[News] A Watershed Moment in Palestinian History
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Jun 22 11:09:02 EDT 2018
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/22/a-watershed-moment-in-palestinian-history-interview-with-jamal-juma/
A Watershed Moment in Palestinian History: Interview with Jamal Juma’
by Ida Audeh <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/trust4spayahebr/> -
June 22, 2018
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/For weeks now, Palestinians everywhere have been galvanized by events
taking place in the Gaza Strip, the site of weekly (since March 30) mass
protests demanding the end of the siege and blockade of Gaza (in place
now since 2007) and the right to return to the homes from which they or
their elders had been kicked out. Dubbed the Great March of Return,
Gazans have assembled as close as they can to the Israeli-designated
buffer zone separating Gaza from Israel. Israeli soldiers at a distance,
crouched behind earth barriers that they created in the days preceding
the march, and at absolutely no danger of attack from the unarmed
protestors, pick off demonstrators at their leisure. By June 14, at
least 129 Palestinians had been killed and 13,000 injured; the dead
included medics like the 21-year-old Razan al-Najjar and journalists
including Yaser Murtaja—typically seen as off-limits in conflict zones
but transformed by Israel into prime targets./
/On June 4, Ida Audeh spoke to Jamal Juma’, coordinator of the
Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, about the popular
resistance in Gaza, the Trump administration’s policy toward the
question of Palestine, and Palestinian options to chart a new course.
Salah Khawaja, an activist who works with the campaign, joined the
conversation./
/Ida Audeh: I interviewed you in August 2011 to learn more about the
separation wall and its effect on communities in its path.[2] Describe
Israel’s current system of control over the occupied territories, of
which the wall is a part./
Jamal Juma’: It is clear that the wall was designed to isolate and lay
siege to Palestinians. The project to place Palestinians under siege by
means of the wall has been completed. It closed off all the dynamic
areas that Israel considered necessary to isolate various areas. Eighty
percent of the Wall is within the West Bank. The second part of the
siege is reinforcement of the settlements. Each settlement has what
Israel calls a buffer zone – a security apparatus consisting of barbed
wire and roads that Palestinians are not allowed to use. This, together
with the alternative (bypass) roads (which we call the apartheid roads),
allows them to control the territory. Today there are two road networks:
one is for Israeli settlers, about 1,400 km long, and its purpose is to
connect all settlements to one another and to Israel in a kind of
network. And this is complete. This network is the dominant one in the
West bank, and it includes the major roads. The other, the alternative
roads, are for Palestinians to use; these roads will intersect through
48 planned tunnels and bridges, some of which have been created already.
The two road systems are separate. This is the basis of the racist
discriminatory system we talk about: isolating Palestinians and
confining them in limited spaces, control of their resources through
settlements, the road network, and military installations, and the wall,
which take up about 62% of the area of the West Bank.
With the extension of the settlements, we no longer just talk about
Palestinians being ghettoized in the north, south and central region.
There is more fragmentation of Palestinian residential areas. New
settlement outposts are not being discussed in terms of whether they
should be removed or not. They are being transformed into settlements.
When you see 150 outposts, you are really talking about 150 new
settlements. This project is being intensified, and especially since
Trump took office.
/IA: So you noticed a clear acceleration after Trump?/
JJ: It’s much more than an acceleration. This is a watershed moment in
Palestinian history. We consider that since Trump took office, US
policy fully adopted the Zionist project and embarked on a process of
liquidating the Palestinian cause, of eliminating it. It is clear
program. This began with Jerusalem and the recognition of Jerusalem as
the capital of the Zionist entity, transfer of the embassy, targeting
the refugees by cutting financing of UNRWA, and other forms of pressure
on areas that host large numbers of refugees including getting them
settled permanently in the host countries.
Israeli colonization, the geographic engineering of the political map,
is another component in the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.
Israeli proposals for colonization are massive. They are concentrating
on the Jordan Valley – creating new settlements, expanding existing
settlements, creating the supportive infrastructure, with huge
incentives for Israelis who work in agriculture (including cash payments
of $20,000 for anyone willing to move there). Now the settlements are on
the tops of the mountain chain that overlook the Jordan Valley, which
enable them to encircle lower lying towns. When you talk about Ariel,
Ma’ale Adumim, and so on, it will be as though the entire West Bank is a
suburb of Tel Aviv. This will make it impossible for there to be any
separation in the future, for there to be any independent Palestinian
entity; instead, an apartheid system of cantons will be imposed on
Palestinians. This is the reality on the ground.
Back to the new US policy: In addition to a shift in standing US
positions on Jerusalem and the refugee issue, there is the use of Arab
countries that are ready for normalization with Israel and eager to be
aligned with the American project – first and foremost, Saudi Arabia,
and also Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, which are
pressuring the Palestinians to accept the US project to liquidate the
Palestinian cause. This has complicated things and taken it out of the
sphere of international law and the UN; everyone had previously worked
within that framework. We have been demanding the implementation of
resolutions. But the US dealt a blow to international law.
/IA: The US now proposes the “deal of the century,” which Gulf states
are eagerly endorsing. Can you describe the contours of that deal?/
JJ: The proposal is to create a Palestinian state in Gaza with
extensions into the Sinai Desert, to be administered by the Palestinian
Authority. The West Bank and Jerusalem are not part of these
calculations, although Israel might be willing to give up some areas
around Jerusalem that are densely populated with Palestinians. (This
part of the proposal has been floated by extremist Israeli groups even
before the Trump proposal.) They might be willing to remove from Greater
Jerusalem areas with high Palestinian density, like Jabal Mukkaber,
Isawiya, Silwan, and Sur Bahir; there has been some discussion about
removing Beit Hanina and Shufat. The Israelis would retain control of
the Jewish settlements and the Old City, which together make up about
87% of the area of East Jerusalem—not exactly a small territory.
/IA: What is the Palestinian response to these plans?/
JJ: On the formal political level, the PA is in a crisis. It placed its
faith in the US, but now US determination to liquidate the Palestinian
cause is very clear. The only real option remaining to the PA is to
cast its lot with the Palestinian people and on free people around the
world, international solidarity and movements that support us. The
Palestinian people have to make a decision, and so does the PA.
On the popular level, we see serious activity in search of an
alternative to the status quo, the largest and the most important of
which is taking place now in Gaza with the Great March of Return. These
actions are important for a number of reasons. They changed the
stereotypes about Gaza as a launchpad for rockets, a place of terrorism
that has been hijacked by Hamas. In fact, the marches in Gaza since
March 30 represent a widespread popular movement, massive popular
resistance. Just like the first intifada emerged from Jabaliya in the
Gaza Strip, today we have the beginnings of a mass civil disobedience
movement. Gaza has a population that is resisting, and Hamas does not
control this resistance. The discourse we generally hear, that Hamas is
leading people to their death, should be recognized as racist and
dehumanizing. People are not robots. Gazans of all ages, family
situations, and economic and educational levels are taking part in these
marches to raise their cause to the world. These people are saying that
the siege of Gaza cannot continue. We are human beings, we have rights,
and one of those rights is to live like human beings. Gaza is no longer
inhabitable. Gaza has been turned into a prison and a hell. Even the UN
acknowledges that. The numbers around Gaza are just astounding.[3]
The Great March has returned focus on the refugee issue and put it
squarely on the table despite all the efforts to ignore and erase it.
More than 70% of Gaza residents are refugees, and they are demanding the
right to return to their original hometowns.
For that reason, the marches in Gaza are very important in defining the
trajectory of the Palestinian question and restoring the role of popular
resistance to the forefront. They lay the popular foundation for the
coming phase. They might also have prevented another massive disaster. I
think Israel was preparing to implement the Trump administration’s
proposals; the scenario that the Israelis were planning for was to pull
Gaza into a military confrontation, which would justify more intense
bombing than it has done in the past. The borders with Egypt would open,
and people would flee into Egypt. But the march with its mass
participation thwarted that plan.
/IA: I find it hard to understand how Ramallah can be so tranquil
considering the carnage in Gaza./
JJ: It might seem that what is happening in the West Bank is not at all
comparable to what is happening in Gaza. And that is true, it isn’t as
massive. But actions are taking place in the West Bank, and they are
also important. On a weekly basis people are gathering to protest at the
checkpoints. Since 2011 there have been continuous outbursts (in Arabic,
/habbat/); for example, in Jerusalem in the Bab al-Shams encampment and
in the aftermath of the Abu Khdeir and Dawabshe killings (January 2013,
July 2014, and July 2015, respectively).[4] These outbursts were
significant and exemplary, the way Gaza is today. They reminded us of
what the Palestinian people are capable of doing. I expect that these
outbursts here and there will lead to widespread civil disobedience.
Young people in Jerusalem and the West Bank have been going out to
checkpoints in the hundreds, on a daily basis, and these conditions put
one in the mindset of the first intifada.
