|
The Palestinian
people stand where they were in 1948. The Israeli Zionists have almost encircled
every city and town in the West Bank and Gaza Strip wreaking havoc over the
Palestinian population. In the middle of April the West Bank town of Jenin was
the scene of a vicious Israeli encirclement and attack by tanks, Apache
helicopter gun ships, and F16 war planes with full approval form the United
States to its attack dog in the Middle East. The Jenin experiment in the West
Bank is an exercise of a terrible onslaught on the civilian population to see
that how a whole area can be cleansed of its inhabitants and at the same time
never let the world know what had happened.
After, Jericho
Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and many others, Jenin was surrounded by the Israeli
defence forces and death and destruction was unleashed on the Palestinian people
in a spate of terror strikes that led to the death of hundreds (unofficial
accounts say the toll was near two thousands while Israel claims that only 46
Palestinians were killed while more than a thousand were arrested). This camp
had been established in 1948 when the Jewish State had uprooted and driven out
thousands of inhabitants from villages around Jenin. In this refugee camp 15000
people resided. The accounting of the dead has been rendered impossible because
mounds of rubble top the dead bodies and the Israeli authorities did not allow
the UN earthmovers to retrieve the dead or the alive. While the Jenin operation
was underway the Israeli defence forces (IDF) did not allow the International
Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations to enter the camp. Palestinian
medical personnel were denied access and their ambulances were showered with
bullets and missiles. No journalists were allowed to go to the site to report on
the goings-on independently. The camp was cut off from the whole of the outside
world to conduct the terror operation in the name of rooting out the
"Palestinian infrastructure of terror."
Israel claimed that
all those who died had been Palestinian fighters belonging to various
organisations, and the civilians, who might have been killed, were used by the
fighters as human shields. This was only a way of admitting that civilians were
killed during the operation. For fifteen days not a single person was allowed to
enter the camp. The injured were left to bleed to death. Electricity and water
were cut off. Food was disallowed to be transported into the city. While
operation cleansing continued in the camp the city remained curfew bound. A
whole block of multi-story buildings was razed to the ground without giving any
warning to those inside to come out. When journalist visited the camp after the
lift the of siege they reported that the strong stench that emanated from under
the rubble indicated that bodies were buried there.
The attack on Jenin
saw the world rise up in support of the Palestinians and their rights. Almost in
every city of the Western Europe, the Arab and Muslim world, and in the US and
Israel itself big demonstrations were held condemning the Israeli attack on the
Palestinians. In Washington one lakh people came on to the streets on April 20
to oppose Israeli terrorism and aggression. The protestors included even some
organisations belonging to the Jews. In Israel itself the Jewish people came out
in thousands to rally for peace and putting an end to incursions into the PA
controlled territories. In new York the Rabbi training religious schools that
had called for a rally in support of whatever Israel does in ‘self defence’ a
group of Jewish religious students from various schools across the US united to
oppose the Israeli atrocities in Palestine on the basis that the Torah (Jewish
religious Book) does not teach the way Israel is doing with the Palestinians.
A worldwide movement
against the Israeli occupation and atrocities has started developing under the
banner of the International Solidarity Movement. The good thing is sane and
democratic voices from inside the Jewish community in Israel and the US has
begun to take up the issue and join the protest movement against Israel and its
backer, the US. In the last few months hundreds of Israeli reserve soldiers and
new recruits have refused to obey orders to go on killing missions inside the PA
territories. A new movement going by the name of refuseniks has arisen
within Israel against its atrocious policies against the Palestinians.
Jenin may never count
its dead because of the total blackout that was imposed on the media, as has
been the case in the US war on Afghanistan, or like in Gujarat where the
government stopped counting the dead after a certain figure. Nevertheless, the
massacre in Jenin is a sort of indication the way the Israeli fascist government
wants to go. There have been numerous reports that Israeli Zionists want to
exterminate the Palestinian population with heavy bombardment from the skies,
tanks, and artilleries and push out the rest into Jordan to "resolve" the
Palestinian question for once and all. The likes of Sharon, who has been
opposing the "Oslo Peace Accord" and has the blood of thousands of Palestinians
on his hands from the days of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres of 1982, when he
was the defence minister, are already remorseful that why Arafat was not killed
in 1982 itself in Lebanon. The Israeli population is being fed on such virulent
propaganda against the Palestinians that now 60 % of them say that the
Palestinians should be pushed out of Israel and the whole of the land captured
to make a greater Israel. More than that, they now talk that "there cannot be
a Palestinian state, for the simple reason that God promised the Jews not only
all the lands of Judea, Samaria (the West Bank), and Gaza, but beyond, from the
Nile to the Euphrates." The religious fundamentalists in the Jewish state
cite that while describing God’s covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15:18 decrees:
"To your descendants
I give this land from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the river
Euphrates."
So, the Jewry invokes
the ‘word’ of God to assert the Jewish right on Palestine and regions that
includes Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. Their wild dreams include the loot and
plunder of a number of countries. Though such a thing is quite impossible yet
the thing that is being considered in Washington is the immediate goal of
securing complete control of the oil rich region by overthrowing the government
of Iraq through a much bigger war than the 1991 Gulf War perpetrated by Bush the
senior. The control over oil was behind the US war on Afghanistan. The same was
the reason behind the Gulf war, and this is to continue in the name of "war
against terrorism" in the form of war on Iraq that is being planned and is just
lurking around. The securing of Central Asia and the Middle East is part of the
new US plan of staying at the top by enacting a restructuring and re-division of
the world resources after the demise of the rival Soviet Union and in the face
of potential rivals in the form of the European Union. The preparations for a
new war against Iraq are a part of that US imperialist strategy. And the vicious
attack on the Palestinian cities is meant to break the bone of the Palestinian
resistance and force it to accept peace that contemplates the PA to act more
energetically to contain the resisting masses. The hounding of Arafat in
Ramallah for two months was part of the policy to force him into more
submission.
The end of the
Ramallah siege came only after Arafat arrested six militants which Israel had
wanted him to hand over to the Israeli Authorities. These six included four
militants alleged to be the assassinators of Israeli Minister Zeevi, the current
chairman of the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine and one important
leader of Hamas. The UN had asked Israel to lift the siege of the office of
Arafat. However, the US also supported the UN resolution but Israel did not heed
the UN demand and continued to shell the compound of Arafat’s office. It was
only after Arafat handed over the six to the British and the US police personnel
that the siege was lifted. All these militants are kept in a Jericho jail under
the charge of the dirty imperialists. Arafat has shamelessly tried to push the
handing over of the six to the US and British agents as his and PA’s victory as
they were not handed over to Israel. However, this was a shameful capitulation
on the part of Arafat. He has also accepted to crackdown more powerfully on the
Palestinian masses that oppose the Israeli occupation. For this he has agreed to
train his PA police by the CIA for which purpose the CIA director Tenet has
reached the occupied territories. At the same time he has promised to overhaul
his administration through reforms as suggested by the imperialists.
Just a few days after
when the Palestinian Supreme Court ordered the release of the six from the
Jericho jail the PA cabinet under Arafat refused to set them free under the
shameful pretext that Israel would kill them and they are to be retained in jail
for their own security. Arafat is falling to nauseating depths of dishonor and
disgrace by putting out such reprehensible arguments. When it was decided by the
Israelis after the arrest of the six guerrilla leaders that Arafat’s siege will
be lifted Arafat had refused to come out of his office demanding that the siege
of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem be also lifted to free the guerrillas
interned there. The guerrillas were allowed to come out but not before Arafat
had accepted the condition that they will be handed over to various European
countries as prisoners. And they were handed over to Italy and Britain to be
incarcerated there. In this way the Great Arafat prevented the Palestinian
fighters from the jaws of death! The brave men of the land who are even ready to
offer themselves for death as live human bombs will be left to rust in the
imperialist dungeons of Europe!
Here is the
ex-guerrilla leader of world fame who, like a rat, came out of the rear of an
Israeli tank making a victory sign. He is acting most disgustingly which is far
from any semblance to the dignity of the head of an "independent state." Perhaps
he will be referred to in the White House as one of the most shameless "sons of
our bitches." This phrase was occasionally used in the White House during Reagan
years to refer to the presidents, prime ministers, and kings of the third world
who used to be the most servile servants of the US imperialists.
When death and
devastation was going on in Jenin Arafat was busy striking deals with the US
masters. Powel came to meet him there but not after a week’s deliberated delay
from the time of his departure from the US. It was to give Sharon more time to
complete the destructive mission in Jenin though the US had said that Israel was
letting the US down through what it was dong in Jenin.
It is reported that
the plan of Israel to push the Palestinians across the River Jordan also entails
the destruction of Arab Armies that will try to halt or oppose the exodus of
Palestinians. The Israeli attack dog has nuclear arms in its arsenal and is
prepared to use them to impose its will, though it is Iraq, Iran and other
countries which are accused by the US of developing weapons of mass destruction.
