Democratic Palestine : 29 (ص 26)
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- Democratic Palestine : 29 (ص 26)
- المحتوى
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taken to allow the Palestinian revolu-
tion to achieve its aims and to
guarantee, at the same time, the freeing
of the Arab efforts from the constraints
of resignation, stagnation and
despair.»
At the opposite pole, King Fahd
spoke on behalf of the Gulf Coopera-
tion Council, and kings Hassan and
Hussein. He called for the return of
Egypt to the Arab League, the first time
he had ever explicitly called for this.
However, the summit did not assent to
the kings’ demand. On the backdrop of
the uprising, it is possible to say «no»
to those who have traditionally
dominated official Arab politics due to
their economic clout. The attempt to
accept the Egyptian regime’s return was
foiled by the position of the Palesti-
Syrian, Algerian, Libyan and
Democratic Yemeni delegations. On
nian,
this point, Syrian President Assad ex-
pressed satisfaction to the Palestinian
delegation.
In the words of one Arab diplomat at
the summit: «Egypt’s absence is being
felt less and less» (Associated Press,
10th). This is because of the
weight of the uprising. However, the
reactionary forces will have another try
on this issue at the regular Arab summit
Saudi
June
scheduled for November in
Arabia. The legal committee preparing
for the summit may recommend a
change in the Arab League’s charter
whereby decisions could be taken by
majority rule, rather than having to be
unanimous. This would open the way
for a vote on the Egyptian regime’s
readmission.
HUSSEIN VS. THE PLO
After Fahd came the turn of King
Hussein who had remained quiet while
the summit discussed Egypt’s return.
hoping to glean support for his upcom-
ing battle against the PLO. The king
attacked Palestine and the PLO on
inree fronts. First, he presented a false
reading of the history of Palestinian-
Jordanian relations. He claimed that
the decision to annex the West Bank to
Jordan was not binding, and that the
Hashemite monarchy was above suspi
cion, having sacrificed martyrs for the
sake of Palestine (naming King Ab-
dullah as an example).
Second, King Hussein interpreted
Schultz’s plan in a special way, claim-
ing that it includes an invitation to an
international conference with the
PLO’s participation, in a hopeless at-
tempt to sell the imperialist plan to the
summit. Third, King Hussein painted a
negative picture of Palestinian options,
10. Opening the Arab borders for the Palestinian revolution’s fehters and
sta bhishing t raining camps for them.
Security Council, and of |
yo the Upri
with full autt
ople.
Sees SSS SSS RE RR Sa S|
26
untied Loner ies
tion and to en-
under the leadership of the PLO,
aiming for the Palestinians to either
accept partnership and confederation
with Jordan, or he would absolve
himself of all responsibility for the
Palestinian cause.
The king’s speech was so provocative
that it lead PLO Chairman Yasir
Arafat to depart from the text of his
speech to respond to the royal lies.
Brother Arafat’s speech concentrated
on two poinis. First, he emphasized
that what the king had said about the
Schultz plan was not what Schultz
himself had said about ii. Hussein’s
reading was deliberately slanted in an
attempt to secure approval of a plan
that had already been rejected by the
PLO. Second, brother Arafat
straightened the record on_ the
Hashemite monarchy’s «martyrs»,
reminding that King Abdullah had been
assassinated for his collusion in the
Sykes-Picot agreement (whereby
France and Britain divided up the area),
and not martyred for
Palestine.
At this point, tension mounted at the
summit, and various kings and
presidents had to intervene to calm
things down. Colonel Qaddafi mocked
Hussein’s speech, and interrupted him,
saying: «Liberate the West Bank and
take it, but it is not acceptable that you
don’t want to liberate it, yet don’t want
others to do so either.»
This round ended with consensus on
putting an Arab yes to counter all the
US no’s to Palestinian rights. In the
end, ihe final statement included a
general condemnation of US policy,
but did not mention the Schultz project
by name.
SUPPORT TO THE UPRISING
the sake of
Although the summit agreed in prin-
ciple to extent full support to the upris-
ing, conflict arose about how to chan-
nel material aid. This was related to the
two opposing poles on other questions.
Another point of difference con-
cerned the financing states. Here, the
Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia,
sought to avoid adoption of a specific
resolution on financial support to the
‘uprising, or to specify the amount.
There was an attempt to exclude. the
PLO from the talks on this matter. The
Palestinian delegation was surprised to
discover it was not invited to this ses- - هو جزء من
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