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Does the Palestinian Leadership Represent all Palestinians?
PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the UN General Assembly in New York. Photo: Reuters/Caitlin Ochs
JNS.org – Palestinians who live abroad are calling for a voice in Palestinian decision-making, arguing that neither the Palestinian Authority nor the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have the right to speak for all Palestinians.
In 2017, a portion of the Palestinian population residing outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip announced the formation of a group called the “Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad.” The group, which claims to represent 6-7 million Palestinians dispersed throughout more than 50 countries, is fiercely opposed to the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993, and supports the “resistance” against Israel.
The group’s leaders say that the primary impetus behind its formation is the “marginalization” of Palestinians abroad since the signing of the Oslo Accords.
Prior to the agreement, there was a semi-consensus among the Palestinians that the PLO is the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” After the signing of the Oslo Accords, however, the PLO leadership moved from Tunis and other Arab countries to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As the PLO began concentrating the majority of its efforts on the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the organization’s ties with the Palestinians abroad increasingly deteriorated.
In the past three decades, the PLO Executive Committee, a crucial decision-making body, and other institutions associated with the organization have met regularly in Ramallah. The PLO no longer has offices in most Arab countries.
PA/PLO leaders reject the outsiders
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also chairs the PLO Executive Committee, and several PLO leaders are incensed over the formation of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad. They see the PLO’s status as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people” as directly threatened by the group. They are also concerned about the extreme stances the group has adopted since its founding, particularly its opposition to recognizing Israel’s right to exist and commitment to the “armed struggle” against Israel.
The representatives of the Palestinian expatriates maintain that former PLO leader Yasser Arafat was not entitled to “give up 80% of the lands of Palestine” when he recognized Israel’s right to exist. Furthermore, they contend that Arafat had no right to abandon the “armed struggle” by purportedly amending the PLO’s Charter shortly after the signing of the Oslo Accords. They further state that the PLO leadership is not authorized to surrender Palestinian refugees’ and their descendants’ “right of return” to their former homes within Israel.
Accusing Abbas of “hijacking” and “weakening” the PLO, the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad has demanded extensive reforms in the PLO, but to no avail.
Two of the group’s declared objectives are “engaging the Zionist enterprise” and “supporting the resistance” inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A standard definition of “resistance” is the use of violence by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups against Israel. Abbas claims he favors only peaceful “popular resistance” against Israel and therefore views the group’s commitment to the “armed struggle” as a challenge to him personally.
Given that the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad was established in Istanbul, PA officials surmise that Turkey, together with Qatar, is its primary backer. Qatar and Turkey have supported and encouraged Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood Organization, for a considerable amount of time.
Currently, the offices of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad are located at the Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultation in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist militia exists as a state-within-a-state.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad has voiced support for the Palestinian “resistance” in the Gaza Strip and called on the Palestinians to utilize the worldwide support for the Palestinians, especially on US college campuses, to intensify the diplomatic and legal campaign against Israel in the international arena.
For now, it does not seem that the representatives of the Palestinians abroad are interested in taking on any role in overseeing the affairs of the Gaza Strip after the war. Instead, they believe the Palestinians should invest their energies and resources in pursuing an international campaign to delegitimize and isolate Israel.
In addition, they demand a complete overhaul of the Palestinian political structure, which would involve the ouster of the 88-year-old Abbas and the majority of his associates.
On June 28, 2024, some 200 representatives of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad convened in Istanbul to engage in a symposium centered on the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Speakers at the parley agreed that the attack catalyzed “achievements” gained by the Palestinians, including anti-Israel student demonstrations in the United States, a rise in international attention to the Palestinian cause, a “schism” that has split Israeli society over the war, and the issue of the 120 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
It is difficult to see how Abbas or any other Palestinian leader can ignore the voices of Palestinian expatriates. These Palestinians are sending a message to Abbas and other Palestinian leaders that they are not authorized to sign any peace agreement or make any concessions to Israel on behalf of millions of Palestinians abroad whose views seem to be more aggressive towards Israel.
Originally published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
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A pro-Israel rally at the University of Toronto was headlined by Columbia University professor Shai Davidai
Around 200 people gathered for a pro-Israel demonstration at University of Toronto’s downtown campus at King’s College Circle—which was the site of one of Canada’s largest pro-Palestinian encampments during May […]
The post A pro-Israel rally at the University of Toronto was headlined by Columbia University professor Shai Davidai appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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‘Not Welcome’: New Pro-Hamas Campaign Aims to Abolish Hillel Campus Chapters
A statue of George Washington tied with a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh inside a pro-Hamas encampment is pictured at George Washington University in Washington, DC, US, May 2, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Craig Hudson
The campus group National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) is waging a campaign to gut Jewish life in academia, calling for the abolition of Hillel International campus chapters, the largest collegiate organization for Jewish students in the world.
“Over the past several decades, Hillel has monopolized for Jewish campus life into a pipeline for pro-Israel indoctrination, genocide-apologia, and material support to the Zionist project and its crimes,” a social media account operating the campaign, titled #DropHillel, said in a manifesto published last week. “Across the country, Hillel chapters have invited Israeli soldiers to their campuses; promoted propaganda trips such as birthright; and organized charity drives for the Israeli military.”
It continued, “Such actions reveal Hillel’s ideological and material investment in Zionism, despite the organization’s facade as being simply a ‘Jewish cultural space.’”
DropHillel claims to be “Jewish-led,” although only a small minority of Jews oppose Zionism, and the group has been linked to and promoted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters.
Hillel International has provided Jewish students a home away from home during the academic year. However, NSJP says it wants to “weaken” it and “dismantle oppression.”
The idea has already been picked up by pro-Hamas student groups at one college, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to The Daily Tar Heel, the school’s official student newspaper. On Oct. 9, it reported, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) unveiled the idea for “no more Hillel” during a rally which, among other things, demanded removing Israel from UNC’s study abroad program and adopting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. Addressing the comments to the paper days later, SJP, which has been linked to Islamist terrorist organizations, proclaimed that shuttering Hillel is a coveted goal of the anti-Zionist movement.
“Zionism is a racist supremacist ideology advocating for the creation and sustenance of an ethnostate through the expulsion and annihilation of native people,” the group told the paper. “Therefore, any group that advocates for a supremacist ideology — be it the KKK, the Proud Boys, Hillel, or Heels for Israel — should not be welcome on campus.”
The #DropHillel campaign came amid an unprecedented surge in anti-Israel incidents on college campuses, which, according to a report published last month by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), have reached crisis levels.
Revealing a “staggering” 477 percent increase in anti-Zionist activity involving assault, vandalism, and other phenomena, the report — titled “Anti-Israel Activism on US Campuses, 2023-2024” — painted a bleak picture of America’s higher education system poisoned by political extremism and hate.
“As the year progressed, Jewish students and Jewish groups on campus came under unrelenting scrutiny for any association, actual or perceived, with Israel or Zionism,” the report said. “This often led to the harassment of Jewish members of campus communities and vandalism of Jewish institutions. In some cases, it led to assault. These developments were underpinned by a steady stream of rhetoric from anti-Israel activists expressing explicit support for US-designated terrorists organizations, such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and others.”
The report added that 10 campuses accounted for 16 percent of all incidents tracked by ADL researchers, with Columbia University and the University of Michigan combining for 90 anti-Israel incidents — 52 and 38, respectively. Harvard University, the University of California – Los Angeles, Rutgers University New Brunswick, Stanford University, Cornell University, and others filled out the rest of the top 10. Violence, it continued, was most common at universities in the state of California, where anti-Zionist activists punched a Jewish student for filming him at a protest.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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‘Muslim for Trump’ Launches Initiatives in Key Battleground States, Says Candidate Will Bring ‘Peace’ to Gaza
Former US President Donald Trump is seen at a campaign event in South Carolina. Photo: Reuters/Sam Wolfe
The “Muslims for Trump” organization has officially launched initiatives to help elect Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to the White House, arguing that he would be more likely to end the war in Gaza than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
In a statement released on Monday, the group said it will focus on recruiting Muslim voters in key battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and North Carolina. The organization both praised Trump for his supposed “peace-focused” approach to ending the war in Gaza and condemned Harris for helping facilitate a so-called “genocide.”
“After meeting with President Trump, it was clear to me he is the right leader for Muslims to get behind,” Rabiul Chowdhury, co-founder of Muslims for Trump and former co-chair of the “Abandon Harris Movement,” said in a statement.
Chowdhury added that during his discussions with Trump, the former president vowed to “ending the escalation of wars and bringing peace to war-torn regions.” In contrast to Trump’s promise to stop the “bloodshed” in Gaza, he claimed, Harris has “recklessly pushed us toward World War III.”
Chowdhury, a self-described “peace advocate,” urged the Muslim community not to fall victim to supposed “misinformation” campaigns by the media and Democrats that paint the former president as hostile to immigrants. He claimed that the former president’s focus is on “ending war, not dividing families through false immigration claims.”
Samra Luqman, chair of the Michigan chapter of Muslims for Trump, underscored the need to punish the Biden administration for what he described as supporting a “genocide” in Gaza.
“The goal of this election is to hold the Biden administration accountable for a genocide. No amount of fear mongering or scare tactics will persuade my community into forgiving the mutilation, live-burning, and genocide of over 200,000 people,” he said.
According to data produced by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, roughly 40,000 people have died in Gaza since the war began last October. Israel has said that its forces have killed about 20,000 Hamas terrorists during its military campaign.
Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication.
On the organization Muslims for Trump’s official website, it claims that the Abraham Accords, a series of historic, Trump administration-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and several countries in the Arab world, helped stabilize the Middle East. It also says that had Trump not lost the 2020 presidential race, the so-called “genocide” could have been prevented.
“Under Trump’s leadership, the Abraham Accords were brokered, fostering peaceful relations between Israel and several Arab countries. Supporters might argue that Trump’s diplomacy prioritized peace and stability in the Middle East, reducing the likelihood of large-scale conflicts like genocide,” the group wrote.
Over the course of his campaign, Trump has repeatedly touted his support for the Jewish state during his singular term in office. Trump has boasted about his administration’s work in fostering the Abraham Accords, promising to resume efforts to strengthen them if he were to win November’s US presidential election.
Harsh US sanctions levied on Iran under Trump crippled the Iranian economy and led its foreign exchange reserves to plummet. Trump and his Republican supporters in the US Congress have criticized the Biden administration for renewing billions of dollars in US sanctions waivers, which had the effect of unlocking frozen funds and allowing the country to access previously inaccessible hard currency.
Trump also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria, and also moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, recognizing the city as the Jewish state’s capital.
Despite Harris’s repeated efforts to woo Muslim voters, polling data indicates that the demographic has made a dramatic swing away from the Democratic Party. Polling data from the Arab American Institute reveals that Trump slightly edges Harris among Muslim voters by a margin of 42 to 41 percent. A report from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) shows that Green Party candidate Jill Stein leads Harris and Trump with Muslim voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona.
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