Democratic Palestine : 13 (ص 34)
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- Democratic Palestine : 13 (ص 34)
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Nablus electricity project to go on strike
and to refuse to submit any plans for the
project, as the occupation demanded of
them in order to take over the whole pro-
ject.
With all this, especially the appoint-
ments, Israel is aiming at formal Arabi-
zation of the council's administration
and departments, while maintaining the
political Judaization already estab-
lished? When the occupation authorities
were negotiating with the Chamber of
Commerce in Nablus, they demanded
that the secretariat and department
heads be in the hands of appointed
Israelis. This shows that all the conces-
sions that have been made are not
enough. Certain Palestinian forces, Jor-
dan and the Arab League should realize
this. What is going on now will harm the
national cause and the steadfastness of
our people. In addition, it will facilitate’
the effort to ‘normalize’ the occupation
politically and give it a national cover.
What is happening in Nablus is the start
of what is going to happen in other
areas. Talk is already circulating about
its application in the councils of Ramal-
lah, Al Bira and Al Khalil (Hebron).
The matter of normalization cannot
be separated from the moves of the US
consul who announced many times that
the US administration is concerned to
give a wider, active role to the councils.
From the US point of view, this means
activating the Palestinian section of the
Camp David accords. News coming
from Amman indicates that the US con-
sul there is moving in the same direction.
There are other matters which are
creating a danger for our national cause
and affecting the steadfastness of our
people in the occupied homeland. This
concerns the aid offered by several
funds to strengthen steadfastness. The
Arab fund, for instance, sent a delega-
tion to study the possibilities for help and
who is to receive this. But what hap-
pened? This aid was channeled as per-
mitted by the occupation, where it can be
of no use to the citizens. It was chan-
neled to administrative bodies that col-
laborate with the occupation.
For example, a major part of this aid
is given to the public hospital. Mean-
while, the citizen is obliged to pay a per-
centage of his income for health insur-
ance in accordance with the orders of
the occupation authorities, and to pay
hospital expenses at the rate of 40 Jor-
danian dinars (almost $120) per night.
Plus he has to buy medicine from out-
side the hospital. This example shows
that the aid given to the hospitals does
34
not contribute to strengthening the
steadfastness of the citizens. It shows
that this aid is used to meet immediate,
temporary requirements without con-
tributing to the achievement of a com-
plete health plan.
Going back to our position on the
mayor's appointment, | reject this, as do
the different nationalist forces, because
it is a conspiracy. We must reject it
because it is a political matter. Unified,
-collective efforts should be made to foil it
on the basis of the political reality inside
and outside, in order to insure the pre-
servation of the Palestinian national
program.
Dr. Haidar Abdel Shafi,
head of the Palestinian
Red Crescent Society
in Gaza
The Jordanian-lsraeli move, raising
the matter of appointing the municipal
councils, and the moves of the US con-
sul, are all linked with the wasteful policy
that started with the Amman accord. Jor-
danian-lsraeli coordination on different
levels is an old matter, as is the eppoint-
ment of pro-Jordanian elements to some
administrative posts.
Let us take the case of the
Jerusalem Electric Company and the
attempts made to share its concession,
or the Jordanian delegations, including
the recent agricultural delegation. This
gives us an idea of what Israel offers Jor-
dan under the US-sponsored settle-
ment. It gives an idea of the ceiling for
the distribution of roles under Israeli
domination. These are all indications of
the Israeli concept of the settlement, and
the results of the Palestinian right-wing's
policy which started with the Amman
accord.
In the course of the attempts made
by these different parties to create
Palestinian support for the US-spon-
sored settlement, there are also the US
consul’s meetings in Jerusalem with
Palestinian personalities. In our view, no
-talks with the US or its representatives
will offer our people anything, because
the US position is that of clear hostil-
ity...Such meetings will only consecrate
the US's insistance that we should meet
all their conditions.
Raising the matter of appointments
iS an attempt to draw the attention of the
people away from the attempts being
made to take over all the municipal
councils’ independent projects. These
attempts started with the appointment of
Israeli administrators before any Arab
committees were appointed to adminis-
trate. These appointments are being
promoted under the banner of «Arab
mayors» and «providing services to the
citizens», but the aim is political, i.e., to
install elements who follow the Jorda-
nian trend in accordance with the
Amman accord and its results. The
Chamber of Commerce, and the forma-
tion of mixed committees to take over
the municipal councils, are two currents
channeling into the plan which has been
rejected by our people.
It seems that Arafat and the Palesti-
nian rightist trend felt that they will come
out of the settlement empty-handed, so
they promoted the emergence of some
figures to secure a role in the appoint-
ment policy. The talk about the appoint-
ments in Nablus indicates that the occu-
pation authorities want to make it a pre-
cedent for similar steps in the other
cities.
On the other hand, there is the firm,
conscious stand of the people opposing
this step and its goals, while adhering to
the national program and cause, and
demanding the return of the elected
council without preconditions.
Bashir Barghouti,
editor-in-chief of
«Al Talia», Jerusalem
The appointment conspiracy in the
municipal councils, the expulsion policy
and the joint Israeli-Jordanian moves,
are three links in the same political
chain. We do not think that appointing
the council is merely an innocent matter
concerning public services. It is a politi-
cal matter aiming to break a link in the
Palestinian steadfastness. The forces
who have agreed on this policy should
know that the appointment matter is
linked to the ‘autonomy’ conspiracy. The
links between the appointments and the
Palestinian section of the Camp David - هو جزء من
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