“YOU have been a greater part of the life in new Palestine. Palestine will rise with you from the ruins.” That is how the epitaph of Yasser Arafat reads in the memorial where his body is laid to rest in Ramallah.
Even a couple of months back, these words would have sounded like the emotional outbursts of a proud but frustrated people. But not now. Since the time the Palestinian people and the Palestinian National Authority decided to approach the UN to grant them full membership of the world body, the occupied territory is in ferment. And that ferment finds its reverberations all across the world.
INSIDE
PALESTINE
The present writer, while visiting the Palestinian occupied territories and Israel as part of an 18-member international delegation of the World Peace Council (WPC) and World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), was left with these lasting impressions. The international mission to find out the truth about the current reality of Palestine visited these areas between September 19 and 22, 2011. The WPC delegation was led by its president and a Brazilian peace activist, Sokoro Gomes, while the WFDY delegation was led by its president, Diego of the Portuguese Communist Youth.
In course of its visit to the occupied territories in West Bank, the delegation had wide-ranging consultations with diverse political forces active in the occupied territories. There was a very broad based consensus which demands in the positions of these forces.
General secretary of Palestine People’s Party – Bassam Salhi – pointed out that the 17-year long negotiations with Israel have proved to be absolutely futile. He stressed the phenomenon of the systematic establishment of settlement of Jews by Israel over the years as the major reasons for the failure of negotiations. Negotiation for peace and statehood for the formation of Palestine state and the establishment of Jewish settlements by dispossessing the Palestinians of their land cannot go hand in hand. The settlements enable the Israeli government to establish a security network of checkpoints and the wall on the excuse of providing security to these settlements. The settlements in effect take away land and water resources which legitimately belong to the Palestinian people.
RELEVANCE OF
APPROACHING UN
Salhi underlined: the biggest advantage of taking the demand for Palestinian statehood to the UN was in bringing world attention to this obnoxious settlement policy of Israel. He wrapped up his submission by pointing out that this move of going to UN has created the possibility of mobilising the Palestinian people and in galvanising a united resistance as a continuation of the legacy of the 1987 Intifada. This, together with powerful international solidarity, will constitute the basis for gaining statehood for the Palestinian people. This also will require a further reinforcing of the unity of the different Palestinian political groups – whose chances have brightened with this new initiative.
The delegation had a very meaningful meeting with Gassan Khatib, spokesman of the Palestinian National Authority and a member of the PLO Executive Committee. He stressed that the current move to articulate the demand for full membership of UN was even more relevant with the creation of institutional and developmental infrastructure under the PNA inside the occupied territories. The raising of the demand in UN will also force choice on the comity of nations to take positions. It is such a choice by a large number of nations which led to big pressure from Israel, US and its other allies on the Palestinian leadership to abandon this move – because it is so embarrassing to blatantly oppose a two state solution. Khatib also pointed out the settlements as the major stumbling lock for the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The settlements were not merely denying Palestinian rights but also undermining the very viability of a two state solution. He also stressed the need for sensitising the Israeli society at large, to reckon with the consequences of the policy of occupation.
The other point that Khatib underlined was the contribution of what they call the ‘Arab spring’ – particularly the popular upsurge of people of Egypt and Tunisia for establishing political freedom and democracy. Though the actual occupation covers an area of one per cent of the Palestinian territories, the excuse of security of Israel and the Jewish settlements have rendered almost 65 per cent of the total land inaccessible to the Palestinian people. He also pointed out that overwhelming majority of the Jewish settlers are from US and happen to be the most fanatic. They maintained a close collaboration with extreme right US-Jewish groups.
The delegation had other meetings with the representatives of PLO, members of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Fateh, Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). All these meetings brought home the growing convergence of the diverse political leadership. Ghassan W Al – Shakaa and Mahmoud Lebadi represented the PLO leadership in its interaction with the delegation. They particularly brought out the US president Obama’s hypocrisy over the Palestinian statehood question.
DFLP leaders Ramzi Rabah, a member of DFLP Polit Bureau, and Rima, its woman leader, spoke with passion about the extra mile that the DFLP is walking to step up internal national unity and for realising a reconciliation plan. The DFLP brought out the baseless propaganda unleashed by certain quarters to the effect that it is the Islamist groups which are expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. They pointed out that the visit of the delegation itself nails down this lie.
The meeting with NLC members like Walid Asaf and Zamal of Fatah, Khalida Zerar of PFLP and Dr Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Mission brought out certain absolutely sinister aspects of the Israeli occupation regime. The draconian nature of the occupation regime has led to the imprisonment of 5800 Palestinian prisoners, of which 21 are elected members of NLC. They also include 250 who are under the age of 18 and 34 women; many of them are in solitary cells and even family members and lawyers are not allowed to visit them. The Israeli regime is creating new precedence on violation of rights of prisoners many of whom have spent more than 30 years in prison. They also pointed out that the Palestinian move to approach the UN has brought about a new aggressive in the Israeli attitude towards persecution of the Palestinian people. Standing olive crops are being cut and plants destroyed, mosques are burnt, newly discovered oilfields and water resources are being brought under the control of the occupation regime. The roads meant to connect Palestinian cities and villages are being dug up. The security wall has divided the Jerusalem city into five parts. The actual condition of the occupied territories is that Jewish settlements are recreating Bantustans as perpetrated by the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
GROWING OPINION FOR
PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD
The reality that our interactions with the Palestinian leadership captured is getting increasingly manifested in the changing public opinion across the world. Based on an interview of 20,446 people in 19 countries, a recent BBC poll has revealed that 49 per cent of the respondents now support the recognition of a Palestinian state. Fewer than 21 per cent want their government to oppose the move. Public opinion is striking in Britain, France and Germany, and most importantly in US itself. 45 per cent of the respondents in the survey supported recognition while 36 per cent was opposed to the idea. In France, it was more positive – 54 per cent in favour and 20 per cent against. In Britain and Germany, 53 per cent were favourable to recognition.
It is quite evident that there is a transformation in the public opinion in North America and Western Europe – those very regions whose governments have spoken out on delaying the coming into being of the new Palestinian state immediately. But undaunted by this, Palestinian people have understood the significance of this new mood swing. Therefore, as we travelled during the days to the run-up to the presentation of the Palestinian case to the UN by President Mahmoud Abbas – the sense of a quiet confidence was palpable among the people and the different political leadership that we met across Palestine. It is this people who came to the streets across the Palestinian cities – Ramallah, Nablus, Jerusalem, et al in their hundreds of thousands.
It is not just the BBC. Even the International Herald Tribune was forced to concede this new reality in a front page report on September 22, a day after President Abbas made his presentation on the UN podium in New York. They conceded that the mantle of Arafat has been inherited by the man whom people across the world did not see as much a fighter as his predecessor. But IHT report had appropriately captioned itself — ‘Abbas shows his bold side.’ The report itself points out: “In bringing his cause to the United Nations despite intense US pressure, Mr Abbas has captivated the annual General Assembly gathering, bolstered the flagging devotion of his people and even cornered his rivals in Hamas. The question is whether this moment of unparalleled prestige for the Palestinian leader will produce concrete results or a new and more dangerous set of risks.”
What is the secret behind this Palestinian resurgence? The failure of the negotiation process to yield any tangible result for realising the creation of a Free State, making Palestine an occupied territory and keep it so as the last of the world, has created a solid ground for the legitimacy of the Palestinians’ claim for statehood at this juncture. Earlier, in trying to contrast his presidency to that of George Bush, President Obama could not but agree that Palestinians do deserve a state. That President Obama is not able to match his rhetoric in the case of Palestine as much as in Iraq or Afghanistan and now Libya,– and demarcate from the aggressive imperialist legacy of the Bush presidency, is a different proposition altogether. The detailed accounts of the interaction of the delegation with Palestinian leadership of different hues brought out this inescapable conclusion.
While, internationally, there is growing evidence of public approval for the Palestinian demand of statehood, a heartening feature is the large convergence of diverse political opinion within Palestine in favour of a two state solution with 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital for the new proposed state. The Palestinian leadership has also shown maturity and moderation in recognising this roadmap for a lasting solution towards these in the Middle East. Not only the statements of the Palestinians in course of our interaction with them but a global poll among Palestinians across the world conducted by western agencies reveal that 83 per cent of Palestinians from all over emphatically support the UN bid.
