SIXTY seven years after the 1948 Naqba that saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians turned into refugees with the establishment of the state of Israel on top of their homes, and 48 years after the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian masses are more determined than ever to put an end to the occupation of Palestine.
There have been two heroic Intifadas, mass revolts of the young people, during that time and now even the PLO leadership around President Abbas recognise that there will be a third – because Israel and the USA behind it are determined not to concede a two-state solution, the minimum that the Palestinians were willing to accept as compensation for the Naqba and the 1967 Six Day War.
Saeb Erekat, who helped negotiate the Oslo agreements, has made public his shock that President Obama, in his speech to the UN General Assembly, did not mention Palestine once! In fact, the US was one of the eight states that voted against the raising of the Palestinian flag over the UN.
In his speech to the UN, President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian Authority cannot abide any longer by the Oslo agreements with Israel due to the Tel Aviv regime’s continued illegal settlement activities and its cruel occupation.
Abbas said on Wednesday: ‘We declare that as long as Israel refuses to commit to the agreements signed with us … they leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements, while Israel continuously violates them …
‘We therefore declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these signed agreements with Israel and that Israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power, because the status quo cannot continue,’ he added.
The Oslo Accords marked the start of the Oslo process aimed at resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and fulfilling the right of the Palestinians to self-determination. Meanwhile, the Zionist state, its soldiery, its police and its army of settlers are raining blows down on the Palestinian people every day, killing and burning men, women and children.
During his visit to the United States, Abbas wrote that few recent events resonated with the world like the arson attack on the Dawabsheh family home. He wrote: ‘A group of Israeli terrorist settlers smashed the windows of the Dawabsheh home and threw Molotov cocktails inside, immediately burning to death an 18-month-old baby, Ali.
‘Both of Ali’s parents have since perished due to third degree burns. More than a month later, their now-orphaned four-year-old son remains in the hospital … I recall the high hopes I felt in 1993 when the Oslo Accords were signed and a five-year deadline set to achieve an end to the occupation and peace and security between the two states, the state of Palestine and Israel.
‘That was 22 years ago. Since then, Israel has failed to negotiate in good faith while entrenching its illegal occupation. Israel is not dedicated to the international community’s values of freedom, justice and peace – let alone the two-state solution and the longstanding parameters underpinning it.
‘It has trampled the Oslo Accords and with it the peace process.’ The plain truth is that the US ruling class and the government of the Zionist butchers need each other, and will never concede the independent Palestinian state. This is why the working people of the world must impose a worldwide boycott of Israel to bring it to its knees.
Workers must also give their full support to the brave Syrian people and their struggle to defeat the US and UK attempt to smash up their secular state, that has always been a bone in the throat of the Zionist entity. The defeat of the imperialists in Syria must be the signal to drive them out of the Middle East along with their Saudi and Gulf allies.
It is this struggle of the working class of the world allied to the oppressed nations that will create the conditions for the victory of the Palestinian revolution and the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, without settlements and with all refugees having the right to return. As a secular state it will be home to Muslims, Christians and Jews.
Victory to Syria! Drive the imperialists out of the Middle East! Forward to Palestine!
