Democratic Palestine : 35 (ص 7)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 35 (ص 7)
- المحتوى
-
WN
Interview
«The Uprising is the Focus of our Lives»
In August, Democratic Palestine interviewed Masoud Othman Zaiter who was expelled from Palestine by
the Zionist authorities on January 1, 1989, together with 12 other Palestinians.
Masoud Othman Zaiter was born in Haifa, Palestine. His
family was expelled from their home in 1948, when the state of
Israel was founded. Afterwards he lived in Nablus, married
and had six children. He began by telling us about his youth:
Due to my father’s illness, I had to go to work after
graduating from high school, rather than continuing my
education. I was arrested the first time in 1962 by the Jorda-
nian authorities, while I was still a teenager; I remained in
prison until 1966, due to my nationalist activities. In 1968,
after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
i.e., the rest of Palestine, I was arrested by the Israeli
authorities, because of my anti-occupation activities. This time
I spent nine years in prison. During my imprisonment, my
family suffered the worst conditions. My daughter was born
and raised in my absence, and my father became very ill. My
release, after nine years, meant the continuation of my strug-
gle.
In 1985, at the time of the escalated iron fist policy, I was put
under administrative detention for six months. I was put under
administrative detention once more in 1987, and again in 1988,
before being expelled on January Ist.
What are the roots of the popular committees?
The popular committees existed in the towns, villages and
camps of the West Bank and Gaza Strip before the uprising.
They were basically formed to develop the work of the
Palestinian political and mass organizations and trade unions.
These committees were revitalized during the uprising. There
are popular committees for relief, agriculture, education,
support to families, health, popular resistance, etc., in addition
to the strike forces. They are now the broadest framework in
the occupied territories, not being limited to any one organiza-
tion or area.
Democratic Palestine, October 1989
These committees are the main instrument for confronting
the occupation on all levels, politically and organizationally,
based on the United National Leadership’s program. The
leadership’s calls are distributed everywhere by the popular
committees the same day they are issued. The committees’
main task is building popular authority by breaking all links
with the occupation authorities - severing ties with the civil
administration, boycotting Israeli goods, etc. Let’s take, for
example, the merchants’ committee in Nablus. Its task is to
circulate the United National Leadership’s instructions an:ong
the merchants, to stress the boycott of Israeli goods for which
there are local alternatives, to control prices and supervise the
merchants’ commitment to the leadership’s decisions.
The relief committee, as another example, works to provide
foodstuffs to besieged areas. All committees work together to
achieve social solidarity and cooperation. The neighborhood
committees follow up on landlords to make sure they are
committed to the United National Leadership’s order to lower
rents by 25%. I am proud to mention that all the landlords of
Palestine’s West Bank and Gaza Strip have been very commit-
ted to these orders. Another example of the functions of the
popular committees is preparing everything needed for special
days of confrontation against the occupation authorities, call-
ed by the United National Leadership, such as gathering
stones, erecting barricades, etc.
How do you view the intifada from outside, since
your expulsion?
I feel confident and optimistic. I have faith in our people’s
potentials, especially since the uprising has become the focus of
our thinking and lives inside and outside of Palestine.
The uprising has been exposed to many political schemes, in
addition to the continuous repression aimed at aborting it. Its
continuation and expansion has elicited international support,
confused the US administration, put the Israeli government in
@ precarious position and increased the contradictions in the
Israeli camp. For all these reasons, the occupation intensified
the use of its old-new methods of divide and rule. It has issued
false statements in the name of the United National Leadership
in an attempt to confuse the masses and abort the uprising. It
has spread rumors aimed at creating division in the ranks of
the PLO and the masses. The unity and comprehensiveness of
the uprising is the main source of its power. So the occupation
tried to exploit any political difference among the Palestinian
organizations. For example, during the last PNC session, the >
7 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 35
- تاريخ
- أكتوبر ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed