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FEATURE

head

Palestinian fight for a homeland

Facing up to
the iron fist

Naji Farahis a professor atthe University of
Toronto and a spokesperson for the Canadian
Palestinian Association. He spoke with Merle
Terlesky of the Canadian Tribune about recent
events in the Middle East and the fight for a
Palestinian homeland.

Q: What is behind the current unrest in
the West Bank and the Gaza strip?

A: For two weeks Palestinians on the Gaza
Strip and West Bank started to demonstrate
against the 20 year Israel occupation of their
land. People may think that these kind of dem-
onstrations were instigated by forces from the
outside? My own interpretation is that it was a
spontaneous and natural response to occupation
itself.

If you have occupation you are bound to have
struggle against occupation. The violence was
started by the Israeli Government,and its mili-
tary against defenseless people and their legiti-
mate and democratic sentiment that rejects
occupation. When we talk about violence we
want people to understand that it was Israeli
violence that resulted in so many wounded,
detained, and sieges on cities, villages, camps.
This has aggravated rather than solved the
sentiments of the Palestinian people.

Q: Has the PLO played a leading role in
events on the Gaza strip and the West Bank?

A: I think that all recent polls done by
independent institutions and organizations as
well as media have come to the conclusion that
the majority of Palestinians see the PLO as their
sole representative and legitimate spokesper-
son of their cause. You can not speak about the
struggle in the West Bank and Gaza as an
independent phenomenon which only started in
the occupied territories; regardless of the gen-
eral conditions that the Palestinian people are
passing.

We the Palestinians think that we belong to
one nation which is the Palestinian nation. Asa
result of the 1948 war and the almost sjmulta-
neous occupation of the West Bank and Gaza
has created three categories of Palestinians.

* The refugees who were expelled and
mostly live in camps with difficult and destitute
conditions.

* The people living in the West Bank and
Gaza strip under Israel occupation.

* The Palestinians living in Galilee who

stayed behind in 1948 and have Israel citizen-

ship.

All these people are unified and believe that
the solution to their political cause is subject to
the restoration of their political rights, and that
their struggle is to resist occupation. As well the
fight to confirm the right of refugees to return
to their land is served by the PLO. This in itself
shows the leadership role of the PLO. How-
ever, it does not mean that the PLO organizes
every little struggle here and there,but that
there is a leadership for the Palestinian people,
and definitely it is the PLO. I’m not saying that
the PLO organized the demonstrations on the
West Bank and Gaza Strip. These demonstra-
tions are a direct result of occupation itself;
which also confirmed the right of the Palestini-
ans to make the world aware that their repre-
sentative is the PLO.

Q: You were saying that the
demonstrations were a direct result of
forced occupation. Canyou describe how the

Palestinian community in Toronto, and |

across Canada (demonstrations of Palestin-
ian support recently took place across the
country -ed.) is responding to. the recent
events?

A: The Toronto demonstration was organ-
ized locally by the Canadian Palestinian Asso-
ciation. It could have been bigger and had more
local support, we needed more time. Yet it was
very expressive of the mood of the Palestinian
community in Toronto. We wanted to empha-
size several things:

* We are fed up with the violence of the
Israeli Government against Palestinians living
on the West bank and the Gaza Strip. We want
the occupation to be terminated, and for the
Canadian Government to play a bigger role in
achieving a just peace that rests on self-deter-
mination.

* We want to protest the stand taken by
Prime Minister Mulroney when he says “‘Israel
showed restraint’’ knowing that at least 25
people have been killed and hundreds arrested.
We resent that. I can’t understand how he can
say it; what is behind such appeasement to a
bloody aggression against an occupied popula-
tion?

What concerns us more is that Mulroney is
tarnishing the image of Canada as a non-colo-
nial country, and is undermining Canada’s
possible role in any international effort to con-
vene a peace conference. People in the Arab
world will not accept Mulroney’s role;
Canada’s credibility is being damaged by such
statements. We think that Mulroney’s state-
ments will encourage rather than discourage

Palestinian youths rising against the occupation. Meeting tanks and guns with rocks and
_ determination.

t
rs

Israeli stormtroopers on the West Bank.
“Sooner or later the screws will turn on
themselves.”’

Israel to continue it’s policy ofiron fist; killing,

detaining, deporting people, and finally annex- »

ing most of the occupied territories.

