On the road to a secular, democratic Palestine for all its inhabitants

Ghazi AL Sorani
Gaza, Occupied Palestine


On the road to a secular, democratic Palestine for all its inhabitants

A paper presented to the international social forum for the Solidarity with the Palestinian people – Brazil – 29 Nov. 2012



Comrades and friends in the World Social Forum

From the occupied Palestine … from the heart of the Zionist aggression, blockade and occupation of our homeland, I extend the greeting and respect to the friends’ government and people of Brazil for hosting the World Social Forum under the banner Free Palestine in solidarity with our Arab Palestinian people struggle and its right in freedom, return and self-determination. I also express appreciation and thanks to you comrades and friends participating in the international forum, the World Social Forum in solidarity with our Palestinian people in an attempt to materialize your negating convictions and principles to the Zionist imperialist alliance’ plans in our country.

Dear Friends and comrades:

Since the inception of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century, then the establishment of “Israel state” in 15 May, 1948, the biblical religious myths were used for the political goals which serve the big lie of the Jewish nation. It is well known historically the religious belief has never been personally essential for the Zionist movement leaders and theoreticians. Some of them were wholly rejecting the Jewish religion. In addition, some Jewish thinkers were rejectionists to the Jewish Uma or nation argument. A prominent thinker of them is “Shlomo Sand”, the temporary history professor in Tal Aviv University, who say in the Arab edition introduction of his book “The Invention of the Jewish People”:

“Although the term “people” is loose and ambiguous, I don’t believe that there was, at any time, a homogeneous Jewish people, exactly like nor were there a homogeneous Muslim people. There were (and there still are) Jews and Muslims in the history, their history is rich, varied and interesting. Judaism is similar to Christianity and Islam, was always an important religious civilization, but not a popular national culture.”


In this concern, Shlomo affirms that the historical narrative saying that the “Jewish people” is existed since the revelation of Torah in Sinai, the Jewish males and females, who are from the Jewish origin, are the children of that people, which “went out” from Egypt, occupied the “land of Israel” and settled in it because it was so called “promised land” by the God, then established the two kingdoms of David and Solomon, and finally this people was expelled for about two thousand years in diaspora after the second temple destruction, is utterly untrusted narrative.

In the frame of this situation, the Jewish progressive author, Shlomo Sand, views the “Jewish people” expulsion from its homeland practically has never taken place. He continues saying, the expulsion and vagrancy narrative was necessary for building a long term memory in which an exiled, imagined people of race is put as a direct continuation of the old biblical people. He says:

I started a search for books discuss the Jews expulsion from the country and for a reason or an underling event in the Jewish history, almost as the Holocaust, but I was surprised when I realized that there were no books or literature document such an event. The reason, simply, lies in the fact that no one expelled the people of the land. The Romans never expelled peoples after occupying them. They weren’t able to do that even if they wanted since there weren’t trains or trucks to depart them or exiling peoples or whole inhabitant groups.

It is clear that the religious and biblical myths historically used – and still used – for political aims on the base the Zionism is the national side of Judaism and Judaism is the religious side of Zionism. Thus, “Israel” is a political realization and practical materialization of the two phenomena, in the framework of the organic relationship between the Zionist movement on one hand and the interests of the capitalist imperialist system, on the other. Therefore, this relationship confirms that “Israel” based on its role and function, was only established to serve the needs of the capital expansion.

In this context, I point out that “Israeli state identity” which is connected with the “people” concept or “Jewish Uma” will continue to be forged, confused and not able to prove its existence in a scientific, objective or historical way as part of the Arab area fabric. Therefore, this identity couldn’t be consecrated without brutal coercive force supported by the imperialist forces. Israel will continue to be an imperialist and extracting entity rejected and strange in the Arab area, on the on hand, and a Zionist movement incapable to talk about Jewish “Uma” objectively or scientifically, exactly like the talk about Islamic, Christian or Buddhist Uma, on the other hand. The meaning is that this “state” is no more than a military community involves different races such as Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, European, Asian, Arabian and African. Each of these races has its own different culture and heritage. They hunt the chance which the world imperialism made available for them to come to Palestine and colonize it under the pretext “the return to the promised land” as an outlet from their crises or an introduction to realize their class interests. Without the encouragement and support of the European capitalism, and the British one in specific, the Zionist movement wouldn’t be able to move one step forward. This proves that the economic and military progress the Israeli enemy state achieved wouldn’t have been possible without the unconditioned support up to this movement by the bourgeoisie imperialist forces in Europe and the United State of America.

At this point, it should be emphasized that weakness and backwardness conditions in the Arab World, because of the semi feudal and bourgeoisie reactionary Arab forces’ domination over the National movement leadership since early 20th century (1920-1950), helped the generating favorable circumstances to the colonialism s success in supporting and developing the Zionist movement and the establishment of its settlements and its political, military and economic institutions. This could be seen as a preparation to extort Palestine and declare the establishment of “Israel state” on 15th May, 1948, the state which United Nations conditioned its recognition of it by the admittance and pledge of Ben Gorion’s government and his foreign minister, Moshe shertok, to apply both the 181 partition resolution issued on 29th November 1947 and the 194 right of return resolution issued on 11th December 1949. But the Zionist State immediately after obtaining the United Nations recognition, retreated its pledges, exactly like its afterward retreat from all the International legitimacy resolutions and agreements from 1948 to present, including its refusal to apply the defamed Oslo Accord and the later agreements especially what is called “Road Map”, despite the injustice of all these resolutions and agreements to the Palestinian legitimate rights.

Friends and Comrades:

In the light of what stated above, we can agree on the fact that the Zionist refusal of the International legitimate resolutions, would never be possible, on the one hand, without the direct and frank support of the British mandate colonization (1922-1948), and later the American imperialism, and without the continuation of the surrender, subordination and backwardness Arab state accomplice with the imperialist system on the other. This means that we have to do the following:
1. Awakening the Arab liberation movement force,
2. Lifting this force from its crises towards restoring its political, strife, democratic struggle for providing all steadfastness and resistance bases in Palestine,
3. Overcoming the reactionary, subordinate and despotic regimes,
4. And, liquidating bureaucratic, bourgeoisie/comprador alliance.
All these four points will lead to transfer the leadership reins to “the more radical, social “classes” and slices which are alone able, based on a revolutionary party, to provide the economic and military elements and capabilities needed to defeat Israel and establishing democratic Palestine for all its residence.

However, despite all retreats in our people’s national, liberation and democratic invariables and goals, the question of land and the right of return constitute the essence of the Palestine question. At the same time, this question represents the extensive materialization of the Palestinian people’s tragedy. It is a political, human, and moral materialization and the core of the Palestinian struggle in the Arab/Zionist conflict. In this sense, the stance from the right of return has become a scale against which the rightness and seriousness of any proposed project for a political solution are measured. Also against this scale the political forces and individual’s stances’ credibility are measured as well.

Therefore, the urgent task in front of the Palestine national democratic movement is to reconsider the strategic, liberation, democratic and territorial/national vision in its two political and social dimensions. This task needs to revive and renew the awareness of the Zionist state nature and its function and role as an imperialist project, not only targets Palestine, but, at the same time, ensures imperialist control over the capabilities of the Arab world and the detention of its development.

The conflict with the Zionist project is a struggle against the capitalist and imperialist system for the change and overcoming the existed Arab comprador system. It is a strategic strife on the road for achieving the national democratic revolution and its continuation against the American presence. Furthermore, it is a struggle against the Zionist state, its removal and the establishment of the democratic Palestine state for all its citizens and solving the Jewish question within this perspective.

From this view, I point out that the Palestine question is an Arab one. The Israeli existence is established to be concerned with the Arab situation. Therefore, the most important thing, here, concerns with an imperialist/Zionist project of hegemony and control over the Arabs. The defining of the hegemony and control issue is essential in understanding the nature of conflict and in determining the possible solution.

