Democratic Palestine : 28 (ص 13)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 28 (ص 13)
- المحتوى
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that have previously been rejected by
the occupation authorities;
- lifting the siege of the Palestinian
camps in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, and withdrawing the Israeli army
from residential areas;
- conducting an official investigation
into the conduct of the Israeli army and
settlers in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, and in the jails and detention
camps; taking appropriate measures
against those who caused death or in-
jury to unarmed citizens without
reason;
- ending settlement-building and land
confiscation; stopping the settlers’
provocations and harassment of the
population of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip; removing all provocative settler
outposts in all Jerusalem, first and
foremost the house of Sharon...
- refraining from any act against the
Christian and Muslim holy places,
which would damage them or change
the status quo in Jerusalem;
- annulling the value added tax and all
Israeli taxes imposed on Palestinian
residents of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip, including Jerusalem; stopping
provocations against Palestinian mer-
chants...
- annulling all restrictions on political
freedoms, including those against
meetings and conferences; free
municipal elections in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip with neutral observers;
- the immediate refund of the money
deducted from the salaries of Palesti-
nian workers in ‘Israel’ with the interest
due; these sums should be returned to
the Palestinian trade unions for just
distribution;
- ending restrictions on permits for
residential or industrial building, digg-
ing wells and agricultural development
in the West Bank, including Jerusalem,
and the Gaza Strip;
- stopping the discrimination against
agricultural products of the occupied
territories, either by lifting the restric-
tions on transport of these products
over the green line, or by imposing
similar restrictions on Israeli products
to limit their export to the occupied
territories and their competition with
local products;
-ending the prohibition of political
relations between the people of the oc-
cupied territories and the PLO; allow-
ing people to participate in the Palesti-
nian National Council.
On the background of the uprising’s
continuity and escalation, the United
National Leadership is preparing for
total civil disobedience, i.e., refusal to
deal with the occupation. There have
been tendencies in this direction from
the beginning, especially the general
strike and the Palestinian lawyers’
boycott of the assembly-line, military
trials of those arrested in the initial
phase of the uprising. The United Na-
tional Leadership has shown its
political maturity and credibility in set-
ting guidelines that are in line with the
masses’ wishes and their realistic
possibilities at any given time.
Therefore, the move towards mass civil
disobedience has come gradually
without being raised rhetorically. In
call no. 9, the PLO/United National
Leadership proposed mass refusal to
pay taxes. In various parts of Palestine,
tax collectors submitted their resigna-
tions. The boycott of Israeli goods is
another task being gradually built up
to.
While the main thrust of the struggle
has targeted the Israeli occupiers, the
Jordanian regime’s long-standing plan
to usurp the West Bank and replace the
PLO, has made its agents in occupied
Palestine the other losers in the upris-
ing. In one instance, the United Na-
tional Leadership called on journalists
to stop working for Al Nahar, a
newspaper established by the Jordanian
regime. Soon afterwards, Nahar,offices
were burned in many West Bank towns.
A related thrust of the uprising is to
neutralize those who collaborate with
the Zionist authorities. In _ late
February, the hanging of a traitor
sparked a string of recantations
whereby former collaborators appeared
before the people in mosques, pledging
to cease their harmful dealings. The
most recent development is the mass
resignation of Israeli-appointed
municipal and village councils, and of
Palestinian policemen in mid-March.
The majority of this policeforce, which
dates back to the time of Jordanian
administration of the West Bank, has
resigned, irritating both the Israeli oc-
cupiers and the Jordanian regime.
While crushing the plans of King
Hussein and Israeli Foreign Minister
Peres for joint Israeli-Jordanian ad-
ministration of the 1967 occupied ter-
ritories, the uprising’s impact also
mitigated against right-wing tendencies
and illusions that the US plans being
promoted contained any benefit for the
Palestinian cause. Thus, Schultz was
rebuffed when he tried to meet
Palestinian dignitaries in Jerusalem.
ACHIEVEMENTS
It is too early to chronicle the overall
achievements of the current uprising
because the masses are still in motion.
However, some immediate results can
already be recorded: The uprising has
materialized the importance of
Palestinian political unity. At the same
time, with their daring, stamina and
creativity, the masses have shelved
defeatist trends, showing that it is
possible through struggle to make the
occupied territories ungovernable, and
lessen the benefits drawn by the
Zionists from their occupation. This in
itself is a major contribution to the
liberation of Palestine.
The uprising restored the centrality
of the Palestinian cause regionally and
internationally. In this atmosphere, the
siege on the Palestinian camps in Beirut
was lifted, while various Arab regimes
got cold feet about trying to create an
alternative to the PLO. There was a
massive display of solidarity with the
Palestinian people around the world,
while ‘Israel’ has suffered un-
precedented international critique and
isolation, its similarity with the apar-
theid regime in South Africa finally
becoming apparent worldwide.
Equally important, the uprising in-
spired the Arab masses, while
strengthening the national democratic
trend in the PLO, and its opposition to
all imperialist and reactionary plans for
the region. The uprising has
demonstrated the viability of the PLO’s
national program for fulfilling the
Palestinian people’s rights to repatria-
tion, self-determination and an _ in-
dependent state. It has made a positive
contribution to shifting the balance of
power in the region, which if continued
will eventually enable a genuine inter-
national peace conference on the Mid-
dle East, under UN auspices, with the
full and equal participation of the
PLO. e
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- Democratic Palestine : 28
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