These were some of the major aims for
which we demonstrated; not only to point out
the brutality of what’s going on, but also to
emphasize that Mulroney is very insulting to
the people who support peace and justice. We
see that Mulroney takes stands against apart-
heid in South Africa. Why does he not take a
stand against the violence on the West Bank and
Gaza?

I can assure you that we will intensify our
activity. we want utilize every means at out
disposal to make it clear to the Canadian people
and policy makers in Ottawa that we attach
great importance to Canada’s role. Instead of
trailing behind the United States, we want
Mulroney to show the Americans that some-
thing can be done. Canada has not been taking
the same role as the U.S. in Central America.
We want Mulroney to do as much as he can to
help solve the problem in the Middle East.
Canada has a role which must be straight and
clear on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian

people. Anything short ofthis does not serve the

cause of peace and human rights.

Q: Could you comment on the trials of
Palestinians going on in Jerusalem and the
fact that lawyers have boycotted them due to
their undemocratic nature?

A: This boycott is not surprising to me.
Convictions were done at a rate of one convic-
tion for every two to three minutes; what type
of justice system is this? What type of rights are
given to those detained? The Palestinians are
being pre-judged.

Israel wants to try and teach the people a
lesson. They say ‘‘you will be hurt, oppressed,
persecuted, deported so you'd better keep
quite- don’t dare stand against us’’. It is a

‘continuation of violence. Israel has continued

to convey a message of oppression and iron fist
terrorize the population.

Q: We are seeing signs of internal opposi-
tion inside Israel to its policies. Demonstra-
tions have taken place in Jerusalem by Jew-
ish students opposing Israel’s treatment of
the Palestinians. Do you see these protests
growing?

A: Many Jewish intellectuals are looking at
this. The occupation of the Palestinian people
and their homeland deserves the condemnation
of all democratic forces. This gives us some
hope that the Jewish people will one day face the
facts as they are and re-evaluate their relations
with the Palestinians. This hope is still dim, but
we need to encourage such awareness amongst
the Jewish population. They can not say that
they do not know of the occupation - they must
be more critical.

I should note that the atmosphere in Israel
does not foster the growth of such democratic
forces amongst Jews. Those people who stand
against their Government's policies must be
very courageous to swim against the current; to
**step out of the Kibbutz’s’’. They face tremen-
dous difficulties in their own communities. But
if they allow their Government to persecute
another people and to exercise fascist measures
on the Palestinians - fascism will not stay out of
their own house. It’s only a matter of time. The
system will sooner or later turn the screws on
it’s own people; this has been proven in the past

=

~*~ 8

and is being proven today. In opposing the
occupation Jews are fighting the spread of

- fascism to their own country.” ~ “8°. +s

Q: The Globe and Mail reported that the
Israeli Foreign Minister Simmon Peres had
agreed to a peace conference with King
Hussein of Jordan concerning conditions for
peace in the Middle East. Included in this
conference would be the permanent mem-
bers of the UN Security Council (USA,
USSR, Britian, France and China). Will this
have any impact on the current situation?

A: No I do not think so. It is not a true
instrument for peace; they are playing around
and not addressing the real problem. Peres
wants to meet with King Hussein, but does not
want peace with the Palestinians. They want to
eliminate the Palestinian role. For the past 40
years it has been proven that nobody can ever
make peace in the Middle East without taking
into consideration that the major party to peace
is the Palestinian people themselves. Peace will
not be made behind the backs of the Palestinian
people. Without addressing the concerns of the
Palestinian people there can be no lasting,
durable peace. Israel must make peace with the
Palestinians. There must be the participation of
all major middle east countries - and the PLO.

Q: What is needed to bring peace in the
new year?

A: By what Israel has been doing I donot see
much room for improvement; and there will be
more jailings and more killings. The Palestini-
ans will not just sit there - they have clout. We
are re - evaluating the problem. Yet two-thirds
of Israel’s population think that Israel should
use more force. The democratic forces in Israel
are most important. Canada must exert all the
pressure they can to tell Israel ‘you can not
continue on this path - it will only lead to
increased tension.’’ Israel “must come to the
realization that they have failed and are back at
square one.

The time is ripe for change. The Palestinian
people are determined to restore their rights
and achieve self-determination. Let 1988 be a
turning point. The Palestinians are there to
stay, and Israel may crush our demonstrations,
and kill thousands more, but they will never
crush our determination and will.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 13, 1988 e 5