Trump Plotting to Oust Palestinian Leadership?
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused the Trump administration of plotting a “coup” against PA leadership in cahoots with Israel.
He may be right, Abbas perhaps facing a fate similar to Arafat, poisoned to death by Israel to eliminate him – for forgetting to remember who’s boss.
Last month, Abbas called the Jewish state “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism” – established to safeguard Western interests.
Erekat blasted neocon Nikki Haley’s “impudence,” saying “(s)he called for overthrowing” Abbas. “Now (she’s) accusing him of lacking courage, and is calling for replacing him.”
Palestinians alone have that right, he said. “The Palestinian people are loyal to their martyrs, prisoners, wounded, struggles, steadfastness, and heroism.”
“This is the reality. The Palestinians are the only ones who are entitled to hold their leaders accountable.”
Erekat referred to Haley’s January 25 remarks during an open debate on the Middle East, saying:
Abbas “declared (Oslo) dead. He rejected any American role in peace talks. He insulted the American President. He called for suspending recognition of Israel,” adding:
“A speech that indulges in outrageous and discredited conspiracy theories is not the speech of a person with the courage and the will to seek peace.”
“Despite all of this, the United States remains fully prepared and eager to pursue peace. We have done nothing to prejudge the final borders of Jerusalem.”
“We have done nothing to alter the status of the holy sites. We remain committed to the possibility and potential of two states, if agreed to by the parties.”
Fact: Oslo was a Palestinian Versailles, Israeli interests exclusively served, Palestinians betrayed by their leadership.
Fact: Trump’s Jerusalem declaration showed contempt for Palestinian rights.
Fact: Washington is no honest peace broker, opposing the notion, wanting endless conflict and chaos, Israel’s agenda the same, both countries pretending otherwise.
Fact: Like his predecessors, Trump one-sidedly supports Israel. He doesn’t give a hoot about Palestinian rights. Nor does Haley and most everyone else in Washington. Their long-suffering people are on their own like always.
Haley’s remarks offend anyone hearing them, a contemptible character, America’s most disgraceful ever UN envoy, a spear carrier for Washington’s ruthless imperial agenda.
She “needs to shut up and realize that the Palestinian leadership is not the problem,” said Erekat. “Instead, the problem is the Israeli occupation and the policies it continues to pursue.”
It aims to “undermine the Palestinian national project.”
“US and Israeli officials are saying that any Palestinian leader who insists on East Jerusalem becoming the capital of Palestine and is committed to the right of return, in accordance with United Nations resolution 194, should be removed from power and replaced.”
Washington and Tel Aviv want Palestinian leaders who’ll support the “liquidation of the Palestinian national project.”
“The Palestinian leadership has told the Americans and Israelis that, even after 1,000 years, they will not find any Palestinian who will collaborate with their scheme.”
Erekat’s memory is short. Oslo constituted Palestinian surrender to US and Israeli demands, its leadership agreeing to act as their enforcer against millions of occupied Palestinians, denying diaspora ones their legitimate right of return.
They’ve been denied their fundamental rights since Balfour, especially during a half century of brutal occupation.
Washington supports Israeli harshness, contemptuous of Palestinian rights from Truman to Trump.
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