By Eyad Khalifa and Bassam Antari
Albawaba.com - Amman
Palestinian leaders from across the spectrum of political life in the Occupied Territories have acknowledged a significant slowdown in Intifada activity following the attacks in the US, but vow that resistance against 34 years of Israeli occupation will continue.
In a recent series of telephone interviews with Albawaba.com, the leaders said they understood the reasons behind the decision of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership and President Yasser Arafat to declare a ceasefire and demand that their factions halt military operations against the occupation forces.
However, others refused to attribute the relative calm to the terrorist attacks in the US, saying that it was natural for popular uprisings to witness ups and downs.
The leaders denied that their movements, particularly the Islamic groups, had received direct requests from the PA to halt military and suicide operations against Israel as part of the ceasefire announced recently by President Arafat.
While the Palestinian leaders showed their understanding of the ceasefire declaration and the wisdom behind it, they stressed that it was not mandatory, reiterating their longtime stance that the Intifada would never stop until it achieved its objectives.
Meanwhile, the leaders said that they expected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government to seize the opportunity of the anticipated attack on Afghanistan to deliver a hard blow to the Palestinians by invading their cities and towns.
However, they said that their groups were prepared for such a possibility.
MARWAN AL BARGHOUTHI: UPS AND DOWNS ARE NATURAL, INTIFADA WILL GO ON
The Fateh movement's secretary in the West Bank, Marwan Al Barghouthi, said that ups and downs were not unfamiliar in popular uprisings like the Palestinian Intifada, but admitted that the circumstances that followed the recent attacks in the US had made an impact on the national struggle.
“There is no doubt that what happened in the US has cast its shadows over the whole world, including the Palestinian people and their Intifada. Tel Aviv's rulers tried to exploit this opportunity to strike the Intifada, and even the US is also using it to block the Intifada,” he added.
“But we have kept on saying that the Intifada is only governed by the law of freedom, the right to return and independence. Unless these are achieved, the Intifada will continue.”
The Fateh leader, a hated figure in Israel, added that Arafat’s decision in favor of a ceasefire was understood by the national and Islamist movements as coming under pressures stemming from the current international developments and aiming at protecting the Palestinian people.
“We believe that Sharon has a plan to launch a war against us, simultaneous with the anticipated American military attack on Afghanistan,” he added.
HAMAS: MEDIA ARE DEPICTING INTIFADA AS LOSING GROUND
For its part, Hamas accused the media of attempting to make the Intifada appear as if it were losing ground, not gaining.
Hassan Youssef, a Hamas leader in the West Bank, said, “such attempts serve in the first place the interests of the US, which wants to show that the Palestinian lands are calm in order to form a coalition including Arab and Islamic countries to counter what they call terrorism. The US knows very well that it will not succeed in attracting these countries into the coalition without having calm in the Palestinian territories.”
“The Intifada is continuing and there are killings, oppression and sieges of the Palestinian people, all practiced on a daily basis. There are also daily clashes with the Israeli occupation forces, but the media in general, including Arab satellite channels, have started to play down events in the Palestinian territories.
“Instead, they provide full coverage of what America does and shed light on the Afghani arena,” he added.
Youssef, however, responded evasively to a question on whether the PA had asked Hamas and other Palestinian factions to halt military and suicide attack operations in response to a condition of "complete calm" set by Sharon as a prerequisite to a meeting between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
He said, “As long as our lands are occupied by the Israelis and our people are being killed, the Palestinians will continue with their Intifada and resistance with all possible means.”
“We, as national Palestinian factions, can understand the equation well, and therefore our resistance actions must be in the interests of our people, particularly in view of the present circumstances and changes in the international arena.”
Responding to a question on whether he saw Palestinian interests as requiring, at present, a halt to suicide attacks, the leader said that this matter was left for Hamas' military wing. indicating that the political wing to which he belonged had no link with these operations.
“But the Palestinian issue and interests require that the local, regional and international circumstances be taken into consideration, provided that these wouldn’t lead to a complete halt to the Palestinian Intifada,” continued Youssef.
As for an anticipated Peres-Arafat meeting, the leader said, “Hamas rejects in principle any security or political meeting or dialogue with the Israeli government.
“Many similar meetings have been held before without any fruitful results as far as the Palestinians are concerned. We wish that the PA would respond to calls by the national and Islamic forces and refrain from dealing with the occupation government so that it is isolated for the massacres and crimes it commits against the Palestinian people.”
ISLAMIC JIHAD: ISRAEL AND ITS AMERICAN SUPPORTERS ARE UTILIZING CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES TO SILENCE THE INTIFADA
A spokesman for the Islamic Jihad Movement echoed other leaders by accusing Israel and its supporters in the United States of exploiting the recent terrorist attacks to end the Palestinian Intifada.
As put by Mohammed Hneidi, there are “ongoing attempts by some American and Israeli parties to exploit the present international situation following the attacks in the US in order to stop the Intifada.
“The proposed Peres-Arafat meeting was within this context, and so we said that the meeting would have a negative impact on the Intifada."
However, the spokesman admitted that the developments had left their fingerprint on the world and the Middle East," including the situation in Palestine.
He nevertheless reiterated that the Intifada would not be stopped until its objectives were realized.
He noted that this week would witness a number of activities to mark the first anniversary of the Palestinian uprising against 34 years of occupation.
He denied that the PA had asked each resistance movement to halt its activities.
What happened, according to Hneidi, was that Arafat declared the ceasefire publicly and without individually asking the groups to stop their operations.
“As to our movement, it has announced that it will go on with its resistance to the Zionist occupation.”
TIBI: SHARON IS WAITING FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO DELIVER INTIFADA A BIG BLOW
Arab member of Knesset Ahmad Tibi told Albawaba.com that Sharon has tried to implement his plans to suppress the Intifada while the world was busy with the attacks on the US.
The Israeli army invaded Jenin, Jericho and Ramallah but Sharon realized that he still had no free hand, so he is waiting for a better chance to deliver the biggest blow to the Intifada. Tibi wondered if Israel would use the anticipated the US war against Afghanistan to carry out the plan, or the world would stop him.
“I have no answer to that, but I am absolutely sure that Sharon is looking forward to that moment.”
According to the MK, Sharon is not concerned with cease-fire as much as he is worried about the positive dialogue held between Arafat and the US administration recently and the correct diplomatic tactics applied by Arafat in reaction to the attacks.
“Arafat did well and reacted with wisdom and wit against Sharon’s plans.”
Tibi, who heads the Arab Movement for Change in Israel, believes that there has been a noticeable change in the aftermath of the US attacks, with Palestinian opposition leaders talking of stopping attacks inside Israel.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
