On July 10, 2012, the editor of the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Hafez Al-Barghouti, published an op-ed marking the anniversary of the founding of the PLO in 1964. In the article, titled "The Fatah" – a play on words involving the name of the movement and the Arabic word for "conquest" – Al-Barghouti claimed that the Fatah movement (the main organ in the PLO) would continue to champion the Palestinian cause until that cause was realized, and that the Palestinians would never tire in their attempts to obtain an independent state. He added that "oppressed peoples are justified in using every means... [and] the Fatah is the fatah [conquest] of Jerusalem."
In another article, published two days later, Barghouti wrote: "Netanyahu said that the Palestinians want Haifa and Jaffa, not the West Bank. [And] why not? Is anything left of the West Bank?"[1]
The following are excerpts from the article:[2]
"[Recently,] we marked the anniversary of the founding of the PLO in 1964... It was the beginning of the Palestinian political entity, which is still trying [to gain] independence and to realize itself in practice, as a state... We have grown old and tired, yet we have not seen this come true... [PLO founder Ahmad] Al-Shukeiri is gone, and so are [PLO leaders] Yahya Hamouda and Yasser Arafat. A lot of blood has flowed since then, and we are still struggling, both inside and outside [Israel], [to obtain] a homeland. We will never give up, because [the state] has been promised us. When the PLO was established, things were no worse than they are today, and we were no more lost than we are today.
"Fatah, which was the first bullet [in this struggle], sprung up to the left of the PLO, combining politics and armed activity. Later, it became the PLO's leverage, and it remains the secret of the PLO's survival to this very day. It will continue to sustain the Palestinian national enterprise until this enterprise comes to be – for no one else can do so. [Fatah] is not a selfish, partisan movement that is satisfied with meeting its own narrow needs, but rather a national movement that represents the conscience, goals, and aspirations of the people. Its struggle is ongoing and adapts to new developments, but its goals remain the same. Every stage has [its] means, and the schism [between Fatah and Hamas] will not lead us astray, because peoples do the unexpected, and, ultimately, oppressed peoples are justified in using every means.
"What was started by a group of pure-hearted mujahideen in a rented Cairo apartment, and on Al-Salibikhaet Beach in Kuwait [where the decision to found Fatah was made in 1959], and in the dormitories of Palestinian students and workers in Germany – one of them the late leader Hani Al-Hassan, whom we laid to rest yesterday – will not die with the leaders. On the contrary, it is ever-regenerating, because ultimately, Fatah is the fatah [conquest] of Jerusalem, [and] 'they will enter the [Al-Aqsa] Mosque as they entered it for the first time...' [Koran 17:7]."
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), July 12, 2012.
[2] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), July 10, 2012.
