May 15 – Nakbah Day:
Let Us Turn the Memorial Day into a Day of Victory!


This leaflet was distributed in Hebrew and Arabic on Nakbah Day (“Disaster Day”), 15 May 2001.
Published here in solidarity with those struggling against Zionism in Israel/Occupied Palestine.
Transcribed by Daniel Rubinstein.
Marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for REDS – Die Roten.


Today we remember with pain and rage the victims of the policy of terrorism and ethnic cleansing which heralded the creation of the Zionist state: the expulsion of 900,000 Palestinians, which since then have become 3,500,000 refugees, the massive robbery of lands and buildings, the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages and cities. Today Nakbah Day (“Disaster Day”) is not only a Memorial Day, but also part of the popular uprising against occupation, land confiscation, daily humiliation, closure, starvation, bombing of civilian houses, and the assassination of political activists.

The heroic liberation struggle of the Palestinian masses on both sides of the Green Line which began in September 2000 put an end to the Oslo Agreements, whose aim was to impose on the Palestinian people the renunciation of its right to self-determination in its own homeland – above all, the renunciation of the right of return for the refugees. Those who claim to represent the Palestinians but try to revive those agreements act in fact as servants of imperialism against the aspirations of the masses for national and social liberation.

The Sharon-Peres government of war criminals, which employs tanks, helicopters, car bombings, and rockets against the Palestinian freedom fighters, says: stop the struggle and we will renew the negotiations. We say: experience has taught us that only the victory of the struggle protects the rights of the oppressed. The Israeli army and settlers out of the occupied territories! For the return of the stolen lands! For the right of return of all the Palestinian refugees!

The Zionists say: stop the struggle and you will get a statelet extending over 20% of the territory of historic Palestine, controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and divided by settlements and side-roads. We say: The Palestinian people are the same on both sides of the Green Line, and there is no viable solution based on its partition. For the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people in the whole territory of historic Palestine!

The Zionists say: We are ready to accept the return of a limited number of refugees in order to retain a compact area of Jewish majority. We promise to our brothers the refugees that we will continue our struggle for the full implementation of the right of return of all the Palestinian refugees!

The Zionists say: We have sophisticated weapons and the support of American imperialism, and we are ready to commit any sort of war crimes: starvation of civilian population, refusal of medical treatment, destruction of houses, uprooting of trees, ethnic cleansing, murder. The leaders of the Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan are against the Intifada. You are isolated and weak, and therefore you must surrender. We say: The Intifada is part of the international struggle against global capitalism. In these days the masses area against taking to the streets in Quebec, Moscow, London, Sidney and Buenos Aires against unemployment, privatization, the attack on the workers’ rights and on the health and educational systems, against the starvation of a third of humanity, and against the criminal bombings of Iraq and Serbia.

We will achieve victory against the world capitalist system, whose main prop in the Middle East is the state of Israel, together with the masses, the overwhelming majority of humanity; with the workers of the Arab states; with the Turkish people, whose leaders are being tortured in F-type prisons; with the Greek workers, who on April 26 carried out a general strike; with the masses of Iran who suffer under the regime of the Ayatollahs. The victory of the Intifada requires the recruitment of the masses all over the Middle East, including the Jewish and Kurdish workers and peasants, against imperialism, Zionism and their local supporters among the ruling classes.

 

Militants for the Fourth International

FI symbol

 


Last updated on 8.8.2001