" Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism"
By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
16 September, 2010-09-16
The Obama administration, especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, may be prompted to think that the public relations crusade accompanying the re-launching of "peace" talks between Israel and the Ramallah junta will create a certain momentum that might eventually make peace achievable.
However, I am afraid I have bad news for Mrs. Clinton. PR had been tried ad nauseam in the past and proven utterly insufficient to make peace or even create goodwill for peace, especially on the Israeli side. The phenomenal settlement expansion by Israel throughout the "Oslo years" represented the ultimate antithesis of "the psychology of peace" the US has been trying to foster in the region.
We all remember that in the initial years of the disastrous Oslo era, the (Bill) Clinton administration embarked on a huge PR campaign in the occupied Palestinian territories which sought to communicate to the skeptical Palestinians that their freedom from the Nazi-like Israeli occupation was around the corner and that if only they gave peace a chance, "Palestine" would soon become the Hong Kong or Singapore of the Middle East.
Unfortunately, the gullible amongst us, and they are sadly too many, readily believed the hogwash, and began behaving as if the Palestinian state were an indisputable physical reality, not an illusion, as it really was and still is.
I remember that in the next half of the 1990s, Fatah's operatives in the West Bank began replacing the traditional Muslim greeting of "Assalamu Alaikum" (peace be on you), with "tahiyyat ad-dawla" or (greeting of the state.), which illustrated the absolute certitude of these people about the reality of Palestinian statehood.
Needless to say, this shocking stupidity on the part of a large segment of our people, particularly Fatah, a movement that was supposed to more or less vanguardist or at least have a respectable degree of national consciousness, continued to condemn the Palestinian society to political and ideological disorientation which evolved into a sort of Kafkaesque metamorphosis that eventually brought us to the current state of affair that allowed people like Sa'eb Ureikat to publicly ask for forgiveness from the Israeli public because "we have betrayed you and betrayed your expectations."
It is unlikely that the Americans don't realize the superficiality and public relations nature of their efforts to reach a "deal" by hook or by crook, even if the realization of such a deal meant bullying the vulnerable Ramallah leadership to give up Palestinian national rights and national dignity and give in to Israeli insolence and arrogance of power.
A few days ago, when Abbas, Netanyahu, et al, met in Washington in another PR setting, Hillary Clinton babbled another optimism-inspiring soundbite, saying "this is the time and these are the leaders." Clinton, who arrived from Sharm e-Sheikh where she took an active part in the Netanyahu-Abbas talks, said the US will stand by the two men as they make difficult decisions, and “we will be an active and sustained partner throughout the process.”
”Thankfully,” she added, referring to Israeli President Shimon Peres “we now have with Prime Minister Netanyahu a leader who understands how important it is to move forward, and as he has said, we also have a Palestinian president who shares that determination.”
I don't know if Clinton is incapable of making a distinction between fact and fiction, between truth and imagination.
Her claim that Netanyahu is committed to peace, given the man's ideology and political history, should border on wishful thinking or well within the domain of public relations mendacity. Because, in the final analysis, Netanyahu is an irredeemable, pathological liar whose name must never be used with peace and truth in the same phrase.
The same thing applies even more to Shimon Peres, a certified war criminal and pathological liar who in 1996 ordered the Israeli army to slaughter and maim hundreds of Lebanese women and children in southern Lebanon, and who ever since has not expressed remorse or apology for the massive murderous crime.
Hence, one is really baffled as to how Nazi-like criminals and thugs are suddenly morphed into men of peace. This is just too much for one to digest.
I know that politics has its rules and honesty has its different rules. However, it is equally true that real, authentic, durable and especially just peace can't be based on lies and deception and public relations theatrics.
In the final analysis, we are talking about the historical homeland of one people, which has been arrogated, by way of lies and brute force and conspiracy, by another people. This monumental crime can't be whitewashed, or even liquidated, by broad smiles, public relations and political hucksterism.
I am not suggesting that we Palestinians shun all political efforts to reach a dignified peace agreement with the Zionist regime. Likewise, I am not suggesting that the alternative to peace efforts must be violence and bloodshed. However, the outbreak of violence is always the responsibility of those who insist on conducting a disingenuous "peace process" that is based on deception, lies, and the perpetuation of injustice and oppression.
I say the current process is based on lies and deception because it so manifestly ignores the basic identifying issues of the Palestinians cause, issues such as the right of return for millions of refugees who have been languishing in squalid refugee camps for more than six decades. The incalculable oppression meted out to these miserable people by Israel and the whoring international political system can only be compensated by getting them repatriated back to their original homes and villages from which they were so unjustly uprooted at gunpoint.
Yes, this may be problematic given the realities of today. However, the same realities that enabled millions of Jewish immigrants to come to Israel and live on land that belonged and still belong to another people can still be manipulated to allow for the repatriation of Palestinian refugees.
Moreover, it is obvious that the Palestinian Authority is being squeezed to accept, mostly under duress, a treasonous compromise on occupied East Jerusalem whereby Israel would be allowed to retain the lion's share of the holy city.
Needless to say, such a "compromise," coupled with the attempted liquidation of the right of return, either through proposals for monetary compensation or by allowing the refugees to return to the contemplated deformed state, called "Palestine," would be the last prescription on earth for a just, durable and especially historical resolution of the Palestinian question.
Finally, let it be known to all concerned that a PLO that is willing to liquidate the inalienable right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their usurped homeland and recognize the annexation by Israel of large parts of Jerusalem doesn't and can't represent the Palestinian people.
