Mirror of the Palestinian conflict and dilemma

The crisis gripping Israel and the conflict between factions within its political system over the so-called "identity and democratic character of the state" have reached a stage where they may spiral out of control, potentially sliding into civil war, as warned by former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak. The Tel Aviv government, led by Netanyahu, believes it is on the verge of realizing the Zionist dream of resolving what it sees as an existential conflict by liquidating the Palestinian issue. It sees an opportunity to extend not only its sovereignty over the West Bank and ethnically cleanse the people of Gaza and the West Bank, but also to extend its laws throughout Israel's entire political system. Both are two sides of the same coin toward the establishment of Greater Israel, not only across all of historic Palestine but also by subjugating the entire region.

The racist drive to complete the comprehensive ethnic cleansing that the Zionist movement failed to achieve during the 1948 Nakba is escalating significantly after the extreme right succeeded in destroying the peace process, especially after it succeeded in assassinating Rabin. This move was intended to put an end to the fundamental questions in that process, which even Rabin and his government did not dare to answer, and which relate to the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on the land occupied since June 1967.

The dilemma, and perhaps the intractability, of the Israeli regime's crisis lies in the racist nature of Zionist thought, whereby there is a national consensus to reject the national rights of the Palestinian people, and the illusion of the possibility of building and preserving a democratic system on racist foundations, in accordance with the law of nationhood. This illusion is fueled by the weakness of the Palestinian national movement, which has almost completely disappeared. This would enable the resolution of the conflict and the forced departure of the Palestinians, a matter that has always constituted the cornerstone of the Zionist project since the establishment of the state on the ruins of the Palestinian people and their national rights. This does not exclude the view of some of its "moderate" trends, which have not viewed the settlement as anything more than an effort to address the Palestinian demographic threat to the future of Israel.

This confirms that this crisis, and the so-called struggle over the identity of the state, will continue to revolve in a vicious circle, most likely in favor of neo-fascism, unless the other trends in this conflict resolve their position on the issue of occupation, recognize the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and engage in a dual process whose essence is to end the occupation and eliminate the racist character of the state. This will open the door to a historic solution to this chronic conflict, whether within the framework of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty within the 1967 borders, or a democratic state that rejects racial discrimination on any basis.

In contrast, while Israel possesses the tools of the democratic game and the ability to appeal to public opinion, which can limit the slide toward threatening the state's survival—foremost among these tools are periodic elections and adherence to their results—the Palestinian situation is experiencing an unprecedented state of disintegration, which only increases the appetite of the rising fascist right to pursue its plans, feeding off this eroding reality. Since the first intifada, with its deeply democratic, popular character, succeeded in creating a rift within Israeli society over the cost of continuing the occupation and control over the Palestinian people, raising questions about the extent of Israel's democracy and its concept of freedom, at a time when the overwhelming majority of its society is engaged in confiscating and abusing the freedom of another people. Since then, Israel has employed all its capabilities to contain this transformation, rather than drawing lessons from it by freeing both peoples from the burden of occupation.

In this context, despite the clear failure of the settlement and Israel's true objectives, which were limited to containing the achievements of the Intifada, the PLO continued to refuse to conduct a review capable of mobilizing all Palestinian energies and unifying them within the framework of comprehensive national institutions. It persisted in its approach of appeasement and offering gratuitous concessions, without paying attention to building institutions capable of meeting the needs of the people and strengthening their resilience. The division came as a tragic consequence of the absence of a working strategy based on common denominators and the requirements of carefully linking the tasks of national liberation with those of democratic construction. All of this flowed into the course of Israel's strategy to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, whether by isolating Gaza from the national entity at one time, or by attempting to exterminate its people and destroy the elements of life within it in preparation for their displacement, as is happening today at other times.

Over the past years of division, abundant waters have flowed in the river and precious blood has flowed. After all attempts to mend the rift failed, and after the subsequent plans of liquidation and continuous genocide, the political forces succeeded in crystallizing what became known as the Beijing Declaration, which was and still is the cornerstone for getting out of the bottleneck, and putting an end to the failure of the bet on the settlement path on the one hand, and the exorbitant and unbearable cost resulting from the exaggeration in some forms of military action on the other hand.

We are in a historic dilemma, while genocide and annexation plans continue unabated. Resolving this dilemma and confronting its dangers will not be achieved by continuing to chase the illusion and mirage of a settlement that lacks the minimum conditions for achieving its goals, nor by waiting for Israeli society to spontaneously collapse as a result of its historic crisis. The overriding priority is rebuilding and renewing the blood of the Palestinian national movement and its political system without monopoly, exclusion, or isolation. Control of the national destiny is not private property, and there is no alternative to unity and consensual democracy until comprehensive general elections are held.

The question posed to the Palestinian people, with all their political and social forces, and the various popular initiatives and movements that are still vibrant, and in light of the continued turning away from the national consensus, is: What is the responsibility of each one of us to close ranks in a broad national front that imposes a national and popular consensus to implement the Beijing Agreement, taking into consideration that success in this major national mission requires examining the reasons for the failure or faltering of most of the initiatives that attempted to undertake this historic mission to restore the role and status of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the broad national front that includes all political and social forces and national figures, and protects intellectual endeavors and political pluralism, so that it can actually be the sole legitimate representative of our people and the leader of their national and democratic struggle, and a national reference for a transitional unity government whose basic work program is to ensure the cessation of the war and the prevention of displacement, and whose first slogan is that survival is resistance.