The occupied West Bank is facing its “most dangerous phase” since 1948 and a “new Nakba,” Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti warned in an interview with Anadolu on Thursday.
Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, said the Oslo Accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel are “dead.”
He argued that Israel is using illegal settlers as a “spearhead” to implement a plan aimed at annexing the occupied West Bank and pushing Palestinians to leave their land.
Palestinians use the term Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic, to refer to the displacement of about 800,000 Palestinians in 1948 as Israel was established on Palestinian land.
Qusra under siege
Barghouti described the siege of Palestinian homes and illegal settler attacks in the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, as the "complementary roles" of the Israeli forces and illegal settlers.
He said the transfer of security powers in settlements from the occupation forces to the Israeli police represents a step towards “handing the West Bank over to occupiers.”
Qusra has witnessed escalating tensions, with Israeli forces and illegal settlers continuing to besiege three Palestinian homes in the Jabal Ras al-Ain area for an 11th consecutive day.
Last Thursday, Israeli occupation forces carried out an operation in the town, taking control of 16 Palestinian homes and turning them into military positions while forcing some of their residents to leave.
Barghouti described what is happening in Qusra as “one of the most dangerous things Palestine has faced since 1948.”
Ethnic cleansing
Barghouti argued the developments amount to ethnic cleansing similar to what occurred in 1948.
He said the same mechanisms used at the time by Zionist armed groups, including the Irgun and Stern Gang, are being employed today by what he called terrorist gangs.
“The situation is extremely dangerous, and action must be taken by every possible means,” he said.
Israel “would not have reached this level of impunity without the silence of those around it and the failure to take regional measures,” he added.
Barghouti stressed that the violence is not confined to Qusra and said it reflects increasingly close coordination between the Israeli forces and illegal settlers.
He also addressed Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz’s announcement that security powers in illegal settlements would be transferred from the occupation forces to the Israeli police.
Barghouti said the move effectively means “putting the West Bank in the hands of (Itamar) Ben-Gvir,” referring to the Israeli national security minister.
He also criticised the US position, saying: “The United States, which claims to be committed to peace and has established a Board of Peace, has not issued a genuine condemnation of Israel.”
Addressing reports that an American citizen was guaranteed access to his home in Qusra, Barghouti said the issue goes beyond protecting an individual American citizen and concerns the right of all Palestinians to protection.
“There is no difference between a Palestinian holding American, Spanish or Palestinian citizenship. They are all Palestinians and must all be treated with respect,” he said.
Two-state solution
Barghouti criticised Western countries that continue to speak about a two-state solution without taking measures against Israel.
“All countries in the world, especially Western countries, that continue talking about the two-state solution while taking no punitive action against Israel as it destroys the idea of an independent Palestinian state and the two-state solution are, in practice, being hypocritical,” he said.
He stressed that Palestinian steadfastness requires support and must be accompanied by “imposing punitive measures on a government that violates all international laws.”
Call for unified strategy
On the Palestinian domestic front, Barghouti called on the official Palestinian leadership and political factions to move towards national unity, saying that the current phase requires a reassessment of the Palestinian political path.
“It is the duty of the official leadership to move toward national unity and abandon the Oslo Accords,” he said.
“Oslo is dead, and continuing to talk about adhering to it is clinging to an illusion,” he added.
He called on all parties to work to implement existing understandings and establish “a unified national leadership based on a unified national strategy” capable of leading the Palestinian struggle in confronting what he described as “the most dangerous phase.”
