Azmi Bishara: The national interest of every Arab country requires supporting the Palestinians today

The Director General of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Dr. Azmi Bishara, ruled out the realization of any scenario of displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank as long as there is a serious rejectionist position from Egypt and Jordan. 

While Bishara considered, during his fourth interview with Al-Arabi TV from the city of Lusail in the State of Qatar, that the resistance had only involved ten percent of its capabilities so far in the fighting, he saw, on the other hand, that the national security of every Arab country requires regimes to take action as it is the correct position today towards Israel and alongside the Palestinians. He expressed his belief that Egypt is not exploiting its influence to break the siege of Gaza, and on another level, he revealed new details related to prisoner exchange negotiations between the resistance and the occupation.

Azmi Bishara: If this lack of Arab position continues, after the end of the war, Israel will feel that it is not obligated to provide anything to the Arabs

Resistance performance

Arab thinker Azmi Bishara said that a small part, perhaps not more than ten percent, of the capabilities of the Palestinian resistance has been involved in the fighting so far, expecting that the ferocity of this resistance will increase when the occupation dares to go down to where it is, that is, “underground” in the tunnels. He believed that Israel's emptying of areas and facilities of their population would backfire, because that would increase the ferocity of the resistance's actions, because "after Israel finishes the easy task, i.e. killing civilians, they begin to face fierce resistance," as happened recently in Al-Rantisi Hospital and major places in northern Gaza that were emptied of its population and resistance activities are currently concentrated there. 

Bishara reiterated his conviction that the Israeli ability to bear losses is not unlimited, but they are able to bear more yet as long as the internal consensus on war still exists and as long as American support is still available. He compared their ability to bear losses between the Gaza Strip and the 2006 Lebanon War. In this country, the ability to bear losses is “limited because there is no Israeli consensus on occupying Lebanon, unlike the case of Gaza.” The resistance’s media performance received a large portion of Bishara’s remarks, who stressed that “people today are more inclined to believe the resistance’s narrative, so they must narrate it in more detail.”

Among what must be dissected, according to the director of the Arab Center, is what happened in detail on the seventh of last October, in reference to the military operation in the settlements. Bishara added, “Given the magnitude of what happened from that day until now, returning to the events of October 7 may seem detailed and perhaps inappropriate, but Israel itself publishing some of what happened on that day provides an appropriate timing for the resistance to present its account” of those events, referring to Until the Hebrew media revealed the number of Israelis who were mistakenly killed by occupation soldiers and were counted among those killed by Palestinians on that “Black Saturday,” according to the Israeli narrative. 

In a context related to the same idea, Bishara explained that some international media organizations are currently trying to save face, such as the BBC and CNN, to correct their promotion of Israeli lies, stressing that “this is a media battle that must be fought relentlessly for the truth.” and expose the lies.

Azmi Bishara: The Palestinian resistance has involved 10% of its capabilities in fighting so far

In response to a question about the Hebrew state not learning from the lessons of history to realize the futility of pressuring the popular environment to abandon resistance, Bishara pointed out that settler colonialism produces concepts similar to the logic of the rulers of Israel that the Palestinians are “human animals,” and this logic “prevents them from thinking rationally.” To realize that the political solution is the only solution with the Palestinians, the true owners of the land.” He pointed out that if they conclude peace with Israel, they will be the ones who made the concession, not Israel. In this context, he concluded, "This Palestinian resistance, which they want to eliminate and do not dare to go underground, would be crazy if they later refused to engage in political dialogue with it."

Azmi Bishara: The Israeli leadership has abandoned those with dual nationalities, and Hamas releases them on its own initiative

Prisoner deal

Bishara stopped at some of the details of the prisoner exchange negotiations between the resistance and the occupation, with Qatari mediation. He first ruled out the existence of the many disagreements that are sometimes reported between Israeli officials in everything related to the war, because the generals draw up the war plan and they go through it and agree on it, which applies to the negotiations. "Prisoners' Deal" They also all agree that the best way to liberate Israeli prisoners and hostages is additional military pressure on Hamas, which he described as "primitive tribal retaliatory destruction" of Palestinian society in order for this to put pressure on Hamas, and this is one of the definitions of terrorism. On this issue, he revealed that the generals still reject the number of days of ceasefire demanded by Hamas, and they still do not believe that Hamas knows where only fifty Israeli civilians are being held in the Gaza Strip. He expressed his hope and expectation that this deal would end “today or tomorrow.” Bishara also revealed that the Israelis abandoned those with dual nationalities and explained that “Hamas” releases these people “on its own initiative.” 

Much evidence led the Arab thinker to reaffirm that the Israeli prisoners “are not a priority for the Netanyahu government,” including that “Hamas” has repeatedly warned them that some of these prisoners will die. Bishara reminded that the failure of Israeli prisoners to give priority to Tel Aviv governments “is not a new matter, and history provides us with many examples of this.” He concluded his response to a question related to the exchange deal negotiations by saying that what is currently being proposed is that “Hamas” is aware of the whereabouts of fifty prisoners and hostages in Gaza, and is offering a ceasefire for a sufficient number of days to gather them in one place and secure their transfer to hand them over to the Israeli authorities in exchange for the release of captive Palestinian children and women. In exchange for the entry of sufficient aid, which exceeds 150 fuel and gas trucks, sufficient to operate vital sectors, “the decision is in the Israeli court to reject or approve it.”

Azmi Bishara: Egypt does not exploit its influence to break the siege of Gaza

Displacement is unlikely

Regarding what is said about the displacement plans, starting from the people of Gaza and ending with the West Bank, Bishara described this possibility as “difficult” because it “will not happen without the region allowing it, mainly Egypt and later Jordan,” even if he does not diminish the danger of what he is thinking about. Some Israelis are obsessed with reducing the population of Gaza. But it is likely that the real goal behind the extreme Israeli crime is to restore the prestige of deterrence that they lost on October 7 and to eliminate Hamas, not displacement. Israeli society, in Bishara’s words, “acts during crises like a tribe that unites in a primitive form of revenge in order to teach the other party a lesson.” . Regarding what is happening in the West Bank with the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, Bishara explained that the settlers there are trying to exploit what is happening in Gaza to blackmail residents who covet their agricultural lands and to displace them, “and this has drawn the world’s attention.” But he asserted that "the displacement of the people of the West Bank to Jordan is a difficult issue, and the Arabs, Egypt and Jordan, can thwart the displacement plans."

Azmi Bishara: The displacement of the people of Gaza and the West Bank will not happen without Egypt and Jordan allowing it

Egypt and breaking the siege

Moving on to his assessment of the Egyptian behavior towards the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, Bishara summarized the situation by saying: “As long as a large country like Egypt waits for permission from the other party to bring in or take out wounded and aid, it is not exploiting all of its influence as the largest Arab country is expected to "Do more than today." In this context, he recalled that “no one in Gaza wants any problem with Egypt, their only Arab neighbor.” Among Egypt’s strengths, in Bishara’s opinion, is that “both Israel and America need it and will not open a war against it” if it decides to bring in the trucks by its own sovereign decision, without forgetting that Egypt is supported by a pledge from 58 countries (Arab and Muslim), in reference to the decisions of the 11 summit of  joint Arab-Islamic conference in Riyadh. This is on the humanitarian side, but politically, Bishara repeated what he had previously said in his previous interviews with Al-Arabi TV, that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip requires an Arab position that includes steps that Israel takes seriously, such as severing relations and other strategic matters.”

In exchange for what is required in the Arab world, Bishara stopped at the fact that some Arab countries prevent the raising of the Palestinian flag, which does not even happen in Israel, and prevent any demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinians. While he reviewed the justification of some Arab countries regarding taking a negative position towards the Palestinian issue, that it is related to relations with America and the unwillingness to quarrel with the Western position, Bishara warned that “what the Arab rulers must understand is that their interest and the interest of the national security of their countries require them to take position against Israel.” 

Azmi Bishara: People today are more inclined to believe the narrative of the resistance, so they must tell it in more detail

America and the renewed Palestinian Authority

In his fourth interview with Al-Arabi TV since the start of the aggression on Gaza, Bishara insisted that there is no serious dispute between America and Israel so far. He acknowledged the existence of what he called “detailed differences,” such as the extent to which Israel could reach in its war, but he described all of this as “requests and wishes without condemnation or position,” as evidenced by what was stated in an article by US President Joe Biden in the Washington Post newspaper a few days ago. He described the American talk about “renewing the Palestinian leadership” to rule Gaza one day as falling within the framework of “promising something new,” as if the problem in Palestine lay in changing the leadership in the West Bank and not the occupation, aggression, and settlement. Bishara mocked the fact that Biden and Israel see that President Mahmoud Abbas is extremist on some positions (the borders of June 4 and Jerusalem) and want him to make more concessions. He warned that Biden is talking about the two-state solution “in the context of personal opinion” and not as a binding American policy, so “all the chatter today about the two-state solution is selling cheap talk because the topic today is nothing other than stopping the war on Gaza,” in the words of Arab thinker Azmi Bishara. 

He noted that “even this non-binding statement is not approved by Israel because it would prefer to have a militia ruling the Gaza Strip instead of having a single authority ruling the West Bank and Gaza.” Bishara pointed out, "If this Arab lack of position regarding what is happening continues, after the end of the war, Israel will feel that it is not obligated to provide anything at all to the Arabs." 

In Bishara’s opinion, the behavior of the Palestinian Authority makes it appear as if it is its own enemy, even though it knows the extent of the Israeli conspiracy against it and that its turn is coming. In this context, Bishara asked: “Is it reasonable that the first contact the authority makes with the Hamas movement takes place 40 days after the start of the aggression?” Bishara listed examples of what he called the poor positions of the authority, including the fact that its representatives and institutions have not yet gone to the Rafah crossing as part of pressure to open it.

Azmi Bishara: Biden talks about the two-state solution within the framework of personal opinion and not as a serious policy

Hospital syndrome

On the 44th day of the aggression, Bishara concluded that the occupation had what could be called the “hospital syndrome” in bombing them and killing patients until they were evacuated, and this is unprecedented in the brutality of targeting hospitals. He repeated his reminder of the severity of the Israeli lies that were exposed regarding tunnels and military equipment in hospitals, but added that “even if there were fighters in the hospitals, which has not been proven true, it is forbidden to bomb hospitals.” He concluded by saying that the scandal of targeting health facilities is “a scandal committed by the international community, not just Israel.” 

In conclusion, Bishara remained adamant that “as long as there is an American green light and an Israeli consensus on war and the absence of any serious Arab steps, we must expect the worst.”

Source: Al Araby Aljadeed