The Palestinians' decision to hold indirect negotiations with Israel over a period of four months and the Arab League's approval of this decision have sparked a debate in the Arab press between those who support negotiations and those who oppose them. 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, director of Al-Arabiya TV and former editor of the daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, encouraged Abu Mazen to take advantage of Barack Obama's term as president in order to advance the negotiations, and cautioned the Palestinian president against his enemies who, he said, were working to undermine him and the negotiation process. Representing the opposing view, Syrian columnist Mazen Al-Naqib published a scathing article condemning the Palestinian Authority and accusing all those who support peace with Israel of treason. He claimed the only solution to the Palestinian issue was resistance and steadfastness, as demonstrated by Syria and the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance movements.
Al-Arabiya Director: The Palestinians Should Take Advantage of Obama's Presidency
Al-Arabiya TV director and former Al-Sharq Al-Awsat editor 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed wrote: "Last year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas opted for peace instead of war... He understood that his primary duty and responsibility was to end the occupation [of] Palestine and establish the promised Palestinian state, and that turning down negotiations would [only] benefit Israel...
"In order to resume negotiations and complete them, Abu Mazen covered himself [by attaining] the support of most of the Arab states and the chief Palestinian elements, excluding Hamas. Everyone knows that Hamas will eventually support the negotiations, as soon as it sees Syria negotiating [with Israel]. In this matter Hamas is nothing but a branch of the office of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'allem...
"Abu Mazen's decision [to opt] for negotiations has already sparked a storm of opposition. He is being accused of weakness and of reneging on his promises. The Arab and Palestinian public is being incited [against the negotiations] in the name of Jerusalem and stopping [expansion] of the settlements, and in the name of the opposition's other slogans and tales, which [offer] no alternative solution to end the occupation and establish a state...
"Abu Mazen must not be misled by illusions. The next four months will be short, but they will not be easy, despite the assurances of support that have been granted him. Those opposed to the negotiations will make [these four months] hell [for him], each element out of its own interests. That is why he must take responsibility and conduct negotiations, or else declare his defeat, take a break and hand over leadership of the Palestinian Authority to someone who is willing to face the storm. One and a half years have already been lost of Barak Obama's term as president, the president whom the Arabs and Muslims trust..."[1]
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Al-Watan Columnist: Allah Curse Those Who Collaborate with Israel
Mazen Al-Naqib, a columnist for the Syrian daily Al-Watan, wrote: "May Allah bless all the shahids who did not disdain even a speck of Palestinian soil... May Allah curse anyone who has renounced Palestine and adopted the wrong orientation, believing that peace and normalization with the Israeli-Zionist enemy would end the wicked occupation. May Allah curse whoever has collaborated with Israel against his own people, choosing to submit instead of fighting, and as a result has despaired and committed suicide, having become a disgrace in the eyes of his people and nation.
"How is it that you refuse to believe the enemy when, inciting against Arabs and Muslims, he insolently and smugly declares that there will be no fully sovereign Palestinian state, and that he will not allow the Palestinians to control the [border] crossings, to build an airport in Gaza, to maintain an effective military presence along the [West] Bank-Jordan border, and [to establish] a Palestinian military force capable of protecting the borders of the proposed mini-state. [How can you refuse to believe him when he says] that the armed settlements built on Palestinian land in the [West] Bank will not be dismantled – and this is without even mentioning the division of Jerusalem, [which the enemy calls] Israel's eternal capital, or the return of the Palestinian refugees to their occupied land, [which the enemy opposes].
"The terror perpetrated by the belligerent Israeli mini-state, through its army and spies, endangers not only the Palestinians and their rights, but also [other] Arabs who have gotten lost in the American-Israeli political game, neglecting the defense of their fate and rights, and allowing the U.S. military to use their seas and lands – not to defend [these Arabs], of course, but to defend the Israeli enemy... I wish to say to the Palestinian Authority hiding out in Ramallah and to anyone who believes that the U.S. and Israel are striving for an equitable and comprehensive peace: What is left of the Palestinian state's independence after the Hebrew mini-state has stolen 75% of the lands of Palestine?...
"The necessary response is not to relinquish rights or accept the terms of the enemy, who aspires to swallow up all of Palestine, [as well as] the Golan and the Shab'a Farms. The response must be a national and pan-Arab program that rejects any partition of the homeland or [concession of] rights, and rejects the custodianship of an omnipotent ruler... No Arab leader or senior official who has signed [a peace agreement], accepted the enemy['s terms], deserted, or normalized [his relations] with the enemy is worthy of the ummah's respect...
"The turnabout that began after the 2006 and 2009 wars in Lebanon and Gaza, and the changes throughout the Arab region, returned the ummah to its place among the respected peoples. [The ummah] succeeded in routing an army that [until then] had been undefeated, and which is now afraid to engage in war ever since Hizbullah and the Master of Resistance [i.e. Nasrallah] announced that any attack on Beirut or the Dahiyah [neighborhood of the city] would prompt the crushing of Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa, and other cities, with missiles that would echo the call of the free people who refuse to establish half a mini-state called Palestine. In reality, Palestine [is] a land under occupation – one that allows the Israeli enemy to be [its] lord and master, content and without any desperation or fear, since the foolish and perfidious [Palestinian] leadership, out of touch with its people, has surrendered to the enemy's will and to his plundering, relinquishing its means of struggle to defend Arab existence. The criminal David Ben Gurion, the enemy's first prime minister, said: 'There is [only] one piece of land. This land cannot be divided. It can either belong to the Israelis or to the Palestinians. There can be no compromise.'
"[What Ben Gurion said] was true. There can be no compromise. Palestine is Arab land that cannot be divided. Its people will not accept occupation; they are steadfast and sure of their principles, despite all the obstacles and conspiracies... Those who pinned their hopes on U.S. policy and sold their souls to the devil and the dollar must return to the right path, because the Arab public, demonstrating and angry, demands that they step aside and leave it to the warriors [to resolve] the [Palestinian] problem. The culture of fear and submission is a thing of the past. With steadfastness and the help of Lebanese and Palestinian resistance, Syria, under [President] Bashar Al-Assad, has succeeded in creating a culture of [real] men, who do not lie, are not afraid to tell [the truth], and fight against any element or miscreant force that [attempts] to impose its sponsorship on their independent decisions and to humiliate the Arabs...
"The mighty resistance movements, threatened with war, woe, and disaster, showed the tyrants, criminals, and blood-suckers that they will defend and protect Arab rights and existence against any peril. And they are the ones who can [hit] the enemy back twice as hard if it thinks of committing its crimes against them or ending their existence."[2]
