It's no surprise that the general Palestinians will eventually opt for the extreme path of self-assertion in their long battle against Israel as has been clearly evident in the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip. Owing mostly to its firm stance on the statehood of Palestine, the Hamas has always been dreaded by the Israel government. Moderate Palestinians were once scared of them. But no more. The way the Hamas fighters have been standing up to Israel's barbaric military assaults on Gaza, they cannot but earn the ordinary Palestinians' admiration.
The Palestinian Authority appears to be biding time, or is embroiled in infightings, or struggling to shake off its post-Arafat era of confusions. It is hard to believe that the once-redoubtable PLO leaders have unwittingly made a space for an Israel to exploit it in its favour.
With Israel now seemingly hell-bent on wiping out the Palestinians in a vengeful operation of veritable ethnic cleansing, now raging in Gaza, thoughts don't take much time to become uneasy reflections. It makes one cast his or her look back at the Arab-Israel war in 1967, the third since Israel's Britain-sponsored statehood in 1948. The turbulent times which the stateless Palestinians were subject to in the surrounding territories had resulted in the setting up of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) by Yasser Arafat in 1964. It followed the Fatah Movement that was also launched by Arafat (1957). After the first uprising by the Palestinians against Jewish settlements beginning from late 19th century to early twentieth century, the Palestinian movement for a state of its own had continued unabated. At the same time, the Jews also began pressing the demand for their nationhood. Both sides focused on the southern part of Syria (Levant). The history of the area shows that before World War-II most of the Jews worldwide were scattered across in eastern and central Europe, they were not indigenous to Palestine. On the other hand, Palestine was inhabited by Arab Muslims.
The late 19th century witnessed the rise of two intransigent national movements --- the Jews' political platform Zionism and the Arab Nationalism. Many big historical events have their seeds in the similar happenings in the past. Like the great exodus of the Jews from Nazi Germany following the Holocaust during WW-II, many Jews in Russia in 1859 to 1880s also fled persecution prompted by anti-Semitism in that country to reach their cherished Land of Israel and set up the Jewish Nation. Zionism became a formidable political movement in 1897.
The Palestinians passed through a turbulent time in the later half of the twentieth century. On a number of occasions, their statehood almost became a reality. After the 1978 Camp David Accords signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, brokered by US President Jimmy Carter, a number of critical demands from the side of the Palestinians were on the verge of being met. But due to the later murky developments things had gone awry. Apart from the Arab countries Syria, Iraq, Libya, Algeria, South Yemen --- PLO also became vocal in thwarting the Israeli-Egyptian peace process. Finally, a PLO-Moscow statement against the Camp David Peace Accords dealt a great blow to the so-called peace process.
The historic event drew a sigh of relief on the part of the world. To the Palestinians, the Camp David Accords emerged as a faint sign of a lasing peace and, eventually, a sovereign state. But to the woes of the Palestinians scattered across the nearby Arab world, and due to the intransigence of Israel, stoked by a segment of the West, the accord finally fizzled out. A war of attrition followed, that had dragged into the days worse than that dominated by the early guerrilla movements led by Yasser Arafat, George Habash, Abu Nidal et al.
In view of the recent Israel-Palestine crisis, the emergence of the extremist group of Hamas and its leader Ismail Haniya was a matter of time. Given the matrix of the Palestinian realities, the birth of Hamas was inevitable. The extent to which the popular Intifada movement, spearheaded by PLO, had exploded, it had to be manipulated by an armed extremist groups like Hamas.
The Arab states' opposition to the Camp David Accords is understandable. In spite of President Sadat's unalloyed eagerness to make peace with Israel, he had to give in to Israel's pressure of not inviting PLO chairman Arafat to the talks. As a consequence, it brought the Soviet Union to the scene. Keeping PLO outside the talks exacted a heavy toll on the later Israel-Palestine peace initiatives.
The 1993 signing of a historic peace deal in Washington DC between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, brokered by US President Bill Clinton, bore the spectre of PLO-Israel mistrust for each other. Another initiative involving Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton in the USA in 2000 just got botched thanks to PLO chairman's 'disagreement'. Arafat objected to the talks finally as he viewed the proposal had been drafted by American and Israeli negotiators. Earlier, the Oslo Peace Process had offered a faint glimmer of hope for peace in the Arab region.
However, Palestine had never been left in the lurch in the modern times. Upon being encouraged by international camaraderie, PLO declared Palestine a sovereign state in 1988. Palestine was given a non-member observer status in the UN in 2012. It was called the Palestinian Authority.
Chairman Arafat should be credited with the lion's share of Palestine's achievements. Splinter groups and detractors notwithstanding, it is Yasser Arafat, who alone with his legendary height and heroism had navigated the cause of the Palestinian statehood through turbulent seas. His sudden death was an irreparable loss to the Palestinians.
That the Hamas group had been trying to emerge as a challenge to the lately-moderate PLO became clear after Arafat's death in 2004. In the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, Hamas emerged with a majority, with Ismail Haniya as Prime Minister. PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas remained the President.
In so far as a people's very existence is concerned, they have been seen through the ages turning to the saviour, who acts without wasting time and does not mince words. During the series of ordeals and sufferings, including mindless deaths, armed attacks and displacement from ancestral lands, the Palestinians one day found none beside them, except the Hamas militants. When a historically hostile nation is out to annihilate an ancient people living close to it, resistance is inevitable. The PLO has dithered in the task for reasons ranging from lack of military strength, diplomatic compulsions and a confused policy. The Hamas has turned so desperate that it does not recognise Israel's right to exist. It sounds illogical. But the question of the Palestinians' right to survival as a sovereign nation is also there. How long will they go on seeing their babies, women and innocent commoners die in bombardments by Israeli jets? Ordinary Israelis also should not be the victims of Hamas rocket attacks. But the final solution to the century-old crisis lies in the statehood of Palestine. In the 21st century geopolitics, the Palestinian reality ought to be placed in a completely different perspective. The hapless people virtually under siege in Palestine have had enough of sufferings. The world should let them breathe freely.
Email: shihabskr@ymail.com
Let the Palestinians breathe freely
Shihab Sarkar | Published: August 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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