Sunday, April 6, 2008
A day late and a dollar short, but there are a lot of interesting admissions in Avi Issacharoff's interview with Zakariya Zubeidi, former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Jenin: 'Marching toward total ruin' -- including that Arafat gave all the orders (remember when he was a wonderful partner for peace?), that the intifada was a completely counterproductive failure (no kidding), that there really is no Palestinian identity beyond what fighting group you belong to, and that they really have built nothing for themselves all these years.
...So why have you stopped?
"In part because of the conflict between Fatah and Hamas. Look, it's perfectly clear to me that we won't be able to defeat Israel. My aim was for us, by means of the 'resistance' [code for terror attacks], to get a message out to the world. Back in Abu Amar's day [the nom de guerre of Yasser Arafat], we had a plan, there was a strategy, and we would carry his orders."
In effect, are you saying what Amos Gilad and intelligence always said, that Arafat planned everything?
"Right. Everything that was done in the intifada was done according to Arafat's instructions, but he didn't need to tell us the things explicitly. We understood his message."
And today there is no leadership?
"Today I can say explicitly: We failed entirely in the intifada. We haven't seen any benefit or positive result from it. We achieved nothing. It's a crushing failure. We failed at the political level - we didn't succeed in translating the military actions into political achievements. The current leadership does not want armed actions, and since the death of Abu Amar, there's no one who is capable of using our actions to bring about such achievements. When Abu Amar died, the armed intifada died with him."
What happened? Why did it die?
"Why? Because our politicians are whores. Our leadership is garbage. Look at Ruhi Fatouh, who was president of the PA for 60 days, as Yasser Arafat's replacement. He smuggled mobile phones. Do you understand? We have been defeated. The political splits and schisms have destroyed us not only politically - they have destroyed our national identity. Today there is no Palestinian identity. Go up to anyone in the street and ask him, 'Who are you?' He'll answer you, 'I'm a Fatah activist,' 'I'm a Hamas activist,' or an activist of some other organization, but he won't say to you, 'I am a Palestinian.' Every organization flies its own flag, but no one is raising the flag of Palestine."
Are you, who used to be a symbol of the intifada, saying, "We have been defeated, we have failed, the intifada is dead?"
"Even Gamal Abdel Nasser admitted his defeat, so why not me?...
The whole thing is worth reading. [h/t: Adam Holland]