If some other country violates the UN decisions the US rallies all its dirty
allies to impose sanctions and even declare war on the detractor but when the
Israeli dog not only refuses to abide but also bites it is not even criticized
or reprimanded. The fate of the Security Council resolution on Ramallah is the
latest such example.
In spite of the
capitulation of Arafat at Ramallah the people of Jenin have declared that they
will find out the collaborators of the Israelis in the camp of Jenin and execute
them publicly. While leaving the town the Israelis had left a map that indicated
many houses marked as special targets. Without collaboration at the local level
such a map could not have been prepared. The fighters who resisted the Israelis
in Jenin included the Al Aqsa Brigade affiliated to Arafat’s Al Fatah faction,
the Palestinian Police of the PA, the PFLP, the Hamas and the Hezbollah. The
note-worthy thing is that the Palestinian police fought along with others in
spite of Arafat’s politics of collaboration. Now with the enhanced intervention
of the CIA and Arafat’s position much of the Palestinian police may side with
the official line of the PA yet many among them are disillusioned with the
leadership of Arafat. Things will become clearer when the final curtain falls on
the role of Arafat who is welcoming the intervention of the US, the CIA, the EU
and increasingly giving in to their demands to control the anti-Israeli militant
struggle though he also calls for marching on to Jerusalem with "a million
martyrs." This he does due to the aggressive behavior of the IDF and the
Israeli government and to dupe the Palestinians that he is still a genuine
leader.
The increased attacks
from the Israeli forces have come along with the Saudi Peace Plan announced in
February and the subsequent resolution of the Arab League adopted in Beirut on
March 28. The Arab League, at its summit in Beirut (March 27 and 28) has
proclaimed that in return for a total withdrawal by Israel to the June 4, 1967,
lines, and the establishment of a Palestinian state, the 22 members of the Arab
League would offer Israel full diplomatic relations, normalized trade and
security guarantees in accord with UN Resolution 242, for full peace between
Israel and the entire Arab world. The Saudi Plan adopted by the Arab league and
supported by the EU, talks of the establishment of a State of Palestine in the
Gaza Strip and the West Bank with Jerusalem, as its capital is not acceptable to
Israel. For it leaving Jerusalem to Palestinians is out of the question. Even
the USA does not accept this plan. Bush has only praised the Saudi proposal and
not committed itself to it. This plan is also not acceptable to the true
nationalist Palestinians as it legitimizes the existence of Israel and divides
Palestine into three parts, Israel, the Gaza, and the West Bank. It also does
not call for the return of the refugees to their homes. Arafat accepted the
plan.
This plan is just to
convince the Arab masses that the Arab governments stand by the Palestinians but
Palestinians have to accept the existence of Israel. It has tried to give
maximum to the US by assuring the security of the fascist State of Israel and in
a way is a declaration that if Israel accepts this plan the Arab governments
will not stand by any Palestinian liberation movement and they would work to
crush it to ensure the safety of Israel (and of course, of themselves). The
only alternative to this plan is a secular, democratic, and progressive
Palestine in which both the Palestinians and Jews will live in goodwill to each
other. Such a plan and reality can only be a deadly threat to the reactionary
Arab states, the Zionists, and the imperialists alike. So, it is not
considered feasible! What a horrible thing will it be if the Palestinians and
the Jews living in Israel decide to establish such a state! And this is the one
and only most feasible plan that can work in Palestine. All other alternatives
have been tried and proved to be unreal and impractical.
Can a Palestinian
State surrounded by a fascist religious state like Israel exist without being
hounded and intimidated continuously? Certainly NOT. Can Palestinians live in
peace if their land is not returned to them, if they are denied the right to
defend themselves with whatever arms they deem necessary in the face of
viciously and fanatically armed Israel especially when the latter is there as an
occupying force? Can there be peace between the oppressor and the oppressed? And
why a people will always accept humiliating terms of peace when it really acts
violently on their inner being? And why will Zionism change itself and cease to
be Zionism when it succeeds in FORCING its will on a people through terror and
mayhem? And lastly, why a freedom loving and brave people will tolerate such a
criminal state? All things point to the fact that peace can never be established
through terror and by trampling over the rights of a nation. All solutions and
peace plans being suggested and tried by reactionaries and imperialists are
anything but feasible. The Palestinian struggle shall continue till justice is
achieved and their rights again become their rights. Till then a just and
endurable peace is impossible in the Middle East.
|
