Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 12)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 24 (ص 12)
- المحتوى
-
and the West Bank. In vain, the Zionist
police tried to force shopkeepers to
reopen their shops; a number of youths
were arrested for distributing handbills.
In the Zionist jails, 1,500 Palestinian
prisoners joined in the hunger strike
that had begun the week before in the
prisons of Nablus, Jenin, Ashkelon and
others.
There were numerous clashes _bet-
ween Palestinian demonstrators and the
Zionist police and border patrol
throughout the occupied territories.
Demonstrations were particularly mili-
tant in Tulkarim and in the West Bank
refugee camps of Balata, Duheisheh
and Al Amari. The Zionist forces,
armed with machine guns, confronted
angry demonstrators with tear gas and
clubs. Palestinians began throwing
everything they could lay their hands on
against the enemy. Slingshots were used
to hurl pieces of metal at Zionist
soldiers. The Israeli newspaper,
Hadashot, reported demonstrators in
Balata using slingshots, noting that
scores of Palestinians had used this
‘weapon’. In Balata, two Palestinian
youth sustained bullet wounds in their
legs when a Zionist soldier shot at
them.
In Al Bireh, north of Jerusalem, a
soldier was wounded as was another
near Nablus. In a demonstration near
Qalandia, a 12 year old boy was ar-
rested for burning tires in the street. In
the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian youths
were wounded when the Zionist forces
shot indiscriminately, trying to sup-
press a demonstration in Jabalia camp.
Palestinians demonstrated in the
Galilee - in Sakhnin, Deir Hanna and
Araba, as did thousands in the Naqab.
A prominent display of popular protest
took place in Um Al Fahm where more
than 30,000 Palestinians participated in
a demonstration against Zionist oc-
cupation, to commemorate Land Day.
Israeli flags were burnt and Palestinian
flags hoisted in their stead. Knesset
member Moshe Arens described this as
a «dangerous act» and a number of
Palestinians were consequently ar-
rested.
In another prominent demonstra-
tion, 20,000 Palestinians marched from
Sakhnin to Araba, singing the Palesti-
nian national anthem and_ other
patriotic songs. A large number of
marchers voiced support for Dr.
George Habash, Secretary General of
vehicles. In
pees Pal Stinians it
i camps of ie area | started a a Series of
while the a: amhonte = anole a
curfe Qalqilia, and bulldozed
t ree rows of orange trees on each side
of the road where the attack had oc-
Mass Resistance
In the first two weeks of April, there
“were repeated demonstrations in the
occupied territories, in solidarity with
the political prisoners’ hunger strike, as
| well as stone throwing against Israeli
the occupied Golan
Heights, hundreds of residents clashed
wi ae ites) ~~ ater Gionists
In the early hours of April 13th,
dozens of Bir Zeit University students
were arrested, nine of them held under
administrative detention. This did not
stop a thousand students
Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike.
Zionist soldiers opened fire on the
demonstrators, killing Musa Hanafi, a
22 year old history student from the
Gaza Strip, and wounding three others. |
The university was ordered closed for
four months, and curfews were impos- |
ed on several West Bank towns and
protests continued the |
camps. Still,
next days throughout the West Bank. In
the occupied Gaza Strip, residents of
Rafah, home of the martyr,
demonstrated in protest of murder. The |
military authorities imposed a curfew, |
as Minister of War Rabin vowed a
Palestinian
general crackdown on
resistance. :
from _
demonstrating at the university later”
that day, protesting the settlers’ ram-—
page and reiterating solidarity with
12
the PFLP, and for the restoration of
Palestinian national unity.
The true danger, however, came
from the so-called ‘special army’ which
played a particular role in suppressing
demonstrators. This ‘army’ consists of
80 members gathered from the Zionist
extremist gangs, Gush Emunim and
Kach - organized, trained and armed
fanatics. They operate freely on the
pretext of protecting private and public
Israeli vehicles on the roads of the West
Bank from stone throwers, while the
Zionist authorities turn a blind eye to
their harassment of Palestinians.
The Zionist authorities imposed
curfews on Duheisheh and Balata
camps, arresting more than 70 Palesti-
nians for throwing stones at military
vehicles: Similarly, seven students were
arrested from the Islamic College in Al
Khalil, and the campaign of curfews,
closures and arrests continued well past
Land Day. Bethlehem University was
closed down till April 6th. Two secon-
dary schools in Beit Sahour and Al
Khader, near Jerusalem, were also
closed, while five students from the
former were arrested. Balata and
Duheisheh camps remained’ under
curfew well into the first week of April.
On April 6th, the guardians of 120
students of Salfil school in Tulkarim
were ordered to meet with the military
governor, and forced to sign statements
guaranteeing that they would not allow
their children. to demonstrate in the
future.
Commemoration of Land Day was
not confined to Palestinians in the oc-
cupied homeland. Palestinians in
Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria,
Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Democratic
Yemen, the Gulf states, Moscow, the
United States and other places
celebrated this occasion in a unique
expression of unity in the common
cause. Everywhere slogans were raised
such as «No to autonomy,» «No to the
Jordanian regime,» «Death to col-
laborators,» «Down with the Amman
Accord» and «Yes to the PLO - sole,
legitimate representative» - clearly in-
dicating wide-spread awareness of the
national struggle. Highly significant
was the slogan raised during a
demonstration held by roughly one
hundred students at Yarmouk Univer-
sity in Jordan, scene of the bloody
massacre of 34 students a year ago. The
students raised the slogan: «Liberate
Palestine by armed struggle.» e - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 24
- تاريخ
- مايو ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed