Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 58)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 58)
- المحتوى
-
especially after 1982, have put major
emphasis on work in the occupied ter-
ritories, especially with a view to
strengthening mass organization; this
phenomenon has clearly borne fruit
under the uprising.
SOCIAL ISSUES
A similar reservation can be
registered concerning the section on
society. This is the most provocative
part of the book, where women speak
about the oppression imposed by con-
servative trends in their own society. To
some extent, it is disorienting that these
views, i.e., contradictions within the
Palestinian society, are dealt with
before the chapter on occupation,
which gives the overall framework. It is
also disorienting to be presented with
widely divergent views ranging from
one woman who regards housework as
a form of resistance, to another who
advocates separatist organization for
women. An integrated view of how
women can work for their own libera-
tion in the context of the overall na-
tional liberation struggle is not
presented, even though this is the ap-
proach adopted by virtually all promi-
nent Palestinian women activists.
Despite these reservations, the
chapter on society is useful in
evaluating the conditions for struggle in
the Gaza Strip; it pinpoints critical
issues to be addressed by the Palesti-
nian revolutionary forces.
Along with other new realities
created by the uprising, changes have
most certainly occurred vis-a-vis these.
social questions since the book was:
written. For example, one women told
Cossali and Robson: «The effect of
occupation on women is worse than on
men because they lived under social
restrictions before occupation...
Women are more likely to be kept at
home because of the occupation and
those women who work for Israelis will
be exploited in the same way as men
are. But most women hardly have any
direct contact with the occupation. The
impact is usually indirect.» This woman
would surely want to modify her
evaluation in view of the high degree to
which Palestinian women have entered
into the direct confrontation of the oc-
cupation forces during the current
uprising. All in all, Stateless in Gaza
has begun many subjects which we.
58
hope the authors or other friends of the
Palestinian people will follow up in the
light of the experience of the uprising.
FOR A DEMOCRATIC
PALESTINE
The interviews in the book also a-
centuate what the Palestinians are
fighting for. For example, an UNRWA
teacher and avowed leftist explains the
solution he envisions for the Palestinian
problem:
«I’ve lived in this camp - I was born
in this camp - what compromise can I
make?... The very nature of Zionism
precludes compromise. We will live
with those Jews who accept that the
Palestinian refugees can return to their
homeland and live together in a
democratic secular state. I know quite a
few Israelis now and I reckon a lot of
them are victims of Zionism just as we
are...
«Lots of people here think that hav-
ing a Palestinian state alongside an
Israeli state would solve all our pro-
blems... I think this is not only unac-
ceptable, but also unrealistic. If Gaza
was independent tomorrow, I’d still be
living in this camp. I’d still be as far
away from my village as I am now.
There will be no peace without justice
and no justice without the return of the
refugees. I’m looking for a one-state
solution and I’ll tell you why. The
whole political reality has progressed
beyond the two-state solution. We are
already too intertwined whether we like
it or not. Even if the Israelis had the
political will to agree to an independent
state in Gaza and the West Bank, they
wouldn’t be able to allow it to happen.
We are now their second biggest market
and a vital source of cheap labor and
water. It’s not about defence, religious
nationalism or things like that: it’s
about economic survival. And how
would they hold together all those dif-
ferent communities if there was no
Palestinian people as a common and
unifying enemy? To talk about a two-
state solution is a red herring and
unrealistic. We’ve wasted a lot of
energy discussing it. I don’t want to
have two highly nationalistic and an-
tagonistic states living alongisde each
other. I want to be part of a state which
is progressive, secular and based on
justice.»
We of Democratic Palestine would
like to thank Paul Cossali and Clive
Robson for giving a broad spectrum of
Palestinians the chance to speak out to
the international audience.
Family in Jabalia camp, 1984. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 31
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- المنشئ
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