[Marxism] PLO EC Member: NO to Violations of Palestinians' Human Rights

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

GRANMA
December 12, 2008

NO to Violations of Palestinians' Human Rights

Executive committee member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO) denounces the hypocritical and predatory policies of the US and
Israel and speaks on the effort to unify the struggle and on Cuba's
solidarity.

ARNALDO MUSA
musa.amp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Granma: At the beginning of his first mandate, US president George W.
Bush said that he was going to sort out the problems of the Middle
East, mainly those related to the Palestinian people, but now he's
leaving the presidency and the situation seems to be even more
problematic.

SALEH RA'FAT SAID SALEH.

Saleh: If Bush really wanted to solve the Arab-Palestinian conflict
and to contribute to the establishment of the Palestinian State next
to Israel, everything would have been different. But he only paid
attention to what was happening there during the sixth year of his
mandate, for which he convened the Annapolis Conference in November, 2007.

But then he didn't exert any pressure on Tel Aviv to comply with the
accords and the first stage of the "Road Map" [peace plan], by virtue
of UN Resolution 1515, and totally aligned itself with Zionism, in
spite of declaring publicly that colonization is illegal.

He also sabotaged the efforts made in this regard by Arab nations at
the Security Council, threatened with his right to veto and prevented
a resolution condemning Israel and its aggressive policies.

Granma: The next president of the United Sates, Barack Obama, affirmed
that he will not wait seven years and that he will try to find a
solution right from the beginning.

Saleh: Yes, he has said that, although he is keeping the same Pentagon
chief. When he visited Israel and Palestine six months ago, in his
meetings with President Mahmud Abbas and the Israeli leaders, he
assured that he would not proceed like Bush. We expect he will keep
his promise, and adopt a balanced policy and acts based on
international law, that is, what the UN has established in these cases.

Granma: Undoubtedly, he's inheriting a complex situation, and there's
still no sign of a solution to the problem or, like people say, not a
single light at the end of the tunnel.

Saleh: This is due to the policy exerted by the occupying force.
Israel besieges, blockades, and attacks indiscriminately, especially
on the Gaza Strip, where most of the time it prevents the arrival of
medicines and food. The policy of confiscating land continues on the
West Bank, Israel keeps on building the dividing wall âthe Wall of
Shameâ and new settlements and military control points, while it
intensifies the process of practicing exclusion of non-Jews in Israel.

Thus, little by little, it subverts and destroys the social,
economical and political life of Palestinians, 11,000 of whom are
imprisoned. This has led to a dead-end, which could have a possible
solution with the sincere effort of the international community and
the negotiations with Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Granma: Last, but not least, I'd like to ask you something that
worries me a lot: division among Palestinians.

Saleh: That's our weak point, our Achilles' heel, and it exists
because of what I consider the staging of a coup on the part of Hamas
at the Gaza Strip. That's why we, at the very heart of the PLO, have
made an appeal for dialogue will all parties participating, but they
just want to meet with Fatah, to divide up power.

Nonetheless, we are working with the Egyptian leadership and the Arab
League, to reach an agreement that can lead to the creation of a new
transition government, which would then prepare the conditions for a
presidential and legislative electoral process. But it's still
necessary to convince Hamas that a public vote will give us more
strength to face occupation.

Granma: Israel will celebrate elections on February 1. Could we expect
a change in its policy?

Saleh: It has recently allowed all Hebrew newspapers to publish an
entire page with the Arab peace initiative from its 2002 Congress,
approved a year later by the Islamic Conference Organization. For the
first time, most Israelis could read our proposals, something that was
already known by more than 2,000 former Army and Security officials,
who signed a document in which they urge their leaders to accept these
ideas and put an end to occupation.

Granma: As a General Secretary of the Palestinian Democratic Union
(FIDA), what role do you consider your organization should play?

Saleh: We work with the forces on the left, maintaining an vigorous
debate, with the purpose of achieving the creation of a coalition that
two years later would turn into a single party. So far, the movement
is made up by FIDA, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,
the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Party of the
Palestinian People, and the Palestinian Front of Popular Struggle. We
continue to defend the PLO program to achieve our freedom,
independence, and the return of refugees. The same way the Palestinian
people refused to make concessions before, we're going to reject any
kind of pressure from the United States that goes against our national
rights.

Granma: You have just paid a visit to Cuba, strengthening the
fraternal ties with party leaders and the Arab community even more,
and touring places of interest, accompanied by Suleiman T. Hamdan, a
member of FIDA's Politburo, who studied and graduated in Cuba as a doctor.

Saleh: We'd like to express our very high appraisal of the role Cuba
is playing as president of the Non-Aligned Movement and the support it
has always given to the Palestinian cause in the struggle for its
national rights. We especially appreciate the help Cuba gives us in
the training of leaders. Most of the Palestinian students who graduate
in different specialties will go to work in the occupied territories
and refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. In this way, they
will become envoys, spokespersons of Cuba, of the Cuban Revolution.


=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu