Palestinians reveal the grim truth behind the Palestinian Authority

From Khaled Duzdar, Palestinian Co-Director of the Strategic Affairs Unit, Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information in Jerusalem comes a very grim picture of the reality behind the Palestinian Authority's rule.

Khaled Duzdar's article is published on the website of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre, based in East Jerusalem and Ramallah, set up by Palestinian journalists and researchers to provide reliable reports for journalists and diplomats worldwide on events and data from the occupied territories. They aim to encourage a more democratic atmosphere and participatory decision-making. There is much of interest on the site, from an impeccably Palestinian point of view, and it's well worth visiting.

You won't find what I would call a balanced picture of where terrorism has been coming from in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts of the last four years in this summary, which cites as terrorist actions the murderous attack of Baruch Goldstein which killed 29 Palestinians in their mosque, and the murder of Rabin. By contrast, it also mentions

a number of Palestinian revenge operations that materialized through suicide bombing operations conducted by Palestinian political Islamist groups on the basis of revenge and opposition to the peace agreement

Khaled Duzdar is much less mealy-mouthed than the JMCC. He repeatedly quotes from the Christian bible and English literary greats. Perhaps he writes from a Christian point of view. His article certainly reveals a tragic state of anarchy and corruption in the Palestinian territories, knowingly and complacently presided over by the Palestinian Authority. He tells us:

the Palestinian territory is under anarchy which is leading to the level that can be described as the "Somalia model". Political factions and militia do as they please; the cities and towns are divided into vandalizing feudal Lords with the absence of law and order. The Palestinian security forces do not control and in some cases they were themselves involved in a number of incidents of misused force only adding to the sense of total chaos. 

The worst of the worse in this situation is when the Palestinian security forces carry out acts that violate laws and contravene with their responsibilities and duties. A case in point is when members of the Security forces broke into the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza city during a formal session to protest the absence of security and chaos, they themselves acting in a gangster like style. There are no logical reasons or excuses for this kind of behavior by the security forces. They are supposed to prevent acts of armed protests and anarchy. They are supposed to protect the immunity of the Council. Adding insult to injury, the majority of these “protesters” were not even in uniform, indicating that while on duty they might be providing security, but while off-duty they are busy violating laws that they are supposed to enforce. Moreover, few days ago, members of one of the security forces broke into a civilian house shooting and injuring the civilians, menacing women and children, over a minor dispute regarding the parking a car.

Anarchy in Palestine had reached its highest chaotic level now. Armed forces in Gaza are now even adopting the Iraqi model of bedlam and kidnapping, without distinguishing between the targets, even foreigners working in assisting the Palestinian community are targeted. This is being done to blackmail the Authority to answer their demands. The perpetrators of these crimes have never been arrested and have never paid for their crimes. They move and acting freely with confidence that they can achieve what they want through their criminal acts. There are absolutely no justifications for the claim of “armed resistance” when these arms are used to target their own people.

Today, the territories are controlled by thousands of myriad armed militia, who are proliferating and growing daily. They defy the Authority and endanger not only Palestinian unity, but the Palestinian people themselves. Violence and acts of anarchy in all Palestinian cities are massively spreading. These warlords cannot legitimize their claim that they are resistance groups. They cannot justify their violent acts against the Authority. There is no justification for intimidating the public. These people are not resisting occupation. Their acts are damaging and dangerous. They are a direct threat to Palestinian national interests and to national security.

Fatah is the leading source for the proliferation of these warlords. These gangs, using the name of Fatah have turned into gangsters and warlords. They have descended the situation in the Palestinian cities to a gangster's battlefield. The PA must begin dismantling and disarming these so-called Fatah affiliated armed groups. The PA must enforce the law by banning all those who are committing crimes against the Palestinian people and those who challenges the Authority on a daily basis. These warlords they think that they are the Authority or that they are acting on behalf of the Authority. But the truth is that they are causing damage to the legitimate Palestinian cause through their abuses. They are not defending Palestinians by committing crimes of killing, wreaking havoc on the Palestinian people; intimidating, abducting and racketeering, extorting protection money from innocent civilians and acting illicitly as the judge and the executioner.

