Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 32)
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- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 32)
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to stop paying the fines and bails
determined by the Zionist courts, and
the fees exacted by the appointed
municipal councils, as well as to
boycott security clearances. In call no.
15, the people were requested to
boycott the new ID’s which the oc-
cupation authorities tried to impose in
the Gaza Strip, as a new means of con-
trol. There was resistance to the
Zionists’ confiscation of old ID’s and
the issuance of new ones, but this pro-
ved to be the only measure called for by
the UNL, which has been impossible to
implement strictly. It was subsequently
dropped from succeeding calls, as it
proved impossible for the masses to
move without ID’s in the current stage.
Nonetheless, due to the basic successes
achieved, the UNL was able to call a
day of total boycott of the civil ad-
ministration on June 19th. With call
no. 29, issued November 20, 1988, a
new step was taken with the call for
judges in civil courts to resign.
The tax boycott has been successively
tightened, starting with resignations
and followed up by the masses’ and
strike forces’ physical confrontation of
the tax authorities, as was prominent in
the war of the taxes which raged in
West Bank towns and villages last
summer. Another economic measure
was added with call no. 21 which urged
people to withdraw savings from Israeli
banks.
The boycott of Zionist goods began
with the specification of a few products
in call no. 3 (sweets, cigarettes and
dairy products), growing to include
both agricultural and industrial pro-
ducts for which there are _ local
replacements, as of call no. 18 issued
May 29, 1988. It became more than a
consumer boycott as of call no. 21, with
the stipulation of not allowing the ex-
port of Israeli products to the Palesti-
nian market, nor advertising for them
in the local press, as well as pursuing
any one who continues to market them.
A key to the enforcement of the twin
boycott of Israeli products and tax
payment has been the commercial strike
which began in the early days of the
uprising and has been sustained ever
since.
32
BID
The work boycott stems from the
general strike that prevailed in the Gaza
Strip from the first days of the uprising.
Like the commercial strike, it could not
have been sustained indefinitely
without organization. While in the case
of the commercial strike, call no. 5 set a
schedule allowing people to buy
necessities, it was apparent that a
general strike could not be enforced
indefinitely until people had alternative
sources of livelihood. The solution
found by the UNL was to totally
boycott work in Zionist settlements as
of call no. 6, while those with jobs in
‘Israel’ should prepare for gradually
boycotting this work, meanwhile
observing the declared general strike
days. As of call no. 17, people were
urged to boycott the employment of-
fices connected to the occupation
authorities. Call no. 26 advised workers
not to remain overnight in ‘Israel’. Call
no. 29 stipulated that fruit pickers
should boycott this work in ‘Israel’
-hitting the occupiers’ economy during
the harvest season.
The other side of the boycott coin is
building popular authority, as a prere-
quisite for sustaining civil disobedience.
Reviewing the calls over a year’s time,
one is struck by the transition from the
first half of the year, when the
predominant concern is what is not to
be done, to the second half, when the
calls are more oriented towards what is
to be done, i.e., building the political,
economic and social basis for people to
organize their own lives. While the first
calls stress days of general strike, pro-
testing the occupation and its various
acts of repression, by the summer,
general strikes are called in order to
build popular authority - consolidating
the popular committees, rebuilding
demolished houses, holding a national
health day, etc.
POPULAR AUTHORITY
«Our people have begun creating a
new national lifestyle and consolidating
their national authority» (call no. 13,
April 12, 1988). This began with very
simple things corresponding to the
direct needs of the uprising - calls for
doctors to help the injured, for all to
help needy families, the families of
martyrs and prisoners, etc. With the
continuation of the uprising, the direc-
tives become more specific, both in the
form of action prescribed and the
assignment of tasks to different sectors
of the population, in accordance with
their role and assets.
Already from the contents of call no.
1, it is obvious that popular committees
are in place and carrying a major
organizational role as are the strike
forces. By the time we reach call no. 18
in the late spring, there are, in addition
to neighborhood committees,
specialized committees for health,
general security, guarding of property
and crops, information, popular
education, agriculture, storage and
distribution of supplies, and family
solidarity committees for helping the
needy, as well as committees for special
sectors: merchants, workers, students,
etc.
The new thing is not only the pro-
liferation of committees, but their new
way of working and their initiative
which is commended in the UNL’s calls
as experience to be spread. A newsletter
issued by the Union of Palestinian
Women’s Committees in July 1988,
states: «The national and mass
organizations’ previous general attitude
of holding fast to traditional and nar-
row methods of carrying out activities
amongst the masses has now, in the
midst of the uprising, found a new kind
of flexibility and maneuverability; fur-
thermore, the mass organizations have
done exceptionally well in creating
variety in their work that has allowed
for the active participation of large
segments of the population in the work
of popular committees in villages,
camps and cities, in neighborhood
committees, medical committees and
land rehabilitation committees.»
From the beginning the UNL ex-
hibited clear awareness that while the
strength of the uprising lies in the par-
ticipation of all the people, still dif-
ferent sectors can and should have dif-
ferent roles. The distinction is made on
both a class and functional basis, i.e.,
how to best utilize the skills and
resources of different sectors for the - هو جزء من
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