Gaza vs the Bully: What Does the Saudi Poll Tell Us about Normalization? – ANALYSIS

December 23, 2023

By Palestine Chronicle Editors

Imagine the Middle East as a classroom, with big kids, little kids, and bullies. 

For many years, Riyadh is, in a sense, a small, but very rich kid. 

In a classroom setting, he is usually the most envied one. His relationship with all the other kids is largely, if not entirely, linked to his wealth. 

In order to protect, say, his lunch money, and turf at school, he needs protection, which is reliably offered by another kid, named Washington. 

In truth, Washington resents Riyadh, and has little if no respect for him, his culture, his religion, or even his skin color.

Whether Riyadh knows this or not, it matters little. 

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One day, Washington, who also offers protection to other little rich kids in the school, decides to transfer to another class. 

Riyadh is very upset but is told by Washington that he has a good friend, named Tel Aviv, who should be able to provide all the needed protection. And that, in fact, other children in the classroom, Abu Dhabi, Manama, and others, have also already agreed to protect the new kid on the block. 

Just as Riyadh is ready to join in the protection scheme – let’s call it normalization – the poorest and supposedly weakest of all children in the class, Gaza, stands up to Tel Aviv. 

The fight, watched by every child in the classroom, is unparalleled in the history of that school. It is violent and bloody, but throughout the fight, not only does Gaza stand his ground, but he also often emerges on top. 

This takes us to the Saudi public opinion poll conducted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, whose results were released on Thursday, December 21. 

Weak Israel

Three major components that are worth a pause, the third being the most significant:

One: 96 percent of all Saudis believe that “Arab countries should immediately break all diplomatic, political, economic, and any other contacts with Israel, in protest of its military action in Gaza.” 

Practically, this means that the Saudi people are in no mood to normalize with Israel and are unlikely to be reconsidering this any time soon. There goes the Washington-sponsored normalization scheme. 

Two: 95 percent of Saudi citizens think that Hamas did not kill civilians during its military operation on October 7 and only 16 percent think that “Hamas should stop calling for the destruction of Israel, and instead accept a permanent two-state solution”.

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 These numbers indicate both outright support for the Palestinian Resistance and the willingness to directly challenge the pro-Israel narrative, communicated largely by Western media, which constantly tries to implicate Palestinian Resistance in massacres of civilians, among other atrocities. 

Three: This is possibly the most important and relevant to our classroom’s metaphor. 87 percent of Saudis think that “recent events show that Israel is so weak and internally divided that it can be defeated.”

One of the main aspects of normalization between Arabs and Israel is the entrenched belief that Israel is regionally powerful and cannot be defeated even by all Arab armies combined. 

The October 7 and the subsequent Israeli war on Gaza has shattered that myth.

Aside from the agreement among all Arabs that Israel is a weak country – militarily defeated by Hamas, unable to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah, and practically, under Yemeni sanctions – Arabs now believe that Israel is defeatable. 

Of course, it is, but what matters is that the psychological barrier that Israel has constructed, thanks to Washington’s support and propaganda, has also been breached.

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Moreover, by collectively asserting that Israel can be defeated, the Saudis are declaring, albeit indirectly, that they are part and parcel of the effort to defeat it, and they are invested, at least emotionally, for now, in the Palestinian-Arab Resistance.

Israel still hopes to be rewarded for a potential protection agreement for the Saudi kid in the classroom. But that Saudi kid has no reason whatsoever to subscribe to such a bad deal. 

If the potential protector, with the help of all of his bully friends, cannot not protect himself against Gaza, why should Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Manama and all the others believe that continuing with their normalization path will be of any benefit to them in the short, or even long term?

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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The geopolitics of Al-Aqsa Flood

OCT 12, 2023

Global focus just shifted from Ukraine to Palestine. This new arena of confrontation will ignite further competition between the Atlanticist and Eurasian blocs. These fights are increasingly zero-sum ones; as in Ukraine, only one pole can emerge strengthened and victorious.

Photo Credit: The Cradle

Pepe Escobar

Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood was meticulously planned. The launch date was conditioned by two triggering factors. 

First was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flaunting his ‘New Middle East’ map at the UN General Assembly in September, in which he completely erased Palestine and made a mockery of every single UN resolution on the subject. 

Second are the serial provocations at the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, including the straw that broke the camel’s back: two days before Al-Aqsa Flood, on 5 October, at least 800 Israeli settlers launched an assault around the mosque, beating pilgrims, destroying Palestinian shops, all under the observation of Israeli security forces.

Everyone with a functioning brain knows Al-Aqsa is a definitive red line, not just for Palestinians, but for the entire Arab and Muslim worlds. 

It gets worse. The Israelis have now invoked the rhetoric of a “Pearl Harbor.” This is as threatening as it gets. The original Pearl Harbor was the American excuse to enter a world war and nuke Japan, and this “Pearl Harbor” may be Tel Aviv’s justification to launch a Gaza genocide.  

Sections of the west applauding the upcoming ethnic cleansing – including Zionists posing as “analysts” saying out loud that the “population transfers” that began in 1948 “must be completed” – believe that with massive weaponry and massive media coverage, they can turn things around in short shrift, annihilate the Palestinian resistance, and leave Hamas allies like Hezbollah and Iran weakened. 

Their Ukraine Project has sputtered, leaving not just egg on powerful faces, but entire European economies in ruin. Yet as one door closes, another one opens: Jump from ally Ukraine to ally Israel, and hone your sights on adversary Iran instead of adversary Russia.  

There are other good reasons to go all guns blazing. A peaceful West Asia means Syria reconstruction – in which China is now officially involved; active redevelopment for Iraq and Lebanon; Iran and Saudi Arabia as part of BRICS 11; the Russia-China strategic partnership fully respected and interacting with all regional players, including key US allies in the Persian Gulf.

Incompetence. Willful strategy. Or both.

That brings us to the cost of launching this new “war on terror.” The propaganda is in full swing. For Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Hamas is ISIS. For Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev, Hamas is Russia. Over one October weekend, the war in Ukraine was completely forgotten by western mainstream media. Brandenburg Gate, the Eiffel tower, the Brazilian Senate are all Israeli now. 

Egyptian intel claims it warned Tel Aviv about an imminent attack from Hamas. The Israelis chose to ignore it, as they did the Hamas training drills they observed in the weeks prior, smug in their superior knowledge that Palestinians would never have the audacity to launch a liberation operation.

Whatever happens next, Al-Aqsa Flood has already, irretrievably, shattered the hefty pop mythology around the invincibility of Tsahal, Mossad, Shin Bet, Merkava tank, Iron Dome, and the Israel Defense Forces. 

Even as it ditched electronic communications, Hamas profited from the glaring collapse of Israel’s multi-billion-dollar electronic systems monitoring the most surveilled border on the planet. 

Cheap Palestinian drones hit multiple sensor towers, facilitated the advance of a paragliding infantry, and cleared the way for T-shirted, AK-47-wielding assault teams to inflict breaks in the wall and cross a border that even stray cats dared not. 

Israel, inevitably, turned to battering the Gaza Strip, an encircled cage of 365 square kilometers packed with 2.3 million people. The indiscriminate bombing of refugee camps, schools, civilian apartment blocks, mosques, and slums has begun. Palestinians have no navy, no air force, no artillery units, no armored fighting vehicles, and no professional army. They have little to no high-tech surveillance access, while Israel can call up NATO data if they want it. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant proclaimed “a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly.”

The Israelis can merrily engage in collective punishment because, with three guaranteed UNSC vetoes in their back pocket, they know they can get away with it. 

It doesn’t matter that Haaretz, Israel’s most respected newspaper, straight out concedes that “actually the Israeli government is solely responsible for what happened (Al-Aqsa Flood) for denying the rights of Palestinians.”

The Israelis are nothing if not consistent. Back in 2007, then-Israeli Defense Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin said, “Israel would be happy if Hamas took over Gaza because IDF could then deal with Gaza as a hostile state.” 

Ukraine funnels weapons to Palestinians

Only one year ago, the sweaty sweatshirt comedian in Kiev was talking about turning Ukraine into a “big Israel,” and was duly applauded by a bunch of Atlantic Council bots. 

Well, it turned out quite differently. As an old-school Deep State source just informed me:

“Ukraine-earmarked weapons are ending up in the hands of the Palestinians. The question is which country is paying for it. Iran just made a deal with the US for six billion dollars and it is unlikely Iran would jeopardize that. I have a source who gave me the name of the country but I cannot reveal it. The fact is that Ukrainian weapons are going to the Gaza Strip and they are being paid for but not by Iran.” 

After its stunning raid last weekend, a savvy Hamas has already secured more negotiating leverage than Palestinians have wielded in decades. Significantly, while peace talks are supported by China, Russia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt – Tel Aviv refuses. Netanyahu is obsessed with razing Gaza to the ground, but if that happens, a wider regional war is nearly inevitable. 

Lebanon’s Hezbollah – a staunch Resistance Axis ally of the Palestinian resistance – would rather not be dragged into a war that can be devastating on its side of the border, but that could change if Israel perpetrates a de facto Gaza genocide. 

Hezbollah holds at least 100,000 ballistic missiles and rockets, from Katyusha (range: 40 km) to Fajr-5 (75 km), Khaibar-1 (100 km), Zelzal 2 (210 km), Fateh-110 (300 km), and Scud B-C (500 km). Tel Aviv knows what that means, and shudders at the frequent warnings by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that its next war with Israel will be conducted inside that country.   

Which brings us to Iran. 

Geopolitical plausible deniability

The key immediate consequence of Al-Aqsa Flood is that the Washington neocon wet dream of “normalization” between Israel and the Arab world will simply vanish if this turns into a Long War.

Large swathes of the Arab world in fact are already normalizing their ties with Tehran – and not only inside the newly expanded BRICS 11. 

In the drive towards a multipolar world, represented by BRICS 11, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), among other groundbreaking Eurasian and Global South institutions, there’s simply no place for an ethnocentric Apartheid state fond of collective punishment.    

Just this year, Israel found itself disinvited from the African Union summit. An Israeli delegation showed up anyway, and was unceremoniously ejected from the big hall, a visual that went viral. At the UN plenary sessions last month, a lone Israeli diplomat sought to disrupt Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s speech. No western ally stood by his side, and he too, was ejected from the premises. 

As Chinese President Xi Jinping diplomatically put it in December 2022, Beijing “firmly supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. China supports Palestine in becoming a full member of the United Nations.”

Tehran’s strategy is way more ambitious – offering strategic advice to West Asian resistance movements from the Levant to the Persian Gulf: Hezbollah, Ansarallah, Hashd al-Shaabi, Kataib Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and countless others. It’s as if they are all part of a new Grand Chessboard de facto supervised by Grandmaster Iran. 

The pieces in the chessboard were carefully positioned by none other than the late Quds Force Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qassem Soleimani, a once-in-a-lifetime military genius. He was instrumental in creating the foundations for the cumulative successes of Iranian allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Palestine, as well as creating the conditions for a complex operation such as Al-Aqsa Flood. 

Elsewhere in the region, the Atlanticist drive of opening strategic corridors across the Five Seas – the Caspian, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Eastern Mediterranean – is floundering badly. 

Russia and Iran are already smashing US designs in the Caspian – via the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) – and the Black Sea, which is on the way to becoming a Russian lake. Tehran is paying very close attention to Moscow’s strategy in Ukraine, even as it refines its own strategy on how to debilitate the Hegemon without direct involvement: call it geopolitical plausible deniability.   

Bye bye EU-Israel-Saudi-India corridor

The Russia-China-Iran alliance has been demonized as the new “axis of evil” by western neocons. That infantile rage betrays cosmic impotence. These are Real Sovereigns that can’t be messed with, and if they are, the price to pay is unthinkable. 

A key example: if Iran under attack by a US-Israeli axis decided to block the Strait of Hormuz, the global energy crisis would skyrocket, and the collapse of the western economy under the weight of quadrillions of derivatives would be inevitable. 

What this means, in the immediate future, is that he American Dream of interfering across the Five Seas does not even qualify as a mirage. Al-Aqsa Flood has also just buried the recently-announced and much-ballyhooed EU-Israel-Saudi Arabia-India transportation corridor. 

China is keenly aware of all this incandescence taking place only a week before its 3^rd Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. At stake are the BRI connectivity corridors that matter – across the Heartland, across Russia, plus the Maritime Silk Road and the Arctic Silk Road. 

Then there’s the INSTC linking Russia, Iran and India – and by ancillary extension, the Gulf monarchies. 

The geopolitical repercussions of Al-Aqsa Flood will speed up Russia, China and Iran’s interconnected geoeconomic and logistical connections, bypassing the Hegemon and its Empire of Bases. Increased trade and non-stop cargo movement are all about (good) business. On equal terms, with mutual respect – not exactly the War Party’s scenario for a destabilized West Asia.  

Oh, the things that a slow-moving paragliding infantry overflying a wall can accelerate.  

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.

How Hezbollah-Amy Relation Moved from Patience about 1993 Massacre to Unity of Martyrdom since 1997

September 13, 2023

Mohammad Salami

Since its emergence, Hezbollah has been fighting the Zionist enemy in addition to the defeat notions promoted by certain Arab regimes and their puppets in Lebanon.

One of the most conspicuous aspects of this struggle appeared on September 13, 1993, when the Lebanese authorities decided to suppress a peaceful protest in Beirut’s Dahiyeh against Oslo Agreement.

On the same day the Palestinian Authority signed a ‘peace’ treaty with the Zionist enemy in the US capital Washington in a process aimed at suffocating the Palestinian resistance in return for void promises made by the Israeli and American officials.

The Lebanese youths did not tolerate such a Palestinian concession and insisted on rejecting the Agreement in the same context of supporting the Islamic Resistance against the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon and Western Bekaa.

