The dichotomy of Palestine: Diplomacy or Resistance?
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Ali Halawi
- 1 Apr 2023 23:54
- 9 Shares
8 Min Read
As the futility of diplomatic processes become more evident, the victories and evolution of Resistance pose material challenges to the occupation.
Seif Al-Quds: Embodiment of the historical path to freedom
The battle of Seif Al Quds marked, for the first time, the unification of the colonially divided Palestinian people. As missiles launched from Gaza infiltrated the supposedly impenetrable “Iron Dome'', halting “Israeli civil” activity throughout occupied Palestine, Resistance fighters of the West Bank scorched fear into the hearts of settlers. Strikingly, this historical moment of Palestinian Resistance encompassed those who live under the complete authority of the Zionist entity in the ethnically cleansed lands of 1948.
In the events of May 2021, the diplomatic route for a peaceful solution in Palestine was wiped out of popular thought. Since the first Oslo agreement in 1991, occupied Palestine has witnessed radical events and transformations that opposed the “Peace Process” and promoted the popular conviction among Palestinians of armed Resistance. Events such as the expulsion of the Zionist forces from Gaza, the second Intifada, and the recent establishment of regenerative armed Resistance groups in the West Bank all culminated to reinforce the recognition of armed Resistance as the main driver of the liberation of the Palestinian people through which they can claim their economic, cultural, and political rights.
The blocked routes of diplomacy
The Palestinian Authority (PA) was molded by the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Its responsibilities were drawn out through a controversial negotiation process between the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat and “Israel’s” Yitzhak Rabin. Through these talks, the PLO was able to establish the seedlings of a Palestinian state. However, its functions were extremely limited by the Zionist authority. On paper, the PA was given full control over “Area C” of the West Bank. In reality, “Area C” has been subject to constant breaches by the occupation forces, including the besiegement of the Presidential compound in 2002 where Arafat provided a haven to fighters and leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, including the Palestinian detainee Ahmad Saadat.
The PA has been successful in promoting the legal right of the Palestinian people to a nation-state through international institutions. On November 29, 2012, Palestine was granted non-member observer State status in the UN. The UNGA declared 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. However, international action and decisions have never yielded the necessary protective and legal frameworks intended. In fact, the Zionist entity continues to entrench its parasitic roots into internationally recognized Palestinian land.
More recently, the PA, represented by Mahmoud Abbas, took part in two successive summits with representatives of the occupation’s security apparatus. The summits of Aqaba and Sharm El-Sheikh were pushed for by the US and held under Jordanian and Egyptian guardianship. This came in an attempt to re-establish security collaboration between the PA and the occupation in areas “B” and “C” of the West Bank. Earlier this year, the PA halted all collaboration efforts with the Israelis due to the intensification of unilateral decision-making of the Netanyahu government. The PA through the summits hoped to mark a victory by terminating the unilateral decisions of the occupation government, which legislated the establishment of 6 new settlements in the West Bank.
The Israeli delegation promised just that. However, as has been historically the case, the government proceeded to act upon the expansionary nature of Zionism, backstabbing those who express enough naivety to trust its promises. Inversely, the Israeli delegation pushed for the re-establishment of collaborative efforts in an attempt to contain popular Resistance in the West Bank, especially during the month of Ramadan.
The inevitability of Resistance in the West Bank
As the futility of diplomatic processes become more evident, the victories and evolution of Resistance pose material challenges to the occupation. A resurgence of armed struggle in cities of the West Bank took prevalence in the Palestinian arena. Palestine’s version of grassroots movements among the Palestinian cities and camps began to surface. Most notably, brigades of the Islamic Jihad Movement of Palestine (PIJ) popped up across multiple cities in the West Bank.
The Jenin Brigade was the first to announce its activities in the West Bank. Akram Al Ajouri of the PIJ stated that “what happened now in Jenin is a natural buildup of the history of the city and its refugee camp… It shows the heroic people, their courage, and social harmony. Every single home in Jenin has a martyred or detained family member.”
Al Ajouri also highlighted the historical accumulation of suffering and violence that the people of Jenin have been subjected to by Zionism. The Jenin camp was established after the 1948 Nakba, to host those who were forced out of their homes in what today is falsely named “Israel”. In 2002 the Jenin camp was invaded by Occupation forces, who bulldozed the camp in an attempt to crush the wave of resistance experienced in the West Bank’s second Intifada. 19 years later, Martyr Jamil Al-Amouri, a resident of the Jenin Camp, laid the foundations for an organized resistance group within the camp. Both Israeli and Palestinian security establishments feared the spread of this phenomenon across the West Bank.
All attempts to contain the rapidly growing organizations ended in failure. Collaborative operations to assassinate leaders of Resistance groups, financial incentives, and promises of conscription in the Palestinian security forces could not stagger the inevitability of liberation and freedom. The PIJ established brigades in Nablus, Jaba', Tubas, and Tulkarm soon after. While in Nablus, a non-partisan coalition of freedom fighters came into place taking social media platforms by storm under the name “The Lion’s Den”.
Additionally, on March 25, PFLP fighters targeted the Huwara checkpoint injuring two Israeli soldiers and returning safely from the operation. The Huwara checkpoint was only recently targeted by Qassam and PIJ fighters on separate occasions, which exposed the fragility of the occupation’s security measures.
Notably, the armed branch of Fatah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, played a prominent role in the past two years. "Israel" fears cooperation between members of the brigade with members of the PIJ. It also targeted and assassinated visionaries of Resistance in Nablus such as Ibrahim Nabulsi on August 9, 2022.
A left out PA
In this context, the PA has attempted to halt the progression of the Resistance in the West Bank. Its control of Palestinian society and narratives has plunged to obsoleteness, while the glories of the Resistance further accumulate. The PA has arrested and assassinated members of the Resistance and its promoters, namely Nizar Banat, who was brutally murdered by security forces on June 24, 2021. It was also complicit in the assassination of Jamil Al-Amouri in Jenin.
Furthermore, the PA arrested Musaab Shtayyeh, a member of the Lion’s Den, under the pretext of protecting him. It has also offered financial compensation for resistance fighters in return for them surrendering their national cause.
Various Resistance factions demanded that the PA release prisoners held based on their Jihadi portfolios. However, none have called for armed conflict with the PA to avoid a chasm in the present national unity experienced in Palestinian society. In various statements, leaders of the PIJ and the Lion’s Den have called for a change in the failing practices of the PA. The PA has been urged to realize the recent surfacing of intense contradictions within Israeli politics alongside the general marginalization of the Israeli government by its Arab and Western allies. However, the PA remains unfazed and stagnant, unable to develop and accommodate the materialization of contradictions in colonial Palestine.
Palestinian existence necessitates Resistance
The historical conduct of the Zionist entity shows no real will for peace in the region. “Israel” has acted treacherously and coercively with the indigenous societies of the Levant. Betrayal of agreements and crossing of all red lines have been common practices of the Israeli strategy. The entity seeks to further subjugate a Palestinian working class to serve its expansionary accumulation of wealth through neo-colonial methods. The popular Palestinian opinion has assumed this practice (through varying ideological schools) as essential to the existence of the settler colonial entity. Palestinian reacted in defiance and revolt. Whether through strikes, boycotts, slinging stones, Feda'i operations, or organized Resistance activity, the oppressed have chosen the inevitable path of armed Resistance in the face of a well-equipped murderous machine, achieving yet again the triumph of resistance over diplomacy in the face of the expansionary, fascist, and colonial project of “Israel”.
