Civil
War Or Coup D’état In Palestine?
By Agustin Velloso
09 February, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Interview with Professor
Agustin Velloso in the “11th Week of the Popular School Jose Luis
Garcia Rua: The outcomes of fundamentalism”, Gijon, Spain, from
2 to 10 February 2007.
Translated by the author and revised by James Hollander
Is there a civil war going on in Palestine?
No, but this question and
an affirmative answer is what pro-Israeli media are spreading all over
the world. Hence, the average news consumer knows nothing of the reality
of this “civil war”.
But, aren’t
we seeing that Palestinians are killing each other in the streets of
Gaza?
What we are seeing is that
since Hamas won the last legislative elections of January 2006, which
were monitored by hundreds of foreign observers, Jimmy Carter amongst
them, the Western powers have made all kinds of political and economic
manoeuvres to oust the winner with the help of the losers, Abu Mazen
and his Fatah party.
However, the situation
is different than in Iraq. There are no Western armies in Gaza, isn’t
just an internal Palestinian affair?
It is not an internal affair.
Palestine is just another piece on the big Middle East chessboard, where
the international community is moving pieces to further its own interests,
namely: the control of oil and the support of its ally, Israel. The
Western powers support Fatah because they say it represents the «
moderate » Palestinians and are torpedoing the Hamas government
because its programme runs counter to the agenda of Zionism and imperialism.
Once Hamas obtained a majority of the seats in the Legislative Council,
the powerful leaders, Bush, Rice, Blair, Olmert, Solana and others switched
to plan B: oust Hamas from the government no matter the price. This
price would be paid by ordinary Palestinians, in any case.
What role is the
international community playing in the fighting?
This fighting is the last
move in the chess game. Previously, the West –the supposed democratic
guardians of international law- invaded countries, flattened entire
cities, bombed families at weddings and on the beach, and forced Arab
and Muslim prisoners onto secret flights around the globe to torture
them at will and put them in cages like animals.
What moves are you
talking about?
They have totally isolated
the legitimate Palestinian government, while Israel has declared its
members a “legitimate” target for its death squads, kidnapping
several of them as well as many members of the Legislative Council.
In addition to this political
coup d’état, which makes it almost impossible for the government
to operate, they have used their favourite weapon, the one they have
used in Iraq for so many years, leaving half a million dead Iraqi children
in its wake: an economic blockade. Israel is stealing the Palestinian
people’s money, which it collects through taxes and which is supposed
to be handed over to the Palestinian government. Banks have been prevented,
under heavy pressure, from handling money transfers from supporters
of the Palestinian people. Finally, when members of the government have
tried to transport themselves much-needed cash into the Occupied Territories,
they have been prevented from doing so. All this in order to achieve
the goals of the rogue state Israel, which in the words of one high
official include to put Palestinians on a diet. This peculiar sense
of humour in politics is reminiscent of Himmler, Menguele and other
learned Westeners.
Still, what is the
relationship between sanctions and shootings?
As in Iraq, the Palestinians
did not overthrow their government. Clearly, they reject such “humanitarian”
policies and they are suspicious of Western help and their local delegates.
The Palestinian agent, Abu Mazen, has threatened to dissolve the government,
the Legislative Council, has demanded a national unity government and
early elections, all this when barely a few months, full of unremitting
Israeli aggression, have passed since the 2006 elections.
Although Hamas is under no
obligation to give up the government, as the expression of Palestinian
political will, prime minister Hanniyeh made public his intention to
resign, if necessary, in the national interest. This is unheard of,
not only in the Arab world but in the West as well. The Western media,
of course, piad no attention at all to this offer.
Since things were not proceeding
according to the “democratic” plans of the Western powers,
they have stepped up their pressure, this time provoking Hamas through
street fighting and threats of violence.
Hamas’ response is
what these same media outlets describe as civil war. Their work of destroying
yet another Arab and Muslim country is almost complete. Another one
on the list: Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia. Almost, because the
Palestinian people, and not only those affiliated with Hamas, will hopefully
put an end to the violence and force the political parties to come to
terms with the real enemy, the Israeli occupation, and punish the quislings
for their crimes.
What is going to
happen now?
There is ample reason for
concern. We must recall what Western countries –and their main
ally, Israel- have been doing for years in the Middle East: destroying
countries, killing millions and inflicting immense suffering of many
others.
The United States and Israel
will keep on arming and funding the pro-cup party and its militias in
order to sabotage the Palestinian national movement and foster instead
the creative chaos they are so fond. For the Palestinians, this means
no return of the refugees, the continuation of the occupation by close
or remote control, the “judaization” of Jerusalem, the continuation
of Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing and the subjugation of millions
of Palestinians in their own land. In any case, nothing different of
what has been taking place since 1948.
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