The Lebanese army was ordered by the political rulers to open fire at the demonstration. The result was that the army committed a massacre of killing nine peaceful protesters.

Hezbollah, whose military power was dramatically developing, showed extreme self-restraint and patience about the crime, keeping its weapon directed against the Israeli enemy.

The Resistance Party faced numerous cases in which patience and self-restraint were the perfect way to reach the ultimate goal of the Jihadi track. However, this does not mean that the blood of the martyrs was lost.

The nine martyrs’ blood paved Lebanon’s way to reject the normalization scheme which was plotted to eradicate the Resistance in the region and impose Zionist ‘peace’ treaties on the Arab countries.

Hezbollah, then, continued its resistance operations against the Israeli occupation in Southern Lebanon, Meanwhile, the Lebanese army witnessed a necessary amendment of its performance. This resulted in sharing the Resistance its sacrifice in face of the Israeli enemy,

Four years later, on September 12, 1997, a group of Hezbollah fighters, including the son of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Sayyd Hadi, and a number of Lebanese army officers as well as soldiers jointly embraced martyrdom Mount Rafea confrontation with the Zionist occupation forces.

In 2021, Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that Hezbollah and Dahiyeh locals reacted patiently and wisely with the Lebanese military attack on the protesters, adding the outcome of that patience appeared in the joint fight and martyrdom of Hezbollah fighter and the Army soldiers against the Israeli occupation forces in 1997.

Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that the golden formula, Army-People-Resistance will keep protecting Lebanon and achieving victories just as in May 2000 and July 2006.

Sayyed Nasrallah stressed, in a direct address to the US administration, that all its conspiracies, schemes and policies, which had earlier failed, will repeatedly fail to tamper with Army-People-Resistance formula which protects Lebanon.

The sublimity of Hezbollah Resistance lies not only in the military confrontations with the enemy but also in the patience about oppression, unfairness, sedition, and backstab. This Resistance, whose leaders do not hesitate to send their sons to the combat fronts, could have never but emerge victorious from all its battles.

Indeed, September 13 protest against Oslo Agreement was on the fight track as the pact itself gave the Palestinian people literally nothing. The Zionist enemy has continued escalating its aggression on the Palestinians, occupying their lands and desecrating their noble shrines.

The Israeli enemy has also tried to normalize ties with some Arab countries in order to compensate for its losses inflicted by the Resistance. However, the diplomatic meetings with the Arab officials did not reflect upon the negative stance of the Arab people against the Zionist occupation entity.

Finally, between 1993 and 1997 through 2023, the principle of the Resistance is controlling the regional scene and leaving the decisive outcomes reshaping the Middle East scene.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

THE CONTROVERSIAL US-SAUDI-ISRAEL ALLIANCE: FRIEDMAN’S FOLLY AND NETANYAHU’S DILEMMA

JULY 28TH, 2023

Source

Miko Peled

he Israeli press is abuzz following a “New York Times” piece by Thomas Friedman in which he discusses U.S. President Joe Biden’s attempt at forging a strategic U.S.-Saudi alliance, including a crucial normalization clause with Israel.

Recently, President Biden granted an interview to Friedman, during which this strategic alliance was a topic of discussion. As per Friedman, a delegation led by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is currently in Riyadh, engaged in efforts to establish this alliance.

Biden has given the go-ahead for his team to explore the possibilities with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, seeking to determine the feasibility and terms of such a deal. As Friedman puts it, Biden “gave a green light for his team to probe with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia to see if some kind of deal is possible and at what price.”

THE ISSUE(S) WITH THOMAS FRIEDMAN

The issue with Thomas Friedman extends beyond his patronizing tone towards anyone other than Israelis and Americans; it lies in his depiction of a world that seemingly exists solely within the confines of Washington, DC.

In his piece, Friedman writes:

A U.S.-Saudi security pact that produces normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and the Jewish state — while curtailing Saudi-China relations — would be a game changer for the Middle East, bigger than the Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.”

What Friedman overlooks is that the absence of peace and stability in the Middle East is not an enigma; it is a consequence of Israel’s apartheid policies. Moreover, the so-called peace between Israel and Egypt is widely regarded as a compromised pact between a traitorous Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat – who paid with his life for this agreement – and the occupying forces of Palestine, commonly known as Israel.

However, Friedman thinks this strategic alliance – which would provide more weapons and nuclear energy to a dictatorship that chops up dissenters – would be an achievement. It means throwing the Palestinians under the bus for good, and, to Friedman, this is good because “peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina, would open the way for peace between Israel and the whole Muslim world, including giant countries like Indonesia and maybe even Pakistan. It would be a significant Biden foreign policy legacy.”

Now here is where Friedman really gets it wrong, either out of ignorant or because he is out of touch. He writes,

If the U.S. forges a security alliance with Saudi Arabia — on the conditions that it normalizes relations with Israel and that Israel makes meaningful concessions to the Palestinians — Netanyahu’s ruling coalition of Jewish supremacists and religious extremists would have to answer this question: You can annex the West Bank, or you can have peace with Saudi Arabia and the whole Muslim world, but you can’t have both, so which will it be?”

Asked and answered, counselor! Consecutive Israeli governments and Israeli society have had this conversation many times, not the least of which was after the Saudis presented their peace plan at the Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002.

Israel does not want peace unless it is on its own terms. That means Palestinians get nothing, Arabs get nothing, Muslims get nothing, and Christians get spat on.

Still, he goes on,

I’d love to see Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, go on Israeli television and explain to the Israeli people why it is in Israel’s interest to annex the West Bank and its 2.9 million Palestinian inhabitants — forever — rather than normalize ties with Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Muslim world.”

First of all, there are 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, not 2.9 million. And as for Smotrich, if Friedman had been paying attention, he would know that Smotrich and the entire Netanyahu cabinet are little more a messianic hate group.

The members of the Israeli government don’t care about peace or Arab or Muslim countries. They want to see one thing: Palestinians dying or leaving, and to this end, they are doing everything they can. Appeasing Biden’s ambitions for a foreign policy victory is of no interest to them.

FRIEDMAN’S FOLLY

Here is how Friedman explains what the Saudis will want and how they view the Palestinian issue:

The Saudis would demand of Israel to preserve the prospect of a two-state solution — the way the United Arab Emirates demanded that Netanyahu forgo any annexation of the West Bank as a price for their Abraham Accords.”

Upon closer examination, the phrase “preserve the prospect of a two-state solution” is either an unrealistic or intentionally misleading statement. Such a claim can only be made by someone who is either uninformed, disingenuous or completely disconnected from the reality on the ground. The truth is, there has never been a genuine prospect of a two-state solution. The Zionist entity has historically opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, and today, Israel’s Nation-State law explicitly grants the right to self-determination solely to Jews in Palestine.

Then the “expert” Friedman explains, “The Saudi leadership is not particularly interested in the Palestinians or knowledgeable about the intricacies of the peace process.” Aha! Never mind the part where the Saudis are not interested in the Palestinians for now but to claim that they are not “knowledgeable about the intricacies of the peace process.” Where does anyone have the conceit to write such absolute garbage? The only serious and well-thought-out peace plan that was ever presented was the Saudi Peace Plan of 2002.

An excerpt from the Saudi plan reveals the Saudis’ profound understanding of the intricacies while simultaneously exposing Israel’s myopic stance. This is what Israel declined:

Calling for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel’s acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel.

This comprehensive proposal showcases the Saudis’ astuteness in grasping the complexities of the situation while underscoring the unfortunate refusal of Israel to embrace a path toward genuine peace and lasting stability.

Israel had no substantive response to this deal. On April 21, 2009, Israeli Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed the plan as “a dangerous proposal, a recipe for the destruction of Israel.” Likewise, Prime Minister Netanyahu categorically declared that Israel would never accept the Arab Peace Initiative.

NETANYAHU’S FUTURE

Thomas Friedman ends his piece by saying that if this “would force Netanyahu to abandon the extremists in his cabinet and make common cause with the Israeli center left and center right, well, wouldn’t that just be the cherry on top?” A cherry on top, well, isn’t that just so cute?

Clearly lacking the most basic idea of the realities of Israeli politics, Friedman doesn’t understand that there are two important reasons why Netanyahu will never abandon the extremists in his cabinet. The first reason is that he agrees with them ideologically. They are the foot soldiers that turn his ideology into practice. The is that he needs them to stay in power and out of jail.

جثمان محمد صلاح إلى القاهرة: مصر تصوغ روايتها

 الأخبار  الإثنين 5 حزيران 2023

(أ ف ب )

القاهرة | تسلّمت مصر، من السلطات الإسرائيلية، جثمان الجندي محمد صلاح الذي قَتل 3 جنود إسرائيليين بعد عبوره الشريط الحدودي، في وقت لا تزال فيه التحقيقات جارية بشكل موسَّع مع قادة الجندي وعائلته وأصدقائه المقرّبين، من قِبَل الجهات المصرية المعنيّة، سواءً العسكرية أو التابعة لوزارة الداخلية. وأبلغت السلطات الأمنية، عائلة صلاح، بأن عملية الدفن ستتمّ بشكل سريع ليلاً، وبحضور عدد محدود للغاية، فيما جرى توقيف شقيقه وعمّه، وطُلب من باقي أفراد عائلته عدم الحديث مع وسائل الإعلام وعدم الإدلاء بأيّ معلومات حول حياته. وكان أَوقف جهاز الأمن الوطني عدداً من أصدقاء الشهيد المقرَّبين، بعد وقت قصير من وقوع الحادث، من دون أن يفصح عن أيّ معلومات أو تفاصيل حول الجهة التي نُقلوا إليها، بينما يُتوقّع الإفراج عنهم خلال ساعات، مع انتهاء التحقيقات التي تُركّز بشكل أساسي على محاولة فهم دوافع صلاح إلى العملية، وما إن كانت هناك إشارات قد تحدّث بها مع أصدقائه وزملائه في الوحدة ومركز التدريب الذي تلقّى فيه تدريبات قبل الانتقال إلى نقطة عمله.

ووفق المعلومات الأوّلية المتوفّرة عن الشهيد، فالأخير هو من عائلة متواضعة تعيش في ضاحية عين شمس في القاهرة. والده كان يعمل سائقاً، ولديه شقيقان، وهو التحق بالتجنيد العام الماضي، وكان يُفترض أن يستمرّ فيه لمدّة 3 سنوات كفرد شرطة في الأمن المركزي، وتحديداً عند العلامة 47 على الحدود الدولية، والتي يتواجد فيها أفراد شرطة وفق «اتفاقية كامب ديفيد» بأسلحة خفيفة. وبينما كانت آخر زيارة تواجَد فيها وسط عائلته منتصف الشهر الماضي، خلصت التحقيقات التي تقودها المخابرات الحربية بمشاركة الأمن الوطني وعدد من القطاعات المعنيّة بالحادث، إلى صياغة سيناريو رسمي متّسق مع البيان الصادر عن القوات المسلّحة على الفور. وإذ جرى التشديد على ضرورة غلق الملفّ بشكل سريع وفوري، وتسوية جميع الأمور الخاصة به داخلياً، فقد صدرت قرارات بإيقاف ضباط في وزارة الداخلية معنيّين بالأمر، وإحالتهم على التحقيق على الفور، وإبلاغهم بالتقاعد في الحركة المقبلة للوزارة، والتي ستشهد تغييرات على مستوى واسع في هذه المنطقة. ودانت التحقيقات الأوّلية عدم متابعة المسؤولين عن ترشيح الجندي للخدمة في هذه المنطقة لصفحته على «فيسبوك»، والتي تحدّث فيها عن دعمه الفلسطينيين في مواجهة إسرائيل، وهي عبارة نشرها قبل التحاقه بالجيش بعام تقريباً، الأمر الذي كان «يستوجب» إبعاده عن هذه المنطقة.

وصاغت مصر سيناريو للحادث سيكون هو الرواية الرسمية خلال الأيام المقبلة، عنوانه أن العملية لم تكن استهدافاً مقصوداً للجنود الإسرائيليين على الحدود، وإنّما حادث عابر مرتبط بعمليات مطاردة قام بها الجندي لمهرّبين بعد مشاهدته إيّاهم خلال خدمته، وأن الخطأ الذي وقع فيه هو استمراره في المطاردة خارج الحدود المصرية. ووفق هذا السيناريو، فإن صلاح قام بملاحقة المهرّبين، وسعى للاشتباك معهم، فيما عملية تبادل إطلاق النار مع الجنود الإسرائيليين جرت خلال محاولته الدفاع عن نفسه، وبسبب عدم التنسيق والعلم المسبق بوجوده في هذه المنطقة وتجاوزه الحدود. وفيما جرى التشديد في الأروقة المصرية على إعادة النظر في التعليمات الصادرة لكافة الجنود الموجودين في هذه المنطقة خلال الفترة المقبلة، سرّعت عملية التنسيق بين الجانبَين المصري والإسرائيلي تسليم جثمان الشهيد، الذي جعلت عمليته من مراجعة معايير المتابعة والمراقبة على الشريط الحدودي، أولوية لدى الإسرائيليين في الفترة المقبلة.

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Martyr Sheikh Ragheb Harb Anticipated Danger of Normalization with ‘Israel’: Handshake is Recognition (Video)

 February 15, 2023

Mohammad Salami

Hezbollah Martyr Leader Sheikh Ragheb Harb, who returned from the Holy City of Al-Najaf in Iraq in 1974 to carry out religious and humanitarian projects, was one of the founders and basic supporter of the Islamic Resistance in face of the Zionist occupation in Southern Lebanon and Western Bekaa.

Sheikh of the martyrs of the Islamic Resistance was, thus, arrested and imprisoned Israeli occupation forces in 1983. The martyr played a vital role in the resistance against the Israeli occupation since 1982 invasion till he was assassinated by the collaborators with the Zionist enemy in his town Jibsheet.

