The Secretary-General of the Palestinian People’s Party, Bassam Al-Salhi, said in an interview with Madaar that the October 7 operation showed that Israel “is vulnerable to important strikes and setbacks that have a major impact not only on the reality and present of this country, but on its future as well.”
The leftist political leader explained the reasons for the occupying entity’s resort to brute force against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, linking this to the prevailing project within the ruling system in Israel, which “is based on the continued pursuit of liquidating the Palestinian issue.”
On the other hand, the Secretary-General of the Palestinian People’s Party confirmed that the official Arab reaction to the course of events in Palestine “is not at the required level.”
For Al-Salhi himself, the aggressive war on Gaza “showed the West completely exposed.”
“All its concepts and theses about human rights and about freedoms and democracy were trampled upon by the fleets of the Israeli and American army, as well as by the pens and voices of officials and high-level representatives of the European Union at the United Nations,” he said.
Below is the first part of the interview:
Madaar: In your opinion, what are the major dimensions of the Al-Aqsa Flood Battle? And its expected future impacts on the Palestinian issue locally and internationally?
Bassam Al-Salhi: There is no doubt that the heroic act that took place on October 7 shook the ruling Zionist establishment in Israel in every sense, and placed the State of Israel before difficult questions and challenges related not only to the security, military, and political aspects, but mainly to whether relying on the reality of settlement, occupation, expansion, and power will bring, or brought security and peace to Israel over the past years.
Even if there were illusions in this regard, what happened on October 7 dispelled these illusions and revealed the established truth, which is that the ceiling of power and the considerations of power, whatever they may be for the occupying state, are limited, and on the contrary, they are susceptible to important strikes and setbacks that have a major impact not only on the reality and present of this country, the state, but also its future.
Hence, we consider that instead of Israel drawing serious and meaningful political conclusions from what happened that would push it towards changing course and going towards a real settlement with the Palestinian people, based on implementing United Nations resolutions and guaranteeing the rights of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state and their right to return, it did two things: The first is to act with a spirit of revenge, the instinct for force, and the excessive use of brute force to the point of genocide and ethnic cleansing. The second is to return to the idea that through displacement and liquidation of the Palestinian cause and restoring and confirming the ideology of ethnic cleansing and “transfer” you can solve the Palestinian cause.
We have a great fear of perpetuating this doctrine, complementary to the Zionist doctrine of ethnic cleansing and “transfer,” through what may be called the “Gaza Doctrine” now, which is based on replacing the daily repression and subjugation of the Palestinian people with direct killing, instead of the arrest, oppression, and persecution that were once characteristic.
Madaar: The usurping entity has continued its aggression against the Palestinian people since October 7. How do you view the official and popular Arab reaction in this regard?
BAS: The official Arab reaction is not at the desired level.
Of course, there is an important position taken by both Egypt and Jordan in their categorical rejection of the issue of the displacement of the Palestinian people, especially since there is a premeditated plan for displacement, and there was clear pressure from Israel and the United States to implement it in the first days of the attack on Gaza, and it was met with a firm Egyptian official position of rejection.
This was also followed, and in parallel, by a clear Jordanian position in this regard, which led to the failure of the Israeli-American plan to push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Sinai and return to the traditional project they had, which was expressed in the Deal of the Century, by displacing the Palestinians to Sinai, and later perhaps expanding Gaza towards Sinai.
But this does not mean that this is enough. Of course, there are steps taken in varying degrees by the Arab countries. Some of them withdrew their ambassadors or stopped and froze normalization with Israel, and some of them took certain supportive positions in the United Nations.
However, in general, and despite the exceptional Arab-Islamic summit held in Riyadh, the official Arab position needs more activation, and it could be more useful and effective than it has been so far.
For example, it is possible to use the weapon of oil, and use economic relations, such as the issue of boycott and freezing the agreements that stipulate normalization, and further protesting the American policy by freezing Israel’s membership in the United Nations General Assembly…There are many measures that Arab countries can take in order to activate their role to a greater extent than they have so far.
