Faruk Abdel-Muhti
The glorious Intifada won the respect and sympathy of the international community, for the steadfast resistance of the people in all the areas occupied since June 1967. We sacrificed many martyrs and many people became injured and disfigured in defence of the people and our national dignity. We especially congratulate the Palestinians in the refugee camps, because without them, our struggles would not continue, and the revolution of the epoch would not continue to defend the right of return of the Palestinian people to their homes and their properties in the historical land of Palestine, in order to achieve self-determination and the creation of a sovereign, independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital which is the object of the struggle, information and organization.
In spite of the geographical differences that the Palestinian people endure, our policies can be found under the flag of national unity. For that reason, in order to defend the glorious Intifada and our unity, we must be on alert for those who try to falsify this just cause and struggle, and who try to cause the National Movement to commit an error, with the intention of taking the Palestinian case back to the suicidal path of Oslo. This is the path with no destination for the Palestinian People. We have been there before, and it was answered by the peoples’ just demands; it taught a big lesson to all the Palestinians; it took all the factions back to the only alternative; a return to the Intifada, because it has been the only way to achieve our rights. The situation that is encountered by the Palestinian people caused them to be on alert, and to struggle for the defence of their land and their rights.
1) The United States Administration has tried to implement the old, and the new face of the Palestinian Authority. They changed the faces, but not the agenda of the struggle. The political objective of this question was to not respond to the Intifada, but to go back to Oslo. But Oslo did not produce any benefit for the Palestinian People
2) The Intifada and the resistance represents the inspiration and objective of all the Palestinian people. This objective is to strive toward a national and democratic resolution to the problems in the Palestinian Authority. This needs conditions:
A new political and unified national unity programme, by the agreement of all the factions of the Intifada, which took place on August 5, 2002, which adhered to the principle of total dialogue, to take the national unity programme and to structure from it a new, unified national government, such as exists in many countries in the world, which respect the sentiments and the decisions of the people.
To implement the law of elections which adheres to the policies of the national representative body and to end the damage done by the self centredness of individual representatives, who have manipulated the process for more than ten years, and have obtained the disgraceful behaviour of ignoring the decisions of the unity of the Intifada and the national resistance.
To implement democratic parliamentary elections, with the judicial foundation in Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and elections in the districts, municipalities, villages, worker centres, unions, and student centres and women’s centres, according to the principle of equality of representation.
To uphold democratic elections in the Unified Palestinian Popular Parliament and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the nation and in the refugee camps, which agree with the principles of equality of representation. This is the only correct path to be taken to regenerate the Palestinian National Movement, and to avoid the pitfalls of Oslo, which provided us with the disadvantages of the Washington Administration’ conspiracies and those of the government of Sharon, which is the creation of the Agency of Security and the Ministry of Finance, under the slogan of ‘We are repairing the Top Administrations of the Palestinian Authority and the National Government of Palestine.’
When we speak about ‘security’, the effect of this has been to control the lives of the Palestinian people. When we speak about finance, there is no money going to help the Palestinians, the families of the martyrs, to help recover damaged property or to rebuild homes, or to care for the injured among ordinary Palestinians. Money has only been going to the higher echelons of the Palestinian Authority, with no regard to the resistance or the ordinary people who make up the legitimate resistance of the Intifada. But, no one can stop the struggle of the Palestinian people until our just rights are achieved, and our independence is won.
We therefore appeal to the American people and to all the people of the world to recognize the just aspirations of our struggle; to see that all the people in the world, including the Palestinians, have the right to live our lives in freedom and independence, in our own sovereign state, and to determine our own fate and our own destiny.
We have no quarrel with the Jewish People, but only those who have occupied our land, and usurped our rights and our lives. We are specifically against the occupation, and therefore defend the rights of the Palestinian People who are living under occupation to live in peace in the historical land of Palestine, especially those in the refugee camps, because they are enduring the brunt of the harshness of the occupation, and without their heroic efforts, resistance would not be possible. And we cannot forget the rights of those Palestinians who live abroad in the Diaspora, all over the world, and especially those who live in refugee camps abroad, in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and all over the world. These brethren are not severed from our community, but are an integral part of the struggle and of the unity that makes up the Palestinian People. UN Security Council Resolution 194 (endorsed by the United States and the international community, including the European Union) recognizes the inalienable rights of these Palestinians to return to their lands, homes and properties in the historical land of Palestine.
Therefore, on the Third Anniversary of the Intifada and the national resistance, we reiterate that our people will never be defeated, and that their quest will continue until there is a withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces to the borders of June 4, 1967, an independent, sovereign State of Palestine is established with Arab Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of complete self-determination for the Palestinian People is achieved, including a recognition of the right of return for all Palestinian refugees, including those who lost their properties and homes to the State of Israel in 1948.
In Peace and Justice for All
Long live the Popular Intifada
Long live the National Resistance
Long live a Free Palestine
The People of Palestine and the Palestinian National Resistance
Faruk Abdel-Muhti, Political Prisoner and I.N.S. Detainee in the United States
Translated by a member of the Committee for the Release of Faruk Abdel-Muhti
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