Fatah leader calls for peaceful protests to foil annexation

Rajoub warned that Israel would “target” PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian security forces if the situation in the West Bank deteriorates.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Protesters hold a large Palestinian flag during a demonstration marking al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), in Berlin, Germany June 1, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH)
Protesters hold a large Palestinian flag during a demonstration marking al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), in Berlin, Germany June 1, 2019
(photo credit: REUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH)
Jibril Rajoub, a senior official with the Palestinian ruling Fatah faction, on Thursday called for peaceful protests in the West Bank in response to Israel’s intention to extend its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank.
Rajoub’s appeal came as Fatah leaders held another meeting in Ramallah to discuss ways of responding to the Israeli plan. At the meeting, the officials focused on the Palestinian diplomatic efforts to rally the world against the plan.
“We consider the peaceful popular resistance as our strategic option at this stage,” Rajoub said, adding that Fatah would organize and lead the protests.
Rajoub’s statements stand in contrast to threats made by some Palestinian officials, who were quoted as saying that the Palestinian Authority security forces would not stop Palestinians from engaging in violent clashes with the IDF, if and when the Israeli plan is implemented.
His statements are seen by some Palestinians as a message to Israel that the PA is not interested in an all-out confrontation that could lead to a new uprising.
Rajoub warned that Israel would “target” PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian security forces if the situation in the West Bank deteriorates.
“Abu Mazen [Abbas] will be number one on the [Israeli] list of targets,” Rajoub said. “Our security establishment will be number two on the list of targets. We don’t underestimate this. They [Israelis] are thinking how to create a new partner, an alternative [to the PA]. They want a political partner, a security partner and an economic partner. They want many things.”
Rajoub, a former commander of the PA Preventive Security Force, explained that the Palestinian leadership would not allow protests in the West Bank to get out of control so as not to risk losing the support of the international community.
Some Palestinians believe that the wave of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada inflicted huge damage on the Palestinian issue in the international arena.
In what appears to be a warning to Hamas and other extremist groups against taking advantage of the planned protests to instigate scenes of anarchy and lawlessness, Rajoub said: “We will lead the people on the streets with morals. We will lead [the protests] with respected figures. Their demeanor and actions must also be respectable. When we say we want a popular resistance, that means that all the people must take to the streets. We want to reach the phase of national disobedience. We will all take to the streets under one banner. We will speak in one voice. If someone has a rock, he should throw it at the occupation’s tank, and not at his brother.”
Rajoub expressed confidence that widespread Palestinian protests would elicit a powerful response from the international community towards Israel.
“Our goal is clear,” he said. “We want to change the reality; we want to live in our state. We want to make sure that the entire world is standing with us. We won’t rush to take any political step or measure on the ground without considering their repercussions on our relations with the world. There’s an international consensus, a national consensus and a regional position, and we need to preserve them. We need to develop our position and actions in a way that ensures that the Palestinian state remains on the agenda of the world. We want to maintain the state of conflict between this racist occupation and the world. We need calculated steps to ensure that the conflict between the occupation and the international community continues.”
Rajoub claimed that the plan to extend Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank aims to “liquidate the Palestinian cause, in partnership with the US.”
Abbas’s recent decision to renounce all agreements and understandings with Israel and the US is a “strategic, and not tactical, move that was wisely taken in the appropriate time,” he stated.
“We are prepared to reach understandings with political Islam on one item – that our battle today is with the occupation, our major enemy,” Rajoub said, referring to the ongoing dispute between Fatah and Hamas. “Our battle centers around the annexation and attempts to destroy our cause; it has nothing to do with the economy.”
Jamal Muheissen, member of the Fatah Central Committee, said on Thursday that discussions were underway in Ramallah to find ways of thwarting the Israeli plan.
He said that the Palestinians were now studying the establishment of a “leadership committee” consisting of various Palestinian factions, institutions and figures to coordinate efforts to foil the plan.
In addition, Muheissen said, the Palestinians are considering establishing committees in cities, villages and refugee camps to organize the protests and “protect the Palestinians against any attack by settlers.”
In a statement marking the 53rd anniversary of the Six Day War, Fatah said on Thursday that the Palestinians “won’t allow the Israeli annexation plan to pass and will continue the struggle and resistance until the end of occupation, the establishment of an independent and free Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of the refugees.”
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