Israel enforces rogue state
harshness. Rule of law principles are spurned. Even Jewish rights are
marginalized. Palestinians have none.
Occupation ruthlessness terrorizes them. Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad serve illegitimately.
Israel manipulated the process to elect Abbas and keep him in charge.
Despite virtually no popular support, Fayyad was appointed.
Enforcing Israeli authority is policy. Abbas is a longtime collaborator.
Duplicity defines his agenda. Israel and Washington know he's reliable.
They support him to serve their interests.
Abbas took credit as Oslo's architect. Israel controlled the process.
Sellout defined it. Israel got what it wanted. Palestinians were shut
out. Abbas sold out. He agreed to unilateral surrender. So did Arafat.
In April, Al-Ahram contributor Hasan Afif El-Hasan headlined "Twenty
lost years," saying:
Post-Oslo, nothing changed. Israel's military protects settlers and
terrorizes Palestinians. PA security forces violate the rights of their
own people "in accordance with guidelines and direct orders established
by Israel."
"The path the PA chose since Oslo has not led to Palestinian independence
and it has weakened the Palestinian national movement."
"The PA does not govern its own territory, and became for all intents
and purposes the administrator of an Israeli protectorate while Israel
carries on with ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem, colonising the West Bank
and enforcing the criminal blockade on Gaza."
Abbas and Fayyad replicate US-controlled puppet authority in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Libya and elsewhere. PA security forces prevent and/or contain
peaceful demonstrations.
During Cast Lead, anti-Israeli protests were prohibited. Abbas tried
to prevent war crime investigations. He won't permit another Intifada.
He targets Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine supporters.
Historian Beshara Doumani recently visited the West Bank. He said PA
crackdowns prevent Palestinians from expressing views freely. He called
Nablus "a broken city." Resistance is confronted and quashed.
Sociology Professor Khalil Nakhleh calls PA/Israeli cooperation frightening.
Palestinian elites place their interests above collective ones.
PA leaders work cooperatively with a "Jewish-ethno-security regime."
They rule Palestine "from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean...."
What chance have Palestinians when top officials representing them sell
out to Israeli authority?
On May 10, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported (PCHR) Palestinian
security forces broke up "the concluding colloquium of the Palestine
Festival of Literature."
Free expression and opinion were violated. So was the right to peacefully
assemble. Palestinian law affirms rights too important to deny.
Arab poets and writers attended. Egyptian blogger 'Amru 'Izzat spoke
about liberty. Security forces cut off electricity and told attendees
to leave. Those refusing were confronted. Cameras were confiscated.
Chaos resulted. Later, the colloquium resumed at al-Quds International
Hotel.
In early May, PA security forces arrested dozens of journalists and
activists voicing dissent. Al Haq director Shawan Jabarin said:
"There are many people I’m sure that are afraid and will count to ten
before they say anything. Maybe they’ll push people to speak underground
instead of expressing their opinions freely."
"I think they’re using different words here and there, just to undermine
these people in the eyes of the public and to say that they are creating
trouble and creating divisions. It’s a political judgement more than
(something) illegal."
Palestinian Attorney General Ahmad al-Maghni hasn't "protect(ed) the
freedoms and the rights of the people in the face of arbitrary detention,
instead of arresting people."
"Here, we see him acting quickly" and irresponsibly. "(A)t the same
time, he’s closing his ears and his eyes on the crimes going on."
"He is not taking into his mind that the law that he is using was approved
in 1960 and these days, we are in 2012 and the main principle now in
all the world is freedom of expression."
Jabarin referred to the long outdated 1960 Jordanian Penal Code.
An-Najah University student Hasan Abbadi was jailed for days and fined
for "creating disunity." Others were targeted for Facebook and other
social network comments.
Abbas ruthlessly targets truth. Criticizing PA authority isn't tolerated.
Web sites were blocked. Al Mughani ordered them shut. Internet freedom's
threatened. So are peaceful assembly and other rights.
Palestinians should ask who's side are they on? It's simple knowing
and should mobilize them to react. Otherwise, current policies will
continue and worsen.
Palestinian Security Forces Trained to Serve Israel
From 2005 until he retired in October 2010, Lt. General Keith Dayton
served as US Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority
head (USSC). Lt. General Michael Moeller replaced him. He reports directly
to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The State Department says he "directs all facets of U.S. security sector
assistance to the Palestinian Authority and synchronizes international
supporting efforts."
It's part of Washington's pro-Israel/anti-Palestinian agenda. USSC created,
built, trains and funds a 25,000-strong PA force. Hundreds of millions
are spent. At issue is Institutionalizing hard-line control. Israel's
own security operations are supplemented.
Dayton built and renovated garrisons, training colleges, Interior Ministry
facilities, and security headquarters. In January 2010, a Congressional
Research Service (CRS) report addressed "US Security Assistance to the
Palestinian Authority," saying:
In late 2004, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Abbas created
the USSC for "civil security and counterterrorism purposes."
Palestinian recruits train at Jordan's International Police Training
Center (JIPCA) near Amman. Instruction includes crowd control, confronting
"terrorist networks," and consolidating "competent, defactionalized
civilian control" over the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Hamas controls
besieged Gaza. Perhaps Israel plans another war to change things.
At issue is maintaining militarized occupation control, confronting
challenges to Israeli authority, serving imperial Washington, and denying
Palestinians freedom and control over their own lives.
PA security forces assist Israeli harshness. Five PA security organizations
operate: the National Security Forces (including military intelligence),
Palestinian Civil Police, Preventive Security Organization, Presidential
Guard, and General Intelligence Service.
Together they comprise the Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF).
The PA interior minister controls them. He's beholden to Israel. So
are Abbas and Fayyad. Palestinians lose out. They have two enemies -
Israel and their own West Bank government.
USSC is a multinational organization comprised of military officers
and civilian personnel. Its core staff numbers about 45, including Americans,
Canadians, Brits, and Turks. Operations are based in Jerusalem and Ramallah.
US private military contractors (PMCs), including DynCorp., are involved.
So are around two dozen US and foreign law enforcement and security
training specialists, as well as seven US and foreign technical advisors
with expertise in security and Middle East affairs, strategic planning
and organizational development, contracts and grants, procurement, logistics,
and finance.
At issue is enforcing occupation harshness, denying Palestinian self-determination,
and eliminating challenges to Israeli control. Palestinian security
forces target their own people. Abbas and Fayyad collaborate for whatever
benefits they derive.
Israel has final say on policy. Washington's a reliable partner. Palestinians
are left out and exploited. They're on their own against two rogue states
denying their legitimate rights. Liberation depends on restoring them.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
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http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
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