Democratic Palestine : 28 (ص 29)
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- Democratic Palestine : 28 (ص 29)
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decisions in this regard: Condemning
Israeli oppression; calling for interna-
tional sanctions against ‘Israel’; pro-
viding material and moral support to
the Palestinian people; starting an in-
ternational media campaign to expose
the true nature of ‘Israel’; calling on the
UN Security Council to adopt resolu-
tions to end the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian and Arab land; and putting
the Arab League’s Secretary General in
charge of gathering information on
Israeli human rights violations. The
council also formed a_ seven-state
committee, composed of foreign
ministers, the responsible of the PLO’s
Political Department and the Arab
League’s General Secretary, to draw up
a plan for an Arab initiative.
There is no doubt that the council’s
resolutions expressed the will of the
Arab masses and their nationalist
forces, who imposed this position on
their respective governments. The Arab
governments’ new position is the op-
posite of that taken exactly two months
earlier, in the Amman Summit. The
uprising forced the Arab governments
to promise not only moral, but material
support.
Although these resolutions are
positive, as of yet there is no proof that
any of them has been implemented. So
far, moral support from the public
opinion and progressive governments in
other parts of the world has been more
effective than the support given by the
Arab governments. While one resolu-
tion of the foreign ministers’ council
clearly emphasized «mobilising the
Arab popular forces to support the
uprising», this was not materialized in
the form of demonstrations and rallies
in many Arab countries. On the con-
trary, in several instances, the
authorities fired on Arab citizens who
attempted to demonstrate peacefully.
Moreover, while ‘Israel’ strove to sup-
press the uprising with violence, several
Arab regimes, particularly those in
Egypt and Jordan, engaged themselves
in political maneuvers at the US’s
behest, attempting to abort the upris-
ing.
SUPPRESSING THE
POPULAR WILL — JORDAN
In Jordan, the authorities repressed
all attempts by the people to express
support to the uprising. Moreover, the
intelligence services arrested scores of
nationalists and trade unionists. On
December 31st, 28 people were ar-
rested, including Hamdi Matar,
member of the Palestinian National
Council and of the PFLP’s Polit-
bureau. In the following days, more
patriots were arrested, including many
Jordanian and Palestinian writers and
journalists. Reports from Jordan say
that the security forces are deployed on
all the main roads and in the Palesti-
nian camps to abort any mass move-
ment. The tense atmosphere created by
the security forces is comparable to that
which prevailed immediately after the
1970 massacre of Palestinians in Jor-
dan (Black September).
Government agents are. spread
everywhere to sabotage mass gather-
ings, such as the rally that took place in
the professional and trade unions’
headquarters on Dec. 23rd, when
agents created disorder, ejecting the
speaker from the stage and dispersing
the audience. The authorities also sup-
pressed a demonstration in the Palesti-
nian camp, Baqa’a, on Dec. 25th, and
prevented the 1,500 demonstrators
from reaching the main street outside
the camp.
During the solidarity week that
commenced on Jan. 23rd, the in-
telligence forces interfered to guarantee
the failure of all the planned events. On
Jan.24th, people gathered at midnight
to march in a demonstration, but the
intelligence forces attacked them and
arrested many. Despite the authorities’
threats, hundreds of people marched
through the streets of Amman and the
city of Zarqa’a.
The uprising has proven that our
people reject all King Hussein’s plans
such as joint Israeli—Jordanian ad-
ministration and «improving the quali-
ty of life» (for Palestinians under the
1967 occupation). The uprising has also
foiled King Hussein’s attempts to usurp
the PLO’s representation of the
Palestinian people. It has served as a
popular referendum, confirming that
the Palestinian people rally around the
PLO, their sole legitimate represen-
tative. They are struggling for the
PLO’s program of repatriation, self-
determination and an_ independent
Palestinian state, which was disregard-
ed by the king.
As the uprising escalates, King Hus-
sein’s crisis gets deeper. He is no longer
capable of going forward towards
direct negotiations with ‘Israel’. At the
same time, he is unable to persuade the
US and ‘Israel’ to accept an interna-
tional conference with enough
substance to provide a cover for direct
negotiations. For this reason, he toured
the West European countries to con-
vince them to pressure their allies in
Washington and Tel Aviv to accept
such an international framework for
direct negotiations. Incidentally, the
Jordanian regime has again begun to
speak about the PLO’s participation in
an international conference, precondi-
tioned on the PLO’s acceptance of UN
Security Council resolutions 242 and
338, renouncing «violence» and agree-
ing to discuss the Palestinian problem
in all its aspects, 1.e., that the solution
arrived at be a final one.
King Hussein has recently made
statements of willingness to resume
relations with the PLO, based on the
February, 1985 Amman accord, after
having himself halted coordination
with the PLO in February 1986.
Clearly this position came about as a
result of the uprising that promoted the
PLO’s position locally and interna-
tionally.
EGYPT
As in Jordan, demonstrations broke
out in Egypt in support of the uprising,
and were oppressed by the security
forces. In Cairo, hundreds of students
demonstrated at universities and Al
Azhar mosque, but the central security
forces prevented them from marching
in the streets. Several students were ar-
rested on campus. The demonstrators
raised slogans in support of the upris-
ing, and demanded that their govern-
ment break relations with ‘Israel’ and
expel the Israeli ambassador in Cairo.
On Dec. 30th, a group of Egyptian na-
tionalist lawyers burned the Israeli flag
in a massive rally outside the Lawyers’
Guild headquarters in Cairo.
On Jan. Sth, thousands of Ain
Shams university students clashed with
riot police. The demonstrators were
commemorating the anniversary of the
martyrdom of Suleiman Khater, who
assassinated Israeli tourists in the Sinai
in October 1985, and died under torture >
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