I now believe that there are two versions of Mahmoud Abbas, the first from before 23/9/2011 and the second after it. The original Abu Mazen was a calm man who could not be provoked, a man who deals with things amicably, as though he were a child who is sixty or seventy years old. The new Abu Mazen is angry and defiant, and is twenty years old and has the charisma of Abu Ammar and none of his blunders. We are today looking at an Abu Mazen who existed prior to his speech at the UN General Assembly and his request for full membership for Palestine in the international organization, and a different Abu Mazen who emerged after the speech. There were tears in my eyes when I heard the speech, while seated with the Lebanese delegation. I also saw Ambassador Nawaf Salam crying, while others were wiping tears from their eyes. I looked around and found that not all the applause and cheering was being done by Arabs and Muslims. Rather, it was an overwhelming majority that expressed support for the Palestinians, including supporters of their just cause, opponents of Israeli racism, and others who were hurt by U.S. foreign policy. Among those latter are Latin American countries, whose peoples' suffering as a result of U.S. policy resembles what the Arabs suffered at the hands of British and French colonialism. So perhaps the people of El Salvador were among those who suffered and did not forget their suffering. I write this because the government of El Salvador has recognized the State of Palestine, and Abu Mazen visited San Salvador as part of a Latin American tour in which he agreed with President Mauricio Funes to establish diplomatic relations and promote bilateral relations. What struck me about this visit was the speech given by President Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian community in San Salvador, in which he responded to what David Ben-Gurion once said- that the next generations of Palestinians would forget Palestine. Abu Mazen said, "We have not forgotten Palestine, Ben-Gurion. As the Palestinian saying goes: No right being demanded ever dies, and I see that liberation is near…” But what is the story behind forgetting Palestine? I have previously cited in this column an old book entitled “The Jewish Paradox”, published in the beginning in French, and containing conversations between the author Nahum Goldman and Ben-Gurion. I choose some translated excerpts, with Ben-Gurion finding Goldman's optimism regarding the future of Israel unsubstantiated, and saying: I don't understand your optimism. Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance. So, it's simple: we have to stay strong and maintain a powerful army. Our whole policy is there. Otherwise the Arabs will wipe us out. I will be seventy years old soon. Well, Nahum, if you asked me whether I shall die and be buried in a Jewish state I would tell you Yes; in ten years, fifteen years, I believe there will still be a Jewish state. But ask me whether my son Amos, who will be fifty at the end of this year, has a chance of dying and being buried in a Jewish state, and I would answer: fifty-fifty… Nahum Goldman was stunned by Ben-Gurion's pessimism, and interrupted him to ask: But how can you sleep with that prospect in mind, and be Prime Minister of Israel too? Ben-Gurion answered: Who says I sleep? Thus, half a century or so after that conversation, Abu Mazen recalls it in El Salvador, to stress that the Palestinians have not forgotten, and that they shall not forget. Maybe Ben-Gurion's problem was that he did not sleep and hence, he could not dream that a day would come when Israel, the Israel lobby, and the neoconservative Likudniks who killed one million Arabs and Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan completely shall control the U.S. Congress. A day when a fascist aggressor state runs the foreign policy of the world's last remaining super power, to the extent at which that President Barack Obama asked the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to mediate between him and the U.S. Congress, so that the latter does not suspend U.S. aid to Palestine [To Editor: Israel here is a typo - should be Palestine]. Today, the U.S. Congress, with Representatives like the Jewish Cuban-American immigrant Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, wants to suspend all aid to the Palestinians, in order to do away with what is left of America's old reputation and standing. For Israel now is that metaphorical tail that wagged the American dog. But then there is a new Palestinian leader leading the resistance, called Abu Mazen, who is month old. [email protected]
