Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 3)
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- Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 3)
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Editorial
The Requirements of National Unity
In the light of the dramatic events of the past months, we
find ourselves again obliged to write about Palestinian national
unity, discussing the ways of regaining the split that took place
in the PLO, as a result of Arafat’s 1983 visit to Cairo, and the
deviationist policies then followed by the PLO leadership.
In the last two months, the dangers threatening the Palesti-
nian national struggle and cause have become more concrete.
US imperialism has decided to give new momentum to the
process of implementing its schemes in the Middle East. In
line with this, Shimon Peres of ‘Israel’ visited King
Hassan of Morocco to discuss ways of implementing a
US-style settlement in the Middle East. Not long afterwards,
another reactionary agreement took place in Alexandria, be-
tween Peres and Mubarak,on September 11-12th,to discuss the
Middle East question and solve it at the cost of the Palestinian
people.
If one adds to these events the vicious moves of King Hus-
sein against the PLO and the Palestinian independent identity,
and the continued visits of the US envoys to the area, one
understands the pressing need for reuniting the PLO on the
national platform, clearly antagonistic to imperialist Zionist
and reactionary plots. The importance of clarity in the
PLO’s program becomes ever more necessary as the Zionist
and imperialist plans have become clearer than ever in their
antagonism to the Palestinian revolution and all patriotic Arab
forces. At the same time, the role of Arab reaction has become
more concrete, especially that of King Hussein (See article on
the plan for «improving the quality of life» in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip.) For this reason, we have been calling for an
immediate, comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue to
Start after the cancellation of the Amman accord signed by
Yasir Arafat and King Hussein. We have also stressed that the
focus of this dialogue is regaining Palestinian national unity
and the unity of the PLO, based on clear political and organi-
zational principles. The political and organizations principles
agreed on must be stated very precisely, leaving no opportunity
for the rightist leadership to interpret them in another way.
THE WEAKNESS OF THE PRAGUE
DECLARATION
With varying motivations, five Palestiniaa organizations
held a series of meetings to discuss Palestinian unity. The five
are the Central Committee of Fatah, the Arab Liberation
Front (tied to Iraq), the group of Abu Abbas which was
encouraged by Arafat to split from the Palestinian Liberation
Front, the Palestinian Communist Party and the DFLP. So
far, these meetings have resulted in the Prague Declaration,
issued on September Sth, which put forth eleven points, and
called upon all other Palestinian factions to restore the PLO’s
unity in accordance with them.
The Prague Declaration has more than one major defect,
which make it unsatisfactory as a basis for national unity. The
Prague Declaration made no mention of the position of the
PLO on relations with the Egyptian regime. This is in spite of
the fact that the conferees know very well that the split in the
PLO actually started from the point of Arafat’s visit to Cairo.
Ironically, not long after this declaration, Mubarak held his
summit with Peres, before which he had contacted Arafat.
The Prague Declaration did not cancel the Amman accord
which is almost unanimously considered fatal for the Palesti-
nian struggle. It merely stated that the Amman accord is «no
longer operative» and «no longer constitutes a basis for the
PLO policy and activities and practice.» Obviously, the Cen-
tral Committee of Fatah refused to use the word cancel or any
of its derivatives, in connection with the Amman accord. Why?
Because this is exactly the kind of statement which Arafat
insists upon, because he can interpret them in his own way. Not
long after signing the Prague Declaration, he insisted on saying
that the Amman accord was not cancelled. In an interview with
Al Ittihad newspaper in Abu Dhabi, September 21st, Arafat
said that the Amman accord was stopped, but not cancelled,
because only the PNC should decide on its cancellation or
approval. He added that the accord remains one of the options
for solving the Palestinian question!
Moreover, when progressive allies of the PLO, namely the
leadership of Democratic Yemen, asked Arafat to sign a paper
pledging to cancel the Amman accord at the opening session
of national dialogue, Arafat replied that Abu Mazen, Fatah
Central Committee member, could do that. Why? To have his
hands free, because Arafat considers himself leader of the PLO
which is larger than Fatah, of course. In any coming PNC, he
will say: Lets vote on what the organizations have agreed upon,
knowing that the majority in the PNC, as it was previously
constituted, is in his favor. If this should happen, what would
the leftist organizations have done? People will say that the left
was used by Arafat as a cover for gaining approval and legi-
timizing the accord with the Jordanian monarch.
Another evidence of how Arafat can manipulate the situa-
tion conerns UN Security Council resolution 242. The second
point of the Prague Declaration emphasizes «rejection of
separate, partial and liquidationist projects and solutions, such
as the Camp David plan, the Reagan plan, autonomy, func-
tional division of administration; reject resolution 242 because
it ignores the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people»
(Prague declaration, September 5, 1986). On September Sth,
1986, in the non-aligned summit in Harare, Arafat declared
that he is ready to recognize resolution 242 among all other UN
resolutions that deal with the Palestinian question!
Another important blunder concerning the Prague Declara-
tion is that two leftist, patriotic organizations, the DFLP and
the Palestinian Communist Party, hurried to negotiate
unconditionally with the rightist leadership, without trying to
primarily agree with the other six patriotic organizations. This,
of course, weakened the position of the DFLP and Palestinian
Communist Party, and gave Arafat the opportunity to reach a
politically weak agreement, as seen in the Prague Declaration.
This is deplorable because the unity of the Palestinian left on
a common position is an asset that would serve not only the
leftists, but also the Palestinian people and cause as a whole.
Potentially, it is one of the best means to force the rightist lea-
dership of the PLO to stick to the national program.
We reiterate that public cancellation of the Amman accord
by those who signed it, is a precondition for any dialogue with
the Central Committee of Fatah. This dialogue should result in
a clear organizational and political program with all the i’s
dotted and t’s crossed. ®
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