On October 31, 2018, following the meeting of the PLO's Palestinian Central Council, at which it was decided to end the agreements with Israel, Samir Al-Barghouti, a Palestinian columnist for the Qatari daily Al-Watan, wrote that the way to attain freedom is through armed struggle against Israel. In the column, headed "Open the Weapons Depos," he criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud 'Abbas and his associates for abandoning the armed struggle and therefore failing to realize the Palestinian dream. He called on Fatah to take up arms, and on Hamas to expand its struggle against Israel to the West Bank and the Palestinian diaspora.
The following are excerpts from his column:[1]
Samir Al-Barghouti (image: Al-Watan, Qatar)
"Open the weapons depos before [Israeli] embassies [start] appearing in the Arab countries, and before a public relations campaign is launched for accepting Israel as a member of the Arab League. [Open them] in light of the revolutionary decisions taken by the Palestinian Central Council, headed by the fighter Abu Mazen [Mahmoud 'Abbas], to revoke the PLO's and PA's commitment to all the agreements with the occupation regime (Israel), and first and foremost [the decisions] to suspend the recognition of the state of Israel until it recognizes the state of Palestine on the June 4, 1967 borders , with East Jerusalem as its capital... to suspend the security coordination, in all its forms, and to sever the economic [relations with Israel]... These decisions were revolutionary and vital...
"Hamas, which explained its absence [from the Central Council meeting] by citing the ongoing siege [on Gaza], must take these decisions seriously and announce a new phase in the struggle, [to be carried out] not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank and the diaspora.
"Fatah must open up its weapons depos and start implementing the decisions [it took], in order to thwart the Deal of the Century. The PLO must launch a diplomatic campaign, first of all in the national [Arab] capitals and then in Moscow and China. They must [also] visit the Palestinians in the diaspora and form a young leadership to direct the [new] phase.
"I think Abu Mazen and his associates [should] resign, for they did their jobs and failed to realize the Palestinian dream... You have decided to oppose the occupier in [all] legitimate ways, and weapons are a legitimate [way], gentlemen. The oppressive occupation murders our children and young people every day, and what encourages it to do so is [your] withdrawal from the armed struggle. This needs to be said. Resistance is the path of those seeking freedom; there is no freedom without resistance."
[1] Al-Watan (Qatar), October 31, 2018.
