27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Dying for freedom: a funeral turns into an impromptu demonstration against Israeli occupation -- and, almost certainly, an opportunity for the occupiers to open fire photo: Enric Marti
Now light dawns
The Intifada is a reaction to the failure of the policy adopted by the Palestinian Authority since Oslo began. For a whole decade of our history, negotiations unaccompanied by national struggle of any sort had left our destiny in the hands of the expansionist Israeli occupation forces. All hopes of reaching a full comprehensive settlement had been thwarted; a feeling of depression had taken hold of Palestinians inside and outside the territories -- especially once they discovered that the path laid out by Oslo was only a tunnel at the end of the tunnel. Not only would this path offer no solutions -- it would fail to address even the Palestinians' most basic national aspirations.
Ten years down the road, then, the Intifada has revealed itself as the only practical means of transcending the vicious circle of negotiations. Today, a year after the uprising began, our people are fulfilling the potential of nationhood, and struggling to develop unity on the battlefield so that it may result in political unity. This will lead to the formulation of a joint political programme that will honour those who gave their lives in the conviction that independence and freedom could be achieved.
By transcending the factional divisions that have beset the Palestinian political scene, we will be able to end the unilateral policy adopted at the time of Oslo. In the meantime, the Intifada is restructuring our national institutions as represented in the offices of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.
The uprising, however, must develop and revise its priorities. Only in this way will it become a truly national struggle that can culminate in the expulsion of the occupiers from the Palestinian territories.
Finally, the Intifada has sent a direct message to the Arab world: 25 years of bilateral, step- by-step negotiations failed to achieve peace in the region. Any attempt to go back to the way things were before 28 September 2000 will reverse the equation once more in favour of Sharon's expansionist policies, which have violated international law and flouted the will of the family of nations.
* The writer is secretary-general of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
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