At the same time, Palestinian leadership is showing commensurate firmness in rejecting the Israeli intransigence. It is equally firm in exposing the hypocrisy of the West which is trying to persuade the Palestinian leadership to enter into another round of futile negotiations. They are emphatic that the outcome of last seventeen years has been adequate enough proof to reject such an open ended exercise. Not that the Palestinians are averse to any negotiation at all. But essentially that has to be under the aegis of UN and on the assurance that the Palestinians would indeed be granted statehood. The Palestinian question can no longer be a bilateral issue between the Palestinians and the Israelis with more than partisan mediation of the US. It has to be a multilateral exercise with the UN’s active involvement. This is what different political groups asserted in their dialogue with members of the WPC-WFDY delegation.
SETTLEMENT POLICY
EMBARRASSES THE WEST
The pre-eminent legitimacy of this Palestinian position is further reinforced by the obnoxious Israeli activity of setting up Jewish settlements in occupied territories. Over the years, the Israeli government has helped set-up over 300 such settlements and built a network of 120 security checkpoints and an 820 km long draconian wall, bisecting the occupied territories in West Bank which could otherwise be part of the Palestinian state. The entire bogey of security for Israel is a ruse to camouflage the inhuman aggressive to persecute the Palestinian people. That the settlement policy is embarrassing Israel’s traditional backers is clear. The Israeli authorities recently authorised in principle the construction of 1100 houses in an East Jerusalem settlement. Lady Ashton – the EU’s foreign policy chief – had to rush to demand the reversal of this obnoxious activity. She was candid — that this “threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution.”
Lady Ashton was actually echoing what the Palestinian leadership claimed. The time has come for a Palestinian state. A two-point solution – the state of Israel with a new state of Palestine with pre-1967 borders of the two states is the only viable basis for a lasting solution in the region. The sooner the international community understands this, the better. Obviously, India has to play a key role. Will the growing military cooperation with Israel blind us to the obnoxious nature of the Israel’s continuing acts of unlawful international behaviour? That the rising purchase of Israeli defence and security hardware is actually amounting to financing and subsidising the inhuman attacks on Palestinian people is something that would have shocked the Father of the Nation. Gandhi, in the last part of his life, had pointed out that ‘regardless of my sympathies with the Jewish people and the holocaust they suffered under Hitler, there can be no excuse for this forcible imposition on the proud Arabs.’
INSIDE ISRAEL: CHANGING
POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
Looking down from the heights of Mount Olive in Jerusalem, one cannot but look at the glorious monuments of the mosques, churches and Jewish temples. The separate cemeteries of people of these three distinct religious denominations cannot but leave any conscientious human being without a touch of sadness. Jerusalem — what could have been the greatest symbol of harmony of important religions — have become the greatest hotspot of discord. Celebration of unity and plurality is substituted by constant gibberish about mythical history of Palestine denying the claim of the indigenous Arab people to their motherland. It is the victors’ interpretation of history which resounds in Jerusalem today.
Yet, the 63 year old occupation, the invasion of 1967 and further expansion of Israeli occupation cannot turn the tide against the draconian nature of Israeli policy. From Jerusalem, our delegation visited Tel Aviv on September 21. The delegation met leadership of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and Youth Communist League of Israel.
For CPI leadership, remarkable women members of its Polit Bureau, Tamar Gozensky and Aida Sulaiman, explained to us that their party was the only Jewish Arab party in Israel. This was distinct from Arab parties, who spoke about Israeli Palestinians, and overtly Zionist parties. They said 20 per cent of the Israeli citizens who are Arabs are still being subjected to ruthless internal displacement and discrimination. In fact, currently a struggle is on against proposed demolition of houses occupied by Arabs for hundreds of years.
