Palestinians Oppose Fake Peace Talks

Palestinians Oppose Fake Peace Talks

by Stephen Lendman

They begin Tuesday in Washington. They're orchestrated to fail. Israel and America don't negotiate. They demand unconditional surrender.

PA coup d'etat president Abbas is a longtime collaborator. Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat's a convenient stooge. 

He, Abbas and other PA conspirators represent Israel, not Palestine. They're well rewarded for doing so. Their history reflects duplicity and betrayal. They enforce Israeli harshness.

On July 28, Addameer headlined "The Palestinian Authority police thwart demonstration in Ramallah against political negotiations; arresting four and attacking dozens of demonstrators, among them Palestinian Legislative Council member Khalida Jarrar."

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) activists resist occupation. They challenge repression. 

They accuse Israel of "brutal aggression against our people - murder, destruction, assassination, house demolitions, the uprooting of trees, land expropriation, settlement expansion, the continued construction of the Apartheid Wall, a suffocating political and economic siege, torture, and massive oppression."

They support right over wrong. Israel calls them terrorists. They're heroic. They encourage public opposition to fake talks. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, demonstrated peacefully.

They did so against Abbas' "willingness to concede against the position of the Palestinian national consensus and even the decisions of the PLO institutions themselves." 

About 200 participants marched, said PFLP. They waived Palestinian flags. They support prisoner rights. Thousands of political ones languish in Israel's gulag. It's harsh. It's merciless. It's one of the world's worst.

They protested against forfeiting Palestinian rights. They headed for Abbas' presidential (al-Moqataa) compound.

PA police blocked them. They attacked them. They did so violently. They beat them. They targeted men and women. Many were hospitalized.

According to Addameer:

"The actions of the police were a deliberate, premeditated attack on peaceful demonstrators that included members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), such as Khalida Jarrar, who also acts as the Chair for the committee on prisoners in the PLC."

"According to our research team, once the demonstration dispersed, the police went to Ramallah Hospital to prosecute the injured, and arrested at least three, without allowing them to receive appropriate treatment." 

"One other demonstrator has reportedly been arrested as well."

"Addameer considers the police forces’ egregious acts today as an illustration of the continuing political suppression that the PA practices against the Palestinian people despite their right to express their refusal of the PA’s policies."

Addameer strongly condemned the attack. Doing so violates Palestinian Basic Law. It spurns Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), stating:

"The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."

ICCPR's Article 18 (1) states:

"Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion." 

"This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching."

Article 19 (1) and (2) state:

"Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference."

"Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice."

On July 28, PFLP officials denounced what happened. They blamed Abbas for ordering brute force, saying:

He acted "contrary to the decisions of Palestinian national institutions, including the PLO Central Council - and reflects a culture of recklessness, irresponsibility, lack of accountability, and disregard for the law and the national traditions of our people."

They demand "those who ordered and implemented this violence be held accountable for their actions."

They added that this protest initiates a "popular movement" against occupation harshness. It's a "struggle for Palestinian rights." It's about "creating an alternative national strategy of resistance." 

It's "to achieve the rights of our people." It's for diaspora Palestinians right of return. It's for long denied "self-determination, independence, sovereignty, and our capital in Jerusalem."

PFLP said hundreds marched in Ramallah. Others protested in Gaza. They're tired of betrayal. They want leaders representing them.

According to PFLP leader Maher al-Taher:

"The primary goal of the US and Israel in this return to negotiations is to prevent the explosion of the situation in Palestine in the face of the occupation, and to cut the route to the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to prosecute the leaders of Zionist terrorism."

Taher urged Palestinians everywhere to "reject and condemn" what's planned. Talks benefit Israel and America. They harm Palestinians. They've done so for decades.

PFLP official Mariam Abu Daqqa urged a popular "campaign to reject the return to negotiations, involving the masses of the Palestinian people and pressuring Palestinian officials to not go to Washington."

Palestinian rights are inalienable, she said. They won't be bargained away. They won't be traded for money or special privileges.

They won't bring "economic peace…Palestine is Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the (Mediterranean) Sea."

"Palestinian refugees will return." Another Oslo won't be tolerated. Resistance will continue against "impose(d) submission, settlements, normalization, and absurd negotiations."

A Final Comment

Israel media said cabinet ministers agreed to release 104 longterm  Palestinian prisoners. They include 14 Arab citizens. Implementation will be in four stages. Initial ones are affected within weeks. Others will come out in groups over nine months.

A previous article explained a duplicitous process. Concessions aren't worth the paper they're written on. Pledges are systematically broken. It's longstanding Israeli policy.

Israel holds thousands of political prisoners. More are arrested regularly. Hundreds may replace dozens released. Freed prisoners are ruthlessly hounded. 

Many are rearrested. Their families and friends are threatened. They don't have a moment's peace. They're denied free movement. They remain prisoners in their own country.

Palestinians have been persecuted for decades. Rogue PA officials share responsibility. This time's no different. Betrayal's virtually certain. It's preordained. 

It's happening while Israel wages war. It's brutalizing Gazans and West Bank residents. On July 28, Israeli radio's Arabic service said warplanes again bombed Syria.

It's the fifth time since January. Trucks allegedly carrying Syrian missiles were targeted. Washington supports Israeli aggression. Ban Ki-moon's indifferent. He one-sidedly supports Israel. He always has. So do Western leaders.

Israel talks peace. It wages war. It's longstanding Israeli policy. Rogue states operate that way. Israel's one of the worst.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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