A number of events all over the world is the yearly mark of November 29th, International Solidarity Day with Palestinian people. This year, the call came from Palestinian youth in diaspora amidst a new intifada.
By Soraya Misleh
The generation born exiled, prohibited from returning to their home land, joins the heroes of the current wave of resistance: young people, mostly between 13 to 20 years old. They are children of Oslo, young people who suffered the consequences of the disastrous deal signed in 1993 (Oslo Accords) between Organization for Palestinian Liberation (OLP) and Israel. These agreements were promoted to the entire world as a peaceful solution, but they enhanced colonization, apartheid, and Zionist occupation. Very unfaithful of their traditional leadership, this youth has dedicated their lives to serve Palestinian liberation.
Al Khalil: Struggle and Palestinian Resistance
From the beginning of Third Intifada, on October 1st, until now, there were at least 115 Palestinians killed by Israel, and more than 10 thousand injured. Intensive repression, however, has not made resistance lose its enthusiasm.
In South Jerusalem, in Al Khalil (Arabian name for Hebron), there is an intense participation of the working class, even organizing general strikes. It is not something minor: this is the biggest city in the West Bank, with 170 thousand inhabitants, and it is the main center of industrial workers.
Al Khalil faces a unique situation: Israeli settlements are located over Palestinians’ houses and stores, around Shuhada Street, main street of the historical city center, declared by Oslo Accords as Israeli military controlled area. Settlers walk around heavily armed, constantly assaulting and threatening Palestinian people, and throwing trash and objects from their windows, to the head of their unwanted neighbors, who do not get hit only because an NGO has installed a huge net like a ceiling over Shuhada Street.
Here, occupation shows its real face, without masks at all. It is no surprise the city has become a base of the intifada.
I visited Al Khalil in October 2010, with Dirceu Travesso, by that time leader of CSP – Conlutas. His impressions of the city were registered in “Scenes of the occupation and resistance in Hebron”.
Dirceu wrote: “International support is a critical part in the struggle for Palestine and Palestinians. For some, it seems like a small gesture of helplessness. Yet for the ones who know what they want, this is the preparation for new future Intifadas”. These words have never been so valid.
Solidarity: PSTU supports Palestinian resistance
Adding forces to international solidarity, in Brazil, PSTU attended the call made by Palestinian youth. On the 29th, Front in Defense of Palestinian People organized a demonstration in São Paulo, which counted with the presence of Zé Maria, PSTU’s national president. In Campo Grande, the party organized a public demonstration, and launched the book “1936 – 1939 Palestinian Revolt”, by the revolutionary Marxist Ghassan Kanafani, Sunderman Publishing, unpublished in Portuguese until now. The book was also launched in Fortaleza, during and event organized by the local solidarity committee.
Analyzing the causes which lead to this revolt (actually, a powerful revolution, in which Palestine got closest to its liberation than it has ever been), and the role played by each class, as well as the reasons and consequences of its defeat, Kanafani identifies the enemies of the Palestinian cause, which remain the same: Arabian–Palestinian bourgeoisie, Arabian regimens, Zionism and imperialism.
Killed by Israeli Secret Service in 1972, at the age of 36, in Beirut – Lebanon, Kanafani is widely recognized among the Arabian World, which is an example that it is not possible to silence Palestinian voices. As the Palestinian intellectual Edward Said said: “when one of us is killed, 10 of us rise in his/ her place”. The new Intifada is a proof of this.
Know more:
Intifada: Arabian word which means “popular rise”. The first one happened between 1987- 1993, the second one between 2000 – 2004. However, many people state the first Intifada was actually the revolution which took place between 1936 – 1939. Back then, Palestinian people rose against British mandate and its support to Zionist colonization.
Zionism: Racist political ideology, coming from Theodor Herzl’s (1860 – 1904) principle, synthesized in the following phrase: “A land without a people for a people without a land”, which justified the eviction of Palestinian people rom their land. This has nothing to do with Jewish religion.
Read more:Scenes of the occupation and resistance in Hebron, Dirceu Travesso –http://goo.gl/hQhceK
Get the book: 1936 – 1939 Palestinian Revolt, Ghassan Kanafani – http://goo.gl/YPCSI4
Translation: Mariana Soléo.
