Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 11)
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- Democratic Palestine : 19 (ص 11)
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Thus the argument that their contents
threatened state security seems implau-
sible if not for the fact that any Pales-
tinian nationalist expression is consi-
dered threatening by the Zionist lea-
dership that aspires to rule over Pales-
tine without the Palestinians being seen
or heard. The charge that Al Mithaq
was controlled by the PFLP is equally
ridiculous. It is moreover an outright
insult to our people under occupation,
as if they are incapable of sustaining
nationalist publications on their own,or
producing revolutionary writings
without being instructed from
Damascus. This trumped-up charge is
in line with long-standing Zionist
attempts to present a picture of ‘benign
occupation’ over ‘happy natives’ who
would never think of resisting if not
ZIONIST AUTHORITIES
CLOSE TRADE UNION
OFFICE
The Zionist occupation authorities
continue their iron fist policies against
all Palestinian nationalist expression,
hitting especially hard at those forces
who oppose the attempt to impose joint
Israeli-Jordanian rule in the occupied
West Bank. On August 13th,the Israeli
army closed down the Nablus office of
the Progressive Front for Trade Union
Action which has offices in Bethlehem
and Ramallah as well.
An Israeli military spokesman said
that these offices were only a cover for
secret activities of the PFLP; they were
closed down on orders from General
Yahoud Barak, military commander of
the central sector (of the West Bank).
AL MITHAQ EDITORIAL
October 24, 1985
«PERES AND THE
IMPROVEMENT OF
LIVING CONDITIONS»
The local press, while talking about
the so-called’ Peres peace initiative, did
not deal with the way Peres presented
his understanding of autonomy and its
relation to the ‘improvement’ policy
presented but not put into practice.
Peres sees that the improvement of the
living conditions is closely connected
with the elimination of ‘terrorism’ in
the West Bank and Gaza. This means
that according to Peres the struggle
against ‘terrorism’ through the ‘iron
fist’ policy is a means of the improve-
ment of the living conditions of the
majority of residents. These remarks
from Peres were approved and appre-
ciated by the US Secretary of State
George Schultz. These slogans about
improvement are nothing more than
velvet gloves concealing the hardline
policy against the oppressed majority.
We have realised this for a long time
and will not be deceived by it.
Translation: Al Fajr, English edition,
November 1, 1985
incited from abroad. This calls to mind
the earlier Zionist illusions of breaking
Palestinian opposition to the ‘auto-
nomy’ plan by destroying the PLO’s
base in Lebanon, based on their sup-
position that West Bank and Gaza
Palestinians were too ‘intimidated’ by
the PLO to make peace with the occu-
piers.
The Zionists’ new attempt to silence
Palestinian opposition to occupation,
inter alia by closing Al Mithaq, will be
just as ill-fated as was their 1982 inva-
sion of Lebanon. The consistent revo-
lutionary line voiced in Al Mithaq is a
product of our masses’ struggle and
experience. It expresses the revolution-
ary tendency that exists among Pales-
tinian communities everywhere. If Al
Mithagq is prevented from expressing
our people’s aspirations to liberation
self-determination and a democratic
Palestinian state, these will anyway
surface - in demonstrations, in mass
uprisings and daily steadfastness, with
or without the printed page.
WHY NOW?
As irrational as the Zionists’ argu-
ments were, the closure of Al Mithaq
was not due to the whim of some espe-
cially mean military officer. It is in line
with long-standing Israeli repression of
the Palestinian press, which was further
tightened with the reactivation of the
iron fist policy last year. Moreover, it is
one of many steps taken in a current
Zionist plan that originates from Prime
Minister Peres’ desk.It may seem ironic
that the closure occurs amid so much
talk in Tel Aviv, Washington and
Amman, about ‘improving the quality
of life’ for residents of the occupied
territories, but that is exactly the point.
In the eyes of the enemy forces, such
repression is required for ‘improving’
the situation. This fact was aptly
exposed by Al Mithaq itself in an edi-
.orial last autumn (see box).
Editor Mohammed Khatib attributed
the closure of his papers to the prevai-
ling situation of intensified Israeli-
Jordanian cooperation to resolve the
fate of the occupied territories to their
joint favor. As part of the independent
Palestinian press, Al Mithag has been
in the forefront defending the national
line and sole representation of the
PLO.Its editorials have lashed out at all
attempts to destroy or compromise
these principles, whether by Zionist
repression, Jordanian intrigues or the
Palestinian right-wing leadership’s
deviations. It is one of the publications
that has most clearly exposed Jordan’s
special role in implementation of the
imperialist-Zionist plan for liquidating
the Palestinian cause.
At a time when US imperialism,
Zionism and Arab reaction have high
hopes for a settlement between ‘Israel’
and King Hussein, circumventing the
PLO, voices like that of Al Mithaq
cannot be tolerated. For image pur-
poses, the Zionist authorities may
refrain from closing down the entire
Palestinian press, though the extreme
right is calling for just that. The Zionists
are hoping that repression, plus greater
Jordanian leverage in the occupied ter-
ritories, can intimidate other sectors of
the Palestinian press, or surplant them
with yellow journalism. While this
might work in one or two cases, the
enemy will generally run into a brick
wall, for the Palestinian press, like its
readership, has persisted in united
adherence to the PLO. This was
recently underscored by the reaction to
King Hussein’s measures against the
PLO in Jordan. Even papers previously
considered as leaning towards Jordan,
vigorously protested these measures.
Thus, the Zionist hammer can be
expected to fall on other publications
that uphold Palestinian rights and
adhere to the PLO. Now is the time for
an international campaign, protesting
the closure of Al Mithag and Al Ahd,
and the constant Israeli harassment of
Palestinian journalists and newspapers.
Defending the Palestinian press is a
defense of human and democratic
rights. It is one way of supporting the
Palestinian people’s right to. self-
determination. e
Memorandum
Terror in Israeli Jails
The Committee for the Defense of
Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails
would like to inform you about the
inhuman conditions for political pri-
soners in occupied Palestine. In the
period following the prisoner exchange
in May 1985, a number of repressive
measures were taken against thousands
of Palestinian prisoners, aiming at
depriving them of their basic human
rights as confirmed in the Geneva and
Lahai conventions concerning the
treatment of prisoners-of-war in occu-
pied territories. These resolutions have
been approved internationally and
confirmed by all democratic institu-
tions, societies and committees in the
world, that are working in defense of
human rights, and against psycholo-
gical and physical torture and terror.
All events and facts following the
latest prisoner exchange, in which 1,187
prisoners were freed, show that the
Zionist authorities exploited the
exchange to cancel many of the rights
that the prisoners were able
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