10 October 2, 2015 News & Analysis

Palestinian flies at UN, Abbas drops pacts with Israel

Malak Hasan ments. “We cannot be the only par- ty that remains faithful to them,” Abbas said. What is required, he continued, is to “mobilise interna- tional efforts to oversee an end to alestinian President the Israeli occupation in line with Mahmoud Abbas attended the resolutions of international le- the raising of the Palestin- gitimacy”. ian flag at UN headquar- After the September 10th UN vote ters, issued a strong plea that cleared the way for the Pales- Pfor full-member status and said tinian flag to join those of UN full- were no longer bound member states, some Palestinian to the Oslo accords with Israel. youth stated their uncertainty and The flag-raising occurred Sep- subdued enthusiasm. “I do not un- tember 30th, placing the red, black, derstand why this is considered a white and green banner among the victory,” a social media of the 193 countries of the contributor wrote as another sar- United Nations. It was a potent, if castically wondered: “Is this vote symbolic, move consecrating dec- supposed to solve our crisis?” ades of struggle for Palestinian na- A Palestinian tweeting from the tional rights. lamented, “The UN is Abbas, who earlier described raising the almost the flag-raising as “our moment of 65 years late.” hope”, addressed the UN General Jerusalem rights activist Rafat Assembly with a call to have Pales- Sub Laban said that, while the UN tine designated a full-member state move “is very symbolic, its symbol- at the world body and for protec- ism is devoid of any added value, tion for the Palestinian people. given both the timing and the cur- rent political context” — a reference The Palestinian to growing tension in Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank and public also seems Gaza. less confident that In Jerusalem, Israel has slapped diplomacy and tight restrictions on Muslims’ en- international try to al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine and one of the hot- initiatives can bring test flashpoints in the region. For about desired several days in mid-September, change clashes erupted between Palestin- ians and Israeli police, who raided “Palestine, which is an observer the mosque and its courtyards in Capturing the moment. The Palestinian flag flies for the first time at U.N. headquarters, on state in the United Nations, de- a move Palestinians see as an at- September 30, 2015. serves full recognition and full tempt by Israel’s hard-line cabinet membership,” Abbas said, appeal- to allow Jewish prayers at the holy ing to “those countries that have site and ultimately divide it. old toddler Ali Dawabsheh and his ered a “historic victory” but rather dulqader Mohammad, a father of not yet recognised the state of Pal- In the West Bank, Israel said it parents as they slept in their home. “incremental progress”. five, rebuked the policy of the Pal- estine yet, to do so.” plans to demolish up to 13,000 Ali’s 4-year-old brother remains in The vote did not “translate into estinian Authority (PA) responsible He also declared that Palestinians structures, most of them built on hospital after sustaining critical relieving the pressures of the Is- for the West Bank as “hollow and are no longer bound by the 1995 privately owned Palestinian land, body burns. raeli military occupation or life in disoriented”. Oslo accords, which formed the in Area C, which is under full Israeli The suspects — members of a refugee camps outside of Palestine “The PA is no longer on the same basis for a two-state solution to the military and civil rule, according to militant Israeli group bent on killing or living as an internally displaced page with the rest of the Palestinian Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Israel the UN Office for the Coordination Palestinians — remain free. person in Israel”, Bahour said. people,” he said. must assume all of its responsibili- of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Palestinian writer Sam Bahour, The Palestinian public also seems ties as an occupying power,” Abbas The escalation followed an attack an adviser for the independent Al- less confident that diplomacy and Malak Hasan, based in Ramallah, said. He accused Israel of violating in a West Bank village in which Jew- Shabaka policy network, said the international initiatives can bring has covered Palestinian-Israeli the accords and subsequent agree- ish settlers burned alive 18-month- UN flag vote should not be consid- about desired change. Trader Ab- issues for more than five years. Black September and the Palestinians’ lost decade