We should take note of what Palestinians in Israel are doing as well.
There are youth movements that are taking action in ways that are very
impressive and a source of pride. They defy the occupation and they
involve large numbers of people, in Haifa and elsewhere.
/IA: Let’s look at the relationship of Palestinians to formal political
bodies. Recently the Palestinian National Council held its first meeting
in 22 years. One might have thought that over the course of more than
two decades, several issues and events warranted a meeting – regional
events, the assassination of Yasir Arafat, and the status of the Oslo
accords come to mind. But the convening of the PNC doesn’t seem to have
generated much popular interest./
JJ: People did not pay much attention to it, but in fact they should be
talking about it because it poses a threat. Meeting for the first time
in 22 years, it did not even discuss what it has done since the last
meeting! What it did do is effectively cancel itself, which means it is
changing the structure of the PLO. There is an attempt to replace the
Central Committee with a body consisting of the private sector, the
political currents in the PA today, and elements of the security
apparatus. No representation of Palestinians from the 1948 areas, or the
diaspora, or even the Palestinian street. This is a threat to the
Palestinian project.
The PLO as it has been transformed by Mahmoud Abbas threatens the
national cause. It has been hijacked; our task is to restore it as a
representative and unifying entity that works to support the Palestinian
cause. The reform should be led by Palestinian groups and movements.
People have no confidence in the leadership; they don’t think it is
capable of leading in the coming phase. In fact, the outbursts I
referred to earlier had the potential of triggering a third intifada.
People were waiting for a leadership to emerge, as happened during the
first intifada; three months into the intifada, a unified leadership
emerged and took charge. But this time, the PA wasn’t interested in
assuming that role; three months into these protests, the PA sent its
people to disrupt actions and prevent young people from gathering at
checkpoints. The national factions were unable to form a unified
leadership for obvious reasons.
/IA: What is the alternative?/
JJ: People have to create a national movement that can lead the change.
What will lead the movement for change will not be a single individual.
It will be a widespread national movement that has a real relationship
with people on the ground, a movement that will direct the street. This
is the only way change will take place. People have been waiting for a
long time, but who are we waiting for? There is not going to be a great
charismatic leader. We don’t talk about a heroic leader, we talk about a
heroic people and a leadership of institutions.
We want a Palestinian state that represents all Palestinians. Within
that broad outline, we say that right now, we have to protect the
Palestinian project – the right to self-determination, and we all
struggle for that right. We don’t have to get into a discussion about
the final outcome. The time for the two state solution is clearly
over—and in fact, that proposal provided the basis for trying to destroy
our cause. The other option is clear. But like I said, we don’t want
that discussion to detract from our focus now or to place us in conflict
with the position of the PLO.
How do we support the Palestinian project? We have to confront what is
happening in Jerusalem, the settlements. There has to be a practical
program, not just slogans on paper. Palestinians in the diaspora should
support these activities, get involved in the boycott movement, because
we are part of that boycott movement. We are trying to keep the
political work and the boycott movement separate to protect the boycott
movement, because there is a Palestinian effort underway to weaken the
BDS movement; through normalization, by invoking the PLO position. We
consider the boycott movement an essential component of our activism.
This is what people are discussing today, here and with our people in
the 1948 areas, and in the diaspora. There has to be a movement that
preserves the unity of the Palestinian people and protects the national
cause from liquidation. That’s what we are working on now. I expect that
in the next few weeks there will be a meeting to put in writing some of
the agreed upon principles underlying all of these actions. Many
meetings have taken place, and they are being expanded.
SK: We are looking at all ways to get all Palestinians to participate
under a banner of a common cause that unites us all. In the 1948 areas,
the issue is colonization and civil rights, but Palestinians within
Israel don’t find themselves too far apart from those in the West Bank
and Gaza. In the West Bank, the issues are Judaization, settlements,
attacks against the holy sites. Those in Gaza are concerned about
12-year siege and blockade, hunger, and murder. Those in the diaspora
want the right of return. All of these are national issues that unite
us, but each location faces specific threats.
The next phase will be difficult, as we figure out how to present a
vision that unites all people, especially the youth, which have been
marginalized, to be effective participants. Since 2012, we have been in
contact with the youth. About 76% of the population is 35 years old or
younger. And yet no one is making a practical effort to involve them in
political planning and decision making. As a campaign, we made a
deliberate decision about this. Programs grow old, and so do people. So
we need an extension, and the youth movement is part of that. Our hope
is to create a mass youth activist base so that our energy will be
renewed. We see in the diaspora and in the 1948 areas that the majority
of activists are young – the marches in Haifa, confronting the
Judaization of the Galilee, activism around the depopulated villages of
1948, the attempt to seize homes in Akka — young people are confronting
these issues. We must raise the slogan of confronting colonialism, which
is the main cause of what we face. We Palestinians have to work
together, not against one another, and not expect solutions from others.
