Panel Discussion on “The Palestinian Cause and the Deal of the century”

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The Center for Arab Unity Studies held a panel discussion on The Palestinian Cause and the deal of the Century at its headquarters in Beirut on Monday noon on July 8, 2019.Dr. Labib Qamhawi and Dr. Saif Dana spoke in the presence of more than thirty academics, researchers and media professionals.

The panel discussions were presented and moderated by Director General Luna Abu-Swaireh, who expressed that the goal of the seminar was to “look more deeper into the future prospects of the Palestinian cause” and wondered about the possibility of “conceiving the next hundred years of conflict and the features of the Palestinian national project in light of the present complexities and frustrating situation of today despite the emergence of some regional and international factors that may inspire some level of optimism”.

Dr. Labib Qamhawi elaborated on the first theme of the panel discussions about the real dimensions of the Deal of the century: It’s objectives, its means and its impact in the Palestinian territories; as he considered that the seriousness of the deal of the century lies in the fact that it aims to liquidate the Palestinian cause by giving recognition to the Jewishness of Palestine, and the abolition of the right to return, the demands to eliminate the occupation and the transformation of Palestinians into non-populous communities considering that the land supposedly belongs to the Jews and is with its rightful owners now.

Qamhawi felt that the deal had already entered into force without waiting for the approval of “already consenting governments”, surprisingly causing a “panic” in the general Arab population although it did not really bring about any changes. Its content is relatively old and continual since the Nakba in 1948. Moreover, he spoke of how dangerous dogmatic normalization was, and that absolute Palestinian rejection was the basis for killing this deal, calling for a return to the approach of resistance in all its aspects.

The second theme of the workshop was entitled The Palestinian Cause and the Century Deal: Towards a Project of Comprehensive Confrontation, in which Dr. Saif Dr. Saif elaborated on the role of political economy in deepening the crisis and the destruction of reasonable thinking; he added that the economic path led by the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza led to the “destruction of reason”, and multiplied its impact even more following Oslo 1993, by linking the economic interests of the Palestinian elite with those of “Israel”, which ultimately led to ideological devastation. Dr Dana also mentioned that it is essential to focus on understanding the nature of the Israeli opponent, the ways in which the PLO can dismantle oppressive economic structures, as well as the “colonial” relations that were used primarily to uproot the Palestinian people off their lands. Hence Dr. Dana considers that the current “Palestinian instruments” are not intellectually or politically qualified to create real a change, because the absence of any independent Palestinian fiscal policy makes it impossible to break off “colonial” relations. “What is required is a whole new beginning with a fresh new outlook” he concluded.

The discussion of the attendees that focused on the inevitability of resistance and revolution without any compromise, because the battle with the Zionist entity is of existential nature. Some argued that the fabricated intimidation of the new Deal of the century was in the context of psychological warfare, which was an important step in the passing of the deal; and that the only variable in this deal is to declare some Arab regimes stand by the American-Zionist project, calling on the Palestinian resistance forces to the necessity of positioning within the strategic resistance alliance facing this project, as we cannot invent the idea of neutrality in an area where there is no possibility of neutrality.

In the search for ways to counter with this deal, the panelists stressed the need to unite Palestinians in their various locations as a basic building block towards a comprehensive confrontation project for the Deal of the century and the likes.

This seminar is one of a series of meetings organized by the Center for Arab Unity Studies on the Palestinian cause, within the framework of the Center’s interest in intensifying dialogue and dissemination on the dimensions and future of the Arab-Israeli conflict on the road to the liberation of Palestine and the occupied Arab territories.