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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Jan-2011
27-Jan-11 News -- 'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions

Web Log - January, 2011

27-Jan-11 News -- 'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions

Food aid to be withdrawn from Uganda

'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions

Saeb Erekat - angry at al-Jazeera

Saeb Erekat - angry at al-Jazeera

Ten years' worth of previously secret documents on the Mideast peace process from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah have been leaked to Al-Jazeera. Al-Jazeera has been releasing them from Sunday through Wednesday as a series of "revelations." They were also released by the center-left London Guardian newspaper. The precise source of the 1600 documents was not disclosed, but it's thought that they were leaked from the private archives of chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat.

I listened to much of the commentary on Al-Jazeera English television, as I've been reporting daily on my web site.

Not surprisingly, the al-Jazeera commentary was very hostile to Israel and the United States. But what WAS surprising was that the commentary was even more hostile to the Palestinian Authority.

The major parties were portrayed as followed:

America was portrayed not as an "honest broker," but as Israel's chief lawyer and defender. America was also portrayed as forcing the PA to do things that were not in the interest of the Palestinian people.

Israel was portrayed more in disgust than anger. It was said repeatedly that while the PA made several concessions during the peace negotiations, Israel refused to make even one concession. Not one commentator that I heard mentioned Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority was portrayed as collaborators with Israel, and working against the interests of the Palestinian people. The military arm, Fatah, was portrayed as torturers and murderers of Palestinian people.

Hamas was portrayed only in a positive manner, as the true representatives of the Palestinian people. I did not hear any negative attribution to Hamas, and terrorist attacks were only mentioned glancingly.

On Wednesday, al-Jazeera did discuss the question of bias, and read a statement claiming that they were totally impartial. That doesn't even remotely pass the smell test.

The result is that there's a major split growing between the Palestinian authority and al-Jazeera -- and their sponsor country, Qatar.

PA president Mahmoud Abbas was given a hero's welcome when he arrived in Ramallah on Tuesday, with hundreds of demonstrators criticizing al-Jazeera for publishing fake documents.

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat also got a hero's welcome in a rally. He was loudly and bitterly critical of al-Jazeera for "dirty tactics," and the "worst smear campaign in the history of journalism." Erekat also accused Qatar, al-Jazeera's sponsor, of funding and supporting Hamas against Fatah.

As before, American and Israeli officials kept their mouths shut, except to answer questions by saying that the Palestine Papers have not yet been verified.

Here's a summary of the major points made by commentators that I've been reporting on in detail since Sunday:

The PA was criticized for making too many concessions to Israel -- giving away chunks of Jerusalem and limiting the right of return of refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.

Commentators said that America was completely one-sided, favoring Israel. Several commentators said that President Obama was worse than President Bush, because he was unwilling to honor previous commitments made by the Bush Administration in conjunction with the 2003 "Roadmap to Mideast Peace."

There was an extremely emotional issue raised over land swaps. This is the proposal that's been openly discussed for years that Israel would be able to annex part of Jerusalem and the West Bank, in exchange for giving up some Israeli terroritory to the new Palestinian state. However, a particularly bitter discussion centered on the fact that the land that Israel would give up would be villages occupied by Palestinian citizens of Israel, and if the land swaps were completed, then Israel would almost be a purely Jewish state, forcing loyal Palestinian citizens to leave.

The PA was furiously criticized for collaborating with the Israelis against Hamas. It shouldn't be a surprise that this happened, given that the PA and the Israelis have fought individual wars with Hamas in the last five years.

Britain was also a target of the commentators, since the administration of former Prime Minister Tony Blair had approved funding to help the Fatah security forces. Some of that money went to the Palestinian Preventative Security Services (PPSS) and the General Intelligence Service, a Fatah organizations that have been accused of torture. So Britain is being accused of supporting torture.

One commentator was angry that during the negotiations, Israel said that they would not agree to have a Palestinian state unless the Palestinians promised that they would have no army or air force.

Another commentator was angry that the Palestinian Authority has been preventing Imams from providing Jihadist teachings in the mosques of the West Bank.

The PA was bitterly criticized because Israel had forewarned them about the coming January, 2009, Israeli war into Gaza, but then the PA didn't warn Hamas. However, another commentator, Patrick N Theros, US ambassador to Qatar, did point out that everyone knew that a war was coming. That's certainly true -- even I knew.

The bitter issue on Wednesday is that the PA collaborated with the US in getting the UN Security Council to delay a vote on the Goldstone Report, a report that found Israel guilty of war crimes during the Gaza war. (Hamas was also found guilty, to a lesser extent.) Theros said that the reason the US wanted a delay was because a UN vote would distract from the peace process.