The CPI has a 90 year old long history and works on the platform of opposition to war and occupation. Its members and sympathisers have a glorious record of struggle and refused to serve the Israeli army in the occupation settlements. They also reminded that they were the first political force to articulate the demand of a two-state solution with 1967 borders. The CPI has at present four members in Israeli parliament (Knesset) out of a total of 130.
Yoav Golding, leader of the CPI group of members in Tel Aviv municipality, related the heartening story of how new sections of the Israeli citizens, many of them Jews, are being attracted to the CPI in struggles for citizens’ rights and civic facilities. The CPI has five seats in this 45-member municipality.
The delegation had an interesting meeting with new-generation youth, Uri Weltmann, of the CP Israel. Uri explained to us at length the entire trajectory and dynamics of the social protest movement by Israeli middle class youth. Uri, leader of the Young Communist League, dwelt on the economic, social and political background of the current series of social protests which seem to be shaking the attribute of political inertness attributed to the Hebrew-speaking Israeli society.
He rattled out figures to uncover the myth of rapid economic growth of recent times, underlining a similar trajectory of neo-liberal policies which has afflicted large sections of Israeli society. In spite of Israel growing much faster than the OECD, it is at the same time 1.5 times higher with regard to income gaps. And it is not just the vulnerable sections of the society; even segments of the middle class are now facing the brunt of the rapidly advancing levels of income disparity. There is of course a simultaneous threat of the Palestinian conflict running alongside this main theme of neo-liberal dispensation. One-third of Israel’s children live in poverty. Moreover, among the Arab Palestinian citizens who constitute 20 per cent of Israel’s population, two-thirds of children are afflicted by poverty. It is not surprising that the cost of living is rising, particularly the cost of housing.
PROMISES OF
THE NEW FEATURE
The protest movement which was triggered on July 14, and has thus come to be popularly referred to as the July 14 movement, drew inspiration from tent city of Puerta de Sol in Madrid. Young people came out on the boulevards of Tel Aviv’s avenues. This was a unique expression of protest against the rising housing costs and other distortions of economy and society. As it drew from past Palestinian protests also, this movement came to be called ‘Tenth intifada’ as well and spread like wild fire to all major cities of Israel. The first march of July 23 had 30,000 participants. On July 30, a 1,50,000 strong demonstration was staged in Tel Aviv, along with big rallies in Jerusalem and Haifa. In August, a week later, it was termed as ‘march of the million’ when half a million marched in the streets of Israeli cities – 3,00,000 in Tel Aviv alone. The number of marchers constituted 6 per cent of Israel’s population.
With the slogan ‘people demand social justice,’ the movement in the general discontent against neo-liberal policies, was obviously inspired by what is now referred to as the ‘Arab spring’ in the Middle East. The extent of support stunned people inside and outside. A popular television channel in Israel, in its survey in August, showed 85 per cent of Israelis supporting the protest. Of course, this movement has not got the ideological clarity that would translate its depth and sweep into more sustainable political possibilities. Yet, at one level, it did represent opposition to some of the basic premises which inform the current ideological and policy underpinnings of Israeli state.
It is also clear that the crisis in Israeli society is getting manifested in irrationalities of the Zionist economic policies. The settlements, violent suppression of Palestinian people in occupied territories, obsessive ‘security syndrome’ have all eaten up possible budgetary allocations which could realise a greater degree of social justice.
Finally, Uri also pointed out that in the wake of the devastation by Israeli air raids for a month in Gaza, there was a terror attack on August 18 which claimed seven Israeli lives. This was followed by more deadly air strikes in Gaza. In normal circumstances, a campaign blitz by Israeli authorities would have submerged the social protests. But not this time around. The ‘patriotism,’ which is usually equated with capitulation before the government’s state terrorism, was absent this time and the protests continued unabated.
These four days in occupied Palestinian territories and in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv thus a rich experience that left the indelible imprint that while the monstrosities of western imperialism thrust the holocaust victims on proud independent Arabs, now it is clear that history has its own way of settling scores. There are indeed economic, social and political processes would make the ‘two-state’ solution an imminent possibility in the region.
Yes, the new Palestinian state would ‘rise from the ruins!’ The words on Arafat’s epitaph would become an enduring reality!!
– Nilotpal Basu
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