During his noble Jihad years, his eminence consecrated the principle of resorting to the armed resistance against the Zionist occupation, stressing that any handshake with the representative of the enemy is considered as a recognition of its existence.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon has always rejected the choice of holding negotiations and concluding ‘peace’ deals with the Zionist enemy regardless of all the circumstances. However, the Egyptian regime, during that stage, was involved in the path of surrender.

In 1978, Egypt signed a peace agreement sponsored by the United States of America, disengaging concerns and causes with the Arab countries, especially Palestine.

US President Jimmy Carter sponsoring agreement between Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat and Israeli PM Menahem Begin

Based on the Egyptian stance, Sheikh Ragheb Harb anticipated the danger of abandoning the resistance path and normalizing of ties with the Israeli enemy, affirming that normalization will legitimize the illegitimate existence of the occupation entity.

In 1994, Jordan followed the Egyptian path and signed a ‘peace’ agreement with Israeli enemy, which reinforced the importance of the Sheikh Harb’s warning against such deals.

The catastrophic collapse of the Arab attitude towards the conflict with the Zionist enemy was in 2020 when Bahrain, Emirates and Morocco concluded deals to normalize ties with the Zionist entity. In 2023, the military regime in Sudan also expressed readiness to normalize the relations with the Israeli enemy.

Consequently, the Palestinian cause is abandoned by certain Arab regimes; however, the armed resistance, as consecrated by the martyr cleric, has reached several achievements.

The resistance parties in Lebanon and Palestine have liberated the occupied territories in Southern Lebanon, Western Bekaa and Gaza and defeated the Israeli military arrogance in 2006 war and other confrontations.

Even the Palestinian youths and children have carried out attacks on the Zionist settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank, inflicting heavy upon them.

In other words, the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine has ridiculed the occupation as said by Martyr Sheikh Ragheb Harb.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

Al-Quds Brigades Spox: PIJ will never abandon resistance – Exclusive

Today Feb. 5, 2023

Source: Al Mayadeen Net

By Al Mayadeen English 

In the interview, Abu Hamza also touched on the general Palestinian situation and the increasing acts of resistance in the West Bank recently. 

Abu Hamza said Al-Quds Brigades members will never forget the scene of then-Israeli Chief of Staff, Amnon Shahak, walking among the dead Israeli occupation soldiers at the Beit Lid junction crying

In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen Online, the military spokesperson for Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (PIJ), Abu Hamza, revealed the details of the Beit Lid operation in the occupied West Bank.

The Beit Lid operation was carried out on January 22, 1995, and led to the killing of approximately 24 Israeli occupation soldiers, in addition to dozens of injuries.

In the interview, Abu Hamza also touched on the general Palestinian situation and the increasing acts of resistance in the West Bank recently. 

He also conveyed strong-worded messages to the Israeli occupation, through Al Mayadeen Online, on the 28th anniversary of the qualitative operation.

Beit Lid… a blow to the core of the “settlement” project

The military spokesperson for Al-Quds Brigades highlighted the political circumstances that preceded the operation, making the need for implementing a large and effective resistance act a dire necessity. The reason is that the Israeli occupation and its allies were making every effort to create and impose a new political reality on occupied Palestine, under the pretexts of making peace and reaching settlements, by trying to turn the ill-fated “Oslo Accords” a fait accompli that the Palestinian people have no other choice but to accept. 

The Beit Lid operation came to foil this agreement, and through it, the Islamic Jihad Movement consolidated its adherence to resistance as the only option for the liberation of Palestine. The image was clear: Standing up against the scheme of the so-called “peace” even if it meant that the blood of freedom fighters will be spilled. 

On the factors that led the movement to choose the Beit Lid junction in specific to carry out the double operation, Abu Hamza explained that it is an area where a large number of Israeli soldiers usually gather; the same soldiers who terrorize the Palestinian people, and considering that Al-Quds Brigades is committed to a doctrine that demands confronting whoever inflicts terror and evildoings upon the defenseless, proud, and steadfast people, the operation was inevitable.

Abu Hamza continued to say that the Beit Lid operation came out as an achievement at the security level as well, and not just military-wise, as it necessitated bypassing all [Israeli] fortifications, surveillance systems, barriers, and checkpoints, leading to the killing of approximately 24 soldiers and the wounding of dozens.

The military spokesperson recalled that the operation forced the criminal Israeli Prime Minister at the time, Yitzhak Rabin, to address the media and say that the members of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine want to kill Israeli soldiers, “so how do you want me to punish them; do I punish them with death? They’re not afraid of it.”

Abu Hamza also said Al-Quds Brigades members will never forget the scene of then-Israeli Chief of Staff, Amnon Shahak, walking among the dead Israeli occupation soldiers at the Beit Lid junction crying. 

Palestinian resistance mindset… Creativity in infiltration

When asked about the personality of the leader who supervised the operation and how the two resistance members, Anwar Sukkar and Salah Shakir, were prepared for the operation, as well as getting them to the place where they were supposed to carry out the operation, Abu Hamza said, “We recall here the great leader Mahmoud Al-Khawaja, may Allah shower him with mercy,” who was the leader of ‘Qasam’ – PIJ military wing designation at the time – who supervised the operation himself, all the way from choosing the location until the execution of the operation.

The PIJ military spokesperson also recalled the engineer of the explosive devices, commander Mahmoud Al-Zatma, who oversaw the preparation and processing of the explosive packages carried by the martyrs, as well as martyred leaders Ammar Al-Araj and Ayman Al-Razaina.

Abu Hamza shed light on the role and credit of prisoner Abdul Halim Al-Balbeisi who brought the freedom fighters charged with carrying out the operation to the closest point to the Beit Lid junction.

He stressed that the Islamic Jihad Movement and its military wing dealt a mighty security blow to the occupation, manifested by the two resistance members succeeding in leaving the Gaza Strip, crossing the deployed military checkpoints, inspection and surveillance systems, and cameras, reaching the Beit Lid junction, and sacrificing themselves successively, in an act of unrivaled valor.

Today’s armed confrontations; an extension of yesterday’s modus operandi

Regarding Al-Quds Brigades’ view of the recent growing armed confrontations with the occupation in the West Bank, Abu Hamza explained that this revolutionary approach in the West Bank today is but an extension of these heroic operations and the battles that the Palestinian Resistance and Al-Quds Brigades fought in Jenin during the so-called Israeli “Operation Defensive Shield.”

Abu Hamza, through Al Mayadeen, affirmed that the Islamic Jihad Movement has not and will never abandon resistance, neither in the West Bank nor in the Gaza Strip.

Addressing the shameful paths of normalization pursued by some Arab regimes, and answering a question about whether it is possible for the PIJ to overlook such events, the military spokesperson drew his answer from the memory of the Beit Led operation, saying, “The Islamic Jihad Movement and Al-Quds Brigades thwarted all normalization attempts through our blessed operations and battles of Unity of the Battlefields, Seif Al-Quds, and Firm Structure (Al-Bunyan Al-Marsous), just as we previously foiled all attempts to obliterate the right of the Palestinian people through the course of making ‘settlements’.”

On Beit Lid anniversary… Palestine stands strong, free, and eternal homeland to Palestinians

The interviewer indicated that the Beit Lid operation left an everlasting impact to forever be remembered by the Israeli security establishment, revealing that the Israeli occupation built a monument for its soldiers killed at the site of the operation.

On this point, Abu Hamza said the PIJ codenamed the operation the “Double Missile”, considering that the first attack targeting Israeli soldiers was carried out by Anwar Sukkar at the intersection, followed by a second attack carried out by Salah Shakir after Israeli soldiers gathered at the first explosion site.

“Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, and it is a Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic land. We, in Al-Quds Brigades, can never settle for any Zionist presence on this blessed land, PIJ military spokesperson said, addressing the Israeli enemy.

Abu Hamza stressed that Al-Quds Brigades will work to mobilize all potentials and capabilities at the security, military, political, and public levels and direct them toward the course of liberating this Palestinian land.

Palestine: How did you prove the integration of the fronts?

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It Has Always Been a ‘Religious War’: On Ben Gvir and the Adaptability of Zionism

January 18, 2023

Israeli forces arrest Palestinian protesting Jewish settler violence at Al-Aqsa. (Photo: via ActiveStills.org)

By Ramzy Baroud

In a self-congratulatory article published in the Atlantic in 2017, Yossi Klein Halevi describes Israeli behavior at the just-conquered holy Muslim shrines in Occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 as “an astonishing moment of religious restraint”.

“The Jewish people had just returned to its holiest site, from which it had been denied access for centuries, only to effectively yield sovereignty at its moment of triumph,” Halevi wrote with a lingering sense of pride, as if the world owes Israel a ton of gratitude in the way it conducted itself during one of the most egregious acts of violence in the modern history of the Middle East.

Halevi’s pompous discourse on Israel’s heightened sense of morality – compared to, according to his own analysis, the lack of Arab appreciation of Israel’s overtures and refusal to engage in peace talks – is not in any way unique. His is the same language recycled umpteen times by all Zionists, even by those who advocated for a Jewish state before it was established on the ruins of destroyed and ethnically cleansed Palestine.

From its nascent beginnings, the Zionist discourse was purposely confusing – disarranging history when necessary, and fabricating it when convenient. Though the resultant narrative on Israel’s inception and continuation as an exclusively Jewish state may appear confounding to honest readers of history, for Israel’s supporters – and certainly for the Zionists themselves – Israel, as an idea, makes perfect sense.

When Israel’s new National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raided al-Aqsa Mosque on January 3 to re-introduce himself to Jewish extremists as the new face of Israeli politics, he was also taking the first steps in correcting, in his own perception, a historical injustice.

Like Halevi, and, in fact, most of Israel’s political classes, let alone mainstream intellectuals, Ben Gvir believes in the significance of Jerusalem and its holy shrines to the very future of their Jewish state. However, despite the general agreement on the power of the religious narrative in Israel, there are also marked differences.

What Halevi was bragging about in his piece in the Atlantic is this: soon after soldiers raised the Israeli flag, garnished with the Star of David, atop the Dome of the Rock they were ordered to take it down. They did so, supposedly, at the behest of then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, quoted in the piece as saying to the army unit commander: “Do you want to set the Middle East on fire?”

Eventually, Israel conquered all of Jerusalem. Since then, it has also done everything in its power to ethnically cleanse the city’s Palestinian Muslim and Christian inhabitants to ensure an absolute Jewish majority. What is taking place in Sheikh Jarrah and other Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem is but a continuation of this old, sad episode.

However, the Haram al-Sharif Compound – where Al-Aqsa Mosque, Dome of the Rock and other Muslim shrines are located – was nominally administered by the Islamic Waqf authorities. By doing so, Israel managed to enforce the inaccurate notion that religious freedom is still respected in Jerusalem even after Israel’s so-called ‘unification’ of the city, which will remain, according to Israel’s official discourse, the “united, eternal capital of the Jewish people”.

The reality on the ground, however, has been largely dictated by the Ben-Gvirs of Israel who, for decades, have labored to erase the Muslim and Christian history, identity and, at times, even their ancient graveyards from the Occupied city. Al-Haram Al-Sharif is hardly a religious oasis for Muslims but the site of daily clashes, whereby Israeli soldiers and Jewish extremists routinely storm the holy shrines, leaving behind broken bones, blood and tears.

Despite American support of Israel, the international community has never accepted Israel’s version of falsified history. Though the Jewish spiritual connection to the city is always acknowledged – in fact, it has been respected by Arabs and Muslims since Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab entered the city in 638 – Israel has been reminded by the United Nations, time and again, regarding the illegality of its Occupation and all related actions it carried out in the city since June of 1967.

But Ben Gvir and his Otzma Yehudit Party. like all of Israel’s major political forces, care little for international law, authentic history or Palestinians’ rights. However, their main point of contention regarding the proper course of action in Al-Aqsa is mostly internal. There are those who want to speed up the process of fully claiming Al-Aqsa as a Jewish site, and those who believe that such a move is untimely and, for now, unstrategic.

The former group, however, is winning the debate. Long marginalized at the periphery of Israeli politics, Israel’s religious parties are now inching closer to the center, which is affecting Israel’s priorities on how best to defeat the Palestinians.

Typical analyses attribute the rise of Israel’s religious constituencies to the desperation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is arguably using the likes of Ben Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich and Aryeh Deri to stay in office. However, this assessment does not tell the whole story, as the power of religious parties has long preceded Netanyahu’s political and legal woes. The Zionist discourse has, itself, been shifting towards religious Zionism; this can be easily observed in the growing religious sentiment in Israel’s judicial system, among the rank and file of the army, in the Knesset (Parliament) and, more recently, in the government itself.

These ideological shifts have even led some to argue that Ben-Gvir and his supporters are angling for a ‘religious war’. But is Ben-Gvir the one introducing religious war to the Zionist discourse?

In truth, early Zionists have never tried to mask the religious identity of their colonial project. “Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine,” the Basel Program, adopted by the First Zionist Congress in 1897, stated. Little has changed since then. Israel is “the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people,” Netanyahu said in March 2019.

So, if Israel’s founding ideology, political discourse, Jewish Nation State Law, every war, illegal settlement, bypass road and even the very Israeli flag and national anthem were all directly linked or appealed to religion and religious sentiments, then it is safe to argue that Israel has been engaged in a religious war against Palestinians since its inception.

The Zionists, whether ‘political Zionists’ like Theodore Hertzl or ‘Spiritual Zionists’ like Ahad Ha’am’ – and now Netanyahu and Ben Gvir – have all used the Jewish religion to achieve the same end, colonizing all historic Palestine and ethnically cleansing its native population. Sadly, major part of this sinister mission has been achieved, though Palestinians continue to resist with the same ferocity of their ancestors.

The historic truth is that Ben-Gvir’s behavior is only a natural outcome of Zionist thinking, formulated over a century ago. Indeed, for Zionists – religious, secular or, even atheists – the war has always been or, more accurately, had to be, a religious one.

– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

Aoun: Demarcation agreement will not lead to peace with ‘Israel’

Friday 28 10 2022 

Source: Al Mayadeen

By Al Mayadeen English 

Lebanese President Michel Aoun asserts that the maritime border deal was the outcome of national interests and stability and is in no way an indication of peace with “Israel”.

Aoun: Oil and gas funds will be returned to the sovereign fund

Lebanese President Michel Aoun told LBC broadcaster that Lebanon “demarcated the borders to avert war,” adding that “the maritime deal was the outcome of national interests and stability” and is in no way an indication of peace with “Israel”.

He further added, “We claimed our right to demarcate and amplified it, and we consolidated it, thus giving hope to the Lebanese people.”

“The demarcation will lay the ground for the extraction of gas and oil which will lift Lebanon out of debt, and this is my gift to the Lebanese before I leave.”

Aoun noted that “there are no papers, signatures, or anything else in the process of signing the demarcation agreement that could indicate a peace agreement [was made].”
 
The Lebanese President pointed out that “the money that will be generated from oil companies will be deposited in the Sovereign Fund for Oil and Gas Revenues.”

Read more: Sayyed Nasrallah: No normalization in border demarcation deal

There’s a good reason for Hezbollah’s arms to remain

Commenting on his relations with Hezbollah, Aoun said the party’s Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, “has two eyes, as we all do, but each of us sees things differently… when it comes to responsibilities, each of us is tasked with certain jobs.”

Aoun added that “Hezbollah helped us quietly,” stressing that “there is a good reason for Hezbollah’s arms to remain, and those who question this are political opponents.”

Commenting on the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gibran Bassil, Aoun said Bassil “has become the head of a bloc and I am not his guardian. Even if he makes mistakes, he is the one to assume consequences, not me. His powers are not mine,” noting that he had previously requested “a change of the governor of the Banque du Liban, but he did not receive approval.”

On signing a decree accepting the government’s resignation

Aoun also confirmed that he was on the verge of signing a decree accepting the government’s resignation, noting that “fighting corruption has brought him many enemies along the way.”

On government matters, Aoun said, “The current government does not enjoy the confidence of the people and thus cannot rule,” adding that Prime Minister Najib Mikati “has no will to form a government and there must be unity in terms of the formation criteria.”

“I will give a chance until the end of my term,” Aoun said.

Aoun explained that “it is a big mistake not to determine the deadline for the prime minister in charge of forming the government to actually do the formation,” noting that “dialogue on the presidential issue will fail, but relevant consultations may actually lead somewhere.”

Concerning the issue of Syrian refugees, Aoun pointed out that his country “demanded the voluntary return of the displaced Syrians, and Syria did not set any conditions for their return,” adding that “the international community wants Lebanon to be a ship guard to prevent displaced Syrians from traveling to their countries, while at the same time they stand in the way of their return home.”

Read more: Return of displaced Syrians to be voluntary: Lebanese General Security

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دعوة ثلاثة كتّاب صهيونيّي الهوى والمواقف: السفارة الفرنسية تروّج للتطبيع «الناعم» في بيروت

 الأربعاء 19 تشرين الأول 2022

 نادين كنعان

بدءاً من اليوم الأربعاء لغاية 30 تشرين الأوّل (أكتوبر) الحالي، سيكون لبنان على موعد مع الدورة الأولى من «بيروت كُتب» ، المهرجان الأدبي الدولي والفرنكوفوني الذي ينظّمه «المركز الفرنسي في لبنان»، بعد أربع سنوات على إقامة آخر معرض للكتاب الفرنكوفوني في لبنان. حدث مجاني ببرنامج منوّع يحاكي كلّ الأعمار، سيتجوّل في المناطق اللبنانية المختلفة، متنقّلاً بين المدارس والمتاحف وغيرهما من الفضاءات ذات الطابع الثقافي. ويستضيف الحدث 110 أدیباً وأدیبة من 18 جنسیّة، فيما يقيم حلقات حوار وندوات وأنشطة فنية (موسيقى ومسرح وغناء…)، بالإضافة إلى توزيع عدد من الجوائز، وفق ما تؤكد السفيرة الفرنسية آن غريو.

وبحسب المنظّمين، من شأن «بيروت كُتب» المساهمة في الحثّ على القراءة من جهة، وتشكيل متنفّس للكتّاب والأدباء والفنانين الذين واظبوا على العمل ولكن «لم يقدروا أن يحكوا (…) وشعروا بوجود هذا النقص» نتيجة تأزّم الأوضاع على الساحة المحلية وفي ظلّ الأزمة الصحية العالمية ومن ثمّ توقّف معرض الكتاب الفرنكوفوني، من جهة أخرى. الأمر الذي ولّد «الحاجة لنشاط أدبي، خصوصاً في بيروت».

(دانيا زيتوني ــ الولايات المتحدة)

خلال الحدث، وتحديداً في 25 تشرين الأوّل، سيشهد «قصر الصنوبر» عند الساعة الثانية بعد الظهر حدثاً غير مسبوق، يتمثّل في الإعلان عن القائمة القصيرة لجائزة «غونكور» الأدبية العريقة من لبنان. خطوة مستغربة من قبل الأكاديمية الفرنسية التي اعتادت الكشف عن الأسماء سنوياً من باريس، التي سيحضر هذا العام أعضاؤها العشرة إلى العاصمة اللبنانية، بمن فيهم باسكال بروكنير، إريك ــ إيمانويل شميت وبيار أسولين. علماً أنّ غياب أيّ منهم قد يعني نسف الإعلان البيروتي.
الأدباء الثلاثة الذين لم يُسلّط عليهم الضوء في إطار الإعلان عن تفاصيل المهرجان كأنّ أسماءهم مُرِّرت خلسةً، معروفون بمواقفهم ومعاركهم المدافعة عن «إسرائيل»، وبترهيب كلّ من ينتقدها ورميه بالتهمة الجاهزة: معاداة السامية!
صحيح أنّهم ليسوا إسرائيليّي الجنسية، إلا أنّهم من أشدّ المتعاطفين مع الكيان الصهيوني في الأوساط الثقافية والفنية الفرنسية.
أخطر هؤلاء هو الروائي والمفكر والصحافي والأكاديمي باسكال بروكنير. يعتبر الأخير من أبرز رموز «الفلاسفة الجدد» الذين قادوا الثورة الأيديولوجية ضدّ حركات التحرّر الوطني واليسار في سبعينيات القرن الماضي، إلى جانب مجموعة من أعتى صهاينة فرنسا والمدافعين عن «إسرائيل» ومؤبلسي العرب والمسلمين، على رأسهم برنار هنري ليفي. تيار حاول تبرئة الاستعمار من مسؤولياته التاريخية عمّا حلّ ببلدان العالم الثالث، ويحمّل مسؤولية ما يجري في هذه البلدان إلى ثقافتها وخلفيتها الفكرية والنفسية… بخبث شديد، أعاد هذا التيّار تبنّي الطروحات العنصرية. في كتابه المرجعي «دموع الرجل الأبيض»، يعلن القطيعة مع الفكر العالم الثالثي الذي طبع جيله، واليسار الغربي في السبعينيات. إنّه أحد الموقعين على عريضة ترفض إدانة «إسرائيل» عام 2021، ردّاً على عريضة لألف فنان ومثقف وجامعي من 45 بلداً، نشرتها جريدة «ليبراسيون» الفرنسية، تدعو إلى وضع حدّ لـ «الأبارتهايد في إسرائيل». وفي عام 2017، قال في مقابلة عبر i24NEWS الإسرائيلية إنّه «في الشرق العربي المسلم المتخلّف إسرائيل هي المنارة».

دافع هذه المراجعة لدى بروكنير وآخرين من أشباهه هو مواقف اليسار المعادي لـ «إسرائيل» مع صعود المقاومة الفلسطينية في الأراضي المحتلّة في بداية السبعينيات. هكذا، ارتدت هذه المجموعة من الثوريين واليساريين وانحازت لعتاة الرجعية. انخرط هؤلاء في السجالات الحاصلة في مجتمعاتهم حول مسألة الموقف من القضية الفلسطينية واعتبارها «أداة» تستخدمها الحركات الإسلامية لنشر «الأسلمة» واختراق المجتمعات الغربية. هم يقدمون أنفسهم بصورة «حضارية» تؤثّر على الشرائح التي تفتقر إلى المعرفة الكافية في هذا الإطار.
أما البلجيكي من أصل فرنسي إريك ــ إيمانويل شميت، فأستاذ فلسفة وروائي ومسرحي ومخرج، تدور تصريحاته في فلك «الحوار بين الأديان» و«السلام بين العرب وإسرائيل». توجّه رائج ومهيمن في فرنسا بين المثقفين والفنانين وفي الميديا. مقاربة نجدها على سبيل المثال في نصّه «السيّد إبراهيم وزهور القرآن» الذي قُدِّم طويلاً على المسارح الإسرائيلية، واستحال فيلماً (95 د) عام 2003 من بطولة عمر الشريف وإخراج فرانسوا ديبيرون (1950 ـــ 2016)، كما أنّه أدّاه هو شخصياً على الخشبة في «مهرجان أفينيون». وعلى الرغم من أنّه لا يمكن اعتباره عدوّاً شرساً للقضية الفلسطينية، لكنّه يروج لـ «السلام». سبق أن وجّه إليه الصحافي يونس بن كيران رسالة غاضبة في «ميديابارت» بعد توقيعه على «مانيفستو ضدّ اللاساميّة» يوحي بأنّ هناك صلة عضوية بين «العداء للسامية» و«المسلمين قتلة اليهود».

باسكال بروكنير وصف «إسرائيل» بالمنارة «في الشرق العربي المسلم المتخلف»

من ناحيته، وُلد الصحافي والروائي والناقد الفرنسي بيار أسولين في المغرب حيث عاش سنواته الأولى. على مدى أعوام، أدار مجلّة LIRE، ولا يُعرف بمواقف منهجيّة داعمة لـ «إسرائيل». تناول في «تطهير المثقفين» (1996) مفكّري اليمين العنصري في فرنسا إبان الاحتلال. وفي روايته «الزبونة» (1998)، استعاد مرحلة التعامل مع النازيين إبّان الاحتلال الألماني لفرنسا، والوشاية باليهود… لكنّه برز كمدافع عن الزيارة المدويّة التي قام بها الكاتب الجزائري التطبيعي بوعلام صنصال إلى الكيان المحتلّ وما تخلّلها من تصريحات ولقاءات، مباشرةً بعد فوزه بـ «جائزة الرواية العربيّة» في عام 2012. هاجم أسولين منتقدي صنصال، إذ وجّه سهامه بعنف في شهر حزيران (يونيو) من العام نفسه صوب سفير فلسطين في اليونيسكو، إلياس صنبر، بسبب انتقاده لزيارة صنصال إلى «إسرائيل».

بيار أسولين دافع عن زيارة الكاتب الجزائري بوعلام صنصال إلى الكيان المحتلّ

تأتي دعوة الأدباء الثلاثة، وهم «صهاينة عضويّون»، إلى بيروت في السياق السياسي العام الذي تشهده المنطقة، أي تكريس العلاقات مع «إسرائيل» والصهاينة كأمر واقع، وبالتالي تنفيذ استراتيجية تطبيع التطبيع. توجّه تقف فرنسا في الصفوف الأمامية بين الدول المشجّعة عليه. ولا ينحصر الهدف بتعزيز علاقات «إسرائيل» مع العالم، بل يتركّز أيضاً على قتل القضية الفلسطينية بعد التضحيات الهائلة التي قُدّمت على مدى العقود الماضية من أجل الحصول على اعتراف دولي بوجود شعب فلسطيني تجري محاولة عزله اليوم ونسفه من الذاكرة. وتتزامن الدعوة البيروتية أيضاً مع تصاعد حدّة الاشتباك مع العدوّ في الأراضي المحتلة.
في الثامن من تشرين الأوّل (أكتوبر) الحالي، حذّر وزير الثقافة محمد وسام المرتضى عبر حسابه على تويتر من «استغلال الحراك الثقافي في سبيل الترويج للصهيونية وخططها الاحتلالية العدوانية الظاهرة والخفية، التي بدأت بالأرض ولن تنتهي بالعقول».

إريك ــ إيمانويل شميت تتمحور أحاديثه حول «الحوار بين الأديان» و«السلام بين العرب وإسرائيل»

تغريدة سرعان ما أُزيلت، لتتبعها أخرى جاء فيها: «بناءً على تمنّي سعادة السفير المعني، وطلبه التداول مع الوزارة لجلاء الأمور ووضعها في نصابها الصحيح، تم مؤقتاً محو التغريدة المتعلّقة بعدد من الأدباء الأجانب المنتمين إلى الصهيونية فكراً ونتاجاً أدبياً وأهدافاً، على أن يصار، في ضوء نتيجة التداول، إلى إجراء المقتضى القانوني والوطني المناسب». لكن لغاية كتابة هذه السطور، يبدو أنّ أيّ تغيير لم يطرأ، إذ لا تزال الأسماء الثلاثة مُدرجة ضمن «القائمة الكاملة لأدباء وأديبات البرنامج» على موقع «المركز الفرنسي في لبنان» الرسمي. صحيح أنّ لا موادّ في قانون مقاطعة إسرائيل تمنع الثلاثي من دخول الأراضي اللبنانية، وبالتالي، فإنّ السلطات، وتحديداً «المديرية العامة للأمن العام»، لا يمكنها أن تفعل شيئاً في هذا الإطار، لكونهم لا يحملون جوازات سفر إسرائيلية، إلا أنّ ما تفعله السفارة الفرنسية عبر هذه المبادرة «الثقافية» اللبوس، هو كيّ الوعي العربي، والتطبيع الناعم مع فكرة الاحتلال. والأهم أنّها تفعل ذلك من بوابة بلد اختبَر وقاومَ هذا النظام الاستعماري وممارساته الوحشية، فيما «الديموقراطيات الحرّة»، على رأسها فرنسا، تتواطأ ــ بصمتها ودعمها الرسمي للكيان ــ مع الإبادات والمجازر والتهجير والتطهير التي مارسها منذ عام 1948 لغاية اليوم، ومن فلسطين وصولاً إلى لبنان!

