A last word for now on the 2nd Intifada

["LouPaulsen" <LouPaulsen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think it's appropriate that the Palestinians get in some comments.

I recommend that people on this list check out this special page on the
english.aljazeera.net site:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F650ECFC-B2BD-43A7-B63A-DF8303B36953.
htm

This gives links to a series of articles by their staff and guest
commentators assessing the al-Aqsa intifada at its 3-year point.

There is also a feature entitled,

"How do ordinary Palestinians view the Intifada on its 3rd anniversary?"

Unfortunately it is not easy to get this to work properly.  You can get to
the first and second slides all right, but after that, on my browser anyway,
the frame doesn't automatically display the link to the next frame and you
have to do some fiddling around to force it to scroll down to the Go-->
button.  For that reason, I am copying the text of that feature into this
post and will let these Palestinians from Bethlehem and Hebron, with varying
viewpoints, have the last word.  It's worth trying to make it work anyway,
though, so you can see their faces.

Ribhi Herub, 28, pharmacist:

“It is true that we have suffered tremendously as a result of the intifada,
but this is the price we’ve got to pay for our freedom. Yes, we have not
obtained our freedom yet, but we have convinced the Jews that they won’t be
safe if we are not free. The intifida has not been a futile effort. We know
quite well and the world knows as well that the Israelis won’t give us
anything if we don’t earn it through struggle. Freedom is earned not
granted.”

Muhammed Abu Ijheishe, 47, education supervisor

“The Intifada is only a means to achieve an end, and the end is freedom and
liberation from this satanic Zionist occupation. We realised from the outset
that the uprising wouldn’t make instant miracles. However, we are very sure
that through accumulative struggle, we will achieve our goals eventually,
God willing.”

Jihad al Nammoura, 35, taxi driver

“The Intifada achieved nothing, it took us many years back. But the
occupation is first and foremost to blame for this catastrophic situation.
We are the victims, and blaming the victims is wrong. Besides, does the
international community have any guarantee that we will get our legitimate
rights back if we sit down and do nothing?”

Ismael Ibrahim Talahmeh, 24, civil engineer

“The Intifada achieved its main goals. It exposed the unjust nature of the
Israeli occupation and illustrated the need to put an end to the Jewish
colonisation of our homeland. Moreover, the Intifada has convinced the world
that there would be no peace or instability, not only in this region but
throughout the globe, as long as the Palestinian plight remains unresolved.”

Abdul Hafeez Zaghal, 58, Shoemaker

“The Intifada needs constant care, and due to lack of care, it ended up as a
great tragedy for the Palestinian people. But in the final analysis, the
Intifada is a reaction to Israeli Nazism.”

Nader Abu Qweider, 35, electronics dealer

 “The intifada is neither a complete failure nor a complete success. We have
not achieved our strategic goal, namely ending the Israeli occupation of our
homeland. But we have successfully demonstrated that there can be neither
peace nor security as long the Palestinian people don’t enjoy peace and
security and, above all, freedom.”

Amal Sarahneh, 26, Education student

“The Intifada exposed the fallacy of the Oslo agreements and put the
Palestinian issue back at the forefront of the international agenda. The
occupying power employed Nazi-tactics against our people, forcing us to
resort to blowing our bodies up into bits and pieces in the streets of
Israel. Those to whom evil is done, do evil in return.”

Najat Abu Faddah, 29, Psychology student

“I would still have supported the Intifada even if I had known that so much
death and destruction would happen. Freedom has a price, and we shouldn’t
flinch from paying it. If we refuse to pay the price of freedom and dignity,
we will then have to pay tenfold in the form of enslavement, humiliation and
subjugation. Besides, who says the Jews would give us anything if we stopped
the armed struggle? Tell me of one people under the sun that earned its
freedom without a protracted bitter struggle."

Ibtisam Abu Ajamiyya, 26, Arabic student

“I think we need to halt the Intifada for a period of time in order to
reassess its efficacy.”

Jubran Muhammed Rajoub, 25, Business Administration student

“If defending one’s country against foreign occupation is terror, then we
are terrorists; if protecting our holy places in the face of nefarious
Zionist designs is a crime, then we are criminals. If fighting for one’s
freedom and dignity is extremism, then, yes, we are extremists.”

Bassam Dweik, 36, Hebrew-Arabic translator

“The resistance is the solution. Yes, it causes a lot of suffering, but it
is the only alternative available to us. And I ask you what would force the
Jews to come to terms with our rights? Their sense of justice? So should we
entrust our national cause to Jewish magnanimity? We know we won’t be able
to get anything from their parsimonious hands unless they are forced to give
it up. Freedom does not come free.”

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LPa

























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