Democratic Palestine : 29 (ص 28)
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- Democratic Palestine : 29 (ص 28)
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Palestinian and Jordanian nationalists,
unionists and student activists had been
summoned by the intelligence and
subsequently detained. One of them is
Taysir Al Zubri, DFLP Politbureau
member.
The Jordanian authorities have also
imposed new restrictions on the press,
even affecting foreign press coverage.
In early May, the press accreditation of
two reporters, Lamis Andoni and
Samira Kawar, both of whom work for
western news organizations, was
cancelled.
In addition, the regime is relying on
stooges to repress the mass movement.
Most notorious among these is Abu Al
Zaim, who led a pro-Jordanian split in
Fatah after King Hussein suspended
cooperation with the PLO in 1986.
Despite all this, the Jordanian and
Palestinian nationalist and democratic
forces have organized a series of ac-
tivities in support of the uprising. For
example, on March 6th, declared as the
day of the Palestinian flag by the
United National Leadership of the
Uprising, thousands of Palestinian
flags were distributed all over Jordan
and hoisted over the rooftops of
homes. March 8th being International
Women’s Day, dozens of Palestinian
and Jordanian women held a sit-in at
the Red Cross office in Amman, and
burned the US flag. The next day,
March 9th, was declared Palestinian
Martyrs’ Day;students of the Jordanian
University in Amman rallied and placed
hundreds of wreaths on the university’s
monument to the martyrs. Even more
activities occurred around March 30th,
the Day of the Land.
LAND DAY
DEMONSTRATIONS
One of the biggest demonstrations
took place in Al Wehdat, the large
Palestinian camp outside Amman.
Hundreds of people raised Palestinian
flags and chanted slogans in support of
the uprising and the PLO. They de-
nounced the Schultz plan and the
maneuvers of Abu Zaim. The security
forces tried to disperse the three-hour
demonstration, but failed.
Also in the Amman area, more than
800 students demonstrated at the Jor-
danian University, protesting the policy
of the US and the Egyptian regime. The
demonstrators raised the demand that
students in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip be exempted from paying tuition,
and that they should receive a monthly
28
allowance to support the continuation
of the uprising. The demonstrators sent
a telegram to the Jordanian prime
minister, demanding that the regime
reject the Schultz plan, and give the
masses the right to express solidarity
with the uprising. They also demanded
the release of all political prisoners in
Jordan, and that Palestinian armed
struggle against the Zionist enemy be
allowed from Jordan.
Students at Yarmouk University in
Irbid clashed with the security forces
that tried to prevent them from
demonstrating. The authorities also at-
tempted to have some of their stooges
stage a counter-demonstration at the
same time, but failed.
A mass rally was held in the trade
union headquarters. Speaking at the
rally were PNC President Abdul Hamid
Al Sayih; the Jordanian parliament
deputy, Abd Allah Al Akaila; the head
of the Jordanian doctors’ union,
Mamduh Al Abadi; and a number of
other Palestinian and Jordanian na-
tionalists. The speakers saluted the
uprising and called for an independent
Palestinian state, led by the PLO. They
called for struggle to achieve
democratic freedoms in Jordan, and
the release of all political prisoners. The
rally culminated in a demonstration.
The security forces surrounded the
area. but did not interfere.
Political prisoners in Al Jafr issued a
statement condemning the Arab reac-
tionary regimes’ silence about the
brutal Israeli acts against the Palesti-
nian people. The prisoners urged the
convention of an Arab summit to take
the required decisions in support of the
uprising. They demanded that all the
countries surrounding occupied
Palestine open their borders to the
Palestinian resistance.
The Jordanian National Committee
for Support of the Uprising issued a
communique condemning the regime’s
repression of activities supporting the
uprising, such as the arrests and the
storming of patriots’ homes. The
committee called on the masses to carry
out all forms of activities in support of
the uprising, and condemned the
regime’s suspicious moves.
High school students in Al Nuzha
quarter of Amman attempted three
times to stage a demonstration, but
were attacked by the police; many
students were arrested. The intelligence
summoned the parents of many of the
students and forced them to sign a
pledge to pay 500 dinars if their
children participated in demonstra-
tions. To back up this pressure, the
passports of some parents were con-
fiscated. Many students of Al Nuzha
were forcibly transfered to schools in
other quarters; still others were expelled
from classes altogether.
THE REGIME’S QUANDRY
The broad mass sympathy for the
uprising in Jordan itself accentuates the
degree to which the regime feels
threatened by the popular revolt in the
occupied territories. On _ this
background, one can understand the
regime’s new verbal position on Middle
East peace talks. King Hussein is taking
great pains to stress that he will not
speak on behalf of the Palestinian
people, that only the PLO can do that.
In contrast to his notorious ambitions
to control the occupied West Bank, the
king now insists that he will negotiate
only on the subject of Jordanian land
occupied by the Israelis (20km? south of
the Dead Sea, and 5km? in the north,
close to the Syrian border).
The regime’s retreat trom _ its
historical ambitions to absorb the
Palestinian cause is, of course, only
tactical. But it appears as the monar-
chy’s only option in a situation where
the continuation of the uprising has
blocked the Schultz plan, while Likud’s
intransigence makes the convening of
an international conference look
remote. Deprived of these diplomatic
covers for his moves to replace the
PLO, the king has no choice but to
change his tactics and demagogy. This
is all the more so since the effects of the
uprising are reaching into the regime
itself. The monarchy’s strategy for ab-
sorbing the Palestinian cause has relied
on cooptation of a strata of the
Palestinian bourgeoisie into the ruling
class and regime in Jordan. Some of
these Palestinians now find themselves
torn by dual loyalty, since the uprising
has made it unavoidably clear that the
Palestinian people reject the Jordanian
regime’s plan and insist on their own
right to self - determination and
statehood. As a result, there has been
conflict between Jordanian ministers
and those of Palestinian origin. Con-
tinuation of the uprising can only
compound the Jordanian regime’s
quandry, while presenting the alter-
native of popular struggle as the force
for democratic change in Palestine and
Jordan as well. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 29
- تاريخ
- يونيو ١٩٨٨
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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