On November 12, 2010, the National Democratic Assembly (aka Balad), an Arab party in the Israeli Knesset, held a "National Principles" rally in Umm Al-Fahm, marking the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death for the first time since his death six years ago. The rally was widely covered by Israeli Arab websites, including the site of the Umm Al-Fahm municipality, which posted pictures and videos of the event.
The speakers at the rally glorified Arafat as the uncontested leader of the Palestinian revolution, who never gave up on his principles and wisely combined negotiations with resistance. They blamed Israel for his death and called for an international investigation into its circumstances. The speakers also accused the Palestinian Authority and its head, Mahmoud Abbas, of mishandling the Palestinians' affairs, urging them to stop the security coordination with Israel and to defend the Palestinian nation's rights. One speaker even called the very existence of the Palestinian Authority into question, saying it had failed in its mission.
Speakers stressed that the Israeli Arabs, as an integral part of the Palestinian people and as the strategic reserves of the Palestinian enterprise, would continue to struggle against the Zionist hegemony and to fight the racism it directed against them.
Ayman Suleiman, deputy mayor of Umm Al-Fahm and a member of the Islamic Movement, said that the residents of his town were delighted to host the Balad rally in honor of "the heroic leader, the shahid Yasser Arafat." He called it "a rally of resistance... that plays a direct role in strengthening our collective identity and our rights in this country and over this country, as its original natives."
It should be noted that the establishment of Balad was motivated by its founders' opposition to the Oslo Accords, and that it supports the solution of Israel as a single, bi-national state. [1]
It should also be noted that Umm Al-Fahm is considered a stronghold of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, headed by Sheikh Raed Salah, who is currently serving a sentence of several month's imprisonment in Israel.
The following are excerpts of some speeches held at the rally, as given on the website of the Umm Al-Fahm municipality: [2]
Visit, the Palestinian Media Studies Project page http://www.memri.org/palestinianmediastudiesproject.
Arafat – The Leader of the Palestinian Revolution
Balad party leader and MK Wasil Taha said that Arafat, "a historic emblem," had "stood at the helm of the Palestinians' revolution against [Israel's attempts to] oppress and contain [them], and led the nation toward liberty and independence. He was the leader who took the revolution through the minefields, evading all the plots hatched against it and himself. He gave [the Palestinians] light in their darkest hour, after the defeat of 1967, as [Egyptian president] Gamal 'Abd Al-Nasser [once] said, and managed to evade one siege after another, until he was [finally] martyred in 2004, while besieged in his [lion's] den." Taha added that Arafat, "the diamond of the revolution," had "headed a movement of national and global liberation... and anchored the Palestinian identity deep in its national [i.e. Arab] and Islamic foundations."
He also urged PA President Mahmoud Abbas to "call for national unity, which will be the first brick in realizing the Palestinian national enterprise."
Balad Chairman MK Jamal Zahalka said at the rally that marking the anniversary of Arafat's death is a national duty, and condemned Hamas for banning it in Gaza.[3] Arafat, he added, was an "asset of the [entire] Palestinian people, and its historic leader, regardless of the disagreements [some people may have had] with him. We must learn to respect our historic leaders, for it is those peoples [who do] who deserve to survive. The Gaza authorities should have initiated commemoration rallies [of their own], for it is their duty."
Abbas Must Follow in the Footsteps of Arafat, Who Wisely Combined Negotiations with Resistance
Speakers at the rally devoted much of their speeches to praising Arafat for having combined negotiations with resistance, and for refusing to compromise over any of the Palestinian principles. They called on the current Palestinian leadership to follow Arafat's example, to stop the security coordination with Israel, and not to conduct negotiations without anchoring them in the U.N. resolutions and demanding a halt to Israel's building in the settlements.
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Wasil Taha explained that Arafat had not seen negotiations as an end, but as a means toward achieving a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, without sacrificing any of the Palestinian principles. Taha said that before departing for Camp David, Arafat had told him: "If my right hand should sign [an agreement] without Jerusalem and without [the right of return] for refugees, I will cut it off." Taha extolled Arafat for cleverly combining negotiations and resistance, without allowing the negotiations to become an alternative to resistance, and for setting boundaries for the negotiations. He added that, after the Camp David Accords, and after Israel had sabotaged all other alternatives, rendering the peace process unfeasible, Arafat had upheld the Palestinian principles by supporting armed resistance and taking all its various factions under his wing.
Taha called on Abbas to follow in Arafat's footsteps: "If you really uphold the [Palestinian] principles and prove [your commitment to them], we will be the first to stand by you. This is the true path. The negotiations are merely a part of the Palestinian national enterprise, not an alternative to it. Negotiations are a tactical means and not an end [in themselves]..."
Balad Secretary-General 'Awad 'Abd Al-Fatah said that the Palestinian national movement was in need of the kind of steadfastness Arafat had shown, and that it should learn Arafat's ability to rethink his policies and redress his errors when his options failed. According to 'Abd Al-Fatah, Arafat was very pragmatic, though "the Oslo [Accords] were far from pragmatic, which is why we considered them a mistake. But [Arafat] did not throw out the option of resistance, and succeeded in combining it with negotiations." 'Abd Al-Fatah said further that Israel's accusations that Arafat had violated the Oslo Accords and turned to resistance are in fact a mark of honor, and attacked Arafat's critics within the Palestinian Authority. He blamed the new Palestinian leadership for having limited itself to negotiations, while abandoning the political struggle and actual confrontation with the occupation on the ground, which, he said, has confined the Palestinian struggle to closed chambers, to Israel's advantage.
'Abd Al-Fatah said that Israel had killed the option of a two-state solution and that the Palestinians "must return to the one-state [solution], which was stricken from the Palestinian Charter in 1996" – an option that will present a new challenge to Israel's claims of humanity and morality.
Jamal Zahalka attacked Israel, the U.S., and certain Arab elements for attempting to distort Arafat's image. He said that, just as the Zionists had described Mufti Hajj Amin Al-Husseini as a Nazi collaborator who had rejected the U.N. Partition Resolution of 1947 in order to blame him for the Nakba, the U.S. and Israel were now blaming Arafat for sabotaging the peace process, while a number of Palestinian and Arab leaders who had wanted to be rid of Arafat secretly welcomed these accusations.
Zahalka went on to censure Abbas for sticking to the negotiations with Israel, commenting sarcastically: "The obstacle to peace – that is, Yasser Arafat – has been removed, and the clearer of obstacles has arrived [on the scene]: a Palestinian president who does not believe in anything but negotiations. He has negotiated incessantly, with zero results. Where is the peace?!" Zahalka called on the Palestinian leadership to stop the security coordination with Israel: "Do not continue negotiating without [anchoring the negotiations] in international resolutions and while [construction in] the settlements [continues]..."
Zahalka condemned the attempts to portray Arafat as "one who had negotiated, surrendered, and abandoned and sold out the [Palestinian] principles," saying that the real Arafat had refused to sign any agreement at Camp David that eliminated the rights of the Palestinian people, despite the pressures he been subjected to. He added that, even though Arafat had not achieved a military victory, he had succeeded in defending Palestinians' existence as a national and in keeping them united. He praised Arafat for "holding a rifle in one hand and an olive branch in the other," and for offering the Jews and the Arabs in Palestine a new political horizon, first in the form of a single secular democratic state, and later the solution of two states for two peoples with the assurance of the right of return for Palestinian refugees – proposals that had both been rejected by Israel, proving that there had never been an Israeli partner for peace.
The Palestinian Authority Has Become a Security Agent for Israel
Awad 'Abd Al-Fatah went further in his criticism of the Palestinian Authority. He claimed that in light of the impasse the political process has reached, and in light of Israel's intention to entirely Judaize Palestine, leaving the Palestinians nothing but a fragmentized ghetto-state, the Palestinian Authority's role must be reevaluated and its efficacy reconsidered, since it has failed to achieve its goals and has become "a security agent for Israel." 'Abd Al-Fatah also called on the PLO to be released from the shackles of the Palestinian Authority and returned to its former role as leader of the Palestinian struggle.
Ayman Suleiman likewise addressed the security coordination, and praised Balad for holding the National Principles rally at this sensitive time, when others, he said, were content with incomplete solutions to the Palestinian issue, placing their trust in General Keith Dayton (until recently U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, responsible for training the Palestinian Authority's security apparatuses).
