Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 30)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 30)
- المحتوى
-
form in the late sixties. Concurrently,
the idea is promoted that armed strug-
gle is outdated, or that the occupation
can be ended without it. Indeed, the
political and geographical terrain on
which Palestinians under occupation
struggle differs markedly from the
situation in which the freedom fighters
rose to prominence, first in Jordan and
later in Lebanon. However, the con-
tents of the UNL’s calls show that the
distinction is not one of principle. The
fact that the masses of the uprising have
thus far mainly employed what could
be termed «non-military» weapons,
from stones to homemade devices like
firebombs, does not reflect rejection of
forms of struggle that are more ad-
vanced in the military sense. Rather it
reflects keen awareness of how to
capitalize on what is possible at a given
time, how to balance between mass and
military struggle whereby the broadest
segments of the people are involved in
militant struggle, meanwhile steadily
building towards other potentials.
The other side of this coin is using
available resources to maximize the
enemy’s losses, not only materially
where the main damage is being in-
flicted by economic boycott and civil
disobedience, but also in the war of
nerves whereby a people with few
resources are driving the world’s
fourth-ranking army to distraction. In
this context, one understands the
significance of the UNL’s declaring
April 21st as the Day of the Palestinian
Molotov in response to the Israeli
authorities officially permitting settlers
to fire on molotov-throwers, showing
that the masses are not afraid but rather
capable of escalating in step with the
occupation’s escalating brutality.
Firebombs have indeed been the most
prevalent weapon next to stones. From
the beginning of the uprising until the
end of October, 1275 firebombs were
thrown against Israeli military targets,
as reported by the Jerusalem daily Al
Shaab, based on the statements of
Israeli military sources.
Perhaps the most effective selectively
employed weapon, in terms of inflicting
material damage and loss of morale in
the enemy’s ranks, has been setting
30
Hill
fires. Call no. 7(February 14, 1988)
declared a war of attrition against the
occupation and settlers, including
«burning the land under the feet of the
invaders.» In the spring, this was
literally implemented, as 400 fires
damaged over 40,000 acres in the
Galilee and Jerusalem areas, and
signalled the involvement of Palesti-
nians living in the 1948 occupied
regions of Palestine.
In fact,the calls put no restrictions
on the means of struggle to be
employed; on the contrary, they
routinely urge escalating the uprising
with all revolutionary means. They also
express an integrated view of the dif-
ferent stages and forms of struggle re-
quired in the liberation process. Call
no. 10 states: «Our comprehensive and
tremendous uprising - the stones,
molotovs and various means of popular
Struggle, first and foremost the
legitimate armed struggle against the
occupiers - is drawing the picture of our
homeland with the free Palestinian
will.» Call no. 17 states: «The uprising
has confirmed that there is no alter-
native to struggle and protracted peo-
ple’s war, as the way to achieve our
rights,» while call no. 14, issued after
the martyrdom of Abu Jihad, pledges
to all the martyrs that «the day will
come when the sound of the
kalashnikov rings out in every part of
Palestine...» Call no. 18 demands that
the Arab leaders permit the Palestinian
commandos to operate across the Arab
borders towards occupied Palestine.
Obviously, the role of armed resistance
is included in the UNL’s vision of the
liberation process.
October 16th demonstration in Yatta to prot - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 31
- تاريخ
- ديسمبر ١٩٨٨
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed