(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
Sanaullah Ataullah
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The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Qatar Press Center yesterday hosted Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian physician, activist, and politician who serves as General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, also known as al Mubadara to discuss 'Challenges of the Palestinian Issue in the trump Tenure'.
The seminar was attended by Chairman of Qatar Press Center (QPC), Saad bin Mohammed Al Rumaihi and a number of academics, experts and prominent media persons. Speaking at the event, Dr. Barghouti lauded Qatar and H H the Amir for their support to Palestinian people.“We feel in Qatar as we are in our country and we greatly appreciate Qatar's firm positions despite the pressures that we know are being exerted in this region,” said Barghouti.
He added:“I would like to express my great appreciation for Qatar, H H the Amir, and all those working in various fields and areas, especially in the media field.” He said Palestinian people are facing several major challenges today, some of which existed before Trump came to power and some of which became more evident after Trump was elected in these elections.“The first challenge is that in Israel today there is a government that can be said without hesitation a fascist government in the literal sense of the word,” said Barghouti. He said it is not only a racist Zionist government that is hostile to the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples, but more than that, it is a government with a fascist character.“The problem is that the fascist pattern in its behaviour is not limited to those who are actually in the government, but also extends to the Zionist parties in the Zionist opposition. Both parties share this orientation,” said Barghouti. He said this became clear especially after October 7 that Israeli society is dangerously moving towards fascism in a phenomenon that is perhaps unprecedented in the modern era, except perhaps what happened in Germany during the rise of Nazism.
“That's why they are putting forward annexation and Judaisation plans. Now they are talking about reoccupying the entire Gaza Strip. They are now carrying out the most dangerous ethnic cleansing operation in northern Gaza. They are carrying out genocide and trying to liquidate the entire Palestinian cause,” said Barghouti.
He said the number of Palestinian martyrs and wounded in Gaza during this year exceeded 160,000, which means more than seven percent of the population of the Gaza Strip.
“The second astonishing number is that Israel dropped 66,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza Strip. These things disclose the fascist nature of Israel,” said Barghouti.
He said the second challenge in the new US administration is that Trump has not announced anything yet, but the people he has brought with him so far seem to be supportive of Israeli plans.“In the past, when Trump came in the first phase, he was talking about annexing Jerusalem, the settlements, and the Golan Heights to Israel in the plan, and turning the idea of a Palestinian state into isolated cantons without control over water, natural resources, borders, airspace, or the electromagnetic field. In other words, a state in name only,” said Barghouti.
He added:“But in reality there were enclaves. But now what they are talking about and even that will not exist when we talk about annexing the entire West Bank.” He said that it is no coincidence that the fascist Smotrich and Netanyahu anticipated events before Trump took office as they began to talk about putting the issue of annexing the West Bank on the table.
“I speak as a Palestinian living in Palestine and determined to stay in Palestine. The most important thing is that we stay in Palestine, that we do not allow displacement, whether voluntary or forced, that we do not allow a repetition of what happened in 1948,” said Barghouti. He added:“If we remain in Palestine, the resistance of the Palestinian people will remain, and if the resistance of the Palestinian people remains, they will not succeed in implementing their plans.”“This war is an existential war for us. Netanyahu often says that this is an existential war for Israel, which is not true,” said Barghouti. He added:“We are in this existential war, for us it is a war of being or not being. To stay or not to stay. And this is the most dangerous war since 1948, and it threatens a catastrophe greater than a devastating catastrophe.”
The session was moderated by prominent Qatari journalist Muhammad Al Ansari.
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