14 - 20 February 2002
Issue No.573
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 February 2002 Issue No.573 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Refusing to escape
Officials and commentators who have been mourning the Palestinian resistance and grieving for the defeat of the Intifada fail to realise that battles for independence are often bitter and long, that they involve a good deal of give and take and that a partial or temporary regress should never imply defeat.
Palestinian resilience has proved, for the hundredth time, that the battles of independence involve much give and take of this kind, and that the struggle for the right to self-determination requires much endurance, especially under Sharon. Such endurance is in itself an achievement. No longer is Arafat alone under siege: Sharon, too, is in a state of crisis.
One aspect of that crisis is the rebellion among in the ranks of Israeli reservists and their refusal to serve in Gaza and the West Bank on the premise that they are occupied lands. Another is that settlers have continued to withdraw from settlements, flocking into Israel. Sharon's popularity is declining and the Israeli press is already accusing him of leading the country to disaster. Sharon, who would have preferred death to negotiations with the Palestinians, is now initiating talks with Palestinian officials.
All these developments make it clear that the Intifada has yet to be completely crushed. The war of wills rages on, and the conflict over Gaza and the West Bank has become a life-or-death situation from which Palestinians refuse to escape.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is a journalist with Al-Ahali newspaper.
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