Democratic Palestine : 34 (ص 10)
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- Democratic Palestine : 34 (ص 10)
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Elections Under the Gun
On May 14 the Israeli government
overwhelmingly passed the Shamir
plan, making it the first time the coali-
tion government has united around a
political program.
Perhaps this facade of «unity» ex-
plains the gimmickry of this plan in
light of the differences which exist
between Likud and Labor around a
settlement. Labor’s real position on the
Shamir plan surfaced during an inter-
view conducted by the Israeli radio with
Shimon Peres on April 13 in which he
described the plan as an «illusion» and
that «it does not present a solution to
the Palestinian problem.»
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Peres and the rest of Labor members
of the cabinet with the exception of
Ezer Weitzman voted in favor of the
plan however with the realization that it
is designed first and foremost to buy
time for the Israeli government in order
to allow for more room to maneuver,
and not to be implemented.
The twenty point plan is predicated
on three Israeli No’s: no to negotiations
with the representative of the Palesti-
nian people (PLO), no to withdrawal
from the territories occupied since
1967, and no to a Palestinian state. The
plan includes four main points: elec-
10
tions in the West Bank and Gaza,
resolution of the refugee problem,
normalizing relations with the Arab
states, and the reaffirmation of the
Camp David agreements.
According to the Shamir plan, the
elections in the West Bank and Gaza,
are designed to produce Palestinian
representatives from these territories
who would be ready to negotiate with
Israel on an interim period of three
years of «self-rule,» to be followed by a
second stage in which a final settlement
would be negotiated.
The second point of the plan is a
resolution of the refugee problem
whereby Shamir calls on the interna-
tional community to extend help,
claiming that «Israel has done its
share.» Indeed Israel has done more
than its share towards the Palestinian
refugee problem when they forcefully
evicted hundreds of thousands of
Palestinians from their country.
If Shamir and Rabin are genuinely
interested in solving the refugee pro-
blem, they should allow those refugees
whom they uprooted and displaced to
return to their homes instead of asking
for charity in their name, they can also
help by stopping the demolition of
homes in the refugee camps in the West
Bank and Gaza, in addition to allowing
international humanitarian organiza-
tions to conduct their work without the
usual obstacles.
The third point is normalizing rela-
tions between Israel and the Arab
countries. This issue is of utmost im-
portance to Israel, normalization of
relations between Israel and its Arab
neighbors could relieve the chokehold
on the Israeli economy, whereby Israel
would be able to sell its products to
Arab markets without the strain of the
high cost of transportation incurred in
exporting goods outside of the Middle
East.
And the fourth point is the reaffir-
mation of the Camp David agreements.
Although this last point is considered a
very important point of the plan, the
plan as a whole is in reality a reaffir-
mation of the ten-year-old Camp David
agreements, which dealt with Egypt and
Jordan and did not deal with the
Palestinians.
The election plan calls for conducting
«free and democratic elections, free
from violence, terrorism and threats.»
«If Palestinians are not prepared to
seize the golden opportunity offered by
elections, they will face a tougher
security crackdown.» This direct threat
by Rabin underscores the dilemma of
the Israel government and particularly
the military in light of their failure to
quell the intifada, and it unveils the true
nature of their sham «democracy.»
The idea of conducting elections in
the occupied territories was originally
Rabin’s. He declared his plan on
January 20 which aims at «putting a
wedge between the PLO in Tunis and
the PLO in the [occupied] territories.»»!
Hence the Shamir plan has been often
referred to as the Shamir/Rabin plan.
These so-called free elections are not
without conditions. The two main
conditions are ending the intifada, and
forbidding Palestinians in East
Jerusalem which has been occupied and
officially annexed since 1967 from tak-
ing part in the elections.
Moreover, Rabin threatens once
again that he «will send to prison any
elected Palestinian who declares loyalty
or affiliation to the PLO.»2 This threat
by Rabin which was also reiterated by
Shamir is to be taken seriously in light
of Israel’s record vis-a-vis elected
Palestinian officials.
Since 1968, five elected mayors from
the West Bank have been deported:
Rawhi Al Khatib from Jerusalem,
Nadim Al Zarro from Ramallah, Abdel
Jawad Saleh from El Bireh, Mohamad
Milhem from Halhoul, and Fahd
Kawasmeh from Hebron (AI Khalil).
This is not'to mention the deporta-
tion of union leaders, journalists,
scholars, and clergymen like
Archbishop Hilarion Capucci and
President of the Islamic Council Sheikh
Abdel Hamid Al Sayeh.
After the deportation of the mayors
of Ramallah and Al Bireh, the new
elected mayors Kareem Khalaf and
Democratic Palestine, August 1989 - هو جزء من
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