On 15 November, the Palestinian Authority (PA) closed its official departments, closed colleges and universities as is common yearly, to have a good time the Independence of the State of Palestine, which sparked criticism. This depressing independence, during which the Head of State—and I imply Mahmoud Abbas, specifically—doesn’t transfer one step with out the approval of the occupation, and during which this State can not fly its flag over its capital, occupied Jerusalem!
Right here, on this event, it’s mandatory to say factors that some overlook:
Searching for to liberate Palestine and declaring it as a State is the obligation of each free and honourable particular person, however this doesn’t come via an administration with powers lower than self-governance, over geographically dispersed areas that don’t exceed a fifth of the land of historic Palestine.
Occupied Jerusalem, which President Mahmoud Abbas talks about on varied events because the everlasting capital of the State of Palestine—and there will be no elections with out it, and it’s not the entire of Jerusalem, however slightly the japanese a part of it.
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The PA, headed by Abbas, doesn’t play any function in resisting the occupation inside the means permitted by worldwide conventions, though it is ready to obtain higher good points within the interim if it permits the resistance factions to pay the entity the worth of the occupation and never supply it free of charge and inside the undertaking, which is internationally permitted in line with charters and customs.
The PA is glad with a fictitious propaganda function on the difficulty of authorized prosecution of the occupation. In observe, what it presents is totally zero. You’ll be able to think about, pricey reader, to show this: the Authority didn’t launch the possession paperwork of the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood homes, regardless of the Jordanian authorities claiming that they have been handed over to Ramallah.
An instance of that is additionally leaving the undertaking of Mounib Al-Masry, and people with him, with out monetary assist, within the case of suing Britain over the Balfour Declaration, whereas Al-Masry seeks to ascertain a fund to gather donations for this function. There’s rather more in regards to the Authority’s failure to behave earlier than the Worldwide Prison Courtroom and its failure to prosecute outstanding battle criminals of the occupation.
Within the unbiased State of Palestine, a land that’s not geographically linked, with out a military or borders—aside from Gaza—and leaders transfer round with VIP playing cards granted to them by the occupation, which they’re blackmailed for, morning and night. We’ve got seen the humiliating means during which Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, was handled at one of many safety checkpoints a short while in the past.
Within the unbiased State of Palestine, a President whose time period expired in 2001 has suspended an elected legislature, though the PA legislation stipulates that he solely stays an energetic member till the election of a brand new legislative meeting.
Within the State of Palestine, which celebrated its independence a couple of days in the past, detainees whose crime was that they resisted the occupation, and the want of certainly one of them, when he was arrested, was to go to the prisons of the entity, as it’s extra merciful to him than the horrors of torture within the prisons of the PA.
Along with the households of prisoners in Gaza, whose salaries have been withheld from them, and a complete metropolis known as Gaza, the Authority receives full taxes on the products that enter it via the occupation crossings, however with out giving any of it to Gaza, beneath the pretext of the persevering with division.
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Within the State of Palestine there are tens of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees overseas, whose State doesn’t recognise them and doesn’t defend their proper to return. Quite, the place of the Head of the Palestinian Authority, the “Head of State,” was inappropriate when he introduced his renunciation of his proper to return to his authentic city of Safad, in northern Palestine.
The examples on this context are virtually limitless, however the conclusion is that the Declaration of Independence could also be understood in its time to remind the world of the query of Palestine and the precise of its folks to an unbiased State, on its soil and beneath its flag.
Nonetheless, what we at present see is an annual exaggeration within the simulated celebration and the promoting of an phantasm to the Palestinian folks—a severely criticised concern that ought to cease.
The Palestinians inside and out of doors the nation needs to be reminded of their trigger and the significance of their efforts to completely liberate their land for full and undiminished sovereignty, and that tomorrow is close to.
This weblog first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 17 November 2021
The views expressed on this article belong to the creator and don’t essentially mirror the editorial coverage of Center East Monitor.
