The atmosphere of the region and the Abbas-Gantz meeting

Written by: Ziyad Abu Ziyad

First of all, let us work together so that the next Eid comes and we are in a better condition. Let us work for a day when the prisoners are liberated, the wounds are healed, and the aggression against the lives, property and sanctities of our people is stopped. Then one can say without shame or embarrassment: Happy New Year!

The meeting that took place the day before yesterday between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Minister of War Benny Gantz came within less than forty-eight hours of the meeting that took place under the auspices of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and brought together President Abbas and brother Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas in Algeria.

The timing of the meeting between President Abbas and Benny Gantz raises speculation. In addition to the Abbas-Haniyeh meeting, it comes against the background of a systematic Israeli policy that opposes any rapprochement or reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, so that Israel continues to play the card that there is no legitimate representative of the Palestinians that enjoys the approval of all Palestinians, and against the background of Israel's continued rejection. Holding Palestinian elections and disrupting them by various means so that they can continue to claim that the Palestinian leadership is illegitimate, unelected and corrupt, and against the background of some leaks about reviving contacts regarding a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that will raise the level of Hamas’s popularity in the Palestinian street, and against the backdrop of preparations for the president’s visit American Joe Biden next Wednesday and the expected meetings between him and both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and Israel’s attempt to give the impression that it is taking steps to facilitate the lives of the Palestinians within the framework of the plan put forward by former US President Donald Trump called the Deal of the Century, which Biden rejected publicly, but his administration adopts and implements it under the name Another is shrinking the conflict, or what Netanyahu called at the time peace An economist who completely ignores the political dimension of the struggle against settlements and occupation and ignores the national aspirations of the Palestinian people.

The picture is very ambiguous and leaves ample space for speculation, whether in the direction of skepticism, planting seeds of internal strife, or selling false illusions.

As I recount the atmosphere and circumstances under which the Abbas-Gantz meeting took place without offering a specific conclusion, leaving it up to the astute reader to draw whatever he wants from it. I will suffice with saying that nothing changed the day after the Abbas-Gantz meeting.

Nothing has changed or new under the sun. The settlers and extremists’ incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque in these blessed days have intensified, and their prayers in its courtyards under police guard have become a matter that is repeated every day, and the demolition of homes and the displacement of Palestinians from their homes and lands on a daily basis is still happening with intensity at the hands of the Israeli military forces that receive their orders from Gantz himself, who met Abu Mazen, and settler attacks against our people and their property under the protection of the army, which also receives instructions from Gantz, continues and..and..the list is long.

Creating illusions and running after mirages cannot end unless we return to ourselves and comply with the Almighty’s saying, “God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”

Changing ourselves requires a return to the people and to the democratic choice that enables the people to represent themselves by themselves through the free and fair choice of who represents them and takes decisions related to their fate, rights and leadership to the shore of safety.

We need real reconciliation with ourselves and among the components of the Palestinian people, and we need to shake our hands of the illusion of running after America and its allies, and the illusion that political begging can lead to a result. We need to realize that national unity and fair and transparent elections are the first step on the road to salvation.

Once again, may next year be a better year. Let the next feast be a feast that comes as we celebrate something new and better than we are.