Several commentators pronounced, with great contempt and bitterness, that the "peace process" was completely dead. Well, duh! I've been saying that for years. I wrote about this subject in 2003, when President Bush announced the Mideast Roadmap to Peace. (See "Mideast Roadmap - Will it bring peace?") As I wrote at the time, and have repeated many times since then, the Arabs and the Jews will be re-fighting the bloody war that took place after the partitioning of Palestine in 1948 and the creation of the state of Israel. This is an absolute certainty, and there's nothing that any of the players can do to prevent it. All the different negotiators can do is play their parts like actors in a scripted play that can end in only one way.

Despite al-Jazeera's repeated breathless claims of "explosive revelations," I don't believe that there's much that wasn't previously known, or at least strongly suspected. But seeing it all in print and in one place can still harden positions, especially between Hamas and Fatah, and by extension, between Israel and Iran. At a time of increasing turmoil in the Mideast region, including political chaos in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon, the release of the Palestine Papers can only add to the turmoil.

Internet joke

So what happens when al-Zarqawi gets to the Pearly gates? Abu Musab al-Zarqawi died. George Washington met him at the Pearly Gates. He slapped him across the face and yelled, “How dare you try to destroy the nation I helped conceive!”

Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, “You wanted to end our liberties but you failed!”

James Madison followed, kicked him in the groin and said, “This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!”

Thomas Jefferson was next. He beat al-Zarqawi with a long cane and snarled, “It was evil men like you who inspired me to write the Declaration of Independence.”

The beatings and thrashings continued as George Mason, James Monroe and 66 other early Americans unleashed their anger on the terrorist leader.

As al-Zarqawi lay bleeding and in pain, an Angel appeared. Al-Zarqawi wept and said, “This is not what you promised me.” The Angel replied, “I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you in Heaven. What did you think I said?”

Additional links

The World Food Program (WFP) has supplied food to Uganda continuously since 1963. The result is that the people of Uganda are no longer able to grow their own food, and are totally dependent on the WFP. With global food prices soaring, the WFP has to reduce aid levels anyway, and so most food aid will be withdrawn from Uganda, to force the people to learn again how to grow their own food. BBC

South Korea's "get tough" policy against Somalia pirates is drawing threats of retaliation from Somalia pirates. LA Times

Following terrorist attacks targeting Coptic Christian Churches in Egypt in December, young Coptics have turned against the Egyptian government. Al Ahram

The Congressional Budget Office projected that the US deficit will reach $1.5 trillion in 2011, a new all-time high. This is half a trillion higher than their previous estimate, in August. This will fuel bitter partisan political battles. NY Times

Russia's "Vietnam War" was its war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, which was basically a defeat for Russia (then the Soviet Union). But now, as US forces are planning a withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia is preparing to re-enter the country. Russia is planning economic development in Afghanistan, and is cautiously planning to provide security by training the Afghan army and providing helicopters and weapons. Jamestown

Russia has once again failed to fill its military conscript quota. Jamestown

Geologists are saying that the earth is changing rapidly in a region in northeastern Africa, in the Great Rift Valley, which stretches from Ethiopia to Mozambique. The desert floor is quaking and splitting open, volcanoes are boiling over, and seawaters are encroaching upon the land. Africa, researchers are certain, is splitting apart at a rate rarely seen in geology. Spiegel

In the wake of the Moscow airport bombing last week, with the perpetrators suspected as being from the North Caucasus, Russia's Caucasus policies are in tatters. And with terrorist attacks occurring almost daily in the North Caucasus provinces, Russia's hosting of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi is being questioned. On Wednesday, at the world economic summit in Davos, Russia's President Dmitri A. Medvedev announced a Russian government plan to invest $15 billion in ski resorts and other tourist attractions in the North Caucasus, creating 100,000 jobs in the region. NY Times

When you do as I do and set up an alert for all web references to your name, you get strange things like this: "The complex chemistry between Red and Angel could hardly be improved upon, thanks to the best work I’ve ever seen from Amy Wada as the slightly plump Angel and the triumphantly plausible mix of cowardice and courage from Sam Crawford as Red. Karen Roberts-Caporino, as the drugged hippie who becomes progressively more and more uncomfortable with Teddy, and John Xenakis, as the proprietor of the filling station next door, are also pitch-perfect." Creative Loafing

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 27-Jan-11 News -- 'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (27-Jan-2011) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Jan-2011 27-Jan-11 News -- 'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions

'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions

Internet joke

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Jan-2011
27-Jan-11 News -- 'Palestine Papers' reveal major splits between Arab and Palestinian factions