Peace must begin with the Palestinians — not with the Indonesians or the Saudis!

By: Tamim Abu Khait

When Netanyahu and Trump talk about peace, they do not mean peace — heaven forbid — with the Palestinian people or with a Palestinian state. They do not mention either of those at all. They talk about peace with Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco and even Iran! They speak of peace vaguely, merely as a slogan, deliberately diverting attention from the core of the conflict and the real causes of Israel’s wars. It seems Netanyahu wants to continue living with these wars, to renew them again and again — as if they were the oxygen the Jewish state breathes.

Is there not one sane person among the current leadership of the state who understands that peace must begin here — not in Indonesia, not in Riyadh? There is no peace in our very near western neighbor, Gaza, nor in our very near eastern neighbor, Ramallah, and not even in the heart of our country, in Umm al-Fahm! Peace must start here, otherwise it will be neither here nor there.

The denial and hostility that Netanyahu and his “herd” (now growing) display toward the Palestinian Authority and its president stem from a very well-known reason: the path to peace lies there!

In all their talk and plans about the future and “Gaza after Hamas” — they not only avoid the Palestinian Authority, they explicitly exclude it and insist on not involving it in any clause or discussion about who will run Gaza after Hamas. They apparently believe or want the Israeli army to be the one to run it in the end — and that, in their view, is the only route to the “peace” they seek. In practice, they are looking for another October 7, another war.

The only path to peace with Indonesia and Saudi Arabia runs through Ramallah and the UN, and the government must stop deceiving the people into thinking otherwise or that some other route somehow serves Israel’s interest.

Israel’s true interest lies in peace and a historic reconciliation with the Palestinian people. That is where we must begin. Peace begins in Umm al-Fahm and Rahat, and from there it spreads to Ramallah and Gaza. Then its path will naturally extend to Saudi Arabia and even to Iran, and only then will peace agreements with the Jordanian and Egyptian peoples — agreements that currently exist between us only on paper — be genuinely realized.

Peace begins only with Abu Mazen. There can be no peace without the Palestinian Authority and without the PLO, whose agreements and mutual recognition with Israel are still in force. Yet Israel continues to look for alternative, imaginary, temporary Palestinian figures to get through the coming month and the next war.

Sadly, Netanyahu’s ideas, tactics and demagoguery do not affect only his own “herd” — they have spread into the ranks of the opposition, the media herd, and more than half of the public! That is our great task: to fight to expose the truth, to unmask the illusions and to correct the course. It is time to return to talking about peace.“Peace” — yes, do you remember that word?

Our only hope for peace is in the coming elections. Prepare yourselves and get ready to act in those elections — this is the last chance to prevent the final catastrophe.