Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 6)
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- Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 6)
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US imperialism and Britain claim that this campaign is
waged based on ‘values’ and aims at protecting innocent lives.
A person has to be reaily stupid to believe this! Where were
these values when the US and Britain used their veto power to
prevent condemnation of the Zionist enemy that daily terro-
rizes the Palestinian people in occupied Palestine, and the
people in Lebanon? When all of humanity, as represented in
the UN and Security Council, condemned the barbaric Israeli
terror, the US used the veto to save ‘Israel’. Who could believe
that the US is launching this campaign to uphold human
values? History tells us about the methods used by the coloni-
zers against the colonized, by the exploiters against the
exploited. The colonization of Asia, Africa and Latin America
took place under slogans that had a human exterior, but whose
essence was barbaric exploitation. The aggressor always needs
a cover for hiding its aggression. The true aim of this campaign
is to strike the countries that oppose US imperialist policies.
The attack on Libya aimed at subduing the Libyan leadership
and people, because they oppose US policies in the area - the
policies of Camp David.
Confronting this campaign requires strong confrontation of
the US imperialist policies in our area, in each country and on
the pan-Arab and international levels. In addition, we have to
expose this campaign and its real aims. Moreover, we should
not give imperialism any reasons to justify its aggression
before international public opinion. This explains the PFLP’s
position condemning some operations that have been used by
imperialism to justify its campaign.
Today, many talk about ‘terrorism’ launched from the
Middle East, by Syria, Libya, the PLO and the Palestinians,
and the Lebanese nationalist forces. The strategy of imperia-
lism in the Middle East is spreading Camp David in the Arab
area as a whole. The campaign against ‘terrorism’ has been
escalated as part of this strategy. There are Arab forces that
oppose the Camp David policies, especially the PLO, the
Lebanese people, Libya and Syria. It is logical that imperialism
accuses them of terrorism in order to find a justification for
attacking them to remove the obstacles to Camp David.
In 1986, the two most prominent attempts to spread
Camp David, normalizing relations between
‘Israel’ and the Arab states prior to a treaty, were
the Ifran and Alexandria meetings. What is your
evaluation of these attempts? What obstacles
remain?
First, please allow me to explain the phrase: normalization
prior to signing a treaty... The Egyptian regime signed the
Camp David accords in 1979, which aimed at normalizing
diplomatic, economic, political, social and cultural relations
between Egypt and ‘Israel’. This was a preparation for
implementing US imperialism’s larger strategic goal of esta-
blishing a coalition grouping the US and all its allies in the
area, to confront the popular movement in the region, and the
Soviet Union as well. This year, the US conducted the Bright
Star military maneuvers in Egypt, and it seeks to stage
maneuvers that include Egypt, ‘Israel’, Jordan and the whole
Arab area by 1995. Although the Camp David accord was
signed by the Egyptian regime, it is still facing difficulties due
to the position of the Egyptian masses and nationalist forces.
The most recent example is the Egyptian doctors’ union’s
refusal of the Israeli government’s offer of medical and scien-
tific exchange.
The Jordanian regime is with Camp David, but benefitting
from Egypt’s experience, it seeks to enact the normalization
policy in practice first, in preparation for signing an agree-
ment. It wants to make an expanded Camp David a reality
before signing an agreement. This is the real threat: Secret
normalization is more dangerous than overt normalization.
Therefore, it is dangerous to give any sort of political cover to
the Jordanian regime while it is normalizing relations with
‘Israel’.
The Ifran (Peres-Hassan II) and Alexandria (Peres-
Mubarak) meetings were not the only attempts to spread Camp
David. Before 1986, the US made many attempts to spread
Camp David, such as the May 17th agreement between
Lebanon and ‘Israel’, that was abrogated by the heroic Leba-
6
nese people. Then, there were attempts to draw the Jordanian
and Palestinian link into Camp David via the February 11,
1985 accord signed by Yasir Arafat and King Hussein. US
imperialism was hoping that these attempts would succeed.
Now, US imperialism talks about direct negotiations as the last
resort for the Arab countries, after itself failing to draw the
Lebanese link and the PLO into Camp David.
While the Soviet Union advocates an international confe-
rence to resolve the Middle East conflict, the US talks about
Separate, direct negotiations. The continuous attempts to
spread Camp David prove that the US is determined to exclude
the Soviet Union from the Middle East negotiations. The US
wants direct negotiations between countries, which means
eliminating the PLO from the negotiations as part of liquida-
ting the Palestinian cause. This will enable imperialism to
achieve its dream of an imperialist-reactionary coalition to
confront the masses...
One of the obstacles facing Camp David is Israeli obstinancy
and the extent of the concessions that ‘Israel’ is demanding of
the Arab reactionary regimes, and the difficulties involved in
the regimes’ giving such concessions. Another obstacle is the
position of the Arab masses and nationalist forces refusing and
confronting the Camp David policy. There is also the position
of the official and popular steadfastness forces, that we must
reinforce. The role the PLO has played is also very significant.
The Palestinian revolution became a phenomenon that filled
the vacuum left by the end of Abdul Nasser’s role in confron-
ting the imperialist policies in the area. The PLO was the core
of the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front which consti-
tuted the biggest obstacle to spreading Camp David from 1978
until 1982. Focusing on the role of the PLO does not mean
neglecting to draw up a complete confrontation program
aimed at gathering all the Arab ‘orces that are confronting the
Camp David alliance.
The Arab situation is deteriorating as seen in the
absence of Arab solidarity and the Steadfastness
Front’s role, and in the weakness of the Arab
popular movement. What is the way to overcome
this?
This is the main characteristic of the Arab situation, but it is
not the only characteristic. The other characteristic is stead-
fastness. There are forces of steadfastness in the Arab world
that have expressed themselves on more than one occasion, and
that were successful in foiling the imperialist schemes which
aimed at increasing the deterioration of the Arab situation.
Otherwise, how do you explain the Marines’ departure from
Lebanon, or the Israelis’ withdrawing from the mountains,
Beirut, Sidon and Tyre, without having extracted any political
price, officially or publicly? How do you explain Reagan’s
shameful failure in his challenge to Qaddafi? How do you
explain the failure of the Israelis and the Jordanian regime to
create an alternative to the PLO, or to liquidate the PLO? How
do you explain the popular mcbilization around the PLO as
the symbol of the Palestinian national identity, and the increa-
sing support to the PLO, despite the deviation of the leadership
and the splits this led to?
In order to overcome this reality, we must analyze it cor-
rectly. In our analysis, the primary factor is the nature of the
leaderships in power in most of the Arab countries. These
regimes’ class nature harmonizes with the Camp David policy.
It is in their class interests to end the conflict with the Israeli
enemy. If the conflict continues, this will deprive them of
enjoying the oil wealth. Most of the regimes, then, are deterio-
rating. The deterioration that hit Egypt, when it withdrew
from the struggle with the Zionist enemy, hit other countries as
well. The Egyptian regime that joined Camp David was made
an outcast by the Arab masses, but is no longer isolated on the
official level. There are Egyptian-Jordanian relations and
Egyptian-Iraqi relations. The Steadfastness and Confrontation
Front, despite its class and ideological make-up, could have
initiated a national response. The coherence of this front in the
first period enabled it to have the Baghdad Summit resolutions
adopted. However, things turned out otherwise due to the
program of the nationalist regimes, their nature and mistakes,
and due to the division of the PLO which was the main - هو جزء من
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