A PLO as such belongs to the dustbin of history and will meet the same ultimate fate of quisling groups such as the infamous South Lebanese Army, the Village League and other collaborationist entities.
However, I am afraid I have bad news for Mrs. Clinton. PR had been tried ad nauseam in the past and proven utterly insufficient to make peace or even create goodwill for peace, especially on the Israeli side. The phenomenal settlement expansion by Israel throughout the "Oslo years" represented the ultimate antithesis of "the psychology of peace" the US has been trying to foster in the region.
We all remember that in the initial years of the disastrous Oslo era, the (Bill) Clinton administration embarked on a huge PR campaign in the occupied Palestinian territories which sought to communicate to the skeptical Palestinians that their freedom from the Nazi-like Israeli occupation was around the corner and that if only they gave peace a chance, "Palestine" would soon become the Hong Kong or Singapore of the Middle East.
Unfortunately, the gullible amongst us, and they are sadly too many, readily believed the hogwash, and began behaving as if the Palestinian state were an indisputable physical reality, not an illusion, as it really was and still is.
I remember that in the next half of the 1990s, Fatah's operatives in the West Bank began replacing the traditional Muslim greeting of "Assalamu Alaikum" (peace be on you), with "tahiyyat ad-dawla" or (greeting of the state.), which illustrated the absolute certitude of these people about the reality of Palestinian statehood.
Needless to say, this shocking stupidity on the part of a large segment of our people, particularly Fatah, a movement that was supposed to more or less vanguardist or at least have a respectable degree of national consciousness, continued to condemn the Palestinian society to political and ideological disorientation which evolved into a sort of Kafkaesque metamorphosis that eventually brought us to the current state of affair that allowed people like Sa'eb Ureikat to publicly ask for forgiveness from the Israeli public because "we have betrayed you and betrayed your expectations."
It is unlikely that the Americans don't realize the superficiality and public relations nature of their efforts to reach a "deal" by hook or by crook, even if the realization of such a deal meant bullying the vulnerable Ramallah leadership to give up Palestinian national rights and national dignity and give in to Israeli insolence and arrogance of power.
A few days ago, when Abbas, Netanyahu, et al, met in Washington in another PR setting, Hillary Clinton babbled another optimism-inspiring soundbite, saying "this is the time and these are the leaders." Clinton, who arrived from Sharm e-Sheikh where she took an active part in the Netanyahu-Abbas talks, said the US will stand by the two men as they make difficult decisions, and “we will be an active and sustained partner throughout the process.”
”Thankfully,” she added, referring to Israeli President Shimon Peres “we now have with Prime Minister Netanyahu a leader who understands how important it is to move forward, and as he has said, we also have a Palestinian president who shares that determination.”
I don't know if Clinton is incapable of making a distinction between fact and fiction, between truth and imagination.
Her claim that Netanyahu is committed to peace, given the man's ideology and political history, should border on wishful thinking or well within the domain of public relations mendacity. Because, in the final analysis, Netanyahu is an irredeemable, pathological liar whose name must never be used with peace and truth in the same phrase.
The same thing applies even more to Shimon Peres, a certified war criminal and pathological liar who in 1996 ordered the Israeli army to slaughter and maim hundreds of Lebanese women and children in southern Lebanon, and who ever since has not expressed remorse or apology for the massive murderous crime.
Hence, one is really baffled as to how Nazi-like criminals and thugs are suddenly morphed into men of peace. This is just too much for one to digest.
I know that politics has its rules and honesty has its different rules. However, it is equally true that real, authentic, durable and especially just peace can't be based on lies and deception and public relations theatrics.
In the final analysis, we are talking about the historical homeland of one people, which has been arrogated, by way of lies and brute force and conspiracy, by another people. This monumental crime can't be whitewashed, or even liquidated, by broad smiles, public relations and political hucksterism.
I am not suggesting that we Palestinians shun all political efforts to reach a dignified peace agreement with the Zionist regime. Likewise, I am not suggesting that the alternative to peace efforts must be violence and bloodshed. However, the outbreak of violence is always the responsibility of those who insist on conducting a disingenuous "peace process" that is based on deception, lies, and the perpetuation of injustice and oppression.
I say the current process is based on lies and deception because it so manifestly ignores the basic identifying issues of the Palestinians cause, issues such as the right of return for millions of refugees who have been languishing in squalid refugee camps for more than six decades. The incalculable oppression meted out to these miserable people by Israel and the whoring international political system can only be compensated by getting them repatriated back to their original homes and villages from which they were so unjustly uprooted at gunpoint.
Yes, this may be problematic given the realities of today. However, the same realities that enabled millions of Jewish immigrants to come to Israel and live on land that belonged and still belong to another people can still be manipulated to allow for the repatriation of Palestinian refugees.
Moreover, it is obvious that the Palestinian Authority is being squeezed to accept, mostly under duress, a treasonous compromise on occupied East Jerusalem whereby Israel would be allowed to retain the lion's share of the holy city.
Needless to say, such a "compromise," coupled with the attempted liquidation of the right of return, either through proposals for monetary compensation or by allowing the refugees to return to the contemplated deformed state, called "Palestine," would be the last prescription on earth for a just, durable and especially historical resolution of the Palestinian question.
Finally, let it be known to all concerned that a PLO that is willing to liquidate the inalienable right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their usurped homeland and recognize the annexation by Israel of large parts of Jerusalem doesn't and can't represent the Palestinian people.
A PLO as such belongs to the dustbin of history and will meet the same ultimate fate of quisling groups such as the infamous South Lebanese Army, the Village League and other collaborationist entities.
(end)
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