By Mahmoud Al Abed
English News Editor
It’s high time for a referendum in the Palestinian lands. At this extremely serious juncture in Palestinian history, people should have their say about how they want to proceed with their national struggle for independence and liberation.
The ceasefire declared by President Arafat in the wake of the suicide attack in Tel Aviv on Friday exposed deep differences in vision between the PA on the one hand, and the Palestinian movements on the other, despite all claims of harmony among the leaders. Nevertheless, the Intifada has had its blessings in that regard.
Opposition groups distanced themselves from Arafat's promise to restrict the eight-month-old Palestinian uprising to peaceful methods such as demonstrations.
However, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, among other movements, challenged Arafat to avoid joint security initiatives with the Israelis, as urged by the United States, and called for more suicide bombs against targets in Israel.
Part of the Palestinians support this side, and believe that the Israelis, who are obsessed with their security, should not have the privilege. They go for the argument that terrorizing the Israeli people is the only way to press them into pushing their leaders to offer compromises and withdraw from the Occupied Territories.
Others, however, think that suicide bombs and killing civilians will deprive the Palestinian people of world sympathy, and would subjugate their national cause to the mere “stop the violence,” call by the US and other international parties.
Add to this the failure of the Arabs to support them, and the Palestinians will be left out in the cold, waiting for Israeli F-16s and heavy artillery to kill more and more of them.
The dispute among the leaders may get worse. Should Arafat succumb further to the US and Israeli pressures, he will have to arrest and try his brothers. Then the guns might be pointed at fellow soldiers standing in the same trench instead of the Israeli tanks trespassing on Palestinian national soil, and the settlers spreading like cancer cells in the Palestinian body.
To prevent that, democracy is the answer. All parties should establish platforms regarding the Palestinian national struggle, and talk to people. It is true that this is not totally possible under the Israeli siege, but they have no other choice.
Let the Palestinians go to the ballots and say whether they support this or that strategy, and let them take whatever consequences might result from their decision. After all, it’s their children who are being murdered by the occupation forces, and it’s their stomachs that are empty due to the siege.
President Arafat can then decide if he has to step down, or continue to lead his people on the chosen path.
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
