Is Abbas a Traitor?

“Any Palestinian that is not focused first and foremost on defending the land and people against Israel's escalating aggression and colonialism, and prefers instead to fight for scraps from the master's table, is truly working against Palestinian interests, and against any possibility of a peaceful settlement.” - Hasan Abu Nimah, former representative of Jordan at the United Nations.

By Mike Whitney

06/28/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Israel has launched a full-blown assault on the Hamas-led government. It has allied itself with co-conspirator George Bush to cut off food, medical supplies and financial aid to the PA which is creating a humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories. Israel has also stepped up its daily assassinations, air-raids and other incitements in order to destabilize the new government.

It’s clear now, that annihilating Hamas is at the very top of Israel’s political-agenda and that they won’t be deterred by the enormous suffering they are causing to the civilians of the West Bank and Gaza.

Surprisingly, they have found an eager companion to their subterfuge in the form of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Ever since Hamas was elected, Abbas has challenged their legitimacy and tried to undermine their authority. In an extraordinary statement to the press, Abbas said, “The constitution gives me clear and definite authority to remove a government from power.”

Abbas, of course, has no such power to disband the duly-elected government, but his attempts to thwart Hamas shows his willingness to do Israel’s bidding. No wonder Israeli PM Olmert praised Abbas so highly to George Bush during his recent visit to Washington. Abbas is clearly “Israel’s man” in the territories.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh understands the maneuvering that is going on behind his back, but to large extent his hands are tied. Fatah is operating on Abbas’ orders to spread the mayhem in Gaza while Haniyeh is frantically trying to maintain the peace.

Israel is the only one who benefits from the current turmoil, just as Israel is the only one who benefits from the blockade of food and medical supplies. If their strategy succeeds, they’ll topple Hamas and replace it with the compliant Fatah.

In his address to parliament on Thursday Haniyeh acknowledged that Israel and the United States were conspiring against Hamas “to suffocate and starve us” and that Bush had given Olmert a green light to crush the new government.

Haniyeh responded saying, “We will fight the Israeli plan and continue to struggle until the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Israel is trying to set up a country with a Jewish majority, and preserve Jerusalem as its capital. This shows the Israeli government wants to maintain the occupation. Unfortunately, the Americans are on their side”.

Abbas’ Ultimatum

This week Abbas set a deadline for Hamas to sign an agreement (which was written by Palestinian prisoners) which implicitly recognizes Israel’s right to exist. It’s astonishing that Abbas would devote so much time to such a trivial issue while his country is being occupied by a foreign army in violation of international law. Never the less, the matter is of great importance to his benefactors in Tel Aviv so Abbas is faithfully executing their orders.

The issue of “recognizing Israel” has been given considerable “air-time” in western media. Regrettably, the coverage is invariably slanted to demonize Hamas and make Israel look like the victim. As we can see from Haniyeh’s statement above, Hamas is only asking for “the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.” (which is consistent with UN resolution 242) But, “recognizing Israel” is a nettlesome problem and requires that Hamas retreat on one of its core-principles. Kathleen Christinson sheds light on this point in her recent article in Counterpunch “Surrender vs. the Right to Exist”:

“The insistence that the Palestinians "recognize Israel's right to exist" does not mean, to Israel and the U.S., simply that the Palestinians must pledge not to throw Jews into the sea. Refraining from this drastic step is fairly easy even for the most militant of Islamists. It means instead recognizing Israel's moral legitimacy. For a Palestinian this means recognizing -- indeed, embracing as a moral imperative -- Israel's right to have expelled the Palestinians and taken their homes and their land.”

It is this question of “moral legitimacy” that overshadows the struggle between Hamas and Israel. What is the true nature of the relationship between the occupier and the occupied? In fact, it is Israel which denies Palestine the “right to exist” through occupation and frustrating attempts at statehood. Hamas should not be expected to applaud its tormenters for seizing its land, destroying its country, and starving its people.

Abbas knows as well as anyone, that he is asking Hamas to compromise on an issue of enormous importance. He is demanding that Hamas concede that Israel has a moral right to occupy the land was originally Palestine. The referendum is simply an underhanded way of coercing conformity to Israeli diktats.

Does Abbas enjoy carrying out Israel’s orders?

There’s no question how Olmert feels about the issue. As Christinson notes, the Israeli Prime Minister made himself entirely clear in his speech to Congress,

“I believed, and to this day still believe, in our people’s eternal and historic right to this entire land”. It is Olmert’s “belief” that is the threat to peace, not Hamas. There can be no lasting accommodation when one party feels they are entitled to “all the land” and can subjugate the native people while ignoring United Nations resolutions.

So why has Abbas joined forces with Israel and torpedoed the prospects for a negotiated settlement? He’s fully aware of Olmert’s plan to unilaterally draw Israel’s final borders and incorporate East Jerusalem, West Bank settlements and vast swathes of the Jordan Valley. Are the scraps from Israel’s table so tantalizing that he would willingly sell out his own people?

On Thursday, Israel announced that it would authorize the delivery of light weapons to Abbas’ security forces. For years, Israel has done everything in its power to prevent the Palestinians from arming themselves. They’ve even invented a special language, (“dismantling the infrastructure of terror”) which is aimed at disarming the Palestinian resistance. Now, they’re “transferring hundreds of light weapons imported from foreign countries” to their trusted ally, Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel would never provide Abbas with weapons if there was any chance they’d be used against Israelis. These weapons have one purpose alone; to kill Palestinians!

Abbas collaboration with Israel is tantamount to a declaration of war against his own people.

What more evidence does one need that Abbas is a traitor?

Israel has finally found someone corrupt enough to do their dirty-work in the territories. Meet the new cop on the beat, Mahmoud Abbas; Palestinian turncoat.

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