The failures of Abbas' leadership

[Jefferson23]

Much of Hamas’ confidence comes from the Palestinian public, who see it standing up bravely for the national cause while Mahmoud Abbas plays the diplomatic supplicant.

By Amira Hass | Jul. 20, 2014

Shock and paralysis have taken hold of the political world in the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, in light of the continued Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip and the enormous concern over the fate of 1.8 million people living in the small enclave. Condemnations by spokesmen for the PLO and the PA, calls to donate blood to Gaza and the establishment of a government emergency fund are “expressions of solidarity” – as if the residents of the Gaza Strip are a different people. These are not the steps of a leadership whose people are in mortal danger.

People in Gaza and the West Bank are shocked that senior leaders in the PLO and the PA – first and foremost PA President Mahmoud Abbas, or at least those closest to him – did not take the first obvious step of going to the Gaza Strip when the bloody conflict first broke out. This failure, critics say, has helped turn the conflict, as far as the world is concerned, into a face-off between Hamas and Israel, and not part of the policy of occupation and oppression of the entire Palestinian people.

On the organizational level, the bloody conflict required an immediate meeting of the temporary unified leadership (consisting of members of the PLO executive committee and heads of the organizations that are not members of the PLO, first among them Hamas and Islamic Jihad). The forming of this body was agreed on as far back as the reconciliation accord in Cairo in 2005. In fact, the united leadership should have met right after the Shati agreement (the April accord regarding the establishment of a reconciliation government headed by Rami Hamdallah).

The fact that it did not meet is a failure or evidence that Abbas’ heart was not in the national consensus government to begin with. Abbas ascribes great importance to negotiations with Israel and his connections with the United States, while it is becoming clearer to ever-widening circles in the PLO and Fatah that the obligation to build a unified leadership trumps everything else.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.606106

[RedstDem]

1. Abbas has failed Palestine

Netanyahoo has failed us.

[Jefferson23]

2. Amira does a good job of describing the political mess the Palestinians are in..the way

forward..who knows at this point.

[shira]

3. Amira Hass defended Hamas' rejection of ceasefire

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/15/after_192_killed_in_gaza_is

Yeah, it’s exactly because Hamas feels that this was a proposal boiled up with Israel without any consultation with Hamas. And this is something that’s forced on them and also reported through the media and not through negotiations or prior negotiations. Everybody knows that the leadership of Egypt right now is an enemy of Hamas, an enemy of the Muslim Brothers. And they feel humiliated, and they feel that it is not meant to bring progress and change for the Palestinians in Gaza, but to further marginalize them as a movement, as a political movement.

An unconditional ceasefire would have ended all hostilities & negotiations for a truce would've followed.

Amira Hass, the BDS movement, Mondoweiss, etc… all defend Hamas, apparently believing Hamas' war is worth hundreds more Palestinian casualties - at least until Hamas gets what it wants.

Nice pro-Palestinian peace advocate. She doesn't even pretend anymore b/c she knows enough people will allow her to get away with this shit.

[Jefferson23]

4. Oh my God, and Harretz did not fire her..hair on fire outrage. n/t

[shira]

5. Sorry, but folks cannot advocate for Palestinian civilians on the one hand...

….while defending Hamas' ongoing war with more Palestinian civilian casualties. Not without being called out on it and ridiculed.

And you wonder why there are absolutely no Democrats who hold Amira Hass's views on I/P?

[Jefferson23]

6. Sure, whatever you say. Harretz is notorious for employing Hamas defenders.

Support from the Democratic party is a weak argument for you...I mean really,
if you imagine they support this government based on the merits, that would
be pretty sad.

[shira]

7. She explained away Hamas' rejection of a ceasefire...

…when she and her fellow advocates who purport to care about Palestinian civilians should have been BEGGING Hamas to accept a ceasefire.

That's a pro-war stance any way it's cut. You know it and you can't defend it.

[Jefferson23]

8. According to you she did, that and a host of other ills. n/t

[shira]

10. LOL @ the denial. You have a better explanation of what she was doing...

…when talking about Hamas' rejection of a ceasefire?

[Jefferson23]

11. Your premise is false, but you would like agreement..I understand your approach. n/t

[shira]

12. How? Explain please. Don't run. n/t

[Jefferson23]

14. Run? You're funny. Let me put it this way, you say she is doing xy and z.

You say the majority are doing the same, in just about every thread...because you say so.

Why you expect your point of view to be accepted but are rejected may have to do with the fact that
your case against her and every one of your assertions are not demonstrated in the OP.

[shira]

16. You're blowing smoke. She defended Hamas rejecting a ceasefire...

You have no better explanation for what she and others like her are saying in the BDS movement, FreeGaza, the ISM, Electronic Intifada, and Mondoweiss…..regarding Hamas and the ceasefire.

In no way can it be argued that Amira Hass or any of the above radical movements WISH Hamas had accepted the ceasefire. I'm certain NONE of these vile organizations who pretend to be concerned about Palestinians are calling for Hamas to accept one NOW.

Which goes to show just how vile the vast majority of the pro-Palestinain movement truly is. And it goes w/o saying this is why NO elected Democrats would be caught dead spewing the same talking points as these nasty pro-war outfits.

[Jefferson23]

17. Like I said, same empty rhetoric, different thread. n/t

[Jefferson23]

9. Operation Protective Edge continues cycle of violence

Even now, as an extensive Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation is bombing the Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip, one could risk concluding that Operation Protective Edge will not go down in the history books as one of Israel’s strategic achievements.

This assessment is based on a gauge developed by none other than Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon. As the chief of staff during the second intifada, Ya’alon coined the term “etched in their consciousness.” In an interview with Ari Shavit, which appeared in Haaretz in August 2002, Ya’alon described the main objective in the conflict with the Palestinians as “the very deep internalization by the Palestinians that terrorism and violence will not defeat us, will not make us fold.” If, he continued, that is not etched into the Palestinian consciousness by the end of that conflict, “we will have a strategic problem with an existential threat to Israel.” In his opinion, Israel had not faced a more important confrontation “since the War of Independence.”

To properly evaluate the chance that Operation Protective Edge has in meeting this special challenge, it is worth examining the achievements of earlier military operations and seeing what they were able to “etch” into the consciousness. Operation Defensive Shield in the West Bank in March 2002 did, in fact, contribute to a dramatic drop in local Palestinian involvement in acts of violence against Israel. But the Hamas victory in the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Assembly in January 2006 shows that the mark that Israel's strong hand etched on the Palestinian consciousness was superficial, if it even existed at all. The massive attack on the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009) left 1,300 Palestinians dead, half of them innocent civilians, as well as over 5,000 wounded and tens of thousands homeless. Nevertheless, it failed to put a stop to rocket attacks on Israel. Four years later, after endless rocket fire, the IDF needed to engage in yet another round of “consciousness etching.” Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012 claimed 169 victims' lives, including 68 helpless civilians: men, women and children.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/israel-strategic-achievement-defensive-edge-moshe-yaalon.html#ixzz388vTNkta

[azurnoir]

13. Abbas appears to be accepting of the status quo, of low political position of the Palestinian people

as whole, in his bid to appear the 'good Palestinian' before Western leaders. Each time he appears to grow some sort of spine he waffles under pressure

[Jefferson23]

15. I'm afraid so..and he is pretty old now, not sure he can take much more. n/t

[azurnoir]

18. I'm going to say this and it is not a matter of support but one of political reality

it should have been Abbas who rejected the cease fire last week or at the very least protested its non-terms, but instead he tacitly allowed it to go forward uncontested knowing it would be rejected by Hamas, there by keeping his place as the good Palestinian, which leads to a couple of questions firstly why if a cease fire is what is really desired design one that humiliates your opponent - something we saw brought up here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113468973

and two and I'll admit this verges on there has been some noise about installing Abbas as leader of Gaza after this campaign is over (how that will happen remains a mystery) but was that brought up to him while the cease was being written up?

[Jefferson23]

19. The actors history, what we know and what

we don't know, I can't say..but you ask good questions.

I am going back to who was responsible for the teens kidnapping..no evidence
thus far...does Abbas know with any certainty Hamas was behind it, as accused? Not that
we know of. When everything fell apart, to include the shootings in May of 2 Palestinians
by the IDF, it is not a stretch to think there were opportunities for political positioning
taken in order to stay relevant and remain in a position of power and in US favor. Abbas
was the willing party through the negotiations, I expect he will accept the same deal again,
unless he was pressured not to if the unity government had come to pass.

Hamas is screwed, you can hear it in Meshal's latest interview, and there, if I understand you,
is where Abbas may have placed politics above the stronger possibility of a cease fire/truce. If true,
it would be a reprehensible act on Abbas' part. Not to ignore Hamas' own willingness to go down fighting
regardless of the casualties as a result.

Did I understand you correctly?

[King_David]

20. What difference does humiliation make?

Humiliated but hundreds of lives lost ?

WTF difference , rejection of the cease fire in this case was tantamount to mass murder ... Humiliated ? WTF cares.