Saturday, February 19, 2011

Comrade Jarrar : Egyptian Revolution shows Power of the Arab People to defeat tyranny


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In an interview with Al-Quds TV on February 13, 2011, Comrade Jarrar said that the message of the Egyptian revolution is that Arab people can successfully rise up against tyranny, subjugation, plunder of the people's wealth, and the absence of social justice and democracy.


She noted that the PFLP issued the first statement by a Palestinian faction hailing the Egyptian revolution as well as the Tunisian revolution, and participated in marches in solidarity with those revolutions. She commented on the wide-scale euphoria in Palestine after the fall of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, saying that the Egyptian regime's signing of the Camp David agreement has been a dagger in the flank of Palestine and has had long-lasting negative effects. She said that Camp David marked a period of collapse of Arab power, sending Palestinians into the path of direct negotiations and the signing of the Oslo accords and subsequent agreements.

Comrade Jarrar said that if the new Egyptian government is supportive of the Palestinian people and their struggle to achieve their national goals, unlike the Mubarak regime, which served as a source of pressure and U.S./Israeli demands upon Palestinians, it would be real progress for Palestinians and send a message to the U.S. administration that clearly rejects dependency and domination.

Comrade Jarrar said that at the various celebrations of the victory of the Egyptian revolution, Palestinians also chanted to end the occupation and to end the division. During the marches, she said, people chanted "The people want to end the division; the people want to end the occupation; the people say no to the Americans." This shows clearly that the Palestinian people are thirsty for freedom, to end the division, and sends a clear message to the U.S. and Israel that the Palestinian people will continue struggle and resistance to end occupation, said Comrade Jarrar.

She said that she hoped the Egyptian revolution would restore Egypt's role toward the national interests of the Arab people and of Palestine, in support of Palestinian national rights, an end to occupation and dependency. She said there is a real chance to end the Camp David agreement, because there is public pressure to do so, noting that the Egyptian people have always refused normalization with the occupation despite the agreement.

Comrade Jarrar reiterated the Front's position rejecting negotiations with Israel since the beginning of the Oslo process and Madrid before that until the present day; she expressed the hope that with the Arab revolutions, there will be a real opportunity to finally put an end to reliance on these futile negotiations and instead formulate a unified Palestinian strategy based on fully ending the occupation, applying all international resolutions including ensuring the right of return, through Arab and international support based on resistance on the ground in all forms against the occupation.

She called upon all Palestinian forces to seize the moment to end the division to focus all of our energies on combatting the occupation and achieving our national rights, particularly the inalienable right of return of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes from which they were driven.

Comrade Jarrar said it was too early to pronounce the Palestinian Authority finally dead and the path of Oslo completely abandoned, but said that the fall of the Mubarak regime has great positive potential that can be strengthened greatly by ending the transitional phase in Egypt with a final exit from the policies of dependency and subordination.

She said that the U.S. was receiving one blow after another of popular rejection of domination and dependency, from the steadfast resistance in Lebanon, to the Palestinian people's refusal to co-exist with occupation and determination to struggle and resist, and now the loss of the so-called "moderate" Arab regimes who relied on the permanent power of the U.S. administration and its alliance with the Israeli occupation.

She emphasized the need to protect Palestinian national rights by strengthening the institutions of the Palestinian people, especially the Palestine liberation organization. She said that Palestinian National Council elections - involving all Palestinian forces including Hamas and Islamic Jihad - in Palestine and in the diaspora and a comprehensive policy review and strategy formulation were necessary. She noted her concern that Palestinian parties are seeking only to strengthen their factional positions rather than learning from Egypt, noting that the Palestinian people were eager to end division, restore unity, end the occupation, and live in freedom, democracy, and with social justice, and to confront poverty and all forms of social and economic injustice.

When asked if the Egyptian revolution would inspire a revolution against the PA in the West Bank, Comrade Jarrar said that a popular revolution would come first against the occupation, and any victorious popular revolution against occupation would sweep aside the Oslo accords, its fruits, and all who have relied upon them. Furthermore, she said that the Oslo approach and the devastating security coordination with the occupation have brought us to destruction. "We are not a state; we must remember that we are a liberation movement, that we live under occupation, and that we must activate all tools of struggle and resistance against occupation. Naturally, this will thwart all attempts to normalize relations or concede our national rights," she said.

In response to a question as to the reasons for the resignation of Saeb Erekat from the Negotiations Affairs Department, Comrade Jarrar said that the Front had announced its position on the leaked documents published by Al-Jazeera, calling for a full investigation into the substance of what was released in the documents, particularly into negotiators' willingness to concede national rights, rather than seeking to attack the media for reporting important information

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