Democratic Palestine : 38 (ص 12)
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- Democratic Palestine : 38 (ص 12)
- المحتوى
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was to warn all the peace forces in Israel, to say: Look, here
are the limits; don’t cross them. These people went too far.
If you want to keep your rights, don’t go too far. They also
intended to create a situation whereby we must legitimize
ourselves daily. They did this by saying: They are
extremists, radicals; don’t work with them, they are inciters,
fake Israelis. In fact, they’re Palestinians disguised as
Israelis, We say that we’re working with Palestinians, but
we’re Israelis.
All this backfired on the authorities because there is a
crisis in Israel. The crisis is one of confidence. And there is
not a consensus anymore. Also, because we’re based on a
certain legitimacy, although we are known as anti-Zionists
and radicals, we’re accepted today as a component of the
peace movement. We’re respected because more and more
people are realizing that 20 years ago we were alone in
shouting: Occupation is bad. More Israelis now say: You
were right, occupation is bad. And tomorrow maybe they’ll
say also Zionism is bad. We have to be patient. So it
backfired on the authorities. Instead of isolating us, we had
this solidarity and people saying: No, we don’t believe the
authorities. We know them. Okay. They have radical pos-
itions, but they are not terrorists, they are not traitors. They
have their positions, and we don’t agree with them, but
they’re playing fair. They have the right to express even
‘these radical positions. So, instead of the authorities cutting
us off from the Israeli public, they strengthened our rela-
tions with them. In one case, there was an article in one of
the major dailies in Israel by a Zionist journalist who made
a big joke of the whole incident. He explained that he knew
us very well, having used our information which was always
accurate. He then wrote: Let’s assume that, as the
authorities were alleging, the center was financed by George
Habash. They said the same thing about Al Mithaq and
other newspapers, so this is a turning point. George
Habash, instead of being a big terrorist, has become the
Rupert Murdoch of the Palestinian press. We should wel-
come such a step.
Wii
There are those who say that Israel, perhaps, has
the ability now to live with the intifada, therefore
rendering it ineffective. What do you think about
this?
The idea of living with the intifada is ridiculous. The
intifada is, among other things, a war of attrition. You can-
not live with a war of attrition. A war of attrition weakens
you slowly, but permanently. You can see it everywhere.
You cannot take the bus without everyone being afraid that
it will be attacked. In the streets, everyone is on guard.
There is a situation of insecurity which will grow deeper in
the future, I’m sure. Also, the army is being affected. How
long can you have reserve soldiers running after kids, mak-
ing them take down flags from wires and erase slogans from
walls? Everyone knows that these actions and stone-throw-
ing are not going to stop. So, there is a deterioration in the
situation. People are soldiers and they don’t like serving in
the occupied territories, but they’ll do it once, twice a year,
for a year and a half, two years, but they’re unhappy as long
as they know they’ll have to serve there again and again.
This is not living with the intifada; no one will accept the
idea that we will have to live with the intifada.
Two possibilities are open in Israel and, in fact, the
polarization of Israeli society reflects these two possibilities.
One is the line which is heading towards a total war against
the Palestinian people, including mass expulsion, mass ter-
ror until the intifada is crushed by emptying the occupied
territories of their inhabitants. But this would mean not only
the end of Palestine, but the end of Israel too. This would
mean total war with the Arab world. This is it: the
apocalypse. Otherwise, you have to make a radical turn.
Today we have a substantial minority in Israel which is say-
ing: We don’t accept the idea of expulsion and total war, so
let’s talk. Then you have various answers as to what to say,
how to say it, what to talk, about, etc. These are the two
poles. No one seriously believes that we can live with the
new status quo, yet no one believes that we can go back to
the situation which existed before 1987.
Israeli Women in Black protest the occupation. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 38
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- أبريل ١٩٩٠
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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