Negotiations with Israel only "the fighter's rest"
[December 2013]
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Even at the height of the peace negotiations with Israel, in December 2013,
Fatah
official Tawfiq Tirawi said that Palestinians were not committed to
non-violence. Rather, he said that negotiations are just one option, and
do not preclude use of the "rifle," which the Palestinians have never
abandoned.
Last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that Tirawi had essentially proclaimed the end of the peace process, saying that "the two-state solution does not exist." He
further called for Israel's destruction, asserting that "Palestine is
Gaza... the West Bank... and Haifa, Jaffa, Acre," meaning all of Israel
is "Palestine."
In
his earlier statement, Tirawi made it clear that violence, killing and
Martyrdom are the keys to Palestinian future success. "Not a centimeter
of Jerusalem will be liberated unless every grain of Palestinian soil is
soaked in the blood of its brave people," Tirawi stated at an event
marking World Teachers' Day in December 2013. "Negotiations will not
bring Jerusalem back to us," he continued, explaining that Palestinians
before "have conducted negotiations, while not laying down the rifle":
"I
say, from a position of responsibility, not a centimeter of Jerusalem
will be liberated unless every grain of Palestinian soil is soaked in
the blood of its brave people. For Jerusalem doesn't need negotiations,
because negotiations will not bring Jerusalem back to us. What will
bring back Jerusalem are the struggle and the resolve... We have
conducted negotiations, while not laying down the rifle. It [the rifle]
may be resting but we will not neglect our principles. We will rest the
fighter's rest, but each period has its method of struggle."
[Official PA TV Live, Dec. 19, 2013]
PMW has documented the PA and Fatah's principle of alternating violence with diplomacy as
a means to achieve political results. Tirawi's statement that
Palestinians "will rest the fighter's rest, but each period has its
method of struggle," reflects this policy.
The official PA daily similarly reported that Tirawi a few months ago stated that
"the
[Fatah] movement has not, and will not, lay down its weapons until the
national goals of the Palestinians are achieved... [Fatah] has used a
variety of means, including military struggle, popular struggle,
diplomatic activity at the UN and negotiations, to achieve these
goals."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 2, 2014]
In August 2013, right after the negotiations with Israel began, Tirawi likewise stated on Lebanese TV that armed struggle is as valid an option as negotiations:
"There
are many options we could turn to, beginning with resistance by
political confrontation, [resistance] by stones, and ending with armed
struggle and everything in between." [Al-Mayadeen TV (Lebanon), Aug. 13,
2013]
He
added that "the principle of armed struggle should not be abandoned,"
and addressed those who have criticized Fatah for doing so:
"I would also like to say to all who say that the Fatah Movement has cast away the rifle: This is not true."
Then,
at the outset of the peace negotiations, Tirawi also reiterated the
principle of alternating between the use of violence and diplomacy:
"[At]
the sixth Fatah Conference [August 2009] the Fatah Movement approved
all the resistance options, including the armed struggle. Nonetheless,
sometimes there are circumstances, factors and situations when the time
is perhaps not right for this type of struggle. Maybe in other months a
different type of struggle will be suitable."
The following are longer excerpts of Tirawi and Sahwil's statements:
Official
PA TV Live broadcast the main event marking World Teachers' Day in
Bethlehem. Several PA officials attended the event: PA Minister of
Education Ali Zaidan (Abu Zuhri), Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq
Tirawi, Advisor to PA Chairman Abbas on NGOs and Member of Fatah Central
Committee Sultan Abu Al-Einein, District Governor of Bethlehem Abd
Al-Fattah Hamayel and Director of the Bethlehem Education Administration
Nisreen Yasser Amr.
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi:
"I say, from a position of responsibility, not a centimeter of
Jerusalem will be liberated unless every grain of Palestinian soil is
soaked in the blood of its brave people. For Jerusalem doesn't need
negotiations, because negotiations will not bring Jerusalem back to us.
What will bring back Jerusalem are the struggle and the resolve... We
have conducted negotiations, while not laying down the rifle. It [the
rifle] may be resting but we will not neglect our principles. We will
rest the fighter's rest, but each period has its method of struggle.
From fighting to Intifada, to popular resistance, to negotiations - but
we will not abandon [our principles] - not in negotiations and not in
any other way. I say, from a position of responsibility, the
negotiations resulted in nothing except for the [release of the]
prisoners."
[Official PA TV Live, Dec. 19, 2013]
Lebanese Al-Mayadeen TV host:
"Tawfiq Al-Tirawi, the truth is, we're talking today about the July
Victory (i.e., the Second Lebanon War). You said that you're opposed to
the current negotiations. What other option do the Palestinian people or
Palestinian leaders have apart from negotiating? Do they have other
options?"
Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Al-Tirawi:
"Of course. Look, brother, despite all the circumstances, someone who
wants to lead a nation under occupation must always create options, and
make all the existing calculations. There are many options we
could turn to, beginning with resistance by political confrontation,
[resistance] by stones, and ending with armed struggle and everything in
between. I wish to say that given the current balance of power and the current factors, the
principle of armed struggle should not be abandoned, nor should the
principle of resistance [be abandoned]. I would also like to say to all
who say that the Fatah Movement has cast away the rifle: This is not
true.
In the political guidelines [determined] in the sixth Fatah Conference [August 2009] held in Bethlehem, the
Fatah Movement approved all the resistance options, including the armed
struggle. Nonetheless, sometimes there are circumstances, factors and
situations when the time is perhaps not right for this type of struggle.
Maybe in other months a different type of struggle will be suitable.
The important thing is for the struggle to remain, and for us to be
engaged in constant activity against this occupation, until it ends...
The other point I would like to say is that the Israelis say that Beit
El and Ma'ale Adumim are Israeli areas, but we also haven't forgotten
that Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Nazareth are Palestinian and will remain
Palestinian forever... The last war in 2008 (i.e., Israel's Operation
Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip from December 2008-January 2009 with the aim
of stopping Hamas' launching of rockets into Israel.) and the bombing
of Tel Aviv (i.e., reference to Hamas and Islamic Jihad's rockets
hitting near Tel Aviv in 2012), I salute the Islamic Jihad,
because the Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa [Martyrs'] Brigades and all
the Palestinian resistance brigades, their role was more central than the Hamas Movement's role...
[Hamas
leader] Khaled Mashaal said in an official statement: 'We authorize
Mahmud Abbas to negotiate for a period of one year,' while I, your humble servant sitting before you, named Tawfiq Tirawi, oppose negotiations and I am from the Fatah Movement and am proud to be from the Fatah Movement. Don't come and say 'They [Fatah] sold the [Palestinian] cause and gave it away, etc.' I'm telling you, there
is not a single Palestinian who could sell or barter one grain of
Palestine's soil, all of historic Palestine. We are under occupation and
we will resist.
By resisting, the resistance forces were victorious in Lebanon and in several countries, and we say here: We
will win, Allah willing, with different forms of resistance - popular
resistance, resisting the occupation through political confrontation,
resisting it on the international level, as well as armed resistance at
any time. We can act in this positive manner for our cause and for our
land, Allah willing." (emphasis added.)
[Al-Mayadeen TV (Lebanon), Aug. 13, 2013]
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