Opinion // God Is All the Palestinians Have Left

Palestinians gather to receive money aid from Qatar government to poor families in Gaza city on November 10, 2018 AFP

In midday, Israel lets the Qataris bring into the Gaza Strip three suitcases stuffed with dollars, a total of $15 million. That amount is chump change for a Qatari prince headed for a shopping spree in Europe. Leaders in Israel and others in Arab countries and the United States want to separate Hamas and Fatah with this negligible sum. And thus, they labor to wrap the corpse of the Palestinian issue with dollar-lined shrouds, on the way to a burial deep in the ground.

Israelis want immediate results. They are surprised that the Palestinians keep protesting and keep demanding that the blockade on the Strip be lifted, despite the fact that the ingrates received $15 million. While the money was intended to cover salaries, according to a simple calculation $7.50 was supposed to go to every Gazan on average, or $45 per each family of six. That’s the cost of a ballet lesson at a Tel Aviv community center.

Marie Antoinette and her cake have come back to life.

According to reports, the Qatari ambassador in Gaza, Mohammed al-Emadi, was greeted with a fair amount of stones by protesters in the Al-Awda refugee camp. It seems he dared visit there to assess the results of the favor of $7.50 given to each resident, and was forced to leave in shame. Indeed, even hungry people can distinguish between a hand extended to help and a hand extended to choke.

Basically, there are two components to the situation in Gaza. There is the component of intense suffering among the Palestinians and there is the national component: Where are they headed? Israel has dared to hook up with the Qataris, the sworn enemy of the Saudis, in the wake of the trouble its ally the crown prince has gotten into following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and it is trying to seal Donald Trump’s deal of the century with a little cash. To drip a drop of water into the Palestinians’ throat, and show them the way to shatter their national ambitions.

Moreover, all of the $90 million that will be channeled to the Palestinians in the coming six months will go solely to Hamas officials. The other Palestinians will get nothing. In other words, this is a deal struck between Israel and Hamas. Take the money and shut up – that’s exactly what Al-Emadi whispered to one of the Hamas leaders in front of the cameras.

Suitcases with Qatari cash being delivered to the Gaza Strip, November 10, 2018. Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation Kan

Only rulers drunk with power think this way: Feed the head of the prisoners’ committee and not the prisoners, heaven forbid, and life will seem rosy. In this equation, Israel is the stick, Arab leaders are the forlorn carrot, and the two of them will devour the Palestinians’ rights.

Meanwhile, the Qataris have an interest in helping Israel in Gaza. They want to receive from Israel a certificate of good behavior, showing that they aren’t exactly sponsors of terror – which is what it looks like when they have helped and continue to help fundamentalist groups in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere. And the way to heart of Donald Trump – who doesn’t give a damn if they decapitate people with swords or saw bodies into pieces in the Middle East – is through Israel. It’s a scene from the end-of-days: A sponsor of terror meets with the only democracy in the Middle East.

However, reality is striking back at the planners of the deal of the century. The Palestinians will not accept one drop of water offered, simply because the intention of those giving it is for them to choke on it. Nearly all Palestinian groups refuse to sit with Al-Emadi, who represents Israel more than he represents Qatar. The wider Palestinian public doesn’t buy the ploy, both because it is pathetic and because its goal endangers their future.

Just one question remains: Has the time not arrived to dry up the well of evil in Israel? Besides those who behead people and cut up bodies, does Israel have no one to mediate with the Palestinians? And even when they offer a drop of water, most of it is poisoned by divisive intentions. All the scum of the Arab world has joined with Israel against the Palestinians, and only God remains at their side.