the second armed intifada? That is an impossible step for a man who has always gambled on negotiations, and has [now] started to play the role of a travel agent, exhorting Arabs and Muslims to normalize [relations with Israel] and visit occupied Jerusalem.
"[It's time for] the Palestinians to regain their prestige and the prestige of their cause, escalate their resistance to the occupation, causing [it] to pay more dearly in money and in lives, and begin their resistance by getting rid of the PA and its ideology of surrender. Only then will Trump and his Israeli allies understand their mistake and regret their provocative and outrageous policy.
"We live in the worst and most humiliating Arab period of all, so bad that the period of the loss of Andalusia pales in comparison. We who have experienced the Golden Age of the resistance and of the rejection of the 1967 defeat never imagined that we would live to see this moment..."