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حملة المقاطعة: لا نرحّب بمن يروّج لقاتلنا
علمت «حملة مقاطعة داعمي «إسرائيل» في لبنان» أن «المعهد الفرنسي في لبنان» سيستقبل أدباء فرنسيين يروّجون لإسرائيل من خلال مواقفهم الداعمة للصهيونية خلال فعاليات مهرجان «بيروت كُتب» التي ستبدأ اليوم وتستمر لغاية 30 تشرين الثاني، متنقلة بين المدارس والمراكز الثقافية في مناطق لبنانية عدة.
يهم حملة المقاطعة أن تؤكد أنها ترحب بكل جهد يصب في خانة المعرفة والتنمية، لكنها ترفض استغلال الثقافة وحاجة لبنان إلى أنشطة مماثلة بهدف التطبيع المقنّع. مثلاً، الأكاديمي والروائي باسكال بروكنير صاحب مقولة «إذا الصهيونية لم تكن موجودة، علينا اختراعها» يدافع عن الإسرائيلي ويعتبر أنه مواطن عادي يستميت للدفاع عن جلده على حد تعبيره.
وإذ ترفض الحملة محاولة التطبيع الثقافي للعقول الناشئة، تؤكد أن الاحتفاء بالمدافعين عن قتلة اللبنانيين والفلسطينيين هو استخفاف بآلامنا ودمائنا.
ومن هنا تطالب «حملة مقاطعة داعمي «إسرائيل» في لبنان» المعهد الفرنسي باحترام الشعب اللبناني واستبدال مروّجي الصهيونية بغيرهم من الأدباء الذين يدافعون عن إنسانية قضايانا كمثال الكاتبة آني إرنو. لكم الحق في التضامن مع أوكرانيا ومقاطعة روسيا، ولنا الحقّ برفض استقبال المدافعين عن قاتلنا.

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TO TIMES OF ISRAEL WRITER, APARTHEID IS OK, SYMPATHY FOR PALESTINIANS “LOATHSOME”

MAY 26TH, 2022

Source

By Miko Peled

JERUSALEM – Zionists like to admonish Palestinians by saying that they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. But, according to Zionist talking points, Palestinians missed several opportunities when Israel was willing to graciously “give” them pieces of their own land. Moreover, it is alleged that Palestinians have missed so many of these great opportunities that they have no one to blame but themselves for their misfortunes.

BLAMING THE VICTIMS

A piece by Richard Cravatts published in the Times of Israel, and later republished in other publications, is a particularly asinine example of this admonition. In his piece, “An Open Letter to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Your Fellow Travelers,” Cravatts writes: “Millions of Palestinian refugees [have been] created by your people’s repeated rejection of offers of statehood – in 1937, 1947, 1967, 2000, and other occasions….”

An Open Letter to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Her Fellow Travelers | FrontpageMag https://t.co/1pLj8hLCjk

— Richard Cravatts (@rcravatts) May 25, 2022

Blaming the Palestinians for the ongoing tragedy of the refugees is not only callous but as outrageous as blaming the victims of the Holocaust for the horrors of the Nazis. I can testify that I have heard more than one Zionist claim that the Jews whom the Nazis killed had it coming because they did not heed the call of the Zionists. Had the Jews of Europe come to Palestine to steal and live on other people’s land, the Nazis would have spared them, a theme found throughout Yoav Shamir’s 2009 documentary, “Defamation.”

The claim that Palestinians are prone to missing opportunities is one of the most common Zionist lines, and they still use it because it works – because unfortunately there exists such a lack of knowledge regarding the history of Palestine that Zionists can loudly proclaim that “The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!” and go unchallenged. Another iteration of this claim is, “If only the Palestinians had the foresight to accept Zionist offers, or at least offers that the Zionists were agreeable to, things would have been so much better for them.” “Them” being the Palestinians.

Anyone familiar with the Zionist talking points has heard the claim that the Palestinians “missed opportunities” so they have no one to blame for their lot but themselves. In a recent lecture I gave in southern California, a Palestinian student asked me how to reply to this argument. His question was specifically about the Zionist accusation that Palestinians rejected the Two-State Solution.

AN OUTRIGHT LIE

We will set aside the fact that this is an outright lie for a moment. We will not get into this issue in-depth, only to say that in fact, since the 1970s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO) has been the only party striving to achieve a Two-State Solution and that their willingness to make this enormous sacrifice cost them a great deal and made things worse for Palestinians the world over.

This argument typically comes from Zionists who live in the United States or the U.K. and who think it is OK that Israel has taken all of Palestine. They never admonish Israel for annexing the Syrian Golan Heights or East Jerusalem. They have no issue with Israel’s building entire cities on Palestinian land. This accusation comes from Zionists who believe Israel has a right to colonize all of historic Palestine.

Israel has a right to do this because, so they tell us, Jewish people around the world may (or may not) be related to a tribe that resided in Palestine some two or three thousand years ago. They tell us that this tribe, called the Hebrews, which may or may not have any historical connection to modern-day Israel and the Jewish people, is the reason it is OK for the modern State of Israel to commit unspeakable crimes against an entire nation.

LEGITIMIZING THE OPPRESSOR

What is implied in the admonitions by Zionists is that Zionism and the colonization of Palestine by Zionist Jews are legitimate and that the Palestinians refuse to accept this legitimacy. However, these admonitions present us with opportunities to raise a larger question. The question that ought to be asked is: Why in the world would Palestinians accept any offer by their colonizers? Why would any colonized nation accept anything but the total defeat of their colonizers and oppressors, especially considering that these “offers” fail to include the liberation of all of historic Palestine?

The answer is that there is no reason. The attempts at partitioning and slicing Palestine have all been part of a strategy meant to legitimize the violent Zionist takeover of Palestine and delegitimize the Palestinian rejection of it.

The aforementioned senseless, mindless Zionist propaganda piece starts by addressing Rep. Tlaib as follows:

On May 16th, you and some other members of The Squad, including Representatives Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, McCollum, and others, introduced a loathsome resolution, H. RES. 1123, which had as its purpose “Recognizing the Nakba and Palestinian refugees’ rights” and to “commemorate the Nakba,” the catastrophe you assign to Israel’s creation, “through official recognition and remembrance.” According to your baleful resolution, the Nakba not only took place at Israel’s founding “but [refers] to an ongoing process of Israel’s expropriation of Palestinian land and its dispossession of the Palestinian people that continues to this day.”

In this typical Zionist propaganda piece, Cravatts calls the proposed legislation to recognize the Nakba “loathsome.” Amnesty International recently published a report accusing Israel of committing the crime of apartheid — a crime so heinous it is designated as a “crime against humanity.” Interestingly, the writer does not find those who commit the crime of apartheid loathsome, only the legislation recognizing the victims of the crime.

What is loathsome, however, is that the United States is complicit in the crimes against the Palestinians. It is loathsome to live in the United States and to justify, explain and provide cover – thin as it may be – for the brutal regime that has been tearing Palestine apart for over seven decades. And it is loathsome to stand by and applaud as the state of Israel continues to brutalize an entire nation while the world, and Israeli society, look the other away.

This is How ’Israel’ Gave In to Hezbollah: The Liberation of the Year 2000

May 25, 2022 

Jihad Haidar

The liberation of Lebanese occupied territories in 2000 was just a culmination of an ascending path of victories Hezbollah recorded in confronting various types of wars waged by the “Israeli” enemy. During this period “Israeli” positions and the positions of the army of Antoine Lahad stretched along what was known as the “security belt”.

What distinguishes the act of resistance from regular warfare is that it is a cumulative effort that aims to drain the occupation on all levels. It pushes the occupier to a point where its leadership and audience force upon it the decision to withdraw.

Thus, the continuation of a serious and effective resistance was a pivotal challenge and critical to achieving victory. However, since the resistance was cumulative, it was natural that there would be repercussions on the “Israeli” [domestic] arena. It was only when all of the [“Israeli”] army’s efforts to stop the bloody killings of its forces in the occupied areas failed that “Israeli” public opinion demanded and pressured its political leadership to withdraw from Lebanon and restore stability to the settlements in the north that were targeted by the resistance’s missiles in response to “Israeli” attacks against civilian areas in Lebanon.

Stages and the bets of the enemy

In glancing at the years leading up to the liberation, we notice that the “Israeli” gambles went through phases, correlating with political and security developments. But the gamble that persisted throughout all of these stages during the confrontation, revolved around the possibility that the resistance may age over time, while despair takes over its supporters as sacrifices grow.

Despite all that, every stage had its own gambles. At times the gambles centered on the regional and internal Lebanese developments. At other times, the “Israeli” gamble focused on the effects of the [Arab-“Israeli”] “peace process”, which was launched in Madrid and achieved breakthroughs on the Palestinian and Jordanian fronts.

Initially the “Israeli” hopes were pinned on the production of a regional political reality that would lead to the demise of the resistance as an option of glory in confronting threats. Meanwhile the various stages of the negotiations were accompanied by psychological and political warfare aimed at presenting the resistance as an absurd option and curbing the motivation of the resistance fighters while exhausting the patience of its followers.

At the operational level, “Israel” feared a repetition of the consequences of the military incursion option to settle scores with Hezbollah. So the military leadership at the time tried to create alternative operational options that Hezbollah aborted through its steadfastness, tactics, firmness, and determination to continue the path of resistance.

“Israel” adopted several options, one of which was to launch massive attacks that targeted civilian areas, in order to turn the public against the resistance.

The July 1993 aggression (Operation Accountability), the April 1996 aggression (Operation Grapes of Wrath), and other operations focused on targeting the leaders as well as the Jihadi and Mujahidin staff of the resistance, including His Eminence the Secretary-General of Hezbollah martyr Sayyed Abbas Musawi (RA).

Instead, Hezbollah was able to counter these Israeli efforts, securing an internal [Israeli] consensus, which took into account the mounting human cost within “Israeli” army ranks.

The theory (or the equation) is as follows: “Israel” needs to continue occupying Lebanese territory regarding it as a «security belt» aimed at protecting its northern border. But Hezbollah transformed the “Israeli” presence on Lebanese territory to a wounded occupation and costly to the “Israeli” society to the extent that forced the army chief of staff at the time, Amnon Shahak, to admit that his soldiers were like sitting ducks for Hezbollah fighters.

The missile strategy adopted by the resistance turned the occupation into the reason behind the deterioration of security in the northern [“Israeli”] settlements. Rockets were fired in response to any aggression against Lebanese civilian areas.

The missile strategy also transformed the settlements in northern [“Israel”] to a handicap for the movement of the occupation forces, which now had to take into account the possibility of the settlements being targeted when studying their options in expanding their aggression. This reality turned into an additional burden for the occupying entity that deepened its losses and drained it.

That is how Hezbollah excelled in imposing the equation of expanding the response in confronting the policy of expanding aggression. The current “Israeli” chief of staff of the enemy’s army, Gadi Eizenkot, was one of the prominent figures to admit this equation when he explained in a lecture – back when he was in command of the northern region- saying: “Hezbollah was very keen on not targeting “Israeli” towns with rockets unless it was in response to “Israeli” operations…. And if memory serves me right, targeting “Israeli” towns with rockets, as we said above, was in response to operations by the “Israeli” army that Hezbollah considered crossing a line”.

Based on the above and after a series of failed gambles and evidence of the futility of operational options adopted by the army of the enemy, the decision-makers in Tel Aviv found that the Jewish entity had but two realistic options:

Either to withdraw back to its borders or to continue the human attrition in the security belt and the security attrition in the north of “Israel”.

So that is how the “Israeli” leadership, represented by Prime Minister Ehud Barak at the time, found that the only way to get rid of the Lebanese quagmire is to get out of it, even unilaterally and without any agreements or security or political preparations. That is what happened.

Source: al-Ahed News, Translated and Edited by website team

Constantly on the Verge of Collapse: How Palestinians Became a Factor in Israeli Politics

May 18, 2022

Israeli politicians Naftali Bennett (L) and Ayelet Shaked. (Photo: via Wikimedia commons)

By Ramzy Baroud

Israel’s coalition government of right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is on the verge of collapse, which is unsurprising. Israeli politics, after all, is among the most fractious in the world, and this particular coalition was born out of the obsessive desire to dethrone Israel’s former leader, Benjamin Netanyahu.

While Netanyahu was successfully ousted in June 2021, Bennett’s coalition has been left to contend with the painful reality that its odd political components have very little in common.

On April 6, Israeli lawmaker Ildit Salman defected from the coalition, leaving Bennett and his temporary allies wrangling with the fact that their Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) coalition no longer has a majority. Now that the Knesset count stands at 60-60, a single defection could potentially send Israelis back to the voting booth, which has been quite habitual recently.

Two current Bennett allies, Abir Kara and Bir Orbach, are possible defectors. Even Bennett’s old Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) partner, Ayelet Shaked, could ultimately betray him, once his coalition ship begins sinking. And it is.

Both Bennett and Shaked left the Jewish Home in 2018 to form Yamina. Although the latter won only seven seats in the March 2021 elections, the far-right party proved to be the kingmaker, which allowed the anti-Netanyahu coalition to be formed. The only alternative to this current coalition would have been a government in which Netanyahu and Bennett would alternate the prime minister post. Though Bennett is a protegé of Netanyahu, the current prime minister knew too well that his former boss cannot be trusted.

