Arab states conspiring with Israel, US against Palestine: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Jafar Ramini, a Palestinian writer and political commentator from La Rochelle, to get his opinion on a court ruling which calls for the postponement of local elections in the occupied territories.

Press TV: Certainly these elections are very overdue, aren’t they?

Ramini: Yes, of course they are overdue and they should happen despite what Fatah or Hamas say or do. The Palestinian people had been marginalized and ignored for a long time. It’s all very well for Hamas to say that this is a political decision, but of course it’s a political decision. Anything that Hamas or Fatah do or say is a political decision and the people who pay for these wrong political decisions are the Palestinian people. This division has gone on for far too long. Let’s please look at a bigger picture and what’s happening now in Palestine and in the region.

Mr. Abbas has been under immense pressure from the new quartet in the Middle East which is Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. These four Arab countries are very important as far as Fatah and Mr. Abbas himself are concerned. They are the people who financed him and who keep him in power. Mr. Abbas knows that his days are numbered. If the elections happen as scheduled, Fatah will lose hands down and Hamas will win. The Arab countries don’t want Hamas to win again.

For me the big question is this: Why is nobody asking the Palestinian people, I don’t mean the factions, I mean the ordinary Palestinian citizens, be it in 1948, the West Bank, Gaza, the refugee camps or the diaspora. Nobody has ever asked us a question. Please do Mr. Fatah, Mr. Hamas, Mr. Islamic Jihad ask the Palestinian people what they want. You are playing fast and loose with Palestine. The division continues, Israel consolidates, more settlements, more settlers, more incursions on al-Aqsa Mosque and my friend and every Muslim and Arab was listening to this don’t be surprised if you wake up one morning soon and al-Aqsa Mosque and the Haram al-Sharif are no more. This is what Israel wants and Israel normally what they want, they get.

Press TV: As you said Fatah, especially Mahmoud Abbas, is essentially financed by outside powers, what is that say then about Palestinian leadership in general, regardless of who is going to come into power at the end of the day in the presidential election even there is that weakness almost in the PA, isn’t there? It is always almost dependent on everybody outside?

Ramini: They are all bankrupts, they are all discredited. The sooner Fatah and Hamas vacate the scene, the better for the Palestinian people; because Fatah is compromised. Mr. Abbas himself said in so many occasions that no to resistance and yes to normalization and yes to security coordination with Israel and the Arab world is conspiring with America and with Israel to liquidate the Palestinian cause and the Palestinians always, as I said at the beginning, pay the price of being marginalized. Nobody asked them where do you stand in this and the world is looking at us now again.

Look at Netanyahu, he’s prancing around the world, Israel is getting stronger and stronger as far as governmental backing from the west is concerned, and we are still squabbling over who is going to be the mayor of this town, or the elect of this village, or the president, or the vice-president, or the prime minister. What are you ruling over? You cannot breathe unless Israel allows you to breathe. Is that a country? Is that a government? Is that self-rule? This is slavery in another name.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk