Like Arafat on his first historic visit to the Court of St. James, who missed the opportunity to addressed the wrongs committed by Great Britain against the Palestinians and its full responsibility for the Balfour Declaration as the root of the conflict that exiled the Palestinians and contributed to the death of several hundred thousands not to mention the more than 4 million exiles. Arafat could not ask for any thing but support for his 13 different security forces.

Mahmoud Abbas did not do much better at Annapolis. While Uhud Olmert raised the issue of the suffering of his people due to Hamas stupid and useless rockets, Abbas could not find any examples of the suffering and wrongs the Palestinians had to endure in the 40 years of Israeli occupation. Abbas could not find any examples of the daily wrongs committed by Israel such as the Apartheid Wall, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, the daily killing raids in all Palestinians towns and villages and the daily taking of hostages not to mention the destructions of homes and villages. Rather than addressing the issue of daily misery faced by the Palestinians, Abbas found enough space in his speech to praise Secretary Rice.

I am one of those Palestinians who always believed in the need to open dialogue with Israel and to push for a negotiated settlement of the conflict and unlike many of the Palestinian organizations and groups that called for the boycott at Annapolis I think it was necessary that the Palestinians are there. Though I do not have much faith and competence in the negotiating team the same team that negotiated the much ill fated Oslo and who simply should be tried for incompetence and malfeasance and misfeasance.

Arafat in his attempt to deliver on the security contract he signed under Oslo decided to have some 13 different security organizations, each with its own jails and of course with prominence to the Preventive Security Forces with extraordinary power and authority to arrest, jail, torture even murder without any supervision or accountability. The mission of the Preventive Security Forces was to make sure the PA and Arafat provide the security for the military and settler’s occupation.

Thus the picture and vision of a Palestinians state whenever and wherever it will emerge will be no different from the one envisioned by Arafat under Oslo. Arafat was the undisputed dictator of the Palestinians for over 40 years. He ran a one man show, with a silent “extras” for show and public relation making all of the political and financial decisions. We know now how tens of billions simply disappeared.

During Arafat tenure many Palestinians dissident and critical of Arafat found themselves in the different morgues around the world with no charges ever brought against those responsible for the murder.

The PA now under Abbas is no different from the days of Arafat. There are still some 13 different security organizations with both the Preventive Security and now the Presidential Security forces forming the backbone of a future Palestinians police state.

The ruthless and brutal actions of the Presidential Force, funded and trained by the US, and the way it dealt with the demonstrations in Ramallah and El-Khalil (Hebron) is a proof that the PA leaderships and staff do not believe in the freedom of expression, do not believe in the rights to dissent and assemble and do not believe in the rights to have an opinion other than that of the leadership and party.

The undisciplined actions and the use of brutal and deadly force that resulted in the murder of a demonstrator and the injuries of scores of demonstrators and the open fire with live ammunition against demonstrators young and old does not spell good for the people of Palestine.

The action we saw on television of young presidential security forces using open fire on unarmed demonstrators does not speak well of the vision of a new and free Palestinian state. The action we saw in Ramallah and Hebron and the statement of both the interior and information minister are clear indication that under the present leadership the new Palestinian state will be nothing but a police state no different from the old Soviet Union, no different from Communist East Germany, no different from the Communist dictatorship in Romania and certainly no different from brutal and murderous regimes in Africa and Latin America.

What we saw on television is no different from what we see on a daily basis. The action of the PA presidential force is no different from the action and behavior of the Israeli border police and the excessive use of force, even a murderous force against Palestinian demonstrators. I could not believe what I saw. Young armed men using sticks and guns against unarmed demonstrators with no respect for age as is in our traditions and culture.

What we saw does not speak well of the leadership of the PLO and Fatah. Their action was no different from the action of Hamas’s Executive Force. It seems it does not make a difference whether the government is one of Hamas or Fatah, both have no respect for human rights and both do not believe in the right of dissent or the right of free speech and assembly. It is clear that no matter who governs the future Palestinians state will be a police state, run and manage by little sick dictators.

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