Fatah is of course the political organization of Mahmoud Abbas, the PA president. Despite portraying these gangs of thugs as not acting on behalf of the PA, Khaled Duzdar makes it clear that Abbas and his commanders at best condone and procrastinate when they should be crushing these groups.

It seems that the Palestinian President is "dancing with the wolves" by trying to negotiate and mediate between them to end the lawlessness, while the wolves are attacking his flock at night. President Abbas should reconsider this tactic. If the wolves attack and threaten his flock, he should find a way to protect them from the disobeying wolves and not to appease the wolves. Ultimately he has to fight those who oppose law and order. He has to work on putting an immediate end to the lawlessness. He must to be adamant in enforcing law and ending all signs of anarchy and armed militias. Enforcement of the law should not be negotiable. President Abbas has to end this situation immediately; with no more procrastination. If not, the rapid disintegration and chaos will turn his period in government into another Palestinian experience in failed governance from which the Palestinian people will continue to suffer.

Devastatingly, Khaled Duzdar portrays the hopelessness and insecurity of ordinary Palestinians as worse than under the Israeli occupation:

The lost of hope and the current feeling of insecurity in the public is worse than at the time of occupation. Palestinian civilians are not secure; they lost their confidence in the Authority and its security forces. They perceive the security forces and their senior commanders as being the leaders of corruption. The public believes that these so-called security commanders are only interested in serving their own narrow interests.

Given the situation of unremitting thuggery and terrorization he portrays, Khaled Duzdar and the JMCC are indeed courageous, in the best tradition of journalism. But where are the legions of journalists and bloggers in Europe and the US supporting these voices of truth and publicizing this situation?

And what about all those solidarity-with-the-Palestinians movements, lilke the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and the International Solidarity Movement?

Unfortunately, by their total silence on the situation, leaving unopposed the terrorist gangs and the thugs.

Where are the Palestinian trade unions? Calling general strikes to protest at the thuggery?

Unfortunately, they appear to be firmly focused on supporting calls for boycott and actions to end the Israeli occupation, so that presumably yet more Palestinians can experience this life of anarchy and thuggery.

Here's where the AUT comes in. Its Council famously voted down a previously agreed boycott of some Israeli universities back in May. At that meeting, however, there was almost universal support for the union to support action in favour of "solidarity with the Palestinians". It was clear from the discussions at that Council that what they had in mind was co-operation with Palestinian trade unions over moves to end the occupation. It was agreed at the Council that a commission would be set up to investigate the best way of taking forward the union's policy.

The AUT is currently asking for four nominations from amongst Council members to the commission. Engage is publicizing and supporting the nomination of Jon Pike, its chairperson and one of its leading activists. Jon is a constant supporter of "solidarity with the Palestinians" as a way forward. I have already posted on how his ideas on what this solidarity should consist of are very far from focusing on the grim situation that the Palestinians face from their own leadership.

It's good that Engage declares:

Generally, we'll argue for support for people who are committed to consistent principles, rather than unwarranted exceptionalism, and positive and practical support rather than punitive and gestural academic boycotts. We'll oppose political tests and demonisation, and support academic freedom as a key principle of AUT's international work and its relations with other trade union bodies.

However, there's also this:

We'll look to ground the AUT's policy on consistent, progressive and internationalist principles.

It's not clear just what this means. Unfortunately, the vocabulary has the flavour of traditional solidarity-with-liberation-movements and the old Soviet-inspired "peace movements" which constantly presented themselves as "progressive" and "internationalist". Indeed, at the AUT Council, I thought there was something of that mind set when the Chair of AUT's International Committee addressed the Council members as "Comrades".

The biggest issue in the occupied territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority is about democracy and the rule of law. I don't think the role of a higher education union is to ignore that.

And there's a huge issue of human rights under the PA too. For, via normblog, there's an equally grim report from a gay activist web site which focuses on combating anti-gay policies and action in Middle Eastern and other tyrannies. This tragically exposes how the Palestinian Authority itself actively campaigns against and persecutes gays. Ironically, it carries comments from Palestinian gays who say they only feel safe in the gay bars of Tel-Aviv. As the report says:

It is incredible that Palestinian statehood can be a "progressive" cause, when the state they seek is one in which terrorism is tolerated but gay people are not. Such a state is totalitarian, not progressive.