Israel Poisoned Arafat, Causing His Death
Some of the speeches addressed the circumstances of Arafat's death, openly accusing Israel of his murder. Jamal Zahalka called for the establishment of an international inquiry committee and tribunal to investigate Arafat's death, like those established to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, and wondered why the Palestinian Authority had not demanded this. He claimed that all evidence pointed to Israel having poisoned Arafat, adding that "without [naming names], it is possible that someone cooperated with Israel in poisoning Yasser Arafat, which is why we demand an international inquiry into the matter of [his] assassination."
The Israeli Arabs – The Strategic Reserves of the Palestinian Enterprise
The speakers naturally addressed the status of the Israeli Arabs, whom they referred to as the "inside" Palestinians, calling them an inseparable part of the Palestinian people and its vanguard in the struggle over their identity and roots in Palestine. They emphasized the fact that the Israeli Arabs would not surrender to Israel's racist and discriminatory policies and would fight for total equality in Israel.
The rally's master of ceremonies, Wisam Qahawish, read out a speech on behalf of Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, which said: "Oh, our people rooted in this soil, who arm themselves with Palestinian strength and Arab identity! Loyalty to Arafat means total readiness for sacrifice; it means obeying him at the hour of trial, and remembering what he said when he was besieged in Beirut: 'The winds of Paradise are blowing.'" Qahawish added that loyalty to Arafat also meant uniting the ranks against the enemy, and adhering to the ideals of liberation, revolution, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. He said that Arafat and his followers had given everything for peace just as they had given everything in battle, whereas the Israelis had betrayed and renounced the peace process, assassinating Rabin and denying the commitments they had made to peace. He concluded by saying: "Arafat has left in body but remains in [our] memory and conscience. He is driving us to continue the revolution until we meet with victory, and whoever does not like it can drink from the sea of Gaza."
Wasil Taha related that at a meeting he and 'Azmi Bishara had held with Arafat in 1999, Arafat had told them: "You are true patriots. You remind me of my own youth in your sincere defiance." Taha added: "Arafat understood the unique nature of our struggle on the inside, and used to say: You are the most deeply rooted part of our people. You are the witnesses to the Nakba of our people. Continue the political struggle to preserve your national identity..."
Jamal Zahalka emphasized that the national movement "on the inside" was an integral part of the overall national movement of the Palestinian people, and did not differ from it in terms of nationality or history – only in organizational terms. According to Zahalka, contrary to the wishes of the Israeli Left, the "inside" Palestinians were not part of it, nor did they serve as its reserve stock of voters. He also said that no real peace, equality, or justice could be achieved as long as the racism and the Zionist domination continued – a situation which the negotiations imposed.
Awad 'Abd Al-Fatah attacked those Palestinians who, at the beginning of the Second Intifada, had accused the "inside" Palestinians of sabotaging the negotiations and had called on the Israeli Arabs to vote for Israel's Labor Party: "We [the Israeli Arabs] are not a reserve [pool of] votes [for the Israeli Left], nor are we a burden on the Palestinian national enterprise. We are the strategic reserves of the Palestinian national enterprise." He called for a comprehensive Palestinian struggle against the Israeli "apartheid," since, he said, Israel was trying to blur the distinctions it itself had created between the Palestinians within Israel, those in the diaspora, those in the West Bank, and those in Gaza, and was now "considering us all enemies." He went on to say: "We will not back down from our national positions, even if this displeases some people. We know that the Israeli regime is trying to violate our rights and [threaten] our existence, and to harm Balad in particular. Perhaps it is even [trying to] prepare the ground for radical steps. Therefore, we say: We are not afraid of them. We will stay on this land and fulfill our duties, until we reach a resolution of a democratic and humane nature – for we must live in this land with full equality."
Ayman Suleiman called on the "inside" Palestinians to align their positions with the principles of the Palestinian Charter of 1968, which underscores Palestine's Arab-ness and the right of the Palestinian people to resistance, and sets out the lines that cannot be crossed. He called on them to unite their efforts in light of the escalating discrimination, poverty, violence, and continued efforts at Judaization, all of which, he said, were aimed at undermining the Palestinian Arab identity.
The "National Principles" Rally. (Image source: www.um-elfahem.net, November 13, 2010)
[1] www.tajamoa.org, February 5, 2009.
[2] www.um-elfahem.net, November 13, 2010.
[3] Hamas has banned annual rallies marking Arafat's death since its takeover of Gaza in 2007.
