Your Voice in a World where Zionism, Steel, and Fire, have Turned Justice Mute
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Statement on the Arrest of Ahmad Sadat and the Palestinian Intifada
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by the Editorial Board of the Free Arab VoiceJanuary 23, 2002 The editorial board of the Free Arab Voice condemns in the strongest possible terms the arrest of Comrade Ahmad Sadat, the Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and calls for his immediate release as well as the release of all Palestinian militants being held by the Palestinian National Authority. We, furthermore, uphold without reservation the natural right of the Palestinian people to resist a brutal five-decades-long occupation by all means necessary, including armed struggle against any Zionist target within reach. At a time when Sharon is unleashing his Zionist terror machine on the Palestinian people, it does us no good to oblige Zionists and Americans by succumbing to pressures to subdue the Intifada and to reign in Palestinian freedom fighters. As a matter of principle and under the present political circumstances, the interest of the Palestinian people lies in putting up the best possible resistance to these pressures, not in succumbing to them. The Zionists and the American government are presenting the Palestinians with a very clear choice: either unconditional surrender, or total war. Consequently, this has put those who advocated rapprochement with "Israel" throughout the nineties in a state of severe crisis and torrid confusion. Specifically, three approaches have evidently reached now a state of complete political bankruptcy. These are: 1) the Oslo approach of trying to appease Zionists by accepting the Zionist occupation on most of Palestine, in exchange for the semblance of an independent Palestinian state on scraps of the rest, 2) the approach that advocated reforming the "Israeli" political system from within, and winning over "Israeli" public opinion, by accepting the occupation, but allegedly without its racism!! 3) the approach of the Arab regimes (despite the differences between them) that adopted peace with "Israel" as a strategic option, without thinking that even a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Zionist conflict is not possible without a drastic improvement in the balance of power in favor of those regimes. Now all the groups above are targetted, having exhausted their usefulness after long years of service during the politically gray nineties. They have been the flagpoles of defeatist times, but now they have reached the end of the line. Specifically, those groups have sown the seeds of their own destruction by helping the Zionist project gain enough momentum to move on to its next logical stage by: 1) spreading empty illusions about the possibility of peaceful coexistence with the Zionist project in Palestine amongst large swaths of the Arab public, 2) arresting the development of more radical Palestinian alternatives on the ground through security and/or political cooperation with Zionists and the American government 3) treating the U.S. government as if it were a neutral party or a potential savior in the conflict, and granting it footholds in the Palestinian psyche and across the Arab World 4) engaging in treaties and opening the doors of the Arab World to "Israel" until it became blatantly clear that "Israel" was seeking to build an empire in the Arab World and to marginalize the regimes that helped it in. Hence, the continued detention of Ahmad Sadat and other Palestinian militants is not merely an issue of political rights. It is rather a manifestation of the confusion and agitation of a whole political approach stuck between the horns of a dilemma: - On the one hand, trying to accomodate Zionist and U.S. government demands while maintaining a semblance of Palestinian or Arab credibility is no longer acceptable to the Zionists. - On the other hand, too many small interests and illusions make those who embrace them neither able nor willing to stand up to American and Zionist pressures, or to act proactively in response to them. In fact, the continued detention of Ahmad Sadat and other Palestinian freedom fighters reflects a pathetic dismay and a doze of helplessness, as much as it reflects a violation of political rights and an abandonment of principle. Thus, while we demand vociferously the immediate release of Ahmad Sadat, we view that demand in the context of the need for a larger effort and a long-term program to stand up to the American and Zionist onslaught on the Palestinian people. Given the present rules of the engagement set by the Zionist and American side (total war or total surrender), what needs to be done has become quite clear. Since surrender is out of the question off hand, the more radical forces on the Palestinian side should take the lead in escalating the Intifada beyond anything the Zionists have ever experienced before. More civilian protests, and separately, more human bombs and more military strikes would spiral into an uncontrollable daily nightmare for the Zionist invaders with no end in sight. If maintained long enough, this campaign can force an unconditional withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza; a highly achievable short-term goal despite the dear sacrifices entailed. An unconditional Zionist withdrawal means no treaties, no recognition of "Israel", and no forfeiting of future options, just like in South Lebanon. Such intensified action on the ground would effectively neutralize the spinelessness and the oscillation of the defeatist approach after it has led the Palestinian people to the current political crisis. It is also clear what the Arab regimes must do. They must immediately cut off all diplomatic and other relations with "Israel", and close off the damned "Israeli" embassies and diplomatic missions in Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Qatar, and Oman NOW. No one is asking the Arab regimes to go to war, and no one has any illusions that they are going to liberate Palestine. However, we do have to remind them that they are being targetted by Zionists and the U.S. government now, and we do have the right to ask them to get off the back of the Arab people so that the latter may support the Intifada any which way they can. Once the Arab popular initiative is liberated from oppression, an escalated Intifada can instigate Arab grass-roots energies into many creative channels. Afterall, in the sixties and the seventies we did not fail because we fought, but because we didn't fight well. And now we are at a historical watershed once more. Zionist aggression is rearing its ugly head yet again, and it is up to us to rise up to the challenge or to become Zionist slaves. The times are screaming for us to take a stand for there is no room for illusions anymore. The Zionists are presenting us with a clear choice: we either do or die. So what will it be? In the eternal words of American freedom fighter Patrick Henry said more than 225 years ago: "Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace! - but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me: Give me liberty, or give me death!" Freedom to Ahmad Sadat! Freedom to all Palestinian Political Prisoners! Freedom to the Palestinian People from Zionist Occupation! The Free Arab Voice editorial board: Ibrahim Alloush Nabila Harb Abu Nicola Al Yunani Ziad El Jishi Maha Abu Ghosh |