From: ALAQSA INTIFADA . org
The official results of the election are out, and Mahmoud Abbas has been declared the President of the Palestinian Authority. This is the candidate preferred by the U.S., Israel, and the Arab leaders - none of these being friends of the Palestinian people. And he is the candidate who will go along with their wishes and compromise Palestinian rights.
It is important to note that Abbas has not been elected as the "leader of the Palestinian people," but only the leader of the Palestinian Authority. The distinction is important because the Authority is limited to governing the West Bank and Gaza (mostly municipality type tasks), and not to representing the Palestinian diaspora, which comprises of most of the Palestinian people. He has no mandate or right to make any concessions on behalf of the diaspora, foremost amongst these the right of return. Although Abbas has abandoned the right of return in previous talks with Israeli officials, his campaign for this election included assertions that he would never give up the right of return. But ofcourse he will, as this is what his American and Israeli masters require, and it will be interesting to eventually watch him explain to his people that he meant he would defend their right to return only to whatever area is finally allotted to the Palestinian so-called state (if any), but not to their original homes in what is now Israel.
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The following press release by Media Review Network, and article by Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah shed more light on the the issue.
- Alaqsaintifada.org
MEDIA REVIEW NETWORK Press Statement
January 10, 2005
Palestinian Elections - An exercise in futility
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It must be clear that this sham election is no different then that recently held in Afghanistan, or that will be held in Iraq at the end of this month. The primary objective of the Americans and Israelis is to select a quisling that can be effectively manipulated to lead the Palestinians into perpetual servitude.
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In Jerusalem only 5,000 of the 120,000 voters were allowed to cast their votes. The remaining were forced to travel outside through a myriad checkpoints in a vain attempt to cast their vote. Of course, the Palestinians in the refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan and the rest of the diaspora did not vote.
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So in the long-running Palestine soap opera, Abbas, the understudy who has been hired to replace the deceased lead actor Arafat, is being offered the choice of two roles by the Israeli-American scriptwriters. He can play the obedient native administrator of a defeated people who gets to wear a suit and call himself president of a fictional state, or he can don Arafat's kaffiyeh and assume the role of the Palestinians' unreformed "terrorist" leader. If he chooses the former role, he may get the political equivalent of an Oscar -- the Nobel Peace Prize.
But like in all soap operas, repetiveness and increasingly absurd plot twists eventually wear out even the most faithful audience. And when this episode is over, the Palestinian people will still be there, steadfastly, patiently, determined to regain their usurped rights and see justice done, come what may.
This article on the web at
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3499.shtml
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