RAMALLAH: Perhaps as many as 1,000 people – and some estimates put the number higher – showed up for Saturday's rally in Ramallah and called to support the freedom and democracy protests in Tunisia, and especially those ongoing in Egypt. It was a brave act. Earlier, similar demonstrations have been summarily, and roughly, sometimes brutally, disbanded in Ramallah, currently the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority. “I'm supporting freedom, democracy and development”, said Mohamed, one of the organizers said in Ramallah after the event, “and whoever brings it to the Egyptian people, I will support.” But here, he said, “the first thing we need to do here is also to change the leadership of the Palestinian people, before new elections.” A decision had been made, by the loose coalition of mostly-young activists who organized the demonstration, to ban the display of partisan flags belonging to the various Palestinian political factions. Only Palestinian (or Egyptian or Tunisian) flags were to be allowed. Somebody printed up a bunch of Egyptian flag stickers. They were quite good-quality reproductions, about half the size of a sheet of typing paper, with high-saturation colored ink, and an adhesive backing conveniently covered with peel-away paper. People pasted their stickers to disposable wooden kebab skewers and waved them, or stuck them directly on their clothes. One young European woman in skin-tight jeans plus a black minidress, and a short black leather bomber jacket, stuck the flag-on-a-thin-stick into the top of her loosely upswept hair. Full-sized Palestinian flags (fabric) were carried on flagpoles, and waved in the air. The Palestinian Authority (PA) had, incongruously, permitted one demonstration to take place last week, in which a very small group of Fatah loyalists participated, holding large Egyptian flags (cloth) – and chanting against Egypt's possible opposition candidate Mohamed ElBaradei. They also shouted slogans in favor of Egypt's President Husni Mubarak, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. That same evening, an impromptu demonstration called in support of the Egyptian freedom-and-democracy protesters was broken up immediately by a surprised security force. A number of demonstrators were beaten and arrested, before the Ministry of Interior and Chief of Police were summoned to the central Police station and ordered their release. In all, four previous events were suppressed by the PA since December – including one in support of the Tunisia uprising, and the others in support of the Egyptian protests. Then, the PA declared a ban on all rallies. But, Saturday's rally started off and remained peaceful – at least for the first hour or so. Organizers said later that they had not asked for permission, but they did comply with a statutory requirement to give prior notification to the police. Everything was fine, Mohamed said, until the departure of three Palestinian politicians who had participated in the event – independents Hanan Ashrawi and Mustafa Barghouthi, and Palestinian People's Party leader Bassam al-Salhi. All three had been elected to the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) in January 2006. But, to general surprise, Hamas won a majority of seats in those elections. Subsequently, so many of the newly-elected Hamas parliamentarians were arrested by Israeli forces and jailed (many for four years), that the parliament was never able to gather the quorum necessary to hold a legal meeting. The PLC's term then expired in January 2010. Planned elections had been postponed a couple of months earlier, by presidential decree, ostensibly due to the continuing split between Hamas and Fatah, and between Gaza and the West Bank. After the three politicians put in their appearance, on Saturday, and then left, chaos erupted, Mohamed explained. A few dozen Fatah supporters – some of them recognized as security personnel – suddenly showed up, carrying posters and waving the yellow flags of the Fatah movement. They pushed their way into the center of the crowd, and began chanting opposing slogans – in favor of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (“Eaysh Abbas” or “Long live Abbas”, and “Our demand is to keep Abbas”). The uniformed Palestinian police didn't do anything to separate the two groups. Then, in what was apparently a planned action, one of the protesters burned the American flag. He was then arrested and taken away by Fatah/Palestinian Preventive Security men in plain clothes. This was captured on video now posted on YouTube here. Then, the Fatah/Palestinian Preventive Security waded into group of those remaining, reportedly selecting other targeted demonstrators, grabbing and beating them and dragging them away. Later, those detained were handed over to PA police. Why had a decision been made to burn a US flag at the Ramallah rally? It seems vintage, old-fashioned. But, Mohamed explained that a decision had been made to carry out this symbolic act because “We blame the US for training our security forces…who are oppressing us. Khalass [Stop, that's it], we're fed up, with Fatah, Hamas, everyone.” “As Palestinians,” he said, “we have been under occupation for so many years, and our struggle was not to have a police state.” He said that the U.S. paid $350 million dollars per year for the Palestinian security forces, and the European Union contributed another $310 million dollars. The objection, Mohamed said, is not only because of the double standards – he said, for example, the U.S. uses its veto in the UN Security Council – but it's also because of “how the money is spent, and who is benefiting.” Here are some of the Tweets sent during the rally in Ramallah: @RamallahNow – The #Ramallah demo was hijacked by who seem to be men on duty, chanting: people want Mahmoud Abbas A friend just identified one of the ppl filming as a cop that participated at last demo oppression. #Ramallah #jan25 Police not interfering, but the number of cameras, and number of mobile phones filming, some aiming at faces! #Ramallah #jan25 “America bara bara, min masr o min #Ramallah” pro #jan25 rally Hundreds at #Ramallah main square alManara, in a pro #jan25 rally, similar rallies at other cities, defying PA ban Simultaneous, but much smaller, rallies were held in Bethlehem and East Jerusalem, and an earlier one was held in Nazareth on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published an op-ed article written by Fadi Elsalameen, identified as “a fellow with the New America Foundation's American Strategy Program” and as “Director-General of the palestinenote.com and diwanpalestine.com internet newspapers in English and Arabic”. In it, Elsalameen wrote: “The moment I began publicly raising objections to the police state being formed in the West Bank, and the fear instilled in people who might dare to criticize the government, [Palestinian Prime Minister Salam] Fayyad's intelligence services started harassing me, to the point where I no longer felt safe in the West Bank. Even now that I have returned to the United States, I still receive threatening phone calls for my criticism of Fayyad and Abbas. Several friends back home were arrested or called in for questioning by Palestinian intelligence officials over Facebook and Twitter activities that criticize Fayyad and Abbas … Fayyad and Abbas, I am sorry to say, have created an authoritarian police state that is actively suppressing people's dissatisfaction with them … The United States and Western countries must reconsider their approach toward the regimes of the Middle East. It will no longer suffice for America's horse to use the banner of moderation and Western values, and the need to fight Islamists, to crush all opposition. After all, everyone in the Arab world knows that this is not how America chooses its [own] leaders and treats its political opposition … The lesson to be learned is that America's horse can't win the race. Has President Obama learned this lesson? We will know by the way he handles Egypt − and Palestine − and by what message he sends to the Arab masses yearning for political freedom. Until then, all bets are off.” This op-ed article is posted here. BM