I somehow don't think we'll find that case being argued on the Engage web site, but you never know. I live in hope.

Comments

[Jonty Goodson]

Good posting, Judy, especially the comments on the lack of interest from supposed Palestinian-solidarity individuals and groups about how bad the PA leadership in general is for the Palestinians!

Also interesting re Engage which contains such an odd mix of good and bad stuff - often providing excellent deconstructions of left antisemitism/antiZionism, but then sometimes employing the same ideas/language as the latter (e.g. claim that Sharon uses false allegations of antisemitism to shield his 'racist' policies etc). So any more thoughts on what's going on at Engage, Judy, would be very welcome!

[Alexandra Simonon, Engage]

"I somehow don't think we'll find that case being argued on the Engage web site, but you never know. I live in hope."

In fact we are in touch with Queers Against Terror and have asked them to write an article for Engage.

And we have discussed the issue on Engage months ago (http://liberoblog.com/2005/06/27/dont-boycott-world-pride-jerusalem/#more-215), when "Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism" (QUIT!) launched a campaign to boycott World Pride Jerusalem. I wrote at the time:

"Israel is the only country in the Middle East where a Gay Pride could possibly take place. There would certainly be no Gay Pride in the PA. The reason for this is that Hamas is blatantly, violently homophobic, and that homophobia spreads like a disease to the PA and the Palestinian solidarity movements abroad."

I think you must remember it, as you emailed me personnally at the time, to express the view that gays should show more humility.

Best wishes.

[Judy]

Alexandra-- I am glad to see that you'll be featuring an article by QAT. The point I was making was about the particular argument I quoted that says that supporting the Palestinian push for statehood is not progressive, for it amounts to support for totalitarianism (and also terrorism). That's what I said I thought it was unlikely Engage would support. As I said, I live in hope, so I hope Engage surprises me.

I'm surprised too that you should think it appropriate to quote from a private email on a public comment forum without seeking permission, but maybe that's how you do things. The point I actually made was that I thought that gays should show humility and sensitivity in imposing their place to parade through an area of Jerusalem of intensely deeply felt religious opposition to *all* displays of sexuality, naked flesh etc, since it is open to gays to parade anywhere in Israel.

[Jon Pike]

Judy,

1. You're wholly wrong to take us to task on the question of Hamas's homophobia and QAT. We've never been silent on this, and there is no reason why we should be. Goodson is wrong, in his comment below: we've given lots of coverage to the homophobia of Hamas. This is probably just a misunderstanding.

2. You're right to criticise the rather bland and vague statement that 'We'll look to ground the AUT's policy on consistent, progressive and internationalist principles.' Those were my words, (written in a bit of a hurry. Here's a thing: I'm pretty anxious to clear anti-semitism out of my union. I'm pretty anxious to stop it pushing for boycotts of Israel. That anxiety, that will, that activity, has, I guess, paid off. But sometimes it leads to slightly imperfect formulations. I'm most embarassed about the 'campism' that that particular formulation invokes.) The comments are rather anodyne and unspecific. I do think consistency is extremely important, though, annoying philosopher that I am.

I'm working with others on a redraft which I hope will be better, and address your criticism.

3. Thanks for pointing people to my paper to FFIPP.

4. Will you withdraw your accusation that Linda Grant shares Tom Paulin's approval of shooting Israeli Settlers?

Best
Jon

[Judy]

Jon-- if you note my comment to Alexandra, you'll see that I was not referring to Engage's coverage or otherwise of homophobia. I was specifically addressing *this* comment:

It is incredible that Palestinian statehood can be a "progressive" cause, when the state they seek is one in which terrorism is tolerated but gay people are not. Such a state is totalitarian, not progressive.

Thanks for your acknowledgement of the point I made about "progressive" & "internationalist" stances. I look forward to reading the revised version.

You state that I accused Linda Grant of sharing Tom Paulin's approval of shooting Israeli settlers. I did not do this. Please read and (hopefully) take account of the words I used. I have already responded in the relevant comments thread making this point. I do not intend to discuss this point any further.

