Democratic Palestine : 39 (ص 3)
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- Democratic Palestine : 39 (ص 3)
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PFLP Press Conference
The day after the May 20th massacre in occupied Palestine, Com-
rade George Habash, General Secretary of the PFLP, convened a
press conference in Damascus. Below we print a summary of the
main points.
Comrade Habash began by deliver-
ing a short statement stressing that this
massacre demands more than an expres-
sion of pain, more than comforting words
for the families of the martyrs and wish-
ing a speedy recovery for the injured:
«What happened yesterday requires
that the PLO, the Arabs and democra-
tic and progressive forces internation-
ally shoulder their responsibility for
thoroughly examining the implications of
this tragedy and the duties to be carried
out in this regard. This bloodbath means
that the PLO must have no illusions
about the Israeli position on the peace
process. This would enable the PLO to
begin serious work based on the percep-
tion that the intifada is the backbone ofits
activities. In this case, the PLO would
begin to think of using all possible means
of struggle to guarantee the achievement
of our goals, namely freedom and inde-
pendence.
«To this end, a new session of the
Palestinian National Council (PNC)
should be convened as soon as possible.
This is especially needed since the in-
fluential forces in the PLO as of the 19th
PNC, adopted a policy based on recog-
nizing UN Security Council resolutions
242 and 338. This policy led the PLO
leadership to make more and more
gratuitous concessions, thinking thereby
to bring the Palestinian state within
reach. Now, it is our right to ask where
this policy has led the PLO. The answer is
all too clear: It has led to more intransi-
gence and arrogance on the part of the
Zionist enemy. Hence, it is the duty of
any sincere leadership to acknowledge
this fact and to adopt another political
line - one which makes the intifada the
focus of its work. This means to escalate
and support the intifada so as to force the
enemy to yield to our legitimate national
rights.
«The PFLP is calling for a speedy
convening of a new PNC to discuss the
issue of having HAMAS and the Islamic
Jihad, and all Palestinian forces who
remain outside the framework of the
PLO or the United National Leadership,
join these bodies; at the very least, we
must find the best means of coordination
among the various Palestinian forces
inside and outside of the occupied ter-
ritories.
«We should support the intifada
with armed struggle so as to inflict
maximum losses on the Zionist soldiers. I
do not mean that the intifada should be
converted into an armed uprising, but we
must fulfill our task across the borders...
Thirty months after the eruption of the
intifada, the Arab states surrounding
Palestine have yet to fire a single bullet to
support it. If the Arab armies are power-
less, the PLO must undertake this task as
it began doing in 1965.»
Comrade Habash called onthe Arab
summit to shoulder its responsibilities.
He stressed that it is the Palestinians’
right to call on the international com-
munity, specifically the UN, to provide
protection for the masses by putting the
occupied territories, including Jeru-
salem, under a temporary international
mandate. «We demand that all the
states that keep talking about human
rights, and specifically the US which
pretends to be the foremost defender
of human rights, to impose sanctions
on Israel which is totally rejecting the
Palestinian people’s rights.»
Comrade Habash saluted the masses
of the intifada, stressing that: «No force
in the world, no matter how powerful,
can defeat the will of a people who are
determined to achieve freedom and inde-
pendence.» He addressed the Palestinian
masses in the 1948 occupied territories,
pointing out what an effective role they
could play in support of the uprising; he
called on Jewish progressive forces who
have protested Sunday’s atrocity to
intensify their work to expose the Israeli
government’s criminal policy. He urged
the Palestinian masses in exile to con-
tinue to search for new ways of support-
ing the intifada, meanwhile calling on the
Arab masses to take immediate action in
solidarity with the Palestinians under
occupation and to pressure the Arab gov-
ernments to take practical measures,
exerting their influence to force the US to
recognize Palestinian rights.
After concluding his opening state-
ment, Comrade Habash answered a
series of questions from journalists. To a
question about the role the Palestine Lib-
eration Army (PLA) in the Arab coun-
tries should play to support the intifada,
he replied: «Above all, the units of this
army should be under the PLO’s com-
mand, not controlled by the states where
they are located. In that case, the PLA
would participate along with the other
forces of the Palestinian revolution in
defending the Palestinian masses and
fighting the enemy’s troops.»
Concerning the _ reaction § he
expected to the massacre from the Pales-
tinians in the occupied territories,
Habash said that this was a chance to
return to the early days of the intifada
which were termed «the days of vast mass
explosion. It is natural to expect that the
mass reaction may reach the point of
employing arms.»
Asked about the PFLP’s position on
states which resume diplomatic relations
with Israel, Habash said: «When the
largest Arab state (Egypt) does not with-
draw its ambassador from Tel Aviv...
what can we expect from Greece, Spain
or even the Soviet Union? When the
chairman of the PLO Executive Commit-
tee does not ask the Egyptian regime to
sever relations with Israel, how can we
ask others to do so?»
The last question concerned the
PLO delegation which was visiting
Damascus at the time of the press confer-
ence. Comrade Habash explained that
the delegation had two aims: normalizing
relations between Fatah and Syria, and
discussing the upcoming Arab summit.
«Concerning the bilateral relations... a
step forward has been achieved. But con-
cerning the summit, the official Syrian
position is known, and I do not think
there was any change.» @
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