Jefferson Corner

As I got us this morning at 6 am the first thing I did was to take a look at Asharqalawsat newspaper to see the headlines and to see the number of dead and injured in Gaza. Well, the numbers are not like Baghdad, but getting up there. 22 dead and couple of hundreds injured and of course both sides of the conflict Hamas and Fatah used the best weapons the Israeli Occupation can provide to kill each other. Read the rest of this entry »

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Let me state from the very start that Hamas engagement in suicide bombing within Israel of 67 was not only morally wrong, but was a disaster for Hamas and for the Palestinian people and cause. As a former soldier, I always believe in the rights of the Palestinians in fighting the occupation using military means. However, I never accepted the idea of killing and murdering innocent civilians and never understood let alone believe in the fairy tales of 70 virgins waiting for those who commit simple murder of innocent people.
One year have passed since Hamas won a fair and square elections, perhaps the most open and closely watched elections in any part of the Arab world. Of course, if one is to look into the backgrounds of such election, one can see that the Palestinians voted for Hamas, not because Hamas want to liberate Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, but because the people were sick and tired of Fatah, and its long time dominance of Palestinian politics and decision making process. More importantly, the Palestinians by voting Hamas in, where voting Fatah, the corrupt to the core organization out of office. It is an open secret that Fatah not only robbed the country blind but also was fleecing every one and every company, not to mention the collusion of some of its leadership with the Israeli Occupation, let alone entering into business with the Israeli Occupation in building the Wall and Israeli settlements.
Too bad that Fatah colluding with Israel, the US and the EC did not give Hamas a chance to show what they can do and to meet their commitments to clean a corrupt government. Hamas was virtually isolated and boycotted by key countries and by the Palestinian leadership from the very start. As such it is very difficult to make a judgment on Hamas performance as a government. It simply did not have a chance to do any thing. More over, Fatah and its partisan civil service Fatah cronies (reminds me of the days of the late Richard Daley and Chicago) making sure that Hamas got itself in a hole with worries about meeting the payroll for Fatah employees and never have the chance to implement and carry out any of its reforms and clean the government and bring charges against those who simply fleeced the people, let alone end the occupation.
During its first year of office, Hamas have failed at all fronts. It failed at meeting the payroll, failed at keeping law, order and security, and of course failed at ending the occupation and made a mess of the Israeli evacuation from Gaza. However one must not put all of the blames on Fatah and its leadership. Hamas and its leadership should also share the blames. Hamas simply failed to understand the need to reach out to the world and to reach out to the Arab countries, especially King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia and enlist his support for the Arab Peace Plan. Hamas acted as if it is living in a vacuum, with the elected leadership waiving its rights to make decisions for the people, giving such rights to the un-elected leadership in Damascus. Hamas failed to inform the people who elected it to power, and tell them that Khalid Mishal has a veto power over any thing and every thing, and that the voters are beholding to the decisions from Damascus. Hamas never acted like a government.
Hamas leadership proved itself as incompetent as that of Fatah, putting the interest and priorities of people on the back burners while putting its own selfish interest first. So far, Hamas did not come up with an alternative to President Mahmoud Abbas election platform. Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah by supporting kidnapping and killing of each other and of innocent people proved they are unfit and are incapable of leading the struggle to end the Israeli Occupation. The Palestinian people and especially leading intellectuals and businessmen such as Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi, and Dr. Haider Abdul-Shafi share the responsibility for not mobilizing the people to have an alternative leadership to the old and failed, incompetent and corrupt Fatah and provide an alternative to Hamas which proved it is not yet ready for prime time and certainly does not have the world view needed to gain the support of the Arab and world community to end the Israeli Occupation.
Too bad for the people of Palestine, Hamas and Fatah have moved away from the main mission, which is ending the Israeli Occupation and focusing on their own narrow and selfish interests, while exposing the people and the country to the risk of civil war. It seems that the Palestinian people are unwilling to learn from the past and are incapable to rise up to the occasion. The Palestinian leadership for the last 100 years or so has been nothing but a disgrace, full of selfish interest and incompetent to lead to independence and freedom. Hamas leadership is behaving in the same way as Fatah leadership, of course absence the corruption and fleecing of the people, but never the less as incompetent as Fatah. Those responsible for the killing in Gaza should be brought to trial, but then there was never an independent system of justice and court system. The absence of the rule of law, was supported by the US and Israel and Europe during the days of Arafat, when his preventive security organizations where arresting people left and right and were committing acts of torture, not to mention acts of murder. All this was ok with the US and Israel as long as Arafat was meeting his contractual security commitment to Israel. Khalid Mishal, why are you making the decisions, when you were never elected by any one, and never appeared on the ballot? If the Palestinian people wanted to have a government run from Damascus, they would say so. Mr. Ismail Haniyah, you are a decent man, but you do not have the leadership and the will power to lead and make decisions on your own. As for Fatah it is a lost cause, there is nothing that could be done, not even $500 million from the US could ever fix and repair such an organization. One would think with Arafat death the idea of Arab trusteeship is over, however Hamas proved us wrong. If Damascus is unable to liberate the Golan Heights how can Hamas believe Damascus is able to liberate the Palestinians from the Israeli Occupation?

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What is going on in the Israel’s occupied Palestine, no doubt shame all Palestinians. The on going fight between Fatah and Hamas and their respective militias and thugs and the ongoing killing and counter killing and murder of Palestinians by Palestinian hands does not make any Palestinian whether living under Israeli Occupation or living in the Diaspora any proud let alone hopeful that one day, the Israeli Occupation will end and the Palestinian people will be the LAST free people on this planet.
While some people did not expect the Palestinians would shed their own blood with their own hands, this was expected, ever since Arafat returned to the Occupied Territories with thousands of armed men, and of course with the build up of the many different and competing security agencies authorized and funded. It was bound to happen.
Arafat promoting competing services sawed the seed for such a civil conflict, and with his preventive securities abusing so many people sawed the seed for the present armed conflict. The issue is no longer one of liberation and independence from Israel and is no longer one of securing funding for the many unpaid employees, but to prevent expansion of the armed fight between Hamas and Fatah and of course their respective militias and thugs.
Hamas and Fatah have turned Palestine into a pool of blood, not one for liberation but one of competing selfish interests. Who said the Palestinians need over some 70,000-armed militias and need so many different security organizations. Beside Israel, these competing militias are the biggest source of threat for Palestinians, they are now the main source of insecurity the Palestinians feel these days. The respective leadership of both Fatah and Hamas do not see that the people have other worries and they are acting as if the people do not have worry with the daily raids and daily killings committed by Israeli soldiers? What is the hell wrong with these people and what is the hell wrong with the leadership of both Fatah and Hamas? What is the hell wrong with the Palestinian street for accepting such reckless behavior?
The leadership of both Hamas and Fatah are acting with reckless disregard for the welfare of the people they pretend to represent; they are acting with so much maleous toward each other and toward the general public at large, that they lost any legitimacy to represent the people. Hamas and Fatah and their leadership are nothing more than armed militias and are not political parties with constituencies at large, with agendas for liberations and independence. They are getting even with each other and the people are paying the price. Fatah want to get back in power to sit at the cash register.
Instead of working together in ending one of the longest occupations in the 20th century, they are fighting each other for “crump of the occupations” for money and dollars. Fatah and Hamas are nothing more than mafias now and are acting like mafias putting the people at risk and cooperating if not darn helping and assisting the Israeli Occupation.
At one time, some times ago, before Arafat and his thugs returned to Palestine, and before Hamas wanted to populate heaven, the Palestinians used to be very proud of their education. The ambition of young students where admission to some of the best schools and universities. Now the ambitions of young men is to join the different armed militias and carry a loaded gun, putting their lives at risk and putting the lives of the people at risk. Never one imagined that the Palestinians people will one-day reach this low. However, for those who forgot, thousands of Palestinians died in internal fighting even during the heydays of the PLO in Beirut. Fatah have engaged in internal fights before and have engaged in armed fights with other “militias” members of the PLO. What is happening now is an extension of the lawless mentality that the PLO and Fatah have instilled in the people. Hamas within a short time, have proven it is no better than Fatah, perhaps less corrupt, but equally guilty of reckless disregard for the national interest and has proven that its priorities are not liberation but power and whatever comes with power.
I only have these words to both Hamas and Fatah and their respective leadership, you shame all Palestinians. Work together to end the Occupation, stupid!

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The other day after dinner, a number of us, Palestinian-Americans sat at the table to get feed back from one of our good friends who arrived the same day from Ramallah. Of course the subject of the discussions ranged from the armed skirmishes taking place between Fatah and Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas calls for new elections and of course the ever lingering issue of corruptions and cleaning up the Palestinian Authority and the freezing of the Fatah militias and its warlords.
The discussions were quite frank and open with no reservations and our good friend whom we have known for sometimes was also quite open and very frank and quite objectives in addition to being well informed.
Of course and as always, I spoke my mind and was quite frank in my criticism of both Fatah and Hamas, both of which have narrow interest and do not represent or put forwards what is best for the Palestinians. Hamas, sad to say did not live up to the expectation, even though it was handicapped right out of the gate and did not take advantage of its sweep in the election to offer a good solid alternative to the corrupt and incompetent Fatah. Hamas made the fatal mistake of not coming out with its “peace plan” and in support of the Arab Peace Plan, and instead put itself in the corner by getting directions and instructions from Khalid Mishal who is not elected by any one and who gets his instructions from Damascus, which over the last 40 years did not do the Palestinian people much favors. Hamas behaved as if it continues to run small NGO and is not a government that has to take care of every thing from education to garbage collections to providing public security.
Fatah on the other hand did not and will not change at long as the decisions are in the hands of the old guards who proved they are, not only corrupt but a total failure and as long as the decision is also in the hands of warlords and those who became very rich from racketeering, protection money and selling cement to build the Israeli War.
Between a wall and a hard stone sits President Mahmoud Abbas who was elected on a “Peace Plan” by the overwhelming majority of the people. Even Hamas was elected not because of its ‘war plans” but as an alternative to Fatah and in the absence of any “liberation” plans. I did agree with my friend that the Hamas was elected as a majority in the parliament, but once selected to form the government must be committed to carry out the president program and not its own agenda, letting the parliament decide on major legalisations. I also agreed with my friend, the only way out of this deadlock and impasse is a new presidential and parliamentary elections. The situation on the ground does not stand a Hamas government, that is unable or unwilling to address the daily issues of the people and one that does not advance a peace plan, having tried a ‘war” plans for the last 40 years and it failed. Abbas is right in calling a new election and must not only call for new elections, but must set a date not later than 120 days from the date he submit his resignation and 120 days from dissolving the parliament. The Palestinians people could not stand to have a Hamas government that gets its instructions from Damascus and could not afford a government that does not go along and show strong an unequivocal support for the King Abdallah’ Peace Plan. Equally important in all of this is giving the opportunity to the Palestinians in the Diaspora, who form a “ majority” to have a say so in what is going on and who must have a voice and participate in the decision to move forward with peace. The PLO as an organization no longer serves the purpose and is no longer the right mechanism for the Palestinians. More important, the PLO was never elected by the people and its executives are nothing but old bags whose time has come to retire to the farm and whose executives are at best parasites that serve no good purpose. President Abbas has a once in life opportunity to rise above the partisan level and has a chance to prove that he is the president of all the people and not as head of Fatah. He must prove to the people that he has what it takes in courage, vision, and commitment to peace to take the people out of the mess they are in. He also must take the decision to clean the place up, clean it from all the thugs, warlords, and corruption mafia of his Fatah and must clean and get rid of all of the militias out there and give them alternative and productive job. He also has to get rid of a number of key people around him who are nothing more than incompetent parasites and warlords. His strength is not Fatah men, but the average citizen who is looking for a leader to stand up to the occasion and deliver independence and liberation. Removing some 30 checks points out of 400 is not enough. The people want liberation and an end to the occupation. Let us see if President Abbas live up to the expectation and prove he is the president of all the people. Hamas must accept its failure and agree to go back to the people and not cling to power for the next 3 years. Until the people elect Khalid Mishal he should not make the decisions.

