No one in the political arena is above criticism. That’s the character of debate when understanding complex social & political problems is involved. Nevertheless, it’s hard to criticize someone like Ali Abunimah when he plays such a central role in Palestinian solidarity. His political judgements however, outside of Palestine & Israel, are often quite conservative. On the issue of the Assad dictatorship & the Syrian Arab Spring, including the role of Palestinian refugees, his politics are hopelessly mired in Assadism.
Not to insult his intelligence, but it seemed he was too influenced by such people as Ben Norton & Max Blumenthal. In fact, his father Hasan Abu Nimah lost his home in the West Bank after the 1967 War, became a Palestinian resident of Jordan, & served as a
career diplomat for the Jordanian monarchy for many years until his retirement. He has written several articles about Syria, all of which take a strong Assadist position. It’s likely that as a diplomat he had exchanges with the Assad dynasty & may even know them on a personal basis. What’s unfortunate is that neither Abunimah has grasped the problems faced by Palestinian refugees in Syria who sided with the Syrian Arab Spring. Many have been disappeared, arrested, tortured, & murdered in Assad’s gulag. Thousands have been displaced by regime & Russian bombing. Jordan long ago sealed off its borders to them as Turkey later did. The issue involved in their political blindness most likely has to do with class since Palestinian refugees in Syria could not go from being refugees into a diplomatic post.