Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 20)
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- Democratic Palestine : 21 (ص 20)
- المحتوى
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independent movements and parties. In the fifties, Al Ard (The
Land) nationalist organization was founded, but it was savagely
repressed and its leaders imprisoned. On July 24, 1964, a law
was issued banning its activities.
After the June War of 1967, the nationalist relations between
the Palestinians in the 1948 occupied land and those in the newly
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, became more direct and
deeper. The emergence of the organized armed Palestinian
revolution, and its military struggle, had deep effects in terms of
crystallizing the masses’ national awareness, especially after
their disappointment with the Arab bourgeois regimes. These
developments greatly curtailed the influence of the mukhtars
and other traditional figures who couldn’t compete with the new
generation of nationalist intellectuals in the 1948 occupied area.
This new blood headed the election lists for town and village
councils. The trend of struggle for improving the conditions of
life increased and grew into struggle for legitimate national
rights and full political rights. The new generation formed
several independent political movements - the Sons of the Vil-
lage, the Druze Initiative Committee, the Progressive Nationa-
list Movement, the Movement for Organizing the Ranks in
Nazareth, the Arab Academics’ Union, Union of Arab Stu-
dents’ Committees, the Arab Students’ League, etc. Other
groups were established such as the Committees for the Defense
of the Land, the Regional Committee of the Heads of Local
Councils - 1982. Some of the groups formed sprang from poli-
tical movements, but publicly adopted demands concerning
living conditions in order to be considered legal.
UNITED PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE
Regardless of the stated goals of these movements, from the
time of their formation, all dealt with the political issues that
concern the Palestinian people as a whole. They have conti-
nuously expressed their adherence to the PLO and solidarity
with the struggles of Palestinians everywhere through state-
ments and demonstrations against attacks on the Palestinian
cause. These movements and organizations have mass roots, as
does Rakah whose influence has grown among Palestinian
Arabs. All rejected the Camp David accords. They made large
demonstrations against the 1982 Zionist invasion of Lebanon,
calling for a stop to this expansionist war and immediate with-
drawal of the invading troops. On September 20, 1982, Palesti-
nians protesting the Sabra-Shatila massacre clashed with the
Border Patrol and police; there were scores of wounded on both
sides.
These organizations and movements also refused the Reagan
plan, while declaring their support to the national consensus
resolutions of the 16th PNC and the national unity which
resulted from that session. At the same time, they warned
against the PLO leadership’s policy of saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ at
the same time, and its attempts at hegemony. They had a clear
position against inter-Palestinian fighting at the time of the
internal fighting in Tripoli in 1983. They also expressed support
to the Program for Unity and Reform in the PLO, presented by
the Joint Leadership of the DFLP and PFLP in 1983. With the
Palestinian right-wing increasingly betting on US solutions and
Arafat’s visit to Cairo, these movements and organizations
declared their position that this visit did not serve the Palesti-
nian people’s cause. They also voiced their opinion against the
convening of the 17th session of the PNC in Amman, and
against the Amman accord. They spoke out for national unity
between the organizations of the Palestinian revolution on a
political and organizational basis rejecting illusions about a
‘peaceful’ settlement, rejecting hegemony and in favor of a col-
lective leadership.
The recent years have witnessed more cohesion between the
struggles of our people in the 1948 occupied land and those in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Their unity has found expression
in joint voluntary work on community projects and in yearly
celebrations like the Nazareth festival for volunteer work. The
Day of the Land, celebrated all over Palestine, clearly demons-
trates the unity of the Palestinian struggle. There is a joint posi-
tion against Zionist settlements and settler terrorism, especially
the attempts of Kahana to intrude in Um Al Fahm in the Galilee,
Taibeh in the Triangle and Duheisheh camp in the West Bank.
The Palestinians of the 1948 occupied land initiated committees
for the defense of Duheisheh and of the Palestinian revolutio-
20
naries who are imprisoned in Zionist jails. They have repeatedly
protested against the attempts to burn Al Aqsa mosque, and
other attacks on Islamic and Christian holy places. The national
progressive movements in the 1948 occupied land have rejected
all conspiracies faced by West Bank and Gaza Palestinians -
self-rule, the Israeli-Jordanian division of functions, the Jor-
danian ‘development’s plan, etc.
ATTEMPTS TO DISRUPT THE PEOPLE’S
UNITY
The growing struggle and unity of the Palestinian people, and
the increasing influence of Rakah and the progressive nationa-
list movements, didn’t exactly please the Zionists. For this
reason, one could hear Zionist voices proposing to issue licenses
for establishing ‘independent Arab parties’ on the supposition
that it would be easier to eliminate public work than to search
out secret movements. Obviously, the intent was to give the
Palestinians a chance to let off steam, channeling their political
activities into frameworks considered less dangerous. However,
the Zionist-sponsored attempt to establish the ‘Arab Party’ in
1955 failed. Zionist attempts to support some Arab candidates
for Knesset elections succeeded only partially. Also, there were
calls for assimilating some Arabs into the Zionist parties or
forming Arab chapters for these parties, focusing on figures
known for loyalty to their own interests and privileges. Some
such figures were presented for Knesset elections.
The Zionists have also resorted to attempts at inciting the
nationalist parties and forces against each other. More recently,
there were attempts to use new groups, such as the Progressive
List for Peace, headed by Moh’d Miary, to weaken the progres-
sive nationalist forces and parties. (The Progressive List for
Peace obtained political and financial support from the right-
wing PLO leadership when running for the 11th Knesset.) This
weakened Rakah’s electoral force and dispersed the Arab vote,
increasing the votes to Labor and Likud.
Another effort to break the people’s unity has been inciting
local Arab councils against their heads or Druze, Islamic and
Christian councils against each other, by discriminating in the
budgets allotted to each. Some small councils receive amounts
much larger than those received by some big councils. This
policy also aims to incite the population against the councils in
order to break the strong mass adherence to their local lea- - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 21
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