Barghouti: Palestinians must not stay on the sidelines, official says

[ProgressiveMuslim]

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Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central council and a frequent critic of Abbas, spoke with the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday about what the recent U.S.-Israeli tensions mean for Palestinians.

Until today, the Palestinian Authority had been surprisingly quiet during this U.S.-Israeli diplomatic standoff. Why do you think that is?

They may be trying to keep quiet because they want to let this internal conflict between the U.S. and Israel go on without interference.

So it's a matter of sitting back with some popcorn and enjoying the show?

Maybe. But sitting back and doing nothing is very dangerous. We've already seen Hillary Clinton temper her comments , so things can go back in the old direction if Palestinians don't take a strong stance. Passivity doesn't help. We need a proactive policy to show the world and the U.S. administration, in particular, how Palestinians have been forthcoming and what we've done to implement the road map .

Do Palestinians see the recent shaking in the "unshakable" bond between the U.S. and Israel as an opportunity?

Absolutely. It has created a great opportunity for us at the international level. It's so clear today that Israeli policy is hurting American strategic interests. It's hurting American interests in the Middle East and surrounding regions, hurting America's foreign policy image around the world, and hurting at home. We have a superpower that is being taken hostage by a country like Israel, and for the wrong reasons. If they were defending a good cause, that's fine. But this is about defending the last colonial system in modern history.

When it comes to peace talks, there's often a game of tag over which side is perceived as the obstacle. In the past year, it's gone from Israel to Palestinians, and now, some would argue, back to Israel. Does this provide you with more leverage?

I think we are beyond that game. The issue is much larger now. After 18 years of nonproductive so-called peace talks, Palestinians are in a worse situation than when we started. When we signed the Oslo Agreement there were 200,000 settlers . Now we have more than 530,000. The U.S. and Israel and the international community have allowed the peace process to become a substitute for peace itself. It's become a cover for the lack of peace.

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Some would say that's what the U.S. is doing now with the housing settlement in Ramat Shlomo where Israel has announced plans for 1,600 new units. How important is the outcome of this standoff?

We have a specific issue now. It's not 200 issues that people can't remember or focus on. It's one issue: settlements. Why now? Because we have reached a critical point. It was a mistake to allow settlement expansion to continue in the past because now we have reached a critical point where any additional settlements will mean the end of the two-state solution.

If the U.S., at this critical point and when things are so clear, is incapable of pressuring Israel to stop settlement activity, then let's be honest and say the U.S. cannot be the mediator in this case.

Has this flap emboldened the Palestinian Authority or embarrassed it? Abbas went out on a limb to agree to indirect peace talks and now they might collapse before even getting started.

This has weakened the PA more than ever before. I think this was one of the goals of Netanyahu. we had a day of uprising everywhere. That means all these diplomatic talks and moves by the PA are becoming meaningless and marginalized. Things are starting to happen on the streets. Palestinians are bypassing the Palestinian leadership and deciding to confront Israeli facts on the ground with Palestinian facts on the ground.

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We've been seeing more Palestinian protests. Is this the start of another intifada?

I don't know what we mean by intifada. It's a word that means many things to many people. If you mean like the first intifada that was mostly popular, nonviolent, unarmed people against a huge military army, then maybe the answer is yes. But if you mean like the second intifada <2000-05>, which was viewed by the world as Palestinians conducting military actions, it's not that. It's a new style of nonviolence. It's a noble thing....


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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-palestinians-qa18-2010mar18,0,7184956,print.story