Sep 23 2016
Abbas disappoints, again, with UN speech
By Daoud Kuttab
In the week before President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22, a number of Palestinians were shot and killed or injured by Israeli soldiers. On Sept. 20, Hazem Kawasmi, a Palestinian activist, made a profoundly insightful statement on his Facebook page: “We are neither in an intifada nor are we involved in civil disobedience. We have no idea where we are going.â€
Kawasmi, who works with the Arab World Democracy & Electoral Monitor, told Al-Monitor that unlike the two previous intifadas, at present there is no clarity in vision. “Palestinians are not happy with the situation, because there is no vision or strategy toward liberation while the Palestinian Authority appears to be able to coexist with the current conditions on the ground.â€
In his UN speech, Abbas did not reference violent acts of resistance or the possibility of a nonviolent protest movement coupled with an international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. He did, however, try to connect the past with the future by talking about the 100-year-old Balfour Declaration, the 71-year-old UN partition plan and the nearly half a century of Israeli occupation.
Abbas mentioned “Israel†38 times, talked about “peace†20 times, used the word “occupation†15 times, “denounced terrorism†6 times, spoke of Jerusalem five times, referred to illegal “settlements†five times and called for the rights of “refugees†once. Continue Reading »