PA Supports Mubarak – Along With Egyptian People's Desire

The Palestinian Authority has been cautious in its reaction to the protests in Egypt. Its leaders have kept their comments to a minimum, and its security apparatuses initially tried to suppress demonstrations of support for either the protesters or Mubarak, on the pretext that such demonstrations could be interpreted as interference in Egypt's affairs. Subsequently, however, demonstrations were permitted. Columnists affiliated with the PA expressed support for Mubarak, but also sympathy with the Egyptian people's desire for reforms and democracy.

A few days after the outbreak of the protests in Egypt, PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas stressed, in a phone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, that the Palestinian leadership desired a secure and stable Egypt.[1]

A former PA official wondered why the Palestinians didn't emulate the Egyptian uprising in their struggle against Israel.

The following are details, and excerpts from some articles on this issue:

PA Zigzags – Suppressing Demonstrations, Subsequently Allowing Them

On February 2, 2011, when several dozen people demonstrated in Ramallah in support of the Egyptian people and its demand for change, the PA police violently broke up the gathering, beating the protesters with clubs and even arresting two of them. At another demonstration later that day, support was expressed for both Mubarak and for the aspirations of the Egyptian people.[2]

'Adnan Al-Damiri, spokesman for the PA security apparatuses, announced, on February 3, a ban on demonstrations related to the events in Egypt and Tunisia, so as to avoid interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. He added, however, that the PA and the PLO respected the desire of the peoples to determine their own fate.[3]

Nevertheless, two days later, Palestinians held a thousands-strong rally in Ramallah in solidarity with the Egyptian revolution, which was attended by senior officials from the various factions and covered by the PA media. Thus, it appears that the PA had decided to rescind the ban on demonstrations.

Left-wing movements held a similar solidarity rally in Bethlehem.[4]

PA Prepares for Impact of Egyptian Uprising

The London-based daily Al-Hayat reported, citing PA sources, that Mahmoud 'Abbas had held a series of consultations with Fatah officials, PA security chiefs, and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, in order to prepare for potential repercussions of the Egypt events. The discussions dealt with strengthening the local popular resistance, stepping up the international political campaign, increasing democracy within the PA, and preventing any violent activity against Israel that could adversely affect the economic situation in the West Bank and strengthen Hamas.

The daily added that Hamas, for its part, was preparing for the possibility that Egypt would open the Rafah border crossing, which would ease the siege on Gaza, thereby strengthening Hamas's rule there and alleviating the pressure on it to advance the reconciliation with Fatah.[5]

PA Prime Minister Takes Cautious Stance

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad refrained from taking a strong position on the Egypt events, while stressing that the PA was not concerned about similar events taking place in its territories. He said: "I do not wish to join the roster of [figures] volunteering advice [to the Egyptians]... [As for the question of] whether the current situation in Egypt affect the situation in Palestine, [my answer is as follows]: We do not regard legitimate popular demands – such as [the demand for] political reform, enhancement of citizen rights and participation, and greater democracy and justice – as a threat to Palestine.

"In fact, the work plan announced by the PA in August 2009, aimed at achieving national preparedness for the establishment of the Palestinian state... fundamentally involves a broad participation of the people in this activity, and seeks to establish the state upon standards and principles that realize and strengthen the values of democracy, citizenship, human rights, freedoms, social justice and lack of discrimination.

"We hope that Egypt manages to overcome this crisis while preserving its achievements and meeting the legitimate demands for democracy, political reform, and popular participation."[6]

Support for Mubarak – Alongside Solidarity with Egyptian People

The Fatah-affiliated website Alaahd.com posted an Egyptian YouTube video titled "An Apology and an Expression of Gratitude and Appreciation for President Hosni Mubarak," dedicated to "all the Egyptians who love and respect Mubarak, the best of presidents."[7]

However, beside praise for Mubarak, the Palestinian media also criticized his past mistakes. The editor of the daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghouti, wrote: "If I were Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, I would reiterate what he said in his [recent] speech, namely that he had been born in Egypt, had sacrificed for its sake as a soldier and as a statesman, and [meant to] die on its soil... He cannot be treated as a criminal, even if he has been tardy in taking fundamental steps that should have been taken two decades ago, and even if we disagree with many aspects of his politics, [such as] his tight alliance with the U.S...

"As a stalwart soldier who has openly declared his loyalty to his homeland and his [desire] to die in it, Mubarak should not be deprived of his [right to remain in] his country. Leaving one's homeland is a much crueler [fate] than vacating the [seat of] power. The Egyptian opposition should understand this and not force President Mubarak into exile... [Moreover], an insistence that he depart from the country is likely to trigger a bloodbath whose beginnings we have already witnessed.

"For Egypt's sake, there must be a smooth transfer of power, based on well-defined procedures, until the new generation takes over via democratic elections...We all know that the [global] powers manage to set up leaders and [military] commanders who are outwardly patriotic but are actually collaborators.

"Today, the American administration and other [forces] are trying to manipulate ElBaradei and [various] non-governmental organizations, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, which has often presented itself... as a moderate alternative to the Salafi-jihadi stream, in a bid to rise to power and take over Egypt.

