Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 22)
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- Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 22)
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Avoiding Rifts in the Nationalist Ranks
a
Events in Lebanon continue to underscore how crucial it is for the
nationalist forces, Lebanese and Palestinian, to exercise clear vision
in their struggle.
The Phalangist Party and their
President, Amin Gemayel, continue to
oppose political reform. It is their inten-
tion to keep the Lebanese crisis boiling
until a time when Israeli or imperialist
military backing is forthcoming. They
would then act to ignite another round of
war, hoping to reassert their lost domi-
nance. Moreover, US imperialism’s
dramatic escalation of tension in the
whole Middle East, by attacking Libya,
will not leave Lebanon untouched. In the
enemy forces’ scenario, any rift among
the nationalist forces will be exploited to
the hilt.
On this backdrop, one can fully
grasp the extreme danger spelled out by
the fighting around the Sabra and
Shatila refugee camps in Beirut, which
began on March 29th, between Palesti-
nians and the Amal movement. The
tragedy goes even beyond the fact that
35 people were killed, others injured and
scores displaced from their homes -
some for the umteenth time. The danger
is seen in the fact that this fighting lasted
for over two weeks, although from the
first days the Palestine National Salva-
tion Front (PNSF) called for a meeting
with the Amal leadership to resolve the
situation peacefully. The fighting also
continued despite an agreement on April
9th among Amal, the PNSF and the
Lebanese National Unity Front, on con-
crete measures to insure a ceasefire.
Coming after the attacks on Lebanese
communists in Beirut and South Leba-
non earlier this year, these clashes paint
a grim picture.
The fighting at Sabra and Shatila
did stop by April 16th, when a 200 man
buffer force deployed around the camps,
composed of members of the Progres-
sive Socialist Party, the Syrian Social
Nationalist Party, the Lebanese Com-
munist Party and the Lebanese Baath
Party. The ceasefire agreement stipu-
lates that this force help the PNSF con-
trol security in the camps. Amal and the
Palestinians would eliminate all «points
20
of tension» under the joint supervision of
Syrian observers, and Amal and PNSF
Officials. All barricades should be
removed to facilitate movement in and to
the camps.
The ceasefire agreement allowed
for evacuation of the dead and wounded
from the camps. As such, it came none
too soon. «lf the fighting had continued
for two or three days more, we could
have had a real medical crisis,» said
Amal Masri, an official in a Palestinian
women’s organization. A camp resident
described the situation as follows: «The
fighting was hell. Our homes were shel-
led with mortars. We must now recover
those who fled, evacuate our injured and
rebuild our homes.»
Who benefits?
While the deployment of the buffer
force stopped all-out fighting, some ten-
sion has remained. The week after the
ceasefire went into effect, two observers
- one Palestinian and one Lebanese,
from Amal - were killed by snipers. This
only underscored the main point:
Neither Amal, the PNSF, nor any
nationalist Lebanese or Palestinian,
stands to gain from such fighting. Rather
there is a whole array of other forces that
do.
On the political and mass level, the
Palestinian right wing can draw benefits.
Clashes in the nationalist ranks spread
an atmosphere of despair and confusion
as to who the real enemy is. This can be
exploited by the right wing in its search
for any political solution which, under the
current balance of forces, means sub-
mitting to the US conditions.
It is the PNSF that has stood
against these plans, and it deserves the
support of all in the Lebanese nationalist
camp, for thwarting an imperialist solu-
tion of the Palestinian cause is a pre-
requisite for ending the Israeli occupa-
tion of South Lebanon. Since 1982, new
precedents have been set for the
behavior of the Palestinian revolutionary
forces in Lebanon. Revolutionary Pales-
tinians have fought alongside Lebanese
patriots against the Israeli occupation,
US intervention and fascist terror, for
these battles cannot be separated from
the Palestinian liberation struggle. It is
inconceivable that any Lebanese force,
aspiring to an independent and democ-
ratic Lebanon, should stand in the way of
the Palestinian revolution’s armed pre-
sence in Lebanon - to protect the
refugee camps, to attack the Israeli
occupation forces and join the war
against fascist dominance.
It was to maintain this right, for the
benefit of Palestinian and Lebanese
national struggle, that the PNSF signed
the agreement in Damascus last sum-
mer with the Amal movement, to end the
1985 camp war. The PNSF has adhered
strictly to this agreement, and the out-
breaks of fighting since show the impor-
tance of all cosigners taking the letter
and spirit of this agreement seriously. If
this does not happen, the full range of
the enemy alliance stands to benefit,
beginning with the Lebanese fascists
and ranging to the Israeli occupiers and
imperialist forces.
The battle at hand
In urging solid unity among the
nationalist forces, we can point to sev-
eral possible contingencies: One is a
new round in the Lebanese civil war.
Another is a US and/or Zionist attack on
Syria, whether via Lebanon or other-
wise. The latter possibility can never be
entirely ruled out in view of Syria’s stead-
fastness against the spread of Camp
David in the area. The probability of such
action seems enhanced by the US’s
openly declared intention of changing
the map of Arab politics by toppling
President Qaddafi.
Such possibilities obviously posit
the need for solid Syrian-Palestinian-
Lebanese nationalist alliance. There is
another possibility that makes this need,
if anything, more acute. In view of past
failure to control Lebanon through out-
right intervention, US imperialism and
‘Israel’ may judge it best to refrain from
all-out military action, instead continuing
the present war of attrition, hoping to
wear down the nerves and morale of the
masses. We have already seen this ten-
dency, which is full of localized aggres-
sive acts. - هو جزء من
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