Democratic Palestine : 28 (ص 28)
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- Democratic Palestine : 28 (ص 28)
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Impact of the Uprising on the —
Arab World
There is no doubt that the current uprising in occupied Palestine is a
major turning point on the road to achieving the goals of our people.
This article covers the major effects of the uprising on the Arab level
and the most urgent tasks of the Arab liberation movement.
First, the uprising restored the pro-
minence of the Palestinian cause and
the Arab—Israeli conflict, after these
issues had been purposely marginaliz-
ed, as at the latest Arab summit in
Amman. Second, the uprising served to
stimulate Arab officialdom. The Arab
foreign ministers met especially to
discuss means of supporting the upris-
ing. Third, the uprising forced the
Amal movement to lift the 32-month
old siege on the Palestinian camps in
Beirut. Fourth, on the popular level,
the uprising ushered in a new stage of
revolutionary action. The effects of the
uprising have spread to the whole Arab
arena. This is particularly the case in
Jordan and Egypt, where the regimes
continue maneuvers to foil the uprising
on the pretext of preparing the at-
mosphere to search for peace. These
two regimes have suppressed mass
demonstrations with methods similar to
those used by the Israelis.
THE OFFICIAL ARAB
POSITION
The extraordinary Amman Summit
of Nov. 8-11, 1987, was a dangerous
step backwards for the official Arab
position. For the first time since the in-
itial Arab summit in 1964, the
Arab—Israeli conflict was a secondary
issue. This contrasted sharply with the
whole tradition of Arab summits,
which arose from the need to discuss
the Arab—Israeli conflict and the
means of confronting the Zionist threat
that encompasses the Arab countries in
general, not only Palestine. This threat
has materialized in Israeli participation
in the British—French aggression on
Egypt in 1956. In 1964, ‘Israel’ began a
plan to divert the Jordan River waters.
Then came the 1967 aggression that
resulted in the occupation of the rest of
28
Postcard issued in solidarity with the uprising by the
Union of Iraqi Democrats.
Palestine, and parts of Egypt and Syria
as well. The biggest threat was the
bilateral treaty signed between Egypt
and ‘Israel’ in 1979, that was followed
by the annexation of Jerusalem and the
Golan Heights in 1981. ‘Israel’ invaded
South Lebanon in 1978 and major parts
of Lebanon in 1982, occupying
Lebanese territory. ‘Israel’ has even
raided distant Arab capitals: Baghdad
in 1981 and Tunis in 1985.
Yet, the Amman Summit disregarded
the Arab—Israeli conflict, moving it to
third place after the Iran-Iraq war and
settling inter-Arab disagreements in
order to restore «Arab solidarity».
One of the most dangerous results of
the Amman Summit was dropping the
slogan of an independent Palestinian
state, raised in the Rabat Summit in
1974 and officially adhered to since
then.
Another extremely dangerous move
was the decision that: «diplomatic
relations between any Arab League
member state and the Arab Republic
of Egypt is a sovereign matter to be
decided by each state in accordance
with its constitution and laws.»
At the Baghdad Summit in 1978, the
Arab countries had agreed that «it is an
essential, inviolable principle to pro-
hibit any Arab party from signing a
separate agreement regarding a solution
to the Palestinian problem in_par-
ticular, and the Arab—Israeli conflict
in general. The accords signed by the
Egyptian regime at Camp David were
considered «a violation of the rights of
the Palestinian people and the Arab
nation» and as having been concluded
«outside the framework of the Arab
concensus and in conflict with the
resolutions of the Arab summits and
not leading to the just peace aspired to
by the Arab nation.» Egypt was subse-
quently boycotted.
Until this very day, the Egyptian
regime adheres to the Camp David ac-
cords. Moreover, the vice-president of
the ruling National Party flew to oc-
cupied Jerusalem shortly after the
Amman Summit, to celebrate with the
Israelis the tenth anniversary of Sadat’s
visit to ‘Israel’. Meanwhile, nine Arab
states resumed diplomatic relations
with Egypt in less than a week. The on-
ly Arab countries that have not resum-
ed relations with Egypt are Syria,
Lebanon, Libya and Algeria.
(Democratic Yemen resumed relations
with Egypt in February 1988).
NEW FOCUS ON PALESTINE
The results of the Arab foreign
ministers’ council, held on Jan. 23-24,
1988, in Tunis, attest to the repercus-
sions of the uprising on the official
Arab position. True, the meeting was
convened late - six weeks after the
uprising began. However, it was evi-
dent that the uprising had imposed the
Palestinian cause on Arab officialdom,
serving as a direct retort to the Amman
Summit that completely neglected the
Palestinian question. In the meeting,
the Arab foreign ministers expressed
their countries’ strong support for the
Palestinian people’s uprising and con-
tinuous struggle against the Zionist oc-
cupation. The council took several - هو جزء من
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