Exceeds normalization and strikes the depth of struggle .. Palestinian refusal to participate in the conference "J Street"

Awad Rajoub-Hebron

"A conference that goes beyond normalization and strikes the depth of our national struggle against the Zionist enemy," said the advocates of boycotting Israel the annual conference of the Israeli lobby organization "J Street", calling on Palestinian and Arab participants to withdraw from it immediately.

While some withdrew, others continued to attend the October 26-29 conference in Washington, including chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, who spoke on Monday night.

Other Palestinian figures at the conference include Osama al-Qawasmi as an advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Ayman Odeh as chairman of the Arab List.

On the Israeli side, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak is accused of committing war crimes that killed 1417 Palestinians in Gaza in 2008 and 2009, and former Prime Minister Tzipi Livni and others.

The cloak of liberalism
Boycott movements say that Arab participation, especially the Palestinian ones, provides the Zionist pressure group with a liberal cloak in which it conceals its anti-Palestinian agenda in essence.

In addition, the legalization of Israeli violations and the normalization of anti-Palestinian racism in the United States.

The Palestinian National Committee for the boycott that the participation in the conference "violated the norms of normalization established near the national and popular consensus since 2007," according to a press release.

The statement pointed out that "despite the liberal framework shown by the organization and its claim against the main Zionist lobby and the far-right (AIPAC), its policies are practically identical to those of the Zionist establishment that fueled and helped continue the violation of Palestinian rights."

According to the statement, the organization defines itself as a lobby that works to strengthen Israel as a "national homeland for the Jewish people", raises the slogan "with Israel, with peace", denies the right of return for Palestinian refugees, supports settlement expansion and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, as well as its participation in the war on Boycott Movement (BDS) within the United States.

Analyst and journalist Khaled al-Amayreh said the Palestinian participation in the conference "resulted from the misconception that the role of the opponents of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump could be strengthened."

Amayreh adds that the issue of "constants", which have long been praised by the Palestinians and adhered to by late President Yasser Arafat, ended in personal jurisprudence, resulting in different positions of the Palestinian leadership.

Enable normalization
For his part, says the Palestinian journalist Mohammed Abed Rabbo from Jerusalem that the statement of the boycott movement reflects the position of the Palestinian population in occupied Jerusalem, especially with the continued Judaization and manifestations of racism and fighting any influence of the Palestinian Authority in the city.

Abed Rabbo told Al-Jazeera Net that 25 years after the Oslo agreement, the Palestinian leadership should have announced his death and not adhering to direct and indirect contacts with the occupation, surprising the participation of Palestinian officials in a conference involving Israeli officials behind crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

Mahmoud Fatafta, a writer and journalist from Ramallah, said that with the political process stalled, "there is no justification for any meetings that will not lead to a product that serves the Palestinian people and their cause."

He added that the participation of a delegation representing the Palestinian leadership in the conference "J Street" would shake the remaining confidence of this leadership, and contribute to the strengthening and enabling normalization activities, considering that the most important reflection of the conference is to weaken the status of the Palestinian cause among the free world and its supporters .