In an interview with the Egyptian Capital Broadcasting Center (CBC), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doesn’t see a Palestinian State in the offing.
Despite President Trump’s efforts to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the chances of such a reboot are gloomy. According to Abbas, Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked a future Palestinian state.
The right-wing Netanyahu government doesn’t want peace and refuses the recognition of the existence of the Palestinian people, said Abbas. Despite the rejectionism of the right-wing Israeli government, Abbas is still optimistic about the founding of a State. “We’re building the Palestinian state brick by brick, and it will take time,” and it wouldn’t happen anytime soon.
Netanyahu always argues against a restart of negotiations. One time, it’s the alleged incitement against Israel; another time is the founding of Palestinian „terrorists“ who committed attacks on the Israel occupation forces. The US and Israel considering it as „supporting terrorism.“ These accusations, however, are far-fetched considering Israel’s daily terror against the Palestinian people as a whole.
Abbas is not willing to stop the payments to the families of killed „terrorists.“ In an interview with Al-Quds Al-Arabi, he stated that Netanyahu incites the US to see these people as „terrorists,“ but in the eyes of the Palestinians, they are „martyrs“ and sons of the Palestinian nation. Since 1965, the PLO has provided these families with allowances and, according to Abbas, it will continue.
Already, Netanyahu and the leader of the nationalistic Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, are agitating against the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. Both politicians consider this process a further stumbling block against peace negotiations.
As it seems, the Palestinian leadership can do whatever it wants; the Zionist establishment will never be pleased. As long as the Palestinians declare total surrender, Israel wouldn’t be satisfied. Israel’s ultranationalist Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman once said that there wouldn’t be a Palestinian state in hundred years. If the colonization of Palestine continues at the current rate, there will be no Palestine left.
There is no place for optimism. To counter further Israeli rejectionism, resistance with any available means and support of the BDS movement are tantamount.
First published here.