What they are doing is preparatory to a major outbreak; there will be a
launch of boats to break the blockade, and not just from Gaza, and a
rush toward all entry points to Palestine, without exception. Either we
live with dignity, or we declare an intifada on those who deny us a life
with dignity.
Everyone is targeted. In the West Bank, there are mass arrests, home
demolitions, checkpoints, and people on the run. The idea of civil
disobedience is not a slogan. We can rebel against all forms of Israeli
control within the framework of a national program. Since the
international community has not acted, what prevents Palestinians from
adjacent countries from moving on mass to the border, as occurred in
2012 (and some were able to make it to Jaffa). Those in the diaspora
might have ongoing marches in front of Israeli embassies and its
supporters. They can paralyze Israel’s work in all countries. These are
not the usual slogans or approaches to political work. There is no need
to hold on to agreements and positions that Israel long ago abandoned.
In 1948 we looked to what the international community might give us; it
gave to Israel but nothing to us. There were conditions placed on it for
recognition: its treatment of the Palestinian minority, accepting the
Palestinian right of return, and the creation of a Palestinian state.
None of them was fulfilled. After 1967, Palestinians agreed to accept
22% of historical Palestine, but even that was unacceptable for Israel.
Palestinians can’t continue to think in terms of what Israel might be
willing to give us.
We have a right to exist and to determine our own destiny. This is the
issue that concerns us.
*Notes.*
[1] “Gaza protests: All the latest updates,” Al Jazeera, June 14, 2018,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/gaza-protest-latest-updates-180406092506561.html. See
also Kate, “Israel has shot 29 medics at Gaza border, killing two,”
Mondoweiss,http://mondoweiss.net/2018/06/israel-medics-killing/amp/
[2] Ida Audeh, “Interview with Jamal Juma’: PA ‘killing popular
resistance.’” Electronic Intifada, August 8,
2011,https://electronicintifada.net/content/jamal-juma-pa-killing-popular-resistance/10249
[3] “Living conditions in Gaza ‘more and more wretched’ over past
decade, UN finds,” UN News, 11 July 2017,
https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/07/561302-living-conditions-gaza-more-and-more-wretched-over-past-decade-un-finds.
Status Audio Journal Hosts, “Under siege: Daily life in Gaza with Rawan
Yaghi,” Jadaliyya, May 16, 2018,
http://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/37563/Under-Siege-Daily-Life-in-Gaza-with-Rawan-Yaghi. Gaza
in Context Team, “Understanding Gaza in context,” Jadaliyya, May 16,
2018, http://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/37562/Understanding-Gaza
[4] The 2013 encampment known as Bab al-Shams was an attempt by
Palestinians to thwart Israeli plans to establish a settlement on land
in the E1 zone, between East Jerusalem and the Jewish-only settlement
Ma’ale Adumim; the Israeli plan was designed to permanently sever the
West Bank from East Jerusalem. Another encampment, Bab al-Karama, was
set up in Beit Iksa and stormed by Israeli soldiers two days later. In
July 2014, Israeli settlers in Jerusalem abducted 16-year-old Mohammad
Abu Khdeir from Shufat and set him on fire; the ensuing demonstrations
resulted in 160 Palestinians injured. Israel’s assault on Gaza began
five days later. One year later, settlers set fire to a residence in
Duma. The soul survivor of the attack was a 4-year-old child; the
child’s parents and infant brother were killed. In 2015, a tent
encampment, “Gate of Jerusalem,” was set up in Abu Dis to protest the
Israeli government’s plans to displace Bedouin communities there.
Beginning in September 2015 and lasting until the end of the year,
protests spread from the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem throughout the West
Bank; 108 Palestinians were killed and 12,260 were injured.
Palestinians in Israel demonstrated in solidarity.
/Ida Audeh is a Palestinian from the West Bank who lives in Colorado.
She is the editor of /Birzeit University: The Story of a National
Institution
<https://www.birzeit.edu/sites/default/files/university_publication/Birzeit-University-The-Story-of-a-National-Institution-EN.pdf>/,
published by Birzeit University in 2010. She can be reached at idaaudeh
A T yahoo D O T com./
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