TEHRAN (FNA)- Academic and activist Kamel Hawwash believes that Trump administration is “naïve” to think that Palestinians would accept his so-called Deal of the Century to end their struggle in return for “economic prosperity”.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with FNA, Kamel Hawwash shared his opinion with us that the status of the holy city of Jerusalem al-Quds and the issue of the Palestinian refugees are key issues that Trump administration has tried to take off the negotiation’s table.
According to the Palestinian academic, “Israel is the child of racist ideology of Zionism” which has been designed to “put the interests of the Jewish Zionists ahead of all others, including the indigenous Palestinians”.
Kamel Hawwash is a British-Palestinian engineering professor based at the University of Birmingham. Hawwash is a longstanding campaigner for justice, especially for the Palestinian people. He is the Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and a founding member of the British Palestinian Policy Council (BPPC).
FNA has conducted an interview with Kamel Hawwash about Israel’s brutal crackdown on Palestinian protesters, the Israeli legislation known as the nation state law and also Trump’s so-called deal of the century.
Below you will find the full text of the interview.
Q: It seems that killing scores of people and maiming thousands more over the past several months aren’t an indication of what Israel thinks is enough to keep Gaza in check. Do you think Israel’s deadly clamp down on Palestinian protesters is going to end anytime soon?
A: Ever since its inception in 1948 through violence and terror, Israel has treated the indigenous Palestinians as a lesser people than Jewish Israelis. It has systematically denied all the basic rights expected by any other people. This includes the right to self-determination and the right for Palestinian refugees, expelled in 1948 to return to their homes. Since March 2018, Palestinians in Gaza have been marching peacefully to demand a lifting of the illegal and immoral siege on the beleaguered strip and to be allowed to return peacefully to their homes. Instead of meeting their peaceful and legitimate demands, Israel met their protests with deadly fire, deploying tens of snipers that shoot to kill, sometimes at distances of hundreds of meters. Among the over 200 dead have been children, journalists and medics. There are no signs that the Great March of return will end soon or that Israel will stop attacking protesters at the Gaza fence.
Q: What do you think the protests known as the ‘Great March of Return’ have accomplished so far?
A: The protests have highlighted the plight of Palestinians in Gaza but also the unjust situation all Palestinians find themselves in, nearly 72 years after their dispossession and expulsion. The GMR has also shown the world that Palestinians are resilient. They will not give up on their cause, no matter what Israel and its allies do. On the same day as the United States opened its new Embassy in Jerusalem, against all international understandings and before the ‘deal of the century’ was announced, Palestinians marched to the Gaza fence in their tens of thousands. The murder by Israel of over 60 Palestinians has not broken them. Nine months after the start of the march, they continue to protest. The GMR has also shown the world that Palestinians across all political factions can come together to face the common enemy Israel, putting aside their differences. Israel’s violent response has exposed the brutality of the extremist regime governing what many see as a rogue state.
Q: How do you think the US and some Arab states are complicit in crimes against the Palestinians especially in light of the discreet links between Israel and Saudi Arabia and some other Persian Gulf states?
A: The US funds Israel to the tune of over $3 billion per annum. It also provides Israel with a de facto veto at the UN Security Council, shielding it from accountability. It also provides it with cover for its crimes against the Palestinians, claiming it is entitled to self-defense. As an occupying power, it is not entitled to self-defense. In fact, it is obligated to protect the people it occupies and to refrain from committing crimes against them including land theft and moving its civilians into these occupied areas.
Arab states have not acted in the best interests of the Palestinian people, and some have embarked on steps to normalize relations with what is effectively an Apartheid state that occupies Arab people. Not only have Israeli sports teams performed in [Persian] Gulf States, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu recently visited Oman, followed closely by other minster visiting Oman and the UAE.
Q: In July 2018, the so-called nation state law was adopted by Israeli Knesset. What do you think the legislation shows about the nature of the regime in Tel Aviv?
A: Israel is the child of racist ideology of Zionism. It was never designed to be anything but a state that put the interests of Jewish Zionists ahead of all others, including the indigenous Palestinians. Its policies discriminate against Palestinians, whether in Gaza, East Jerusalem or the rest of the West Bank. It also discriminates against the Palestinian citizens of Israel in all areas of life, while providing a facade that claims that it is a democracy for all. The adoption of the nation state law in July entrenches its racism and articulates its own form of Apartheid. It gives the right of self-determination only to Jews, provides every Jew around the world with a right to emigrate to it but denies the right of return to Palestinian refugees. It also sees the building and expansion of settlements as a national value. With this law, Israel basically challenged the world, saying ‘I am an apartheid state, what are you going to do about it’? The world has been silent, thus providing it with a continuation of the impunity it has enjoyed.
Q: Many believe that the continuing illegal Israeli settlement activities have hammered nail after nail into the coffin of a diplomatic solution. What do you think about that?
A: Anyone who visits the occupied territories comes away questioning whether Israel has any interest in peace based on international law. Most countries believe this will come through a two state solution. However, as the number of settlers moves onwards a million and hundreds of settlements are developed connected with settler only roads and with the Apartheid Wall built deep into the occupied territories, the ‘facts on the ground’ Israel is creating have ended any prospects of a two-state solution that would meet the basic needs of Palestinians whose leadership accepted a state on 22% of their historic homeland. That is not only damaging for the prospects of peace, it also places all the countries that continue to hold out for a two-state in difficulty as they have no alternative to that. However, calls for one democratic state for all inhabitants of historic Palestine appear to be increasing.
Q: The current administration in the US has been boasting about their new plan for Palestine and even calling it the deal of the century. What do you think would be in the new deal for the Palestinians?
A: The deal of the century seems to be a mirage. No details have emerged and it has been promised for a launch for months but with no firm date. The Palestinians have already rejected a US made plan after US President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city. Jerusalem and the issue of the refugees are key final status issues that Trump has attempted to take off the negotiation’s table. With Netanyahu claiming Israel must have security control from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, there is very little that the ’deal of the century’ can compensate for exclusion of these issues from future negotiations. The deal is likely to focus on economic prosperity for Palestinians, which this naïve American administration thinks the Palestinians will accept to end their struggle. The Great March of Return has demonstrated that the Palestinians will continue to struggle, no matter what the cost until they attain their rights.
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