Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 26)
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- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 26)
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vehicles and ammunition which are used to face the uprising.
Rather it extends to that portion of the Israeli security ap-
paratus which is called out on alert as a precaution against
anything that might happen on any Arab front. Some may
oppose this idea, since Israel has reason to be at ease on this
level. Yet even in this case, Israel generally takes all
possibilities into consideration.
THE BATTLE OF WILLS
All the losses which I have noted are direct losses, but the
indirect losses are connected with the overall balance of forces
between Israel on the one hand, and the Arabs in general and
the Palestinians in particular on the other. There is no need for
details or dispute here. The overall balance of forces is:the sum:
of all material and moral elements which each party possesses.
The Israeli losses were compound on more than one level.
However, I can summarize this point in the role of the uprising
in the battle of wills, which has been going on not only since
1967 or 1948, but since the start of the Arab-Zionist conflict.
The Zionists had occupied our land; then in 1967, they began
to occupy our will and spirit. The attempts to dominate our
will were launched via multiple points and means. According-
ly, Sadat sunk into the outlying depths whereby ii seemed that
the Arab will was dominated. Yet at a historical moment,
Israel and those whose will had seemed to be occupied were put
back at the starting point. Israel not only lost its image as an
oasis of democracy; it lost its image as a victim. After forty
years of nourishing the newborn child, the victim of Nazism,
the world discovered that it was no more than a bastard.
Moreover, the Zionist settler came back to the question which
he thought he had left far behind, concerning the degree of
legitimacy and security on which the Israeli project is based. At
this historical moment, a big question arose about the ra-
tionality and realism of the Zionist ideology, since it is the
basis of the existence of Israel, but is called on to retreat or
commit suicide.
Israel doesn’t consider its own losses only. It considers every
one of our achievements as its loss. In this vein, Israel
discovered that the Palestinian will hadn’t been destroyed, but
is fully intact, and Israel knows what kind of dynamics may be
unleashed by that. From a position of total adherence to the
PLO as the Palestinians’ moral homeland and the guardian of
their struggle, the most important achievement on this level is
the revolutionary impact of the uprising on the internal state of
affairs in the PLO. Much can be said about this point, for
there remain many rotten and calcified forms and structures.
However, all these will fall in succession with the downfall of
the political logic to which they have clung. Moreover, a new
balance of forces has emerged in the Palestinian arena which
relies not on external elements, but on the process of struggle,
since the struggle inside has basically become the standard. To
avoid any misunderstanding, what I have said isn’t restricted
to the different organizational trends, but applies to the totali-
ty of the Palestinian structure.
One of the results of this has been the reestablishment of
Palestinian national unity on a firm base, not governed by
26
HHH
special considerations but by the profound respect which exists
among the militants in the battlefield, who are directly facing
the enemy and paying the highest price. While the media has
been preoccupied with searching for the identity of the heroes
and militants, the simple and expressive response was: Na-
tional unity - Jihad, Fatah and Popular Front.
Bringing matters back to their beginning, to the roots and
simple basics, has ended all illusions. Political concepts have
been reformed and cleansed, and what is not yet reformed is on
the way to being so. This reformation includes the concepts of
political realism, the political - diplomatic work, penetration
of the enemy front inside and outside Palestine, the Palesti-
nians, the Arabs, the world, and the relation of patriotism to
nationalism and internationalism.
We have gotten the historical moment for which we paid a
high price; thus, we will not let it slip from our hands, whatever
the cost. In order for this to be a Palestinian and Arab
milestone, we don’t want the major issues to be lost in inter-
Arab politics, inter-Palestinian or international politics.
Henceforth, political realism should assume its real meaning of
knowing the reality in order to change it, not to submit to it.
Similarly, political work is a means of achieving goals, not an
end in itself. Diplomacy is to bring others to our position, not
the contrary. Both politics and diplomacy are to
penetrate and weaken the enemy front, to know ourselves in
order to free ourselves from the pressures of illusions, impa-
tience and running after easy solutions.
Demagogy and crocodile tears will not succeed in making
one thing of Husni Mubarak, Sadat, Islamboli, Suleiman
Khater and the revolution of Egypt.* Demagogy will not
shorten the distance between the two sides of Hamra Street
(Beirut), since on the left are those who are writing with their
hearts’ blood for Palestine and freedom, but on the right are
those who are still not ashamed to call the martyrs of the
uprising «those killed.» Not all of them are Arab even though
they all have prisons, exile and repressive means. However, the
dangerous thing about this bitterness caused by the repression
of our Arab relatives, is if it leads to political color blindness.
The Palestinians who haven’t distinguished themselves from
the Arab regimes are considered those entitled to hold them
accountable. In fact, the only Palestinians who should be en-
titled to hold the Arabs responsible, and who are really
qualified to do so, are the Palestinians who can knock on their
doors with hands as clean as the blood of martyrs.
This moment is very serious and may not easily come again.
To protect it, questions should be asked bravely, for failure to
ask the real questions in time has caused the loss of sacred
blood in the past... Finally, a stand for the uprising is a stand
for freedom, wherever and for whoever it may be. Therefore,
any hostility to freedom and democracy is a plan of treason or
defeat, however good the intentions may be. @
* Besides referring to Mubarak and Sadat, the two Egyptian presidents who
surrendered to US and Israeli dominance, this refers to Khaled Islamboli who
assassinated Sadat, and to Suleiman Khater who on October 5, 1985, shot seven
Israelis who had trespassed into the Egyptian security zone in the Sinai, and was
later murdered by the regime’s forces while imprisoned. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 31
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- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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