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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No end in sight
The Intifada will continue. The Palestinians and Israelis are locked in a deadly game of wills, and on the balance of power the Israelis should win. They will not, however; the Intifada will continue and deny Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the achievement of his sole election promise Ñ that of bringing the Israelis security. Under Ehud Barak, the Israelis tried to take from the Palestinians by stealth what Sharon is now trying to wrest by brute force.
The first Intifada lasted six years, and led to Oslo. This second Intifada is now marking its first anniversary, but I would not venture a guess where it is heading. I only know, from almost daily telephone conversations with leaders of the Palestinian Authority, and of the Islamist groups, both in the Palestinian territories and abroad, that all Palestinians, of all political persuasions, are determined to continue with the Intifada until they achieve their national rights.
I hope the Intifada will end with the creation of a Palestinian state. They came very close in Taba last January. The negotiators were discussing the fate of 18 houses in the American Quarter, in the path of a corridor from the Jewish Quarter and the Wailing Wall to West Jerusalem.
Maybe the Intifada should have stopped after the murder of Mohamed Al-Dorra, when sympathy with the Palestinians was at a peak. But hindsight is always 20/20. The Intifada continues, because the Palestinians are faced now with a whole new set of elements, including a right-wing government in Israel and an American administration that both supports Israel fully and refuses to get directly involved.
Very simply, there is an occupation, and there is resistance to the occupation. As the Israelis refuse to see the obvious, they have created the conditions for a long confrontation. They have given the Palestinians nothing, and since the Palestinians have nothing they have nothing to lose by fighting on.
* The writer is a veteran journalist and columnist with the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper.
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