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The late Yaser Arafat thought he was very bright and smart when he was nothing but a clown and fool who thought he used Palestine as a a game, a game between himself and some of his sponsors at the time, the likes of Hafiz Al-Assad, Saddam Hussein and of course that lunatic of all times, Muamar Qaddafi. Arafat was proud of the fact he was playing the game of politics with the big boys, who were losers to begin with. The Palestinians lost a chance back in 1977 of being free from the Israeli Occupation because Arafat could not stand up to Assad and make his own independent decision and accept Jimmy Carter’s offer for a peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, a settlement much more generous than his stupid, ill advice, and reckless Oslo Accord.
Arafat for over 40 years used the Palestinian cause as a game, a chess game, and now Hamas is doing the same thing, using the Palestinian cause and all that it entails as a pawn in the hands of the guys sitting in Damascus, and in Teheran, repeating the same mistake Arafat committed for over 40 years.
The Palestinian cause and its leadership must be independent of any regional politics and must be independent of any personal aspirations for a wider role in regional politics. The Palestinian leadership have to put the Palestinian people and for the first time ahead of any thing else, ahead of any competing regional interests and games and must give liberation and ending the occupation the top and only priority.
Today the Washington Post came out with an editorial in support of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party and against the “enemy of peace” Hamas. Also in the Post, Secretary Rice admits that Arafat stole the Palestinians blind, forgetting that Arafat was head of Fatah and Abbas is head of Fatah and nothing has changes.
More troubling is Ismail Henyia offer of “blood money” to settle the issue of those innocent people gunned down by Hamas and Fatah thugs and gangs, as if the “blood money” will bring back the lives of the three innocent children gunned down or the livers of the innocent that were lost. Equally troubling is the offer made of a long term “Hudna” truce with Israel that he offered today. The offer of the Hudna or truce tell us where his mind is, in time past as if he is trying to live the days of early Islam. The Israelis and the Palestinians do not want a long term hudna, they want a long term peace that is workable, give security and peace to both parties and people, one that opens the area for development and progress and more importantly, one that also address the issue of the Palestinians exile in a logical and fair way. This is what the people want Mr. Henyia, not you’re proposed long term “Hudna”.
The Post like Dr. Rice and of course with support from key people within Fatah and inner circles of President Abbas, the liked of Saeb Euraikat, Nabil Amr, Yaser Abed-Rabo made the issue one of competition between Fatah and Hamas and all forgot to put on the table with Israel and the US the main issue which is ending the Israeli Occupation. Hamas think that their Hudna and bedding the Syrians and the Iranians will end the Occupation and Fatah, after some 45 years of fleecing the people and total incompetence and failure of leadership and so called institutions, is only thinking of coming back in power to steal and rob the people blind and giving the people the left over crumbs believing this will quite the situation down and will allow Israel to continue to do what it does best in the Occupied Territories, stealing and confiscating property, building the Wall, expanding the settlements, continue targeted killings, jailing of innocent people and keeping and expanding the humiliating check point, while Fatah leadership enjoy the generous funding coming in from donors so that they can pick up where they left off.
Hamas is repeating the same mistake Arafat made that caused the people so many years of suffering one of the most cruel and criminal occupation, and Fatah is only thinking of how to get back the bank to steal from it, and both forgot the people and the Israeli Occupation.
Small minds do not make great leadership and it is proven fact that Fatah leadership for the last 45 years is made of small minds without any intellectual depth and without any clue of what is needed and now the situation for the Palestinians is even worse with Hamas coming to power with no clue of what needs to be done and speak as if time has stopped in Medina some 1,400 years ago. With both committing murder, it is time not for a new election that brings Fatah back, but for a courageous call by the people of Palestine calling on the UN to take over from this imbecile leadership.

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May/June 1991, Page 18a Reprit from the Washington Report on the Middle East

Time For Change
By Sami Jadallah
Iraqi Information Minister Hamid Yussef Hummodi recently announced the award to President Saddam Hussain of his country’s highest award, the Rafaidain Medal, “in appreciation of the president’s exceptional and historic role and noble service to Iraq.” Read the rest of this entry »

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