So, instead, Bennett opted to join a hotchpotch coalition of political desperados, each joining an unlikely government for simply having no other option. For example, Yesh Atid (17 seats), and Kahol Lavan (8 seats), once part of the Blue and White center-right coalition, betrayed their political base by joining far-right Yamina and, consequently, leaving behind Telem of Moshe Yalon, which now has no Knesset representation.

The same can be said of Labor (7 seats) and Meretz (6 seats) who, earlier, were the backbone of the Israeli political establishment – in 1992 they had 56 seats combined. Losing faith in their own political base, they opted to join their supposed ideological nemesis, instead of enduring the painstaking process of breathing life into a dying camp.

The captivating part of the story is the United Arab List of Mansour Abbas, which is rightly perceived to have betrayed its Arab base in Israel and its own Palestinian people everywhere else. As the Israeli army is cracking down on Palestinian communities throughout historic Palestine, including Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Naqab – Mansour Abbas’ own base – this strange political creature remains committed to Bennett, though nervous about future possibilities, especially that the nature of the Israeli attacks on Palestinians are increasingly shifting towards a religious war.

Consequently, it is hard to imagine that Bennett’s government could realistically survive till 2025. In fact, it is quite rare in Israeli politics that any government coalition has served its full four-year term. Still, Israel’s historic political instability is worsening. In fact, Bennett’s government is the outcome of an agonizing political process that saw Israeli voters cast their votes in four different general elections in only two years.

Perhaps, what is keeping Bennett’s coalition together, though precariously, is the menacing image of Netanyahu, the current opposition leader, sinisterly watching from across the Knesset aisles while waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. Some Israeli analysts even argue that the defection of MK Salman was largely instigated by the abuse and intimidation she received from Netanyahu’s Likud party, which saw her as a traitor to their right-wing agenda.

Regardless of the fate of Bennett’s government, Israel’s political crisis will continue indefinitely, and there are reasons for this.

Though the Israeli right has dominated the country’s politics for many years, especially since 1996, it remains fractious and opportunistic. The constant need to feed the insatiable appetite of the country’s powerful right-wing constituency keeps pushing Israel’s right-wing parties further to the right. They are merely united around such values as the racial and religious supremacy of Israeli Jews, their hate for Palestinians and Arabs, the desire to expand the illegal Jewish settlements and the rejection of any mediated solution that would provide Palestinians with their basic human rights.

The left in Israel is, frankly, not a left at all. It is recognized as such, largely because of its ‘peace-process’ legacy, which died with the assassination of Labor Minister Yitzhak Rabi, in 1995. Tellingly, Rabin was not a peacenik but one of Israel’s most militant and violent leaders. However, the erroneous association, linking any Israeli leader with the ‘peace process’, automatically classified that individual as a ‘leftist’. According to Israeli analyst Oz Aruch, this also applied to Ariel Sharon. The name of the late notorious Israeli prime minister and Army General is associated with the Sabra and Shatila massacre, along with other horrific episodes.

Without a real ideology and without a ‘peace process’, or even the desire to engage in one, the Israeli left has become irrelevant.

The same applies to the center which, by definition, is the political camp that occupies the space between the right and the left. With the right being in constant redefinition and the left having no strong ideological base, the Israeli center has proven equally hopeless. The outcome of the April 2019 elections, when the center coalition Blue and White obtained 35 seats, should have been a watershed moment for Israel’s political center. This ultimately culminated to nil, and eventually led to the collapse of Blue and White itself.

While this is taking place in Israel, the Palestinian body politic has been slowly reanimating. Though Palestinian Arab parties in Israel remain divided, and Palestinian groups in the occupied territories are yet to find their common ground, Palestinian communities, especially the younger generations, have been articulating a new political discourse. With grassroots leaderships, they are coordinating their actions from occupied Jerusalem to Gaza, to the Naqab to the West Bank and to Palestinian communities in Israel itself.

For the first time in many years, Israel finds itself in a position where it is no longer the only party that is shaping events or determining outcomes in the country. Therefore, Israeli political instability will worsen. Contrastingly, Palestinians are finally becoming a factor in Israeli politics and, through their popular resistance, can mobilize to put pressure on Israel as has been the case in recent years.

Israel is now facing the dilemma of either ignoring this new Palestinian factor, at its own peril, or accepting the inescapable fact that Israel can never enjoy stability while Palestinians remain occupied, confined and oppressed.

– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of six books. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappé, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak out”. Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

إعلاميون ضد التطبيع

الأربعاء 8 كانون الأول 2921

فتح مؤتمر إعلاميون ضد التطبيع النقاش حول ظاهرة التطبيع وكيفية التعامل معها، سواء لجهة حضور هذا العنوان عربياً في ضوء الاتفاقيات الخليجية مع كيان الاحتلال، أو لجهة ظهور ترددات لبنانية إعلامية تتحدث عن التطبيع كوجهة نظر، يذهب البعض إلى أبعد من ذلك بترجمتها بالحضور الإعلامي على قنوات الاحتلال.

الأمر الأول الذي يجب إدراكه هو خطورة الإيحاء خلال مواجهة مشاريع التطبيع، وكأن كيان الإحتلال في طور صعود القوة وإمساك زمام المبادرة، واستعمال مصطلحات توحي بالتفوق الإسرائيلي من خلال مقاربة ظواهر التطبيع، وهذا فيه مجافاة للحقيقة، فالذي يجري يحتاج إلى تفسير كونه يجري في ظل إختلال واضح في موازين القوى في غير صالح كيان الإحتلال، ودخول المقاومة في مرحلة الإمساك بزمام المبادرة في ميدان الصراع كما أظهرت معركة سيف القدس ومعادلة القدس تعادل حرباً إقليمية.

استحضار التطبيع كظاهرة سياسية عبر المشهد الخليجي وكتظاهرة إعلامية عبر لبنان وسواه، هو أولاً مشروع خداع بصري بإستعارة مفردة التطبيع من كونها نهاية مسارات الصراع إلى لحظاته الصعبة على الكيان، للإيحاء لداخل الكيان وخارجه بأن الصراع ينتهي لصالح الكيان من جهة، وهذا جزء من حرب المعنويات. ومن جهة مقابلة تحويل التطبيع من إنجاز يترجم ثبات الكيان وجودياً ونهاية القلق على بقائه إلى واحدة من أدوات الحرب الثقافية والإعلامية على المقاومة، لزعزعة ثقافة المقاطعة وإضعاف الجبهات الداخلية لساحات المقاومة في مواجهة القلق الوجودي الذي يعيشه الكيان بما لا يقبل التمويه.

المعركة مع التطبيع تتحول من كونها معركة إثبات صراع الوجود مع الكيان، إلى كونها معركة الوعي لتثبيت مرتكزات ثقافة المقاومة، في سياق مقاومة صاعدة وكيان يترنح، ولذلك فإن سياق المعركة مختلف جذرياً، ومسار المواجهة أهم من نتائجها، وهذا يستدعي شن حرب إعلامية بلا رحمة على ظواهر التطبيع والترويج للتطبيع، بعد رصدها والتدقيق بها وملاحقتها، وإطلاق لوائح العار بحق المطبعين أو الداعين للتطبيع، ومقاطعة أصحابها، وبالتوازي تعميم ثقافة المقاومة والمقاطعة عبر إعلاء شأن رموز المقاطعة وتحويلهم إلى أيقونات تفتخر بها الشعوب.

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روسيا والصّين وخطاب قوى المقاومة

الصين تتريَّث حالياً في دخول معترك ملفات المشرق العربي السياسية وتعقيداتها

الجمعة 26 نوفمبر 2021

المصدر: الميادين نت

عمرو علان

كاتب وباحث سياسي في العديد من المنافذ الإخبارية العربية ، ومنها جريدة الأخبار ، وقناة الميادين الإخبارية الفضائية ، وعربي 21 ، وراي اليوم

أُجبِر الكيان الصهيوني سابقاً على الانسحاب من قطاع غزة في العام 2005، وقبل ذلك من جنوب لبنان في العام 2000. وفي كلتا الحالتين، كان انسحابه من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ.

لعلَّ من أبرز تجلِّيات حقبة “القطب الواحد” التي عاشها العالم خلال العقود الثلاثة الماضية، والتي يشارف العالم على الخروج منها إلى “نظام عالمي” جديد ما زالت ملامحه قيد التشكل، حيث تجلَّت ملامح “القطب الواحد” باستفراد الولايات المتحدة الأميركية بالتأثير في قضايا منطقتنا العربية، إذ كانت روسيا مشغولة بعملية استعادة توازنها بعد انهيار الاتحاد السوفياتي، وكانت الصين في مرحلة بدايات بناء قوتها الاقتصادية العالمية، أما أوروبا، فكان تأثيرها قد بدأ بالتراجع في ملفات السياسة الدولية لمصلحة الولايات المتحدة الأميركية منذ مشروع “مارشال”. 

أما اليوم، ونظراً إلى التحولات العميقة التي تجري في “النظام العالمي”، والتي تتمثل بعودة روسيا لتكون لاعباً دولياً رئيساً في الساحة الدولية من جهة، ولا سيما في منطقة المشرق العربي، وأيضاً في صعود الصين المطرد كعملاق اقتصادي دولي من جهة أخرى، نجد أنَّ الباب يُفتح مجدداً لهذه القوى الدولية للانخراط بشكل أكبر في ملفات المنطقة العربية، وعلى رأسها القضية الفلسطينية، القضية الأم والأكثر تعقيداً من بين قضايا المنطقة، إذ يفرض عليها التواجد الروسي العسكري في منطقتنا التعامل مع مسألة الصراع العربي الصهيوني، فكما صرَّح الرئيس الروسي فلاديمير بوتين مؤخراً: “روسيا عملت وستعمل كوسيط نزيه لتسوية النزاعات في الشرق الأوسط ولتحقيق الاستقرار في المنطقة… من أجل تطبيع الوضع في الشرق الأوسط. من المهم مبدئياً دفع عملية التسوية الفلسطينية الإسرائيلية”.

أما الصين التي يظهر أنها تتريَّث حالياً في دخول معترك ملفات المشرق العربي السياسية وتعقيداتها، فعلى الأرجح أن تجد نفسها مضطرة إلى الانخراط في هذه الملفات بقدرٍ أو بآخر، إما عاجلاً وإما آجلاً، ولا سيما أنها تسعى بشكل حثيث للاستثمار الاقتصادي في المنطقة الشرقية لحوض المتوسط، لكونها حلقة وصل رئيسية في مشروعها الاستراتيجي “الحزام والطريق”.

تطرح هذه المستجدات سؤالاً على فصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية حول الكيفية الأنسب للتعامل مع دول بحجم روسيا والصين العائدتين لأداء أدوار في قضايا منطقتنا، ولا سيما أنَّ منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية كانت قد ارتضت الدخول في خديعة “عملية السلام” التي أفضت إلى الاعتراف بالكيان الصهيوني المزعوم، وقبلت التنازل عن الحق العربي والإسلامي الأصيل في الأراضي المحتلة العام 1948، وما تبع ذلك من القبول بتقسيم القدس إلى شرقيةٍ وغربيةٍ، وتمييع حق العودة المقدس للاجئين الفلسطينيين، إلى درجةٍ توازي التنازل عنه عملياً، وباتت دول العالم اليوم – اللهم إلا الجمهورية الإسلامية في إيران – تنظر إلى تنازلات المنظمة على أنها السقف المقبول فلسطينياً. 

الصين مثلاً، التي كانت ترفض الاعتراف بالكيان الصهيوني، والتي كانت من أواخر دول العالم التي اعترفت بهذا الكيان المصطنع، لم تقْدِم على الاعتراف به إلا بعدما اعترفت منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية به أولاً، وكان حال الصين في ذلك حال العديد من دول العالم الأخرى التي كانت تناصر الحقوق العربية والفلسطينية.

لكن قوى وفصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية، مع باقي قوى المقاومة الحية في وطننا العربي والإسلامي، على عكس منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، ما زالت ترفع لواء تحرير كامل التراب الفلسطيني المحتل، بصفته الحل العادل والمنطقي للقضية الفلسطينية، ناهيك بكونه الحل الوحيد الحقيقي المتاح للصراع العربي الصهيوني، وذلك إذا ما وُضع أصل فكرة نشأت ووظيفة الكيان الصهيوني في سياقه الصحيح والأشمل ضمن الصراع مع قوى الاستعمار الغربي.

لذلك، يمكن لفصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية بناء خطابها مع هذه الدول على أساس فكرة وجوب انسحاب الاحتلال من الأراضي التي احتلها في العام 1967 من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ، فكل قرارات الأمم المتحدة تؤكد أن هذه الأراضي هي أراضٍ محتلة، وعلى أي احتلال الانسحاب من الأراضي التي احتلها من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ، ومن دون منحه أية مكافآت مقابل انسحابه هذا، وهي مسألة لا يستطيع أحدٌ المحاججة فيها بالقانون الدولي أو بغيره.

 أما الاحتلال الصهيوني، فهو حرٌ بأن يسمي هذا الانسحاب “إعادة انتشار” أو “فك ارتباط من طرف واحد” أو أي شيء آخر يريحه، فالجوهري هنا أن يكون هذا الانسحاب من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ، ومن دون أي تفاهماتٍ مع هذا المغتصب، وبعدها يكون لكل حادثٍ حديثٌ. 

لقد أُجبِر الكيان الصهيوني سابقاً على الانسحاب من قطاع غزة في العام 2005، وقبل ذلك من جنوب لبنان في العام 2000. وفي كلتا الحالتين، كان انسحابه من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ، ومن دون أن يحصل على أية تفاهمات مع المقاومة التي دحرته عن الأراضي التي كان يحتلها، وهذه التجربة يمكن تكرارها في الأراضي المحتلة العام 1967. 

