People's Democracy

THROUGH its prevalence throughout all of the occupied Palestinian territories, and through the popular, democratic and peaceful forms it has assumed, the Palestinian Intifadah For Independence, ever since its outbreak in September 28, 2000, has formed the largest popular response to the continuation of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and the organised Israeli expansion of settlements therein. This expansion clearly aims at creating demographic changes that are in conflict with all international conventions and laws, including the Geneva Convention, and comes accompanied by all sorts of attempts to find alternatives and "compromise" solutions to the UN Resolutions concerned with the Palestinian cause, especially Resolutions 242, 237, 338 and 194, that deal with the issue of the Palestinian refugees.

Throughout the one hundred days that have elapsed since the outbreak of the Intifadah, the Palestinian people have offered hundreds of martyrs, and thousands of wounded in its daily confrontation with the occupying Israeli military machine, the Israeli death squads, and Israeli settlers (more than half of the wounded will never be able to resume their normal lives).

Still, and despite all these grave sacrifices, the Intifadah goes on. It goes on in order to reveal to the world the natural Palestinian response to more than eight years of negotiations on the basis of the unfair Oslo Accord, and its follow-up agreements (which did not, and will not, lead to a balanced peace), as well as the individual and biased American "patronage" and its negative role in the region. Through all this, the Intifadah is renewing its message to the entire world that it is an Intifadah for peace and freedom, an Intifadah which calls for the implementation of all relevant international resolutions, not for negotiations thereon, and for guaranteeing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. It is this which forms the basis of stability and security in the region as a whole with all its states and peoples. All this has been confirmed in the different statements made by the national leadership of the Intifadah, which contains in its structure, all the dynamic Palestinian organisations and parties engaged in the struggle for freedom, independence and a balanced peace.

The Palestinian people, in its legitimate popular-democratic struggle and its national glorious Intifadah, and as it continues to offer all the necessary sacrifices in order to regain its freedom, is suffering at the same time from the worst forms of bloody suppression, siege and isolation as far as its cities and villages are concerned: the attempt is to simply starve the inhabitants into submission, while border checkpoints are regularly closed in order to prohibit all forms of social and economic contact with the outside world.

Meanwhile, a systematic Israeli policy of aggression is leading to the destruction of all existing economic and social institutions, resulting in millions of dollars of damage everyday. The closure of checkpoints has deprived more than 120 thousand Palestinian workers from going to their jobs, thus putting their families at risk of deprivation and starvation.

All this comes as part of a barbaric attempt by the Israeli government to break the Intifadah and force the Palestinian people to accept the presumed "compromise" solutions between the international resolutions on the one hand, and Israeli expansionist intentions in East Jerusalem and the West bank in general, on the other (a matter that, unfortunately, the recent American manoeuvres have been actively promoting). The Israelis also intend to reach a compromise on the right of the refugees to return to their homes (Guaranteed by Resolution 194) by breaking down the resolution, emptying it of its content and its meaning, and eventually sidestepping it.

"MIDDLE" SOLUTIONS

The projects of the "middle" solutions find their expression in various attempts to reach new framework agreements, a new declaration of principles (meant to abort the Intifadah), which would practically lead to the postponement of a full implementation of the international resolutions on the major issue at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, namely: Jerusalem and the right of return

These "compromise" solutions, which our people have tested well over the last eight years, as well as the fate of all the transition agreements made in Oslo and thereafter, did not and will not lead to balanced solutions. On the contrary, they helped create the Aqsa Intifadah, the Intifadah of Independence.

The popular consensus among the Palestinians (in the formation, preservation and evolution of which we in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, have greatly contributed), and as is reflected in the successive communiqués issued by the national leadership of the Intifadah, affirms again the necessity of continuing with the Intifadah until Israel has withdrawn to the 4th of June Line, accepted the sovereignty of the Palestinian state over its own territories, including East Jerusalem, and accepted a solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees that is in accordance with Resolution 194.

The consensus also prizes the international stand associated with the Security Council October 10, 2000, as well as the decisions of the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Committee affiliated to the UN, made on October 19 and 21, 2000. On the other hand, the Palestinian people find it strange that many countries that are concerned with the developments and problems of this region, should abstain from playing their requisite role in the international community, while playing their part in postponing execution of the international resolutions.

The message of freedom and balanced peace carried by the Intifadah, and while appreciating your solidarity with it, the DFLP calls upon you, parties, organizations and personalities, in the name of the great many martyrs and wounded that fell and fall everyday, to work with us to:

• Denounce the equation in the international media between the Palestinians and the Israelis, the victims and the aggressors, the occupied and the occupiers, in their calls for calm and a cease of hostilities.
• Enlarge the circle of popular and media discontent with regard to the continuation of the Israeli occupation, the confiscation of land and the building of more and more settlements.
• Put more pressure on the various concerned governments to see the implementation of all relevant resolutions taken by the Security Council with regard to the establishment of an International Investigation Committee, and sending an international peace force to the occupied Palestinian territories, to guarantee the safety of the Palestinian people.
• Work to expose the falsehood of the Israeli claims with regard to its peace efforts, at a time when it refuses to implement any of the international resolutions dealing with withdrawal from the Palestinian lands, and establishing a balanced peace.
• Work to get the national and continental parliaments and governments to take stands on par with reality, and to intensify the efforts seeking implementation of the relevant international resolutions, as is happening with regards to other hot spots in this world.
• Collect, through various forms and activities, whatever financial and other contributions possible in order to get them to the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the laid-off workers.

Finally, the Committee of Foreign Relations (of the DFLP) would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your solidarity with us, and hope that you will continue your efforts to support this Intifadah, the Intifadah of Freedom and Independence, as well as the security and stability of this region.