In an op-ed in Berlingske, Hanna Ziadeh slams Palestinian victimization and criticizes the Palestinian strategy towards peace and independence. This is mixing apples and oranges and misunderstood. However, it is good that he brings it up. I will gladly clarify.
To comment on the views presented by Hanna Ziadeh I have to make one clear distinction.
On the one hand you have the Palestinian claim for an independent state on the borders of 1967 and the road to peace, which is currently being undermined by discriminatory settlement policies spearheaded by an extreme right-wing government in Israel.
On the other you have the Palestinian claim for human- and civil rights while under occupation and while the internationally recognized two-state solution is being realized.
When Palestinians celebrate the decision made by the International Criminal Court to deal with potential war crimes committed by Israel in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, we deal with the latter. This is not about the Palestinian aspirations for statehood and peace negotiations. This merely states that the atrocities that Palestinians have had to endure while under occupation are being acknowledged.
The road to peace
In relation to the former, Hanna Ziadeh argues that the change in US leadership and its return to a value based foreign policy with a focus on democracy and human rights will harm the Palestinians. This is because it encourages a continuation of an old and failed Palestinian strategy; “a strategy that aims to translate rhetorical international sympathy and diplomatic pressure into political facts in the negotiations with Israel.” That is how he puts it.
It is a vast simplification to state that the Palestinian strategy merely relies on “rhetorical international sympathy and diplomatic pressure”. You neglect the Palestinian objective of national political unity, which is essential. The political realities are not solely defined by external actors.
And the concluding piece of advice from Hanna Ziadeh is that the Palestinians should fight Hamas and ally with moderate peace-seeking Israeli powers in order to convince Israel that the conflict is behind us.
Regarding Hamas, legitimacy and credibility of the elected leaders at all levels are essential. That is democracy in its essence, which includes Hamas as an integral part of the Palestinian social fabric. However, we require a consensual approach for peace and Hamas accepted to be part of the electoral process.
He is right in one aspect; that Israel needs to realise and be convinced that the occupation and a further protracted conflict are in no one’s interest. But you cannot achieve peace by only convincing the marginalized in Israeli society.
Palestinians have for decades been working with what you call ‘the moderate peace- seeking powers’ in Israel. This is clearly evident from collaboration with a long list of Israeli ngo’s working for peace as well as from the political engagement with the labour party and Meretz in Israel. But for now those segments in Israeli society are deprived of a voice and power to negotiate and alter Israeli policy.
Palestinians cannot accept a political reality as suggested by current Prime Minister Netanyahu and the political far-right, which does not present a reality with a viable Palestinian state, nor does it grant Palestinians the most basic rights.
So while Palestinians should engage with the “moderate peace-seeking Israeli powers” and clearly do so, it is imperative that Israeli leadership is convinced that continued occupation and undermining of the two-state solution is not a viable road for peace.
But Hanna Ziadeh, it is a shared responsibility and to achieve peace and resolving the conflict both parties in power need to be willing and compromise. Sadly, this is not the case at this moment in time, which the Trumps peace plan, the deal of the century, clearly illustrates.
With the potential for new brokership from the Biden administration and the prospect of elections in both Israel and Palestine, we are at a crossroads of opportunity that relies on three elements; the continued democratic process in Palestine and the derived unity and legitimacy of the Palestinian leadership, the removal of a corrupt and criminal leader in Israel, and potential for new brokership from Biden and the US.
People in the fringes of power will not solve this conflict. We need all central figures to work with the same objective. Peace.