أما عقيدة حركات المقاومة القائمة على تحرير كامل التراب الفلسطيني المحتل من رأس الناقورة إلى أم الرشراش، فهذا أمرٌ لا شأن للقوى الدولية به، ولا تجب مناقشته مع أيٍّ من هذه الدول، فإن أرادوا التضامن مع الشعب العربي ومساعدته على استعادة حقوقه، فعليهم الضغط على المحتلّ كي ينسحب من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ من الأراضي التي يحتلّها باعتراف القانون الدولي، وحجّة فصائل المقاومة في هذا قوية، فتكفي الإشارة إلى تجربة منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية على مدى العقود الثلاثة الماضية، وما سمي بـ”عملية السلام” وما انتهت إليه.

يرى البعض هذا الخطاب خطاباً متماسكاً، ويَصلح لمحاججة القوى الدولية الصاعدة به، فهو يضع الكرة في ملعبها، ولا يقدم في المقابل أي تنازلات عن الثوابت العربية والإسلامية في القضية الفلسطينية، ناهيك بكونه يتجاوز التنازلات التي قدّمتها منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية، والتي بات العالم يطالب الفلسطينيين بالالتزام بها، عوضاً عن مطالبة الاحتلال بالانسحاب دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ من الأراضي التي احتلها العام 1967، بناءً على الشرعية الدولية التي تؤمن بها هذه القوى.

ويمكن القول ختاماً إنّ أيّ خطابٍ آخر تتبناه فصائل المقاومة الفلسطينية لا يلحظ فكرة وجوب انسحاب الاحتلال من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ، لا بد من أن يُدخِل الفصائل الفلسطينية في دوامةٍ تشبه دوامة خديعة “السلام”، إن لم تكن أسوأ. إذاً، ليخرج الاحتلال من الأراضي التي يحتلّها من دون قيدٍ أو شرطٍ أولاً. وعندها، يخلق الله ما لا تعلمون.إن الآراء المذكورة في هذه المقالة لا تعبّر بالضرورة عن رأي الميادين وإنما تعبّر عن رأي صاحبها حصراً

المطلوب فلسطينياً في عام الانتظار

أكتوبر/ 7تشرين الأول 2021

 سعادة مصطفى أرشيد*

جرى الاتصال الأول بين الرئيس الفلسطيني والرئيس الأميركي بعد سنة تقريباً من انتخاب الأخير، وكان ذلك أثناء معركة سيف القدس بين المقاومة في غزة والاحتلال، وكما كان بسبب تداعياتها والخشية الأميركية – «الإسرائيلية» من امتدادها شعبياً للضفة الغربية وللداخل الفلسطيني المحتل، فالشعب الفلسطيني كان قد أبدى حتى حينه، مقداراً عالياً ولافتاً من التوحد في الدفاع عن القدس، وذلك في المقدمات التي سبقت المواجهة العسكرية (سيف القدس)، والتي رفعت راية القدس واتخذتها عنواناً، الأمر الذي تجلى في مواجهات باب العمود، ثم حي الشيخ جراح وتهجير سكانه من الفلسطينيين وإسكان مستوطنين غاصبين غرباء في بيوتهم، وفي الدفاع عن المسجد الأقصى في مواجهة الجمعيات التلمودية والاستيطانية المتطرفة والمدعومة من جهات سياسية عليا في تل أبيب، ونذكر كيف زحف الفلسطينيون من سائر الضفة الغربية ومن أعالي الجليل إلى النقب، وفي أجواء القيظ والحر وصيام رمضان، واجتازوا كلّ العراقيل التي وضعت في طريقهم للوصول بأعدادهم الغفيرة للرباط في باحات الحرم القدسي .

في تلك المهاتفة اليتيمة، أسمع الرئيس الأميركي الرئيس أبو مازن كلاماً طيباً، طربت له الأوساط الفلسطينية، إذ أكد التزامه والتزام بلاده بموقف قال إنه (ثابت)، وهو ما تسعى إليه الإدارة الأميركية، يؤمن بحل الدولتين، ويرفض السياسات الاستيطانية في الضفة الغربية، كما يرفض أي تغيير في الوضع القائم في الحرم القدسي، ثم على رفض تهجير المقدسيين من منازلهم في القدس الشرقية المحتلة (في إشارة إلى حي الشيخ جراح)، كما أكد أن سياسة بلاده ترفض الإجراءات الأحادية من قبل أي طرف .

تفاءلت أوساط رام الله بذلك وعقدت الآمال العريضة على تلك المكالمة، وبناء عليها تم العمل على عقد قمة بين الرئيسين، وكان الموعد المفترض أن يكون اللقاء على هامش افتتاح أعمال الدورة الأخيرة للجمعية العمومية، لكن اعتذار البيت الأبيض حال دون ذلك، وأذاع حالة من الإحباط، بخاصة عندما رددت الصحافة أقوالاً نسبت لموظفين أميركان كبار، تقول إن ليس للرئيس الأميركي في هذه المرحلة ما يبحثه مع الرئيس أبو مازن، الأمر الذي تجلى في عدم سفر الرئيس إلى نيويورك والاكتفاء بإرسال كلمة مسجلة عبر فيها عن إحباطه، كما عن تساؤله حول جدية ما قاله الرئيس بايدن له، وعن شكوكه في المسار السياسي الذي سار فيه والذي لم يأت بنتيجة، هكذا قال أبو مازن .

طرح الرئيس في خطابة المسجل ما يبدو وكأنه يمنح العالم و»إسرائيل» فرصة أخيرة، ومهلة مقدارها سنة واحدة، وذلك للعودة إلى مسار عملية التفاوض الذي يؤتي نتائج تحقق إقامة الدولة الفلسطينية على حدود الرابع من حزيران 1967، وإلا فإنّ القيادة الفلسطينية ستكون مضطرة للذهاب باتجاه خيارات أخرى ستكون على طاولة رام الله وأجندتها، ومنها العودة للمطالبة وتنفيذ قرار التقسيم (181)، الأمر الذي يطرح سؤالاً استفهامياً كبيراً، إذ طالما أن «الإسرائيلي» ومن ورائه العالم، غير مستعدّ للقبول بكلّ هذه التنازلات فهل سيقبل بالعودة إلى قرار كان قد صدر قبل خمس وسبعين سنة؟ وإذا كان ذلك ممكناً، فلماذا لا نطرحه من اليوم، لا بل لماذا لم نطرح هذا الخيار من قبل؟

يحار الفلسطيني أمام ما تقدّم، إذ إنّ ميزان القوى الحالي هش وضعيف ومائل في غير مصلحته، وأن تعديل هذا الميزان لصالح الكفة الفلسطينية ورفع منسوب القوة، أمر ليس بالسهل ولكنه أيضاً غير مستحيل إن توافرت الإرادة السياسية أولاً، ومن ثم العمل الجادّ والمثابر ثانياً، بعيداً من منطق شراء الوقت وانتظار المعجزة، ومحاولة كل طرف من طرفي الانقسام التنصل من واجباته وتحميل الآخر مسؤولية إفشال الاتفاق، أو وضع شروط تعجيزية، فالموضوع من الأهمية والجدية بمكان يحتاج للاستعداد لخسارة مكاسب شخصية لحساب مصالح عليا، وهو الأمر الذي يبقى موضع شك في ظل بعض من التركيبة الحالية، التي ترى تناقضاً بين مكاسبها وبين المصلحة العليا .

يحتاج الفلسطيني إلى إبداء قدر من الجدية والمسؤولية، وإلى إعادة تعريف المشروع الوطني، وذلك بالشروع في إعادة بناء النظام السياسي الجديد، من خلال انتخابات سياسية، والعمل على إنهاء الانقسام، وفي ظن كاتب المقال أن هناك ظروفاً دولية وإقليمية مواتية لعمل جاد ينتهي بالنجاح – مرة أخرى إن توافرت الإرادة السياسية -، إذ إن لحظه فراغ جزئي يعيشها العالم، تنشغل بها الإدارة الأميركية وتحالفها الإنكليزي – الأسترالي في التموضع في جوار الصين، وتخرج من تحالفها قوى أطلسية – غربية، لطالما كانت في صفها، وتطلب – تأمر – الإدارة الأميركية من حلفائها ومحسوبيها تهدئة الأوضاع وتخفيض التوتر على مستويات عدة، الأمر الملاحظ في زيارة قائد الجيش السوري للأردن، ثم المكالمة الهاتفية بين الرئيس السوري والملك عبدالله، وفي تحسّن العلاقات المصرية – السورية ولقاء وزيري خارجية البلدين على هامش الجمعية العمومية، وكذلك في الغزل السعودي – الإيراني، وفي المبادرة اللبنانية ووصول ناقلات النفط الإيرانية من دون أن يعترضها أحد، وفي عدم ذهاب «الإسرائيلي» إلى جولة تصعيد في غزة واستبدال ذلك برفع مستويات القتل والاغتيال بالضفة الغربية إرضاء لجمهورهم المتطرف .

استعاض بايدن عن لقائه بأبي مازن، بإيفاد المبعوث الأميركي للشرق الأوسط هادي عمرو إلى المنطقة، حيث اجتمع بالرئيس أبو مازن والقيادة الفلسطينية الاثنين الماضي في رام الله، ووفق ما أوردته وكالة الأنباء الفلسطينية الرسمية (وفا) أن الرئيس أعاد على مسامع ضيفة مضمون خطابة المسجل، وذكره بحديث بايدن الهاتفي، وأكد استعداد السلطة الفلسطينية للذهاب إلى عملية سياسية قائمة على قرارات الشرعية الدولية، وعلى عقد مؤتمر تحت رعاية الأمم المتحدة والرباعية، فيما لم تورد وكالة الأنباء شيئاً عما قاله المبعوث الأميركي، أما ما لم يقله أبو مازن، أنّ كلام ليل بايدن سريعاً ما يمحوه نهاره، وأنه في حين يقول للفلسطينيين كلاماً طيباً ولسبب ظرفي مؤقت، فإنه يقول ويفعل من أجل عكسه لصالح «الإسرائيلي» الذي يتمتع بدعمة اللا محدود، كل ذلك يؤكد أن الفلسطيني الرسمي لم يغادر المربع الذي تموضع به منذ عام 1993 .

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*سياسي فلسطيني مقيم في الكفير – جنين – فلسطين المحتلة

PA President Abbas Meets Israeli MKs, Cabinet Ministers in Ramallah

October 4, 2021

President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday receives three members of the Israeli Knesset from the Meretz party. (Photo: Mahmoud Abbas FB Page)

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday received three members of the Israeli Knesset from the left-wing Meretz party, two of whom are cabinet ministers, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Head of the Meretz party and Minister of Health Ministers, Nitzan Horowitz, Minister of Regional Cooperation Issawi Freij, and MK Michal Rozin discussed the peace process between the PA and the Israeli occupation with Abbas, WAFA noted.

The "left-wing" Zionist ministers in the apartheid regime play "good cop" by keeping the bantustan delusion of "two states" alive. This charade probably makes @EUinIsrael giddy with excitement https://t.co/c3P6yxh7vU

— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) October 4, 2021

Abbas stressed the importance of ending the occupation and establishing just and comprehensive peace in accordance with international resolutions. He also reiterated the importance of stopping settlement construction, military incursions, home demolitions, the displacement of people, and the return of the bodies of Palestinian martyrs killed by the occupation, according to WAFA.

“Israel must renew the peace process and contacts with the Palestinians… Israel can’t run away from the Palestinian issue. It is here and it is the heart of the matter,” Freij said.

Calls are quietly growing within Meretz to reinvigorate the Palestinian channel of the peace talks, based on the assumption that with Bennett being as weak as he is, the party can act with considerable freedom, writes @mazalm3 https://t.co/4QFLK7IW83

— Al-Monitor (@AlMonitor) October 3, 2021

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett expressed reservations about the meeting, the Jerusalem Post reported, but he did not stop it from taking place. His representatives declined to comment.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)

Nasrallah’s Timing

September 18, 2021

By Ahmed Fouad

In the past, present, and future, timing is everything in both life and politics. When an actor is good at choosing the appropriate timing for his decision, success is all but guaranteed. This applies to the vast ocean of politics, and relates to every human act, even the most ordinary ones.

There is greatness in choosing the right timing to revolt against a far-reaching siege – a choice made and implemented by the master of the resistance and the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

It broke the cycle of the siege on Lebanon and Syria forever and threw all the plans of the United States and the Zionist entity to isolate the two countries in the dustbin of history. It was a divine timing; it came during one of the manifestations of the meeting between heaven and earth – Ashura, the memory of ideals and unique heroism throughout history.

Sayyed crowned the most pivotal event during the last decade with his resounding historical speech about the arrival of fuel tankers from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Lebanon via sister Syria. The arrival comes on a memory that also carries many noble meanings – the martyrdom anniversary of Sayyed Hadi. This sends a dual message to friends, close ones, and the enemies.

The first, and loudest, truth about the convoys breaking the siege on Lebanon is that they are coming from those who led the liberation of the land. They are repeating that, but this time, by liberating the ordinary citizen from neediness and crises and giving every Arab a sign for the only way to a solution. Hezbollah did not resort to the IMF, nor did it borrow from the West. Rather, it brought production and mobilization tools from the East. This is one.

As for the other, it was achieved by the long-term sacrifices of the Islamic Republic, Syria, and Hezbollah together, in a region already in crisis. Finally, you find an example of achievement and success, completely outside the American sphere, which opens the door to a further shattering of dependency on the US and loosening the American collar around the necks of everyone in the Arab region.

 The American equation that was presented to the rulers of Arab countries has existed since the mid-1970s. It is as follows: Sign a peace agreement with the Zionist entity, and American investments would guarantee you prosperity and growth; unlimited American support would provide you with all the leadership roles you desire.