On the other hand, the Arab popular position is a more advanced position. This is what we sensed, whether in the demonstrations that took place in many Arab capitals or in the declarations and solidarity positions expressed by Arab popular platforms and institutions, including professional unions, Arab parliaments, and others.
We believe that there are very effective pressure tools on the part of Arab countries, and it is important that they be used, especially in order to stop the aggression against Gaza and bring Israel to the International Criminal Court and hold it accountable for war crimes, and also in order to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip.
Madar: The West, especially Europe and the United States, demonstrated unconditional support for the Zionist entity, in exchange for a widespread popular outpouring of solidarity with the Palestinian people, while the United Nations institutions demonstrated a clear inability to stop the aggression. What does this mean for you?
Bassam Al-Salhi: Unfortunately, the United Nations has appeared incapable and weak in dealing with the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, by failing to reach a ceasefire decision as a result of what was expressed by many proposals or draft resolutions that were submitted to the Security Council and in which the United States, Britain, and France used veto power.*
The same applies even to the decision that was taken for a ceasefire or humanitarian truce based on a collective position in the Security Council, as it was not implemented despite the statements, appeals and demands that appeared from the Secretary-General of the United Nations and all the specialized UN agencies, whether health or relief and human rights. Therefore, the United Nations has not actually succeeded in stopping Israel’s aggression, nor in holding it accountable for this aggression, including the slowness, reluctance, and complicity shown by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in dealing with this case. He does not deserve to remain in his position, as he is absolutely biased towards Israel and manipulates, procrastinates and postpones all cases related to war crimes committed by the occupying state in the Gaza Strip. This happened in the case filed previously, and it is still happening in the current reality.
This prosecutor’s double standards clearly appeared in dealing with the Ukrainian issue, for example, and the issue that concerns Israel. Double standards also appeared in the dealings of the United States and Western countries on many issues, including dealing with Ukraine and the Palestinian issue.
The recent war of aggression against the Gaza Strip demonstrated the reality of the colonial West, represented primarily by the United States and Britain, and that it was the one who established the occupying state and is keen to protect it. Biden also said that if Israel had not existed, they would have created it, and in fact they are the ones who created it and are the ones who are still concerned with its continuation in its role as a party that occupies the lands of the Palestinian people and seeks to impose the logic of hegemony in the Middle East.
We have noticed that the level of decline in the official West has reached an extremely low level, as is evident in the statements issued by the Prime Minister of Sweden, who permitted not only the so-called self-defense of Israel, but even genocide through his statements. And thus he fully expressed the position of the European Union, and the position of many European countries, which in fact do not defend Israel in its right to so-called self-defense, but rather defended its behavior based on genocide and war crimes. We did not hear from them real condemnation or real pressure to stop this aggression.
The aggressive war on Gaza showed the West completely exposed, with double standards, and all its concepts and theses about human rights and about freedoms and democracy were trampled upon by the fleets of the Israeli and American army, as well as by the pens and voices of officials and high-level representatives of the European Union at the United Nations. Therefore, we believe that this aggression against Gaza reveals not only the fascist and Nazi nature of the Israeli occupation, but also the same nature for the United States and the Western coalition countries.
Of course, we want international efforts to be unified with two basic issues. The first is the just cause based on stopping the aggression and siege, and the second is ending the occupation and guaranteeing the rights of the Palestinian people to liberation and establishing their independent state, as well as their rights to return in accordance with Resolution 194.
If the international solidarity movement is united under these issues, which are ending the siege and ensuring a just solution for the rights of the Palestinian people, this will represent a great victory that can be built upon.
Without a doubt, adopting methods of boycotting and isolating Israel on the international scene may be one of these very important tools for pressure to achieve these goals. We have seen how the world succeeded, through a policy like this, in forcing the South African government to abolish the apartheid system and racial discrimination, and the world can renew these tools in order to end the Israeli occupation and stop the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.
* In the most recent UNSC resolution, only the US used its veto power while the UK abstained.
