Amira Hass :Jewish terror attacks tighten the noose around the Palestinian Authority
During
the first intifada, settlers didn't dare enter the village of Duma, the
site of last weekend's deadly arson attack. But for two decades the
locals have been ...
HAARETZ.COM|Di Amira Hass
Palestinian members of the National Security Forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas take part in a training session in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, March 29, 2012.AP
Ya'alon backs harsh measures against rightists suspected of attacking Palestinians
Netanyahu: Israel condemns murderers, while its neighbors name squares for them
A lethal product of Israel's settlements
In the hours after the murder in Duma and during the funeral of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh, the shocked residents of the village were divided into two camps: those disgusted by the appearance of members of the Palestinian security forces, armed and in uniform, and those who pitied them.
With their shiny vehicles, they couldn’t travel on Allon Road and enter the village (which is in Area B, under full Israeli security control) without coordinating with the Israel Defense Forces.
The Palestinian security forces deployed around the mosque during the prayers, in which Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah took part, before the small burned body was buried. According to his uncle Nasser, the fire consumed Ali’s hand and foot.
The exceptional presence of the Palestinian security troops, just a few hours after the fatal arson, made the absence of any protection only 10 hours earlier stand out. Their brief appearance highlighted the ease with which the murderers didn’t suffice with a house on the margins of the village; they dared enter the neighborhood. The troops armed and polished presence only illustrated the Palestinian Authority’s pathological weakness.
According to international law, the IDF is responsible for the security of the Palestinians in the entire occupied territory; according to the Oslo Accords it is responsible for their security in at least areas B and C. But its declared mission, and indeed the practice, is to protect the security of the settlers and the settlement enterprise.
According to the agreements the PA has signed, its apparatus is forbidden to operate in areas B and C and to protect its own people. If private citizens dare own arms for self-defense against Israeli attackers and use them, the IDF and Shin Bet security service will arrest them.
About the small group of young people who came to the funeral with green Hamas flags, someone remarked cynically: “Tomorrow they’ll be in the Authority’s prisons.” Another said: “During the first intifada not a single settler dared enter the village. Since our Palestinian Authority was established, we have been exposed and unprotected.”
As a third person put it, the security forces “came to protect PM Hamdallah, not us.” He added: “They receive their orders from Israel.”
These are the reasons the PA’s opponents felt disgusted that day by the PA security personnel, and those who do not oppose the PA pitied them, assuming they themselves were embarrassed by their powerlessness.
After all, a few dozen residents of this village work in the security forces. But they’re not allowed to defend their own homes.
Duma is a bit distant from the violent outposts of the “Shiloh Valley,” which for the past 15 years — and even before that — have made the lives of villages such as Mughayer, Jalud, Kusra and Krayut a nightmare. With the aid of IDF rifles they expel people from their land. Three years ago unidentified assailants torched cars in Duma and left a messages in Hebrew, local people said.
“But we are a quiet village, we don’t cause any problems,” a few people said. Many work in the settlements — Sa’ad Dawabsheh, Ali’s father, who was critically burned in the arson, worked in Nofim. Others work in the settlement of Shiloh. Making a living is like personal security: The PA cannot supply it.
Covering up for the PA’s inherent inability to protect its people from Israeli attacks of every type — the army’s and the settlers’ hurting of people and damaging of crops — a few Fatah people made pretentious declarations in front of the Dawabsheh’s home and on the way to the funeral.
“All of us in the end are muqawama [the resistance],” someone said. Another spoke about the need for neighborhood watches at night, which Fatah has been talking about for three or four years at least.
The command positions in the security forces are filled by Fatah members. The arson attack on the Dawabsheh family exposes Fatah, the de facto ruling party, in all its weaknesses. The IDF and Shin Bet praise the PA’s security forces for helping prevent terror attacks on Israelis, but the PA isn’t allowed to prevent terror attacks on its own people. And the forces hide in their homes and offices when IDF forces invade Area A, where the PA has policing authority.
Thus, even if the PA could have proved that the Hamas members arrested recently meant to carry out armed attacks against Israelis, and that these were against the good of the Palestinian public, it was on a defensive position.
The PA is faithful to the instructions of the Oslo Accords (whose validity was to expire in 1999) and to their economic, security and territorial restrictions, while it believes that the unceasing expansion of the settlements is a gross violation of these same agreements.
Every Jewish terror attack (including attacks on farmers and the fruit of their labor) tightens the noose of anger and embarrassment around the PA’s neck. It’s impossible to predict when and how, but at some stage this anger and embarrassment will have implications in internal Palestinian politics.
The Israeli regime is showing sudden and self-righteous shock over a murder it encouraged by not preventing previous terror attacks and punishing the attackers. This signals how strongly Israel wants the PA to remain as it is.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/beta/.premium-1.669243?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook
Commenti
Posta un commento