[Jon Pike]

Oh, well. Judy, you said, this:

"I realise that people like Tom Paulin think that would be a perfectly reasonable response (shooting settlers(JP))to the visit. Maybe at some level you agree with him."

Of course, you can get off the hook. Maybe the moon is made of green cheese, maybe not. But the implication is clear, and you impute to Linda Grant views that she does not hold. This is unwise. Come on, Judy. You can be concessive: I was, above.

Best
Jon

[Alexandra Simonon]

Judy,
indeed it is unlikely that anyone on Engage will argue that Palestinian statehood should be discouraged on the basis that the state *they* seek is one that supports terrorism but is violently homophobic.

This might be the plan of Palestinian totalitarians, but when you accept it as what "they" (the Palestinians) want, you're agreeing with Hamas. Do you see Hamas as the 'sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people'?

There are other totalitarian (and violently homophobic) states in the world, do you think that statehoood should be taken away from them, and they should be occupied by a truly progressive force? Or do you think it would be preferable for the victims of these states to enjoy freedom within their own, democratic state? That's the answer: it's the democratic (or undemocratic) nature of the state that is crucial, not statehood itself.

So, in short, the demands for a democratic palestinian state is a progressive cause, and Hamas' dream of statehood is definitely not. If you think that Engage supports the PSC as a progressive cause, you must have misread us somehow.

I am sorry if you felt it a breach of confidence to quote the email you sent to me, I genuinely thought you had sent it for publication, I hadn't realised it was a private email.

Best wishes

[Jonty Goodson]

Jon

You wrote this above:

"Goodson is wrong, in his comment below [sic]: we've given lots of coverage to the homophobia of Hamas."

Did you mean me by "Goodson"? If so, I don't understand your point. My comment above about Engage's odd mix of good/bad stuff was an overall observation about its opposition to left antisemitism in general, not about Hamas homophobia in particular.

Jonty Goodson

[Judy]

Alexandra-- you write as if you had not read the post on which you comment here.

It is based on extended quotes from a Palestinian journalist of impeccable Palestinian-supporting credentials which show clearly that the Palestinian Authority itself is directly responsible for plenty of thuggery, terrorism and corruption.

It also knowingly and complacently presides over more of the same by others, according to the journalist.

The PA also deliberately persecutes and harasses gays, which is a core feature of this post.

I had already posted on Palestinian Authority condonation of/active support for thuggery and terrorism here:
http://adloyada.typepad.com/adloyada/2005/10/more_ominous_ne.html

So the idea that it's Hamas which is totalitarian, and it's quite OK to support the current Palestinian Authority's demands for statehood is in my view and that of the QAT writer mistaken.

Your analogies are inappropriate. I do not advocate the abolition of states like Saudi Arabia, but I do not in any way regard myself as a supporter of that country, or China, Cuba or other totalitarian states.

The present elected representatives of the Palestinian people continue to support not disarming terrorists. Indeed they pay tribute to their role in the struggle, and propose to recruit them into the official PA forces. Meanwhile, the Chief Justice of the PA has resigned in protest.

I do not support the PA or any other similarly totalitarian and terror-supporting regime. That is the point the QAT writer I cited was making. I don't think any democracy-supporting group should either.

[Jon Pike]

Jonty Goodson,
Sorry, I misunderstood your comment completely, and responded rudely. But since I suppose I'm being cast as a supposed Palestinian-solidarity individual, I'd assert that I am interested in precisely the democratic and liberal credentials of both the PA and Hamas.

Jon

[Anne]

wow, long posts and comments! I didn't read every word...but I was struck by one comment in particular...

If you don't define what Baruch Goldstein did as terrorism, how do you define terrorism?

By the way, there is a Palestinian lesbian group on the West Bank I think. (I think it's called "Aswat." )

[Judy]

Anne-- I'm not sure where you find a comment on Baruch Goldstein in this thread?

[Lie]

You’ve got the irony of the UN’s situation peefrct. Come to think of it, considering that the UN does a lot to help perpetuate the fabricated existence of a “Palestinian” people and to keep them being used as political pawns by keeping them in perpetual refugee status, maybe the quasi-holiday ought to be called the “International Day of Solidarity Against the “Palestinian” People”...