'Adli Sadeq, a PA official and a columnist for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote that, all the criticism notwithstanding, the Egyptian regime was better than the regimes of Syria and other Arab countries. He accused the Muslim Brotherhood of exploiting the revolution to try to take over Egypt, and called upon the Egyptian people to cooperate with 'Omar Suleiman's efforts to stabilize the country:

"Anyone who claims that the Egyptian regime was ideal, advanced, or had a good record [in terms of] implementing social or democratic justice, is either mistaken or arrogant. This notwithstanding, [the Egyptian regime] was better than the Syrian regime, which is gloating over [Mubarak's] misfortune, and other [regimes] of its kind. Egypt at least has journalists like Ibrahim 'Issa and 'Abd Al-Halim Qandil, who specialized in ridiculing the head of the regime and his family. In any case, the uprising of the [Egyptian] youth cut through the regime's stubborn refusal to initiate reforms, and managed to bring about [change], thanks to the martyrs felled by the bullets of the trigger-happy security apparatuses, [whose day] is about to end.

"I wish the thousands killed [by the Syrian regime] in Hamat and Aleppo had softened the stubbornness of [Syrian president Hafez] Assad or aroused pangs of conscience in his son, [Bashar] Assad...

"Now the [Muslim] Brotherhood... is exploiting the revolution and the blood of the youth by riding the wave [of its uprising]..." [8]

Opposition to Mubarak and Support for the Uprising

Al-Ayyam columnist Muhammad Yaghi took a different view, stating that unless the Egyptian protesters managed to remove Mubarak immediately, they would be gradually ground down while and the regime, led by Mubarak's cronies, would remain: "The current struggle in Egypt is not about whether Mubarak will go or stay; it is about the direction to be taken by [Egypt's] future leadership. It is a struggle between the democratic forces that sparked [the protests] in Egypt's streets, who want real democratic change, and those who wish to replace the figurehead [i.e., Mubarak] while leaving his policies intact.

"It does not [really] matter whether [Mubarak] leaves the presidential palace today or in several months' time. In practice, his [rule] is over and his plan to transfer [the presidency] to his son has failed. However, a president does not rule alone. [Mubarak] has associates: army [generals], security [chiefs] and tycoons through which he has ruled [the country] for three decades, and they in turn have their own associates.

"It is this [elite] that is now fighting the Egyptian masses in order to preserve its interests and privileges. They are not fighting for Mubarak, but for the [privilege] of ruling [the country] in the interim stage – and they will not accept the Egyptian people's [decision to] oust them. They want this revolution to die down, and will use any means to achieve this, so they can shape the next stage according to their outlook...

"[However, even though] the President's ousting is of symbolic significance only, it is a symbol that will decide Egypt's fate. If the revolution succeeds in imposing its will and in compelling Mubarak to leave immediately, then this youthful movement will be able to dictate the terms of the next phase and ensure a translation to actual democracy.

"But if it fails, God forbid, the young democratic forces will be ground down, clearing the way for the camels and mules of the regime. This is a crucial juncture in the history of all the Arab peoples. The success of the Egyptian revolution would mean that the Spring of Democracy, which dawned in Tunisia, is spreading and will continue to spread to the other dictatorial regimes in our Arab region.

"The Palestinians are especially close, in heart and mind, to the Egyptians, thanks to the strong emotional and historical ties [between the two peoples], and also because the events [in Egypt] have an impact on [the Palestinians'] affairs and on the form of their struggle with Israel. It can be said, at least, that democratic regimes do not underestimate [the importance of] their sovereignty over their land and do not adopt policies that contravene the interests of their people or offend its sensibilities... That is all the Palestinians want from the Arab regimes: that they listen to their peoples."[9]

Fatah official Hossam Khader expressed hope for "the establishment of a patriotic Arab regime [in Egypt] to replace the [former] collaborating regime that had weakened and divided the Arab ranks and had eliminated Egypt from the conflict [with Israel]." He called on Obama "to send over a cage in which to remove his dogs from Egypt," and on the Egyptians to elect a patriotic leader with an Arab identity who can extract Egypt from the crisis, adding that this would benefit the Palestinian cause. "After Tunisia and Egypt, the Arab region will witness the end of the [other] regimes of oppression, treason and poverty," he said. "The present decade will be the decade of the peoples' liberation from oppression, ignorance and corruption."[10]

Former PA Minister Calls on Palestinians to Emulate Egyptian Uprising

Former PA minister Ziyad Abu Ziyad urged the Palestinians to emulate the Egyptians in their struggle with Israel: "We too can follow the example of the [of the Tunisians and Egyptians], knowing that, [in our case,] there is no schism between the people and the leadership... but only [a schism between ourselves] and the occupation that is oppressing us, carving up our land, building settlements and changing our reality in order to impose a new one, namely a new Andalusia.

"What would happen if tens of thousands of us – nay, hundreds of thousands – marched on the checkpoints and settlements, in perfect discipline and without any violence, calling on the occupation to withdraw? What would happen if tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, marched on Jerusalem and tried to breach the checkpoints, without violence, in order to visit its markets and mosques?"[11]

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