By Marwan Barghouti
Wednesday, January 16, 2002; Page A19

AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR JERUSALEM
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Brilliant Op Ed on Palestine in Washington Post

The following op ed, written by Marwan Barghouti, appeared in today's
Washington Post. The piece is brilliant, well-crafted and covers all the main
issues of the Palestinian struggle and the simple fact that there can be no
peace without an end to Israel's military occupation. It is a must read for
those who want to educate others on the issue of Palestine -- whether on a
formal panel or around the water fountain at work.

RAMALLAH -- Israel's assassination of Fatah activist Raed Karmi on Monday was
predictable. Despite Israel's having killed more than 18 Palestinians since
President Yasser Arafat's call for a cease-fire on Dec. 18, there have been no
Israeli civilian casualties during that time. That, according to world
governments and the international press,
constituted a "lull in the violence." But a lull in the violence is exactly
what Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cannot afford. He was elected in a
time of crisis and knows that his rule is sustainable only in a time of crisis.
For his own political survival, he will do whatever
it takes, and look for any excuse, to stoke the flames of unrest and avoid a
return to peace negotiations.

Hence, more than 600 Palestinians, already refugees, were recently made
refugees yet again as Sharon's bulldozers razed their homes in Gaza. A day
later Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem were destroyed. And then,
just to ensure that Palestinians are sufficiently provoked and the cycle of
violence starts again, Israel assassinates Karmi.

Sharon justifies such barbaric and illegal measures in the name of "security."
But as someone often considered a candidate for Israeli assassination myself, I
can assure the Israeli people that neither my assassination nor any of the
other 82 assassinations during the past 15 months will bring them any closer to
the security they seek and deserve.

The only way for Israelis to have security is, quite simply, to end the
35-year-old Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. Israelis must abandon
the myth that it is possible to have peace and occupation at the same time,
that peaceful coexistence is possible between slave and master. The lack of
Israeli security is born of the lack of Palestinian
freedom. Israel will have security only after the end of occupation, not before.

Once Israel and the rest of the world understand this fundamental truth, the
way forward becomes clear: End the occupation, allow the Palestinians to live
in freedom and let the independent and equal neighbors of Israel and Palestine
negotiate a peaceful future with close economic and cultural ties.

Let us not forget, we Palestinians have recognized Israel on 78 percent of
historic Palestine. It is Israel that refuses to acknowledge Palestine's right
to exist on the remaining 22 percent of land occupied in 1967. And yet it is
the Palestinians who are accused of not compromising and of missing
opportunities. Frankly, we are tired of
always taking the blame for Israeli intransigence when all we are seeking is
the implementation of international law.

And we have no faith in the United States, the provider of billions of dollars
in annual aid to fund Israel's expansion of illegal colonies, the "fighter of
terrorism" that supplies Israel with the F-16s and helicopter gunships used
against a defenseless civilian population, the
"defender of freedom and the oppressed" that coddles Sharon even as he faces
war crimes charges for his responsibility in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian
refugees. The role of the world's only superpower has been reduced to that of a
mere spectator with nothing to offer other than a tired refrain of "Stop the
violence" while doing nothing to address the
root causes of that violence: denial of Palestinian freedom.

Watch as the hapless Gen. Anthony Zinni focuses his efforts on "violence" while
Jewish settlers violate international law and even American policy by moving
into a new illegal colony in occupied East Jerusalem. We Palestinians are not
impressed.

Over the past 15 months, Israel has killed more than 900 Palestinian civilians,
25 percent of them under the age of 18. And still the United States has the
audacity to veto a U.N. plan for an international protection force to stop the
onslaught.

So we will protect ourselves. If Israel reserves the right to bomb us with
F-16s and helicopter gunships, it should not be surprised when Palestinians
seek defensive weapons to bring those aircraft down. And while I, and the Fatah
movement to which I belong, strongly oppose attacks and the targeting of
civilians inside Israel, our future neighbor, I reserve the right to protect
myself, to resist the Israeli occupation of my country and to fight for my
freedom. If Palestinians are expected to negotiate under occupation, then
Israel must be expected to negotiate as we resist that occupation.

I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy
from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person
has advocated -- the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere
else.

This principle may well lead to my assassination. So let my position be clear
in order that my death not be lightly dismissed by the world as just one more
statistic in Israel's "war on terrorism." For six years I languished as a
political prisoner in an Israeli jail, where I was
tortured, where I hung blindfolded as an Israeli beat my genitals with a stick.
But since 1994, when I believed Israel was serious about ending its occupation,
I have been a tireless advocate of a peace based on fairness and equality. I
led delegations of Palestinians in meetings with Israeli parliamentarians to
promote mutual understanding and
cooperation. I still seek peaceful coexistence between the equal and
independent countries of Israel and Palestine based on full withdrawal from
Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and a just resolution to the plight of
Palestinian refugees pursuant to U.N. resolutions. I do not seek to destroy
Israel but only to end its occupation of my country.

The writer is general secretary of Fatah on the West Bank and was elected to
the Palestinian Legislative Council.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company