Blasphemy
22nd April 2003, 17:19
DUBIOUS HOPES
The appointment of Abu Mazen, who until lately was considered to be the strongest man in the Palestinian Authority, to Prime Minister by Yasser Arafat seems to bring new hopes to the region. Since the beginning of the violent Al-Aqsa Intifada in October 2000, Abu Mazen has taken a pacifist line against the suicide bombing perpetrated by terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians within the Green Line. For many years, the Israeli left wing has carried Abu Mazen on a pedestal, looking at him as the sane, reasonable voice within the PA that can navigate through a convoluted diplomatic peace process with Israel.
There is no question over Abu Mazen's intentions. It is clear, as it has been clear for many years that he does intend to lead his people through a peace process, while trying to weaken terrorist organization, whose power has consolidated during the Intifada, especially since the Israeli siege on Arafat's bureau in Ramallah. Even when a vast majority of the Palestinian people supported without question the acts of terrorism committed by Palestinian organizations, Abu Mazen adhered to his policy that only through negotiations can the Palestinians be liberated, and not through the use of brutal force.
As long as Ariel Sharon serves as Prime Minister of Israel, it is unlikely that a true diplomatic peace process will commence. But the hope that a peaceful Palestinian leader will shift Israeli to the left, and perhaps cause it to overthrow Sharon, is stronger than ever.
Abu Mazen appears to be the man who can free the Palestinian people from the sinful Israeli occupation, bringing the Palestinian national independence. But the road towards the liberation of the Palestinians doesn't end there. Currently, the Palestinian Authority is controlled by the financial elite. As Chairman, Arafat has robbed his people for many years, spending millions on luxuries, money for his ministers and their families, and funding terrorist organizations, while his own people starve in overly crowded refugee camps with no sanitation, education and some even without a roof over their heads. An independent Palestinian state will strengthen the corrupted families which control the PA. The Palestinians will not be enslaved by the Israeli occupation, but by the Palestinian bourgeois, which will continue the abuse and oppression the Palestinians are suffering from under the occupation.
National liberation for the Palestinians will mainly benefit the Palestinian financial elite, but it will also pave the road for the liberation of the Palestinian working-class. Abu Mazen may achieve national liberation, but then, the real struggle of the Palestinians will only begin – the struggle for class independence. In this struggle, the Palestinians will soon realize that their closest allies are the Israeli workers, who are currently losing in their struggle for liberation from the Israeli bourgeois.
The appointment of Abu Mazen, who until lately was considered to be the strongest man in the Palestinian Authority, to Prime Minister by Yasser Arafat seems to bring new hopes to the region. Since the beginning of the violent Al-Aqsa Intifada in October 2000, Abu Mazen has taken a pacifist line against the suicide bombing perpetrated by terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians within the Green Line. For many years, the Israeli left wing has carried Abu Mazen on a pedestal, looking at him as the sane, reasonable voice within the PA that can navigate through a convoluted diplomatic peace process with Israel.
There is no question over Abu Mazen's intentions. It is clear, as it has been clear for many years that he does intend to lead his people through a peace process, while trying to weaken terrorist organization, whose power has consolidated during the Intifada, especially since the Israeli siege on Arafat's bureau in Ramallah. Even when a vast majority of the Palestinian people supported without question the acts of terrorism committed by Palestinian organizations, Abu Mazen adhered to his policy that only through negotiations can the Palestinians be liberated, and not through the use of brutal force.
As long as Ariel Sharon serves as Prime Minister of Israel, it is unlikely that a true diplomatic peace process will commence. But the hope that a peaceful Palestinian leader will shift Israeli to the left, and perhaps cause it to overthrow Sharon, is stronger than ever.
Abu Mazen appears to be the man who can free the Palestinian people from the sinful Israeli occupation, bringing the Palestinian national independence. But the road towards the liberation of the Palestinians doesn't end there. Currently, the Palestinian Authority is controlled by the financial elite. As Chairman, Arafat has robbed his people for many years, spending millions on luxuries, money for his ministers and their families, and funding terrorist organizations, while his own people starve in overly crowded refugee camps with no sanitation, education and some even without a roof over their heads. An independent Palestinian state will strengthen the corrupted families which control the PA. The Palestinians will not be enslaved by the Israeli occupation, but by the Palestinian bourgeois, which will continue the abuse and oppression the Palestinians are suffering from under the occupation.
National liberation for the Palestinians will mainly benefit the Palestinian financial elite, but it will also pave the road for the liberation of the Palestinian working-class. Abu Mazen may achieve national liberation, but then, the real struggle of the Palestinians will only begin – the struggle for class independence. In this struggle, the Palestinians will soon realize that their closest allies are the Israeli workers, who are currently losing in their struggle for liberation from the Israeli bourgeois.