Hasan Abu Nimah

For the UN secretary-general, Israeli bombing is good — although he would like perhaps to see a little bit less. But, in tune with his political masters, he considers Palestinians to have no right to any form of self-defense against the Israeli occupation, constant aggression and the Israeli, internationally-supported, deadly siege, with whatever means they have at their disposal. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

On her first visit to the Middle East as US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has made the same demands of Palestinians as the Bush administration. But it is ludicrous to insist that the stateless Palestinian people unconditionally recognize the legitimacy of the entity that dispossessed them and occupies them, that itself has no declared borders and that continues to violently expand its territory at their expense. Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah comment.

The peace mirage, however, is all deception with no fascination. The so-called “peace process” and the resulting negotiations long ago became ends in themselves: profitable or self-serving for the participants and failure-disguising for all concerned. For Israel, it is ideal to give the impression that it is engaged in peace talks while it continues to occupy and colonize Palestinians and deny their rights, as if the situation on the ground would have no effect on any negotiations. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

It is utterly misleading and dishonest to pretend — as so many now do — that the sum total of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a confrontation over what expired Palestinian Authority President and Israeli puppet Mahmoud Abbas himself referred to as “silly rockets.” To pretend that stopping the supply of rockets will make any difference to the course of a conflict that results from the historic dispossession — the Nakba — of an entire nation, and its replacement with a racist rogue state that has exiled, occupied and massacred the survivors for 61 years is the height of delusion. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

Israel rejected outright the weak UN Security Council’s “call” for “an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire.” What the Arab foreign ministers hailed as a triumph for their mission to New York was no more than a fig leaf to cover their failure before their increasingly angry and restive peoples who are ever more boldly denouncing Arab leaders’ inaction or complicity as Israel butchers Palestinians in Gaza. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

No one can say with certainty what Israel’s new aggression will unleash, but one can point to some likely outcomes. The attack on Gaza will not destroy Hamas, and even if Israel kills every person who ever supported Hamas, the attack will not end resistance. On the contrary, resistance will be strengthened throughout the region, undermining the notion that resistance is outdated or impossible and that the only remaining “strategic choice” for the Arabs is negotiation from a position of weakness. The Gaza attack will weaken and discredit even further the so-called “moderates” who did their best to extinguish any form of resistance and bet heavily on the failed peace process and its sponsors. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

The United Nations Security Council passed its first resolution on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in almost five years, on 16 December. But far from marking a break with the Council’s abdication of responsibility for the fate of the Palestinian people, United States- and Russian-sponsored resolution 1850 is the final nail in the coffin for even the pretense that international law and institutions will play any serious role in ending 60 years of dispossession and occupation, and bringing about a just peace. Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah comment.

“As usual, a lot of misguided analysis is once again attributing the failure of the peace process to the imminent departure of the leaders committed to it, thus obscuring the objective factors that made the failure inevitable. Such flawed reasoning holds that once new leaderships are in place in Washington, Tel Aviv and Israeli-occupied Ramallah, the process can begin anew.” Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

The Bush administration will establish the first official United States diplomatic presence in Tehran before it leaves office, according to reports published last week. A US interests section in the Iranian capital would be the first step towards restoring full diplomatic ties severed since the 1979 hostage crisis amidst the tumult of the Islamic Revolution. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.

The debate on the Palestinian refugee problem has been confused and badly mishandled. While Israel maintains a consistent position, the Palestinians and the Arabs are often contradictory, vague and inconsistent. The Palestinian refugee problem should therefore be placed in its proper perspective. Instead of solely talking about the right of return, both Palestinian and Arab discourse should emphasize refugee rights, of which the right of return, which is inalienable and fundamental, but represents only one aspect. Hasan Abu Nimah comments.