Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 11)
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- Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 11)
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abandon one piece of our arms. We are
carrying arms in the camps, not to fight
Amal or the Lebanese people, but to
protect ourselves against hostile forces,
to prevent another Sabra-Shatila mas-
sacre. We will keep on carrying arms
even after the Lebanese resolve the
Lebanese conflict, though I don’t see
any solution unless the Palestinian
problem is also solved. I don’t separate
the two issues; the two causes are
linked. The talk about a foreseeable
agreement between the Lebanese fac-
tions and the establishment of a strong
central government is just that - talk...
As for the contention that the Palesti-
nians want to settle in Lebanon or
anywhere besides Palestine, this is not
true. If that were true, why do we have
hundreds and thousands of martyrs?
Why do we teach our children to teach
their children to continue carrying arms
until Palestine is liberated?... Let
everybody know that we don’t accept
settling in any land other than Pales-
tine.»
Mr. Taysir was very pessimistic
about the chances that the PLO lea-
dership’s policy will obtain any of the
Palestinians’ rights.He explained why:
«Since the issue of a ‘peaceful’ settle-
ment was declared, we’ve gained
nothing but misery for our people.
When the settlement issue was first
raised, the PFLP rejected this, but our
people were divided on the subject.
When the issue of an independent
Palestinian state in the West Bank and
Gaza was raised, our masses asked:
Then why are we also fighting in the
part of Palestine occupied in 1948,
where a good number of youth are join-
ing the revolution? They said that if
there is going to be this state, why are
we killing our youngsters? The settle-
ment which Sadat entered (Camp
David) was based on the balance of
forces at that time which, though
unfavorable to us, was better than it is
now. The PLO couldn’t get anything
then, so how can it get anything now,
after the PLO leadership has switched
its direction? This is not in favor of the
Palestinians or the PLO’s program.»
«King Hussein has gained a lot from
the Amman accord and is now dividing
functions with ‘Israel’; PLO was dealt
out of the game... As for Mubarak, he
said he would not return his ambas-
sador to ‘Israel’ unless ‘Israel’ with-
draws from South Lebanon and recog-
nizes the PLO. Now we can see that he
has sent his ambassador back, before
‘Israel’ withdrew or recognized the
PLO, which it will never do, even if the
PLO leadership recognizes resolutions
242 and 338. On the contrary, the PLO
leadership hasn’t and couldn’t get any-
thing. Its policies have affected our
people negatively, dividing them and
weakening the PLO militarily and poli-
tically, on the Arab and international
level. If the PLO were stronger and
united, we wouldn’t have to fight these
camp wars, instead of fighting to libe-
rate Palestine.»
Mr. Taysir warned against any
internal fighting in the camps: «Neither
‘Israel’ nor reactionary or sectarian
forces managed to affect our unity. The
PNSF must deal with this matter,
regardless of what the rightist lea-
dership has done, because Fatah’s base
in Lebanon, or elsewhere, is patriotic,
though misguided...» He concluded
with a few words to our readers outside
the Arab world: «I thank all those who
Support our just cause. I thank all the
organizations that have supported our
clinics or hospitals, or have helped us
on the political level. We ask support
groups to explain our cause to the lar-
gest sector of their people...»
PROBLEMS AND
CHALLENGES
Abu Lu/’ai is a resident of Bourj Al
Barajneh and a teacher in Beirut. He is
originally from Kwaikat, a town in the
Acca district of Palestine. He spoke of
the living conditions in Bourj Al
Barajneh now: «In general, the living
conditions have changed in so many
ways after the camp war of 1985.
Before, all the people had something
outside the camp. Students attended
school outside the camp. Workers had
jobs in Beirut and its outskirts. After
1985, everything changed. Students
could no longer leave the camp to go to
school, and workers could not go to
their jobs. There was discrimination
between Lebanese and Palestinian
workers. Many Palestinians were laid
off and replaced by Lebanese. The
social and economic conditions were
worse than ever. Looking for a source
of income became the most urgent task
for everybody.»
«Most people took full-time work
with the different resistance organiza-
tions for two reasons: first, because it is
a source of income, and second, to
enable the defense of their lives and the
camps. However, this in itself also
created certain problems. The main
problem was that certain organizations
recruited indiscriminately. Many
people took full-time work in the resis-
tance because of their need for money,
not because of their convictions. A lot
of the resistance’s money is used for
economic aid to people. Instead, I
believe this money should be utilized to
build projects to absorb the unem-
ployed and stop the increasing immi-
gration of our young people.»
«The Palestine National Salvation
Front is the representative of our
people in the camp. Unfortunately,
there are many faults in its work. There
are not enough field visits by the res-
ponsibles. Maybe this is due to the
political situation which is changing
daily, but I believe that it is necessary to
visit the ordinary people of the camp
and discuss their living situation in
order to solve some of their problems...
The most positive role of the resis-
tance was in the period after 1982, prior
to 1985. Then there was correct revolu-
tionary work; underground work is the
most beneficial...»
«Of course, when there is danger,
everyone will carry a gun and turn out
to defend the camp, because the danger
threatens the whole camp, not only
certain houses or certain people. But
the point is how to defend the camps?
In 1969 (when the Lebanese army
attacked the resistance and camps), all
the fighters concealed their faces with
their kofiyehs, because they knew there
were informers among them. But now,
fighters show off because everyone who
carries a gun is labeled a hero. This is
one of the reasons the students and
workers are unable to leave the camp.
Many of the fighters are politically
immature, and there is too much talk
about who is a fighter and who is not.
This talk gets back to Amal. We have
fighters who have not been able to leave
the camp since 1985, because Amal
detains and kills anyone who has car-
ried a gun... What I mean to say is that
recruitment should be done more
carefully.»
Abu Lu’ai was adamant about the
need for educational facilities. He said,
«We have a big problem which is the
lack of schools. The students cannot
leave the camp to attend school because
of Amal. Gradually, education will be
eliminated if nothing is done. The
youth of the camp have nothing to do
when they cannot attend school. This
leads many of them to hang around and
take drugs or alcohol. In addition,
many just stopped going to school and
took full-time work with some organi-
zation, as a result of the economic
situation. The organizations’ political
education for their members is not
enough. They should try to open
classes, so the students could resume
their education.»
«UNRWA’s services have dimi-
nished. They provide very few books or
school supplies now. The main task of
the Salvation Front now, in my opi-
nion, should be following up with
UNRWA the issue of reopening Sibleen
vocational institute. It has been closed
since 1982. Many young. people
attended this institute after finishing
high school, because of the high costs
of universities. Now our youth cannot
leave the camp to finish their education
at all, so it would be very important to
reopen this institute. UNRWA does not
provide food for the people of the camp
on the pretext that they are out of
money, but they are paying salaries of
over 20,000 Lebanese pounds each to
their foreign staff members.» |
«At this stage, high school fees are
over 7,000 Lebanese pounds per
semester. Most families cannot send
their children to high school. There-
fore, I suggest that the Salvation Front
work to open a high school in the
camp, so that the 200 students who
have finished grammer school can at
least finish high school. The Salvation
Front has opened a school in Sidon. We
heard that it was the greatest service to
the people there. Two other schools
were opened in Tripoli and Tyre. We
need such a project here, or at least
11
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