We should admit that the media’s power of misleading in modern times exceeds its power of convincing. If a Martian uninformed on the general course of events of our world were to watch these, he might say: “How nice! Two communities which have been fighting each other for years have finally come to terms, they shook hands. The world has been rid of one more problem. What is left behind is overcoming a trivial set of problems about the protocol.” Has the “Ankara meeting,” which occurred prior to the meeting to be held in Annapolis toward the end of this month, really solved the problem? Let’s take the matter a step further by asking this question: has the root of the problem been reached? Of course not. Without doubt the reality is far different from the impressions given by this optimistic picture. The truth is very different. With an appropriate definition, the Palestine problem is the main problem of the region and the world. As Arabs put it, it is the “mother of all problems.” The Palestinian people have been suffering, but Israel is not comfortable either. And the underlying reason for this painful problem is the fact that Palestinian soil has been under occupation. Nothing in the world can cover up this tangible reality or make it look like some other problem.
As of today, 78 percent of historically Palestinian lands are under the control of Israel, which expands the occupied territories at every single opportunity. There are 2.5 Palestinians who have become immigrants, who have been fighting a war of survival abroad, dragging out a wretched existence. They are manhandled wherever they are. They tie all their hopes to the possibility of returning to their homeland one day.
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the two largest pockets of the Palestinian population in the region, comprise only 22 percent of Palestinian soil. We have been witnessing that these two areas are gradually advancing toward becoming totally separate and that Israel has been doing its utmost to give permanence and legitimacy to the de facto situation that gives rise to this separation. That is, in the event al-Fatah and Hamas cannot come to terms with each other, then we will have two Palestines: consisting of the West Bank dominated by al-Fatah and the Gaza Strip dominated by Hamas. They want the entire world to perceive this de facto situation as permanent. It’s so tragic that this is the point to which the Palestine problem has come.
Here, we are faced with a fundamental question we have to answer: who is the real responding party to talk to regarding the Palestine problem, al-Fatah or Hamas? How are we going to determine this and by employing what sort of criteria? As the most fashionable political regime of our time and at the same time the legitimate framework of representation is “democracy,” the very first criterion we should seek is democracy.
Hamas won an election justly and rightly. The United States, the European Union and observers from many countries monitored the elections right where they were held. It was a very fair one, free of any trickery. However Israel declared that it wouldn’t recognize a democratic election won by Hamas and jailed the deputies, members of parliament and the parliament speaker. The United States and the EU-member states, which had been following the election process with their observers, joined “Israel’s choir,” forgetting the democratic criteria and ideals all of a sudden. Ultimately Hamas was literally exiled into the Gaza coastline and imprisoned there, isolated from the outside world. All sound-minded world citizens with a heart remark that Gaza, where 2.5 million people live, has been transformed into an open prison and maybe even a concentration camp.
Abbas, who has the authority to speak on behalf of Palestine today, indeed has the blessing of Palestinians and the power to represent them. However in the sight of the Palestinian people and the Arab public he functions as a leader “appointed” by the United States and the West. And let’s not forget, great sums of money flow into the part of Palestine ruled by Abbas.
A chief rule in nature, tension and conflict don’t come to an end so long as the contradictions causing them are not dispelled. Whether or not everybody tries to take the matter for granted, is the chief contradiction not as clear as day? Thus the conflict will continue.