This was the first thing that was said to Sadat, for example, about the milk and honey that were waiting for him as soon as he signs the Camp David Accords. When the game ended, Sadat took a piece of paper in exchange for giving away his entire country to the Americans and Zionists. Right before he was killed by the hero Khalid Al-Islambouli, he realized that he fell for the trick in a barren desert and all that he wished for was a mirage.

Only now, the solution came from outside in a fully cooperative manner that enhances the value of the local currencies of the three countries and deprives the American giant of its absolute ability to act, punish, and move; thus, breaking the prestige of the Zionist entity and the American power to the same degree.

In the end, the Iranian solution presented something greater than the spectacle of diesel and gasoline convoys and better than just meeting the needs of a country that was already suffocating. The Iranians did so by using a method chosen by Hezbollah in its jihad work since its glorious first day on the Arab land.

With all faith, Sayyed restored Ashura to our daily reality. It became an approach not an epitaph, a renewed victory over the enemy, blood that never goes to waste, and a firm commitment to the slogan “Zainab will not be taken captive twice.” Let everyone see the transfer of the party’s slogans from the arena of jihad against the enemy to the jihad of building, serving, and cutting the continuous and long chain of suffering against the citizens of Lebanon.

Perhaps one of the most important points in Sayyed’s remarks about the muted media coverage regarding the arrival of Iranian ships to Syria is to set a new rule that achieving the greatest possible success is linked to doing the least amount of talking possible.

The multiple speeches only reveal locations and goals. Therefore, a lot of words narrow the possibility of movement, freedom of action, and most importantly, the flexibility required in a troubled area, which is as effervescent as the hopes of the actors or those who are greedy.

Sayyed’s speech, which is actually historic and not descriptive, was not a dedication to celebration or joy in the achievement of an unparalleled glory for the entire Arab nation. Rather, it was a new promise to continue the opposite approach to the submissive Arab march during recent decades and to turn the page on the old, dull, and impotent policies. Sayyed painted his speech with a victorious, confident smile after succeeding in presenting a new integrated solution away from the poor imagination that drives all our miserable rulers.

Does Resisting “Israel” and the US Benefit People of the Region?

22 Jul 21

Source: Al Mayadeen

Nassim Mansour

To address this issue, we need to breakdown a few key concepts to understand the interests of both the people and the governments in the region.

Does Resisting “Israel” and the US Benefit People of the Region?

The answer to this question is the core focus in the ongoing media war between the Resistance Axis and the American-led Axis in the region.  All the countries that are within the Resistance Axis are facing dire economic difficulties, social divisions, and security issues (Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen). At a first glance, without digging too deep, one might ask that indeed, why not just make peace with “Israel” and the US and end all the chaos? Wouldn’t making peace end all the sanctions and economic pressure and make everyone’s lives easier? These are valid questions that young people in particular ask. To address this issue, we need to breakdown a few key concepts to understand the interests of both the people and the governments in the region.

Relationship between the West and the region

Let’s go back 100 years ago. The Ottoman empire that ruled the region for around 500 years was crumbling. This took place during the second industrial revolution in Europe. Cars, airplanes, ships, electricity, gas, oil, and communication systems were being created. The end of the Ottoman Empire led to the split of the region between France and Britain with the Sykes-Picot agreement. These events prevented various countries in the Middle East from engaging in the industrial revolution as their own independent nations. The owners of the technologies and the infrastructure builders were mainly France and Britain. They viewed the region as an investment for their own projects and a market for their industries. They built most of the region and became the main providers of various technological products. After World War 2, the Israeli entity was created by Western powers to be used as a foothold to project their power and protect their interests. Fast forward to the cold war, the leadership of the region was transferred from Britain and France to the United States of America. This was ratified in the 50’s with the creation of ARAMCO (Arabian-American Oil Company) and the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement with Saudi Arabia, the Consortium Agreement of 1954 with Iran, which gives American, British, and French oil companies 40% ownership of the nationalized oil industry after overthrowing Mohammed Mosaddegh that nationalized the Britain-owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and other similar type of deals across the region. The US became the main weapons provider for the armies in the region, including “Israel”. This was in exchange for natural resources and compliance with American national security interests. Because of “Israel’s” usurper nature and its history of instigating friction, the USA had to make sure that “Israel” always had the upper hand over the rest of its regional allies. As a result, “Israel” became the policeman of the region. As Joe Biden has said before; “If there were not an Israel, we would have to invent one to make sure our interests were preserved”. By that time, the first world was engaging in the third industrial revolution (electronics, telecommunications, and computers).

Our region never took part in these industrial revolutions, as it relied on importing products and technologies from abroad rather than producing them. The capital required to import products and technologies coming from the sale of natural resources. With all this in mind, we can conclude that the relationship between the Middle East and the West is a relationship of “the buyer and supplier”. The West supplies technology, products, and armament while the region provides natural resources in return. This relationship exposes the region to extortion as it is unable to survive without foreign technology and products because it doesn’t have the industries or the knowledge. The Middle East region completely depends on the Americans and their allies to function. 

The Iranian revolution and independence

A major change came into the region with the Iranian Islamic revolution coming into play. Iran became the first country to break free from the “buyer and supplier” relationship by engaging in a local industrial revolution across many sectors, with the military sector being the most important one. Having an indigenous military industry is the key to true independence. It allows countries to truly rely on themselves for their security instead of relying on foreign powers that always impose conditions which limits sovereignty. 

Iran today creates its own vehicles, weapons, medicine, robots, satellites, food, energy, along with various other resources. Iran reverse-engineered what it could, sent students abroad to study technology and return to Iran with full knowledge and capability. The entire nation is engaged in being self-built. Iran is in the process of creating its own civilization, just like the US, China, and Russia are also doing. Any nation that breaks free from its client-status and elevates itself to self-sufficiency is seen as a threat to the United States’ dominance over markets across the globe. It is the reason why the US views China and Russia as enemies. 

The regional resistance

Regional resistance groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces were created by locals in response to the foreign Israeli and American invaders. Naturally, the only country that could supply them with weapons is Iran since its weapons are locally produced and not under the jurisdiction of the US like the rest of region. They also have the same interests as Iran, which is to break free from the American-Israeli hegemony. The initial stage in these resistance groups is always “The Armed-Struggle” which is necessary to their survival. 

The next stage of the resistance is working towards a revolutionary approach to gain independence from the foreign imposed buyer and supplier system. This quest for independence directly clashes with American security and economic interests in the region and the world. Given the buyer and supplier relationship between the US and the countries in the region, it automatically puts those countries in a collision course with Iran and any group or country that is seeking independence. Syria was one of the very few Arab countries that had local civilian industries – and they got intentionally dismantled by the NATO-backed mercenaries during the war; especially in Aleppo where thousands of factories were lost. 

The interest of the people

With the previous concepts in mind, we understand that the ultimate interest of any nation should be working towards as much self-sufficiency as its capability (utilizing the available resources it has, and working with other nations that are seeking the same goals). This is how nations contribute to humanity, share their cultures, and limit foreign powers from deciding their fate. 

Seeking these goals however comes at a great cost: the people must be ready to face sanctions and possible military actions. To limit the effect of sanctions, all the nations of the region that decide to take this path would have to fully co-operate with each other; to share resources and support each other. The region has enough natural and human resources to become independent from foreigners. A lot of sacrifices have to be made, but this is the key to long-term development, security, and prosperity. 

Role of the media

The media plays a large part in influencing and educating people about their own interests, which people are often unaware of. To achieve this revolution for independence, the people need to understand why they’re resisting “Israel” and the United States. Apart from the humanitarian and religious reasons, the ultimate goal of this resistance is to start the process of civilization and nation-building. The goal of the American hegemony is to prevent the rise of nations that will become future competitors in the international arena. There is still a big lack of awareness on such important subjects because the region is engulfed in religious, tribal, and ethnic wars. 

A lot of work needs to be done to raise awareness and to unite people towards these goals, which are way beyond religious, humanitarian, and justice considerations. These are goals that can unite the multi ethnic and multi religious region. It is definitely in the best interest of the people of the region to resist “Israel” and the United States. Although the revolution will take a long time, and although it comes at a great cost; if the revolution is achieved, the final outcome will be the rise of the Middle East and North Africa as global competitors.   The opinions mentioned in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Al mayadeen, but rather express the opinion of its writer exclusively.

أحمد جبريل… المُقاتل العنيد

مقالة ماهر الطاهر

الجمعة 9 تموز 2021

آمن جبريل بعمق بمحمور المقاومة وبقدرته على تعديل موازين القوى في المنطقة (أ ف ب )

في يوم حزين، هو السابع من تموز 2021، رحل عن عالمنا القائد الفلسطيني الكبير، أحمد جبريل، «أبو جهاد»، أحد مؤسّسي الثورة الفلسطينية المعاصرة، و«منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية». وبرحيله، فقدت الحركة الوطنية الفلسطينية والشعب الفلسطيني، كما الأمّة العربية والإسلامية وأحرار العالم، مقاتلاً عنيداً لا يعرف اليأس والخنوع.

وجد جبريل نفسه مع عائلته وأهله لاجئاً في سوريا بعد نكبة عام 1948. ومنذ أواسط خمسينيات القرن الماضي، بدأ يفكّر بتأسيس حركة يكون هدفها تحرير فلسطين. فانخرط، لتلك الغاية، في الكلية العسكرية، ودرس في مصر وتخرّج ضابطاً همُّه أن يعود إلى وطنه ويردّ على الجريمة الكبرى، جريمة اقتلاع الشعب العربي الفلسطيني من أرضه وتشريده في كل أصقاع الأرض. وعلى مدى أكثر من 65 عاماً، ناضل «أبو جهاد» وكافح وخاض كل معارك الثورة الفلسطينية المعاصرة مقاتلاً شجاعاً حتى آخر لحظة من حياته.

تميَّزت تجربة القائد أحمد جبريل، على مدى العقود الستة الماضية، بإيمانه بمجموعةٍ من الثوابت والمبادئ التي لم يحِدْ عنها قيْد أنملة، على رغم كل التحوّلات والعواصف التي مرّت على المنطقة العربية والعالم؛ وأهمّ هذه الثوابت والمبادئ:

أولاً: آمن «أبو جهاد» بعمق، بأن الصراع مع المشروع الصهيوني هو صراع وجود بكل ما للكلمة من معنى؛ فرفض بشكل قاطع نهج التسويات والتنازلات والحلول السياسية التي تؤدّي إلى الاعتراف بالكيان الإسرائيلي. ولذلك، كان أحد مؤسّسي «جبهة الرفْض الفلسطينية» التي تمّ تشكيلها بعد «حرب أكتوبر» عام 1973، عندما تمّ طرْح مسألة التسوية السياسية ومؤتمر جنيف. إذ كان يرى أن الانخراط في التسويات السياسية، هدفه تكريس الوجود الصهيوني والكيان الإسرائيلي على أرض فلسطين، فبقي ثابتاً على مواقفه، على رغم كل ما شهدته الساحة الفلسطينية والعربية من تحولات في المفاهيم والمواقف.

تميَّزت تجربة جبريل بإيمانه بمجموعةٍ من الثوابت والمبادئ التي لم يحِدْ عنها

ثانياً: آمن بأن قضيّة فلسطين هي قضيّة عربية، ورفَض كل محاولات عزلها عن عمقها العربي، لإيمانه بأن تحرير فلسطين مهمّة عربية، وليست مهمّة فلسطينية فحسب، لأن الخطر الصهيوني لا يهدِّد الشعب الفلسطيني وحده، بل الأمّة العربية بأسرها.
كذلك، كان يرى أن للقضيّة الفلسطينية بُعدها الإسلامي، وخاصّة بعد انتصار الثورة الإسلامية في إيران، ووقوف طهران الكامل إلى جانب الشعب الفلسطيني، فضلاً عن تقديمها كلّ أشكال الدعم للثورة الفلسطينية والمقاومة الفلسطينية. كما كان يؤمن بالبُعد التحرّري العالمي للقضيّة الفلسطينية.

ثالثاً: آمن المناضل أحمد جبريل بعمق بمحور المقاومة وبقدرته على تعديل موازين القوى في المنطقة. ولذلك، ربطته علاقات وثيقة بهذا المحور: سوريا، الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية، المقاومة اللبنانية بقيادة «حزب الله»، المقاومة العراقية، والمقاومة في اليمن. وكان يحظى باحترام وتقدير جميع أطراف هذا المحور.

رابعاً: كان الراحل الكبير «أبو جهاد» يؤمن بعمْق بالمقاومة المسلَّحة كخيار استراتيجي في مواجهة الكيان الصهيوني، وأنَّ ما أُخذ بالقوّة لا يستردّ بغير القوّة. وقد جاءت الأحداث والوقائع لتؤكد صحّة ما سبق، بعدما ثبُت فشل خيار ما سُمّي بعملية السلام المزيّفة، والتي كان هدفها الوحيد ضرب المشروع التحرّري للشعب الفلسطيني.

في الوقت الذي نتقدم فيه بأحرّ التعازي إلى شعبنا الفلسطيني وأمّتنا العربية والإسلامية وإلى رفاق الدرب في «الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين – القيادة العامة»، وإلى الرفيق المناضل الدكتور طلال ناجي وأعضاء المكتب السياسي واللجنة المركزية، فنحن على ثقة بأن رفاق القائد الكبير أحمد جبريل في «القيادة العامة» سيواصلون درب الكفاح والنضال حتى تحرير كل ذرّة من تراب فلسطين. وفي الختام نتوجّه بأحرّ التعازي إلى عائلة وأبناء القائد «أبو جهاد»، الأخ أبو العمرين، والأخ بدر، وجميع أفراد عائلته.

* عضو المكتب السياسي
لـ«الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين»

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