Palestine

World must use force to stop Nazi-style Israeli agressions: Abdullah Abdullah

khan20121224133804897The international community must use force to stop the onging Nazi-style Israeli aggressions in the Mideast region, a Palestinian politician tells Press TV.

In the background of this, Palestine recently won a status upgrade at the United Nations to “non-member observer state,” which granted Palestinians access to UN agencies and the ICC, reflecting the international community’s awareness of the Israeli atrocities committed against Palestinians.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Abdullah Abdullah, head of the political committee in the Palestinian Legislative Council, from Ramallah, to further discuss the issue. Abdullah is joined by Alastair Crooke, former EU mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East forum, from Boston. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: What we just heard is that the Israelis are offering peace and that basically the Palestinians aren’t responding in the appropriate way. This is what our guest from Boston [Mr. Pipes] just said. How would you respond?

Abdullah: Unfortunately, I didn’t hear what he just said but I know where he stands. Mr. Pipes has been advocating the Israeli extreme policies not now, not yesterday but since…memorial. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me what he said.

If the whole world is saying that Israel is doing wrong, if Mr. Kissinger, if Mr. “Dov Isedas” are saying this, then I don’t think that anybody will be interested in hearing what Mr. Pipes is saying.

Israel is driving itself to the brink of the abyss. This policy might be successful for one year, for two years; but down the road, Israel is losing its staunchest supporters. Israel is becoming cornered.

If it doesn’t change these policies that are destructive to peace which is beneficial not only to the Palestinians but to the Israelis as well, and the world at large, then Israel, I believe, will be gambling on its future as Mr. Kissinger himself predicted that.

Press TV: If you allow me to ask you, what measures do you intend to take in the Palestinian Authority as a response to the settlement activity? I mean, 5,500 settlement units approved in just over a week, in the Palestinian Authority, how will you respond?

Abdullah: The danger is not only the number – the number is dangerous too – but the danger is that the strategy of these settlements or these units they’re adding is to sever southern West Bank from northern West Bank whereas Jerusalem is encircled and with no reach to the Palestinians. This probably will lead the eyes of the Israeli planners at this stage to the destruction of the Palestinian state to be as it is envisioned by the international community.

To confront that, of course, we have several steps, several directions. Number one, our resistance to this policy will escalate. Be it the destruction of our homes, be it the confiscation of our land, the building of our settlements, there will be an increase in escalation of the resistance to these policies.

Secondly, we will continue lobbying at the United Nations, the Security Council, although it is blocked by the veto of the United States; but there are other ways of going to the international community which accepted Palestine as a state, to take care of that state, to protect its territory from the invasion of the Israeli planners.

Press TV: We just heard [from previous guest speaker Mr. Pipes], it’s not a serious prospect and the Palestinians are not ready. What’s your comment?

Abdullah: About seriousness, this is a probably a very naïve excuse for the continued policies of Israel.

I would agree with what Alastair Crooke says in the analysis of the situation, how it unfolds in the near future. Whether there’s a two-state solution which is the most acceptable and possible for everybody, that each one feels that he is there and has the share or the ambitions that he’s hoping for.

But if the two-state solution is not materialized, then there is no other option in the one state where either an apartheid regime is created by the Israeli government in this case.

Not only will the Palestinians be revolting against that apartheid regime but rather the international community. I think, in the 21st, it is not easy to condone or tolerate an apartheid regime in Israel. In this case, the Palestinians will be the majority, demographically speaking.

They cannot afford, the Israelis, to have ‘one-man, one-vote’ to go to democratic practices as they claim to be the only democracy in this region. We know what Israel’s system is. In this case, it’s a recipe for continued conflict where not only the Palestinians will be the losers of such a conflict.

Press TV: Do you consider that the two-state solution has now been destroyed and are you willing to go back to the negotiating table with the Netanyahu government?

Abdullah:
If the United Nations fails to take responsibility in protecting the Palestinian state, then I say the two-state solution is finished and then we are in a chaotic situation where either a new apartheid regime is established in Israel in the total historical Palestine or there will be a democracy – which will never happen at this stage. That will take the whole region for a protracted conflict, bloodshed. The future is not for Israel.

Press TV: You spoke about measures you might take at the General Assembly. Briefly, if you can, what kind of measures are you talking about?

Abdullah: Measures that this state is being invaded by settlers, being invaded by the policies that are endangering the territory of this state by confiscation, by settlements, by imposing a new regime.

It’s like the Nazis when they occupied Europe. At that time, the whole world stood up against the Nazis using war and all types of weapons to defeat the Nazis.

I don’t think the world will come to use war against Israel, to defeat the Israel policies. But at least we expect them to protect the Palestinian territory. If they don’t do that, then I’m afraid the situation will come up to the one-state solution where Israel, in the final analysis, will be defeated existentially.

Press TV: What do you expect the Arabs to play? The Arabs have been lobbying Washington to take a harsher stance towards Syria. Why don’t we see the Arabs trying to lobby Washington to take more of an even-handed stance towards Israel? What’s your expected role for the Arabs?

Abdullah: No doubt that the Arab position at this stage is not very strong because the Arabs are, in fact, in two camps.

One camp is in the so-called Arab Spring. They’re not finalizing their situation. They’re still concerned what the future of their country is going to be.

The others are waiting for the Arab Spring to invade them.

Both of them will not be paying much attention at the official level to put more pressure on the United States or less pressure on the United States.

But in the final analysis, the people who are working for making these changes in these countries, they are the ones who will make the strong position and force a change of policy in this region by the United States and other countries as well including Israel.

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