Ahmed Jaralleh is a smart man
This is one guy who always nails it. He’s the editor of the Arab Times in Kuwait.
“We can confidently say it is the international community and not the Palestinian uprising, which has kicked Israel out of Gaza.”
Some Palestinians insist on describing the liberation of Gaza as a victory for resistance groups, Hamas and Al-Jihad. They are like most Arabs. We are concentrating on Gaza because the mission is not yet complete. It will be complete only when the West Bank and Jerusalem are liberated and an independent Palestinian state is established. For this to happen we must wake up from our dreams and start living in reality. We must admit the establishment of any new state depends on several factors, especially international decisions and circumstances. We should understand we can’t take a single step towards fulfilling the rest of our mission without learning to live with the international community.Sinai was returned to Egypt because of the Camp David accord and American interference in the issue. Back then, the Jews understood it was in Israel’s interest to comply with international decisions and not stand against them. This understanding of the Israelis and former Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat was responsible for the return of Sinai to Egypt and not the October War. Similarly, Jordan understood the importance of dealing with reality and international decisions when it signed the “Arab peace treaty.”
We can confidently say it is the international community and not the Palestinian uprising, which has kicked Israel out of Gaza. When Ariel Sharon decided to withdraw his troops and evacuate Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip, he was doing his international duty, unlike some Arab leaders who shy away from their international responsibilities only to face the consequences. When Sharon understood the whole world was against him and supported the establishment of a Palestinian state, he assessed the situation with the interests of his people in mind and decided to meet international demands. The Israeli Prime Minister knows he will have to withdraw from the West Bank and eventually recognize the Palestinian state after some negotiations.
What we, the people of the Middle East, need to do is to come out our dreams into the world of reality. We don’t want our people to meet the fate of former Tunisian President Habib Burqaibah who always asked for more. The people of Tunisia cursed him and even threw stones at him. It will be enough if the Arab Social Society, which almost has no presence in the United States, can gain the support of President Bush for the establishment of the Palestinian state because this is not a simple issue. Our most important blunder in the past 50 years is the way we have been dealing with our lives taking a dim view of the international community. On the other hand Israel worked according to international decisions until it became a part of the world.
