Democratic Palestine : 40 (ص 12)
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- Democratic Palestine : 40 (ص 12)
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in forming a government because there are six Arab members of
the Knesset who wanted to vote for him, but all the extreme
right-wing parties refused to vote for him if he accepted the sup-
port of the Arab members. So what does this mean? You can go
to the Knesset if you recognize that Israel is astate for the Jewish
people, and you are an outsider. What, then, is the purpose of
going to the Knesset? There is no strong democratic non-Zionist
party with whom we could possibly form a coalition to establish
a new, progressive regime in Israel. That is impossible now. All
of them, excepting the Arab members, are Zionists and can
form a coalition against us. So, our position in the Knesset is nof
important. After what happened with the Arab Knesset mem-
bers wanting to support Peres and the right wing refusing this, a
conference was held in Nazareth in which the Arab Knesset
members were shouting, after 42 years: This is outrageous! It’s
political transfer for the Arabs! We replied: Good morning!
We’ve been saying this for 15 years!
From the Palestinian perspective, we think Abna Al Balad
represents a new thing inside the green line. We represent the
strategic solution to the Palestinian question for the Arabs and
Jews in Palestine. We are building a national organization for
Jews and Arabs to implement this strategic solution, because
the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip only solves the problem of the Palestinians in those
areas, who make up just 40 percent of all the Palestinian people.
What about the refugees?
What are the other main points of Abna Al Balad’s
program?
The other thing that is important for us is that if we are
struggling for national liberation, we also want democracy. We
are not against Jews. We are suggesting a democratic secular
state for the Arabs and Jews in Palestine. Also, we are socialist.
We have been speaking about Marxism-Leninism for the last
ten years, which is another point some of the founders of Abna
Al Balad who left the organization didn’t agree with. After they
left, we began to build a new Abna Al Balad and have been con-
tinuing to do so for the past five years.
What kind of activities do you organize?
Our activities are organized to respond to the objective
situation we live in. Therefore, our efforts are concentrated on
popular political struggle. We organize strikes and demonstra-
tions. We push for all forces to engage in more militant political
struggle than the Communist Party and others have been
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organizing. The important thing is the positions we have been
representing through unified action. For example, on Land Day
the supporters of Abna Al Balad raised the Palestinian flag. This
means a lot; this is smashing all the other programs that talk
about two nations and two states. This is the deep importance of
Abna Al Balad. We need organizations like Abna Al Balad to
represent this position, to say to everybody - to the PLO leader-
ship and to the Israelis - that we’re an integral part of the Palesti-
nian problem. And without solving all the Palestinian problem,
there will not be real peace. Peace means a just peace in all
Palestine. You won’t find another progressive program like
Abna Al Balad’s inside the green line. During the past few years,
all the anti-Zionist Jewish groups have been coordinating with
us. This is possible because Abna Al Balad is not an Arab
nationalist organization; it is for Jews and Arabs alike.
Which anti-Zionist organizations are coordinating
with you?
The Trotskyists, for example. All the persons that were in
the Tariq Al Sharara organization, Matzpen-Tel Aviv.
Matzpen-Jerusalem (all three are leftist Israeli organizations)
and anti-Zionist individuals. Uri Davis, for example, is not a
Marxist but he and some persons like him also coordinate with
Abna Al Balad. There is no other organization to struggle with
them. The Jews in the Communist Party are not anti-Zionist.
Now we are having coordinating meetings between Abna Al
Balad and Matzpen Trotskyists to establish a secular democrati¢
front. We will publish a magazine in Arabic and Hebrew to raise
this issue and let people know that there is a strategic alterna-
tive.
How did the masses respond to Abna Al Balad when
it was formed, and how has this response changed
over the years’
At the beginning, the response was similar to that to the
Palestinian revolution. The masses looked to us as representing
the PLO, all the PLO. But many people are afraid to join Abna
Al Balad because the authorities have jailed our members.
About forty active comrades, including myself, were under
house arrest for four years without trial. They have prevented us
from working or fired us, and have kept us from entering univer-
sity. We’ve been suffering and struggling under very difficult cir-
cumstances. Other forces besides the authorities are against us
as well, like our parents.
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