Permission To Narrate

Established in 2012 in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Palestine Legal has been one of the key players holding the frontline against efforts to suppress BDS activity and speech about Palestine across the U.S., from state legislatures to university campuses. Khalidi and her staff responded to 650 such incidents between 2014 and 2016.

The rapid pace of developments might produce a favorable outcome in the immediate future for all parties involved, a rare event in Palestinian-Israeli affairs. However, the prospect of reconciliation based on shared governance and democratic election in the long run is likely to be much more tumultuous. Hamas has already repeatedly stated that it will not compromise on the issue of control of its armed wing and its weapons. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority will likely have to confront its European and American donors over adding tens of thousands of Hamas security and public-sector employees to its payroll.

But what about the left? Is there any objection to the plan on that basis? None, apparently. Haneen Zoabi, the besieged Palestinian member of Knesset, said at the Jerusalem Fund yesterday in Washington that Israel has gone so far right that it is unrecognizable to those who remember it ten years ago. Plans that were extremist ten years ago are now in the center: for instance, the idea of transferring Palestinian citizens of Israel to a Palestinian sovereign/entity/bantustan in the West Bank.

“At a press conference, head of the PA delegation Azzam al-Ahmad said the two sides agreed that the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza would be operated by the presidential guards of PA President Mahmoud Abbas by November 1.”