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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 2 - 8 November 2000 Issue No. 506 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 2 - 8 November 2000 Issue No. 506
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Interview International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Our blood is sacred too'
By Rasha SaadIn two seminars held in Cairo, Palestinian and Egyptian participants discussed the future of the Palestinians in light of the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Allegations appearing in the Western press that the uprising was no more than a strategy by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to improve its negotiating position vis à vis Israel were dismissed by participants as "wishful thinking." They explained that while Ariel Sharon's visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque on 28 September (which ignited the Al-Aqsa Intifada) was provocative, it was only the straw the broke the camel's back.
According to Khedr Shoqairat, director of the Palestinian Association for Human Rights and Environment in Jerusalem, who spoke at a seminar held by the Cairo Centre for Human Rights, the Al-Aqsa Intifada began when Palestinians became certain that all peace agreements signed since Madrid in 1991 would only further entrench the Israeli occupation. Palestinians, he said, view US and Israeli peace proposals as directed towards a settlement "that would only maintain the de facto apartheid."
"Thus, by Camp David, the majority of Palestinians were already against Oslo. It was crystal clear that the Israeli occupation would remain, but under a new label," said Shoqairat referring to the summit hosted by US President Bill Clinton and attended by Palestinian President Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in July.
At another seminar held at the Press Syndicate, Mohamed El-Sayed Said of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told participants that Israel was not ready for peace. "The whole Israeli community is turning in favour of the hard-line right-wing, thereby ushering in a new phase in relations with the Palestinians based on breaking their will and breaking their bones."
While participants hailed the Al-Aqsa Intifada for achieving its immediate goal of preventing the conclusion of an unjust peace settlement, they stressed that its methods of resistance should be diversified. "It is obvious that the Intifada will last for a long time. But to be able to maintain it -- not as a mere reaction but as a strategy -- it is not in the interests of the Palestinians to continue with the bloody confrontations," explained Said. "These have left over 6,000 people injured, out of which more than 1,000 are permanently disabled. Of this last number, 40 per cent are children," he said.
Emphasising the importance of finding a way out of a prolonged "no war, no peace" phase between the Palestinians and the Israelis, Said suggested that civil struggle be increased. This could include lobbying international and Arab public opinion, supporting the advocacy role of human rights organisations and launching Internet campaigns to explain the Palestinian cause.
(top) The body of a 14-year-old Palestinian who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers is carried for burial in the town of Rafah, while (above) a Palestinian farmer and his son try to salvage their belongings after an Israeli bulldozer demolished their house in Gaza
(photos: Reuters, AP)
Such efforts should be coordinated under a clear strategy directed at concrete gains, said participants. Comparing the Intifada which began in 1987 and lasted through 1992 with the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Ragi Al-Sourani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza said that the slogans of the earlier uprising transmitted its goals. "During the 1987 Intifada, there were slogans such as 'the PLO is the Palestinians' sole and legitimate representative' and 'we want a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.' We want to know what the main slogans of the present Intifada are."
The most important result of the Al-Aqsa Intifada thus far, said most speakers, was the unity it fostered among Palestinians. Coordination among all Palestinian political factions has emerged for the first time since the signing of the Oslo agreement with Israel in 1993. Added to this, suggested Sari Hanafi, a Palestinian researcher from Ramallah, solidarity has increased between Palestinians living in Israel and those in the West Bank and Gaza, occupied in 1967.
Hanafi believes that Israel was caught off guard by the attitudes concerning the latest Intifada held by Palestinians living in the areas occupied in 1948. "Israel was proud that it was able to divide Palestinians and claimed to be integrating them into Israeli society. Yet, it woke up to the reality that the people it refers to as Israeli Arabs had never really assimilated into their community."
Participants hailed the support in the Arab and Muslim worlds for the Al-Aqsa Intifada, especially on the popular level. Rallies, protests and demonstrations have taken place in nearly all Arab and Islamic countries. According to Hanafi, the Al-Aqsa Intifada represents the first time the Arab dimension in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict imposed itself as a decisive factor, implying that governments were pushed to translate popular sentiment into practical agendas for supporting Palestinians.
In contrast with mounting support for the Palestinians in the Arab world, most speakers criticised the response by Europe, accusing it of "a conspiracy of silence." Hanafi noted that before the Intifada, Palestinians and their leadership already felt that European support was retreating. This was made clear, he said, by Arafat's tour of the region in August to mobilise international support for the declaration of an independent state. The Europeans, Hanafi noted, told Arafat he should postpone the declaration.
As Palestinian stone throwers continue to be confronted by Apache helicopters, tanks and guided missiles, Al-Surani demanded the deployment of international peacekeeping forces to provide them with protection and to deter Israeli occupation troops from the excessive use of violence. Recalling the barbaric shooting by the Israeli army of 12-year old Mohamed Al-Dorra while his father was trying to protect him, Al-Surani said, "I will not accept that my children die while they are frightened and helpless. This cannot be our fate. We have to defend ourselves with all we have and we have much to offer. Jewish blood is not the only sacred blood, our blood is sacred too."
Related stories:
Shifting borders
The Intifada this time
'Those times are over'
Snipers, gunships and now death squads
'Our blood is sacred too'
Blaming the victim
Exporting typhoid and guns
It's war -- virtually
Arab journalists join the fray
Blinded by the truth
Deciphering ZNN
The message is the medium
Also see Focus on Intifada 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000
and Focus on Intifada 19 - 25 October 2000© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