Viewpoint Beirut memorating the death of Egyptian president, Hafez Assad, greater lati- have no choice but to negotiate President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who tude to shape Palestinian affairs. The decade with Israel, on Israel’s terms, while orty-five years ago, the died September 28, 1970. While the two sides would draw the absence of an effective leader- Jordanian Army In his last days Nasser had tried closer after Egyptian president or so ship would push Palestinians to crushed Palestinian to protect the Palestinians from the Anwar Sadat normalised relations between pursue their political aspirations groups posing a threat onslaught of King Hussein’s forces. with Israel, the PLO would always 1970 and in Jordan. This corresponded to a to the Hashemite His death allowed the Jordanians to have to factor Syrian interests into view on the Israeli right that “Jor- monarchy in what pursue their military offensive, un- whatever it did. 1982 were dan was Palestine”. Fbecame known as Black Septem- til the Palestinians were defeated in , the PLO chairman, important We had come full circle from ber. June 1971. would seek to retain the independ- years for the September 1970. Black September, Michael Looking back, one can learn The PLO’s move to Lebanon ence of Palestinian decision-mak- Palestinians, ironically, created dynamics al- Young many lessons about the hubris in showed that the Palestinians, like ing. However, the growing conflict lowing the Israelis to imagine that the Palestinian leadership and how the Bourbons, had learned nothing between and Lebanon’s showing that a Palestinian takeover in Jordan its strategy with regard to the Arab and forgotten nothing. Their armed Christian militias, now backed by Palestine would allow them to resolve their countries ultimately backfired. groups behaved with the same Israel, would have far-reaching would not be own Palestinian problem at Jor- This had dramatic consequences arrogance as they had in Jordan, consequences for the future of the dan’s expense. That was not to be, for the Palestine Liberation Organi- while some sought to alter Leba- . regained on but not because the PLO under- sation (PLO). non’s political system. In 1981 the Israeli government the wreckage mined the Israeli scheme. In fact, On a personal level, I arrived in Under the Cairo agreement of of prime minister Menachem of Arab the exit from Beirut nearly margin- Lebanon at the time and, though 1969, the Palestinians were allowed Begin intervened on behalf of the countries alised the Palestinian leadership, a child, immediately got a sense to control their refugee camps and Christians as they battled Syrian which relocated to Tunis. What of its taut political environment. launch armed attacks against Israel forces around the Lebanese town again made it relevant was the Pal- The Air France passenger plane from Lebanese territory. The au- of Zahle, shooting down two Syr- estinian intifada of 1987-91. on which my mother and I flew tonomy they enjoyed led to a mili- ian helicopters. Assad deployed The decade or so between 1970 to Beirut was delayed for several tary escalation with the Lebanese anti-aircraft missiles to Lebanon to and 1982 were important years hours because Palestinian gunmen state, a major contributing factor to counter the Israelis. for the Palestinians, showing that had taken over the airport’s control the Lebanese civil war of 1975-90. The so-called missile war not Palestine would not be regained tower. Black September seemed to only reinforced the Christian-Israe- on the wreckage of Arab countries. As Palestinian groups fled underline that the road to Pales- li alliance, it pushed Begin and his By the end of the 1980s, the PLO Jordan, they relocated to Beirut, tine would come at the expense of defence minister, Ariel Sharon, to focused on negotiations, under which became their de facto capi- Arab states. This would embroil the consider a more radical approach in American tutelage, adopting a tal. An early memory in the city Palestinians in side wars detracting Lebanon. strategy very different than the one was watching a procession com- from the conflict with Israel. The Israelis formulated a plan it had pursued after 1970. Today After the start of the Lebanese to invade Lebanon in the summer the Palestinians may be no closer to conflict, the Palestinians sided with of 1982 and achieve several aims: their goal of an independent state the Lebanese National Movement force the PLO out of Lebanon; bring but they have recognised that the against an alliance of Christian mi- the Christian militia leader Bashir lost decade after Black September Black September seemed litias. Palestinian gains provoked a Gemayel to power in the Lebanese set them back, perhaps decisively. to underline that the road Syrian entry into Lebanon in 1976, presidential election; and impose They may still be paying a price for amid fears that a triumph might a Syrian military withdrawal from that momentous deviation. to Palestine would come invite Israeli intervention and lead the country. at the expense of Arab to a war between Syria and Israel. Ultimately, the Israelis hoped Michael Young is a commentator The Syrian deployment in Leba- that by uprooting the PLO from and analyst based in Beirut. He is states non, which led to a violent con- Beirut, its leadership would fall the author of The Ghosts of Martyrs’ frontation with the Palestinians, under the sway of Damascus. Pal- Square: An Eyewitness Account of gave the regime of Syria’s then- estinians in the West Bank would Lebanon’s Life Struggle.