Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 27)
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- Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 27)
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Another sure sign that the document
addresses the US administration is that
it omits the Palestinian people’s rights
to repatriation and an independent
state, which are rejected by the US and
‘Israel’ If there remains any doubt,
one can refer to Bassam Abu Sharif’s
own statement as printed in Abu
Dhabi’s Al Ittihad on June 26th:
«Direct contact between the PLO and
the US administration is required now
more than ever.»
Ironically, though the Arab regimes
reaffirmed the need for Palestinian
statehood at the recent Algiers Summit,
some right-wing forces in the PLO are
reverting to the tactic employed - and
quite unsuccessfully - over the years by
reactionary Arab regimes who have
wagered on the USA to pressure ‘Israel’
to make some concessions.
Perhaps the authors of this document
were not surprised by Shamir’s per-
fidious rejection of the proposal as
«nothing new». Maybe they were even
encouraged by the US State Depart-
ment’s cautious welcome of the pro-
posals as having a «constructive tone»
and «some positive points.» But as
could be expected, the US spokesman
avoided unconditional recognition of
the proposals by saying they were not
«authoritative», meaning that more
official concessions are wanted from
the PLO.
If the US administration is eventually
convinced to recognize Palestinian
rights, this will come as a result of the
continuation of the current uprising
and other forms of Palestinian struggle.
This document coming at this time only
serves to detract from the uprising,
particularly since it challenges the
PLO’s unity which is an important
prerequisite for the uprising’s con-
tinuation.
The 1988 Camp War —
A Stab in the Back
The most recent war against the Palestinian camps in Beirut
distinguished itself from previous camp wars in that the contending
forces were both Palestinian organizations. However, in essence, this
war was a continuation of the foregoing attempts to end the Palesti-
nian revolution’s presence in Lebanon.
From the time the Amal movement
began besieging the Palestinian camps
in 1985, it was clear that such attacks
were part of a broader move to resolve
the Lebanese crisis without fundamen-
tally changing the political and social
injustices which have led to this crisis.
Instead, the Palestinians of the camps
became the scapegoats under various
pretexts, while different factions con-
tended for a bigger share of the pie ina
sectarian redivision of power.
Yet from 1985, it was equally clear
that these attempts to disarm and
defeat the Palestinian camps would not
succeed. The fighters and camp
population in general proved their
ability to resist shelling, siege and star-
vation, in order to maintain their right
~to self-defense and to continue the
struggle against the Zionist occupation
of Palestinian and Lebanese land.
Shatila residents fleeing shelling
on mae
This year’s camp war consisted of a
series of battles between the forces of
the Fatah Central Committee (Arafat)
and those of the Fatah Provisional
Leadership (Abu Musa) beginning in
May and continuing until the first week
of July. On the surface, this was an in-
stance of inter - Palestinian fighting, a
phenomenon which has always been
condemned because of the threat it
poses to Palestinian unity and struggle,
and because only the Zionist enemy
stands to gain. However, this fighting
took on even more dangerous dimen-
sions because it occurred on the
backdrop of two other, widely
divergent developments: the Palestinian
uprising in the occupied territories and
the pending presidential elections in
Lebanon. While the first development
seemed to herald a positive new stage
for Palestinians in Lebanon, the second
gave rise to a series of military and
political maneuvers aimed at pacifying
West Beirut and eliminating ‘disrup-
tive’ elements that might stand in the
way of electing a president without the
necessary reforms. These maneuvers
included Israeli aggression on South
Lebanon, the ‘resolution’ of the situa-
tion in the southern districts of Beirut,
and intense US diplomatic efforts to
find a presidential candidate acceptable
not only to its traditional allies in the
Lebanese Front, but also to the Syrian
government.
THE WAR IN THE SOUTH
Continuing their ongoing struggle
against Zionist occupation, and aiming
to support the Palestinian uprising in >
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