What is Next for the Palestinian Secular Movement?

A statement of direction by the CPA, Voice of Palestine, and other supporting groups

With the fighting over the mirage “Authority” in Gaza winding down, the Palestinian people are once again faced with the only two alternatives currently available to them, either supporting the non-secular movement Hamas or the new collaborationist Fateh-controlled government. (Neither choice will bring the Palestinian people the future they so desperately need and deserve, and have sacrificed so much for over the years.)

The Oslo process has proved to be a disaster for the Palestinian struggle. Instead of achieving their rights in five years from the signing, it made it impossible for them to even maintain control over the 22% of what is left of Palestine. It also produced the “Authority” that the Mahmoud Abbas-led Fateh and Hamas are fighting over, even while Palestine is still under occupation.

The godfathers of the Oslo process, represented by Mahmoud Abbas, rather than admitting this pet project is a miserable failure and resigning a long time ago, insist on continuing to support the Oslo process. A process that Israel has been violating daily, even before the ink was dry on its signatories. Abbas has also been embracing the U.S.-Israeli collaborators, and by so doing, he is destroying and discrediting the Palestinian secular movement that had been led by Fateh over the past 42 years.

The U.S. and Israel are publicly supporting Abbas and his new government for that very reason, to destroy the secular movement for years to come and set back the Palestinian struggle for decades.

The U.S. and Israel admit that what they are doing to Abbas is giving him a “bear hug”, a “bear embrace” and a “kiss of death”. They find it easier to sell their “war on terror” to the American public if the fight is against “Islamic fundamentalists” and not against democratic secular forces (which doesn’t mean they won’t try anyway.)

In an article in the Canadian Zionist paper the “Jewish Independent”, reporting on a recent meeting sponsored by the Canada-Israel committee, Prof. Hillel Frisch clearly exposed the U.S.-Israeli agenda:

“Frisch believes that Israel has two main objectives on its road towards peace. In the short term, he said, Israel seeks to divide and conquer its enemies by increasing the differences between Gaza (Hamas) and the West Bank (Fatah).

“In the long term … he believes Israel hopes to ‘bring an end to the Palestinian state option … draw in the Jordanian and Egyptian states and restore, more or less, the political order that prevailed before 1967.’” http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/June07/archives07June22-03.html

We say enough is enough.

We call on Palestinian leaders, intellectuals and organizations to reclaim the proud history of the democratic, secular and independent Palestinian national movement and to:

  • Call on our Palestinian masses under occupation to renounce the Oslo agreements and its manifestations resulting in the division of the Palestinian territories into Gaza and the West Bank, into areas A, B and C, and the stillborn “PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY”; and to start re-building the popular committees to confront Israeli occupation on the same principles as during the first intifada.
  • Call on all other Palestinian secular organizations to admit their mistake in supporting the Oslo process, and to start mobilization for the convening of the Palestine National Council (PNC), with the understanding that the original charter is the basis for any convening. Any changes to it must take place in a democratic atmosphere and not under the dictates of the Israeli gun and U.S. tutelage.
  • Call on Mahmoud Abbas to resign immediately, as he no longer has the confidence of the Palestinian people, and further, call on the PNC to convene an independent Palestinian tribunal outside the occupied Palestinian territories to decide his political future.
  • Call on Farouq al-Kadoumi as a leader for Fateh to take steps to dismiss all senior officials who are hurting the Palestinian struggle and destroying Fateh, and to implement the recommendation of Marwan Bargouthi, West Bank MP and Fateh leader, issued from his Israeli jail cell, to “dismiss all the leaders of the security services and appoint new leaders capable of reforming and developing the security institutions, relying on professionalism.”

We call on individuals and organizations to support this statement by sending their endorsements to [email protected] and we will update our website regularly with further endorsers.

In Solidarity,
Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver, Canada https://cpavancouver.org/
Voice of Palestine, Vancouver http://www.voiceofpalestine.ca/

Endorsed by the following groups:

    Canada Palestine Association, Halifax, Canada
  1. International Solidarity Movement-Vancouver
  2. Jews Against Zionism, London UK http://www.freewebs.com/jewsagainstzionism/
  3. One Democratic State Association – Gaza Chapter
  4. Siraat, Vancouver
  5. The National Campaign for the Boycott of Apartheid Israel – Gaza
  6. The Palestinian Association of Hamilton, Canada
  7. The Victoria Central America Support Committee, Canada
  8. Vancouver Peace Committee

Endorsed by the following individuals (organizations listed for identification purposes only):

  1. Afaf Shasha – Ankara, Turkey
  2. Anne-Marie Brun, Kelowna, Canada
  3. Chris Leadbeater, Ashford, Kent, UK
  4. Dalia Levy, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
  5. Dorinda Moreno, elders of 4 colors 4 directions, USA West Coast
  6. Dr Bucker Dangor, Emeritus Reader in Physics, Imperial College, London, UK
  7. Dr. Abdullah Shaban, Vancouver
  8. Dr. Ghada Karmi, UK
  9. Elizabeth Block, Toronto
  10. Erin Wade, Seattle, WA
  11. Joel Kovel, USA
  12. Lawrence Boxall, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
  13. Lawrence Davidson, Professor of History, West Chester University Pa, USA
  14. Les Levidow, Jews Against Zionism (JAZ), London UK
  15. Magid Shihade, Palestinian, Galilee, University of California, Davis, USA
  16. Martha Roth, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
  17. Martin Roth, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
  18. Meria Heller, Producer/Host of The Meria Show www.Meria.net, New York
  19. Mohammed Abu Assi, Montreal, Canada
  20. Mona Baker, Professor of Translation Studies, Manchester, UK http://www.monabaker.com/tsresources/
  21. Noah Lepawsky, ISM-Vancouver
  22. Roland Rance, Jews Against Zionism, London
  23. Ron Benner, Independent Visual Artist, London, On.
  24. Sami Joseph, UK
  25. Smadar Carmon, Toronto
  26. Tony and Stephanie Ali, Vancouver