Through what is so called peace process since 1990 to present, it has become clear that “the Zionist entity” refuses what it has refused since 1948, that is, the call, dependent on the partition resolution, for the establish of two states, Jewish and Arab. The Zionist entity considers all Palestine as being “Israel” and it still sees the Palestinian “population number” which establishes for a dangerous demographic coup that must be overcame, as the problem in need for solution.

Thus, the ultimate negotiation ceiling is limited by the Autonomy concept, or the sovereignty incomplete state built on what the Israeli enemy relinquishes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or consecrating the separation principle of what is called “the Gaza state or emirate”. All these solutions are controlled, in the recent moment of unbalanced forces, by the imperialist/Zionist hegemony and its five “NOs”; no for withdrawal from Jerusalem, no for withdrawal from Jordan valley, no for removal of settlements, no for refugee return and no for a complete sovereignty independent Palestinian state.

In this context, It should pointed out that the two states solution, in accordance to the enemy Israeli terms, is a solution nearer to be illusion under the current deranged force balance which doesn’t constitute an interim solution or objective. It constitutes under the recent deranged force balance just an application of the Israeli/American vision. This vision, that seeks to distort and dwarfing the concept and take it out on the image of the "broad autonomy" or "temporal statelet, fragmented, incomplete sovereignty, or functional sharing or any other name does not contradict with the U.S./Israeli terms. This means to all Palestinian national forces to affirm its commitment to the national invariables and the historical rights after it has grown clear, in accordance to the Zionist perspective, that the two states solution; “a Jewish one” and a Palestinian one with complete sovereignty over its lands and capabilities is impossible, and the solution within the framework of one state, Israel, is utterly impossible as well. The impossibility of these two solutions generates from the fact that the Zionist dominating vision rises from the Zionists consecrating of the Jewish state feature.

This leads to confirm the need to re-examine the Zionist project; its nature, relationship with the world imperialism, the Jewish question and the Arab position in the world imperialist system.

The pivotal question is grounded on the fact that the conflict with the Israeli enemy state, as a first degree Arab/Zionist one, wouldn’t be solved unless activating the democratic revolutionary social mobilization that alone ensures the eliminating the Arab peoples’ front weakness reasons. I mean here to treat all the facets of the organic weakness’ reasons whether political, economic, technological, or cultural in the human, progressive, democratic, revival and civilization sense.

The conflict will continue as it is, to the moment the above stated stipulations are gradually become available. Thus, how long continued the talk about peace negotiations, there will be no more than consecrating the American/Israeli control and hegemony in the name of “peace” illusions or determined solutions of state let without sovereignty or an a bit expanded autonomy without any sovereignty. Therefore, this battle management is at the core of the Arab peoples responsibility and the Palestine people at the top of them.

The question here relates to a hegemony and domination project, that is, the Zionist imperialist project. This defining is essential in understanding the conflict nature and in defining the possible solution. Therefore, the Palestine question will be inevitably connected to the Arab democratic nationalist project, the project of independence, unity, development and modernization.

Based on that, there could be a solution based on working for the democratic Palestine to be part of an Arab united democratic state through a popular Arab struggle that the Palestinian people is its pioneer.

Comrades and friends,

Now, we are in the second decade of the 21st century, our people, which have offered thousands of martyrs, are continuing its steadfastness and struggle despite all political concessions and absurd negotiations and the split resulted from the bloody conflict over interest cottas between Fateh and Hamas movements.

This requires all Arab democratic Leftist forces to seek more unity and democratic struggle with clear active support and solidarity from you and all the friend forces all over the world. A support and solidarity aim at establishing the democratic and national revolution foundations and programs related to democratic liberation national revolution’s perspective in its human international framework. It also requires the Palestine leftist forces to review its political discourse including the discourse of two states solution. A review also aims at restoring the Palestine struggle spirit and tools in accordance to national democratic struggle rules as the conflict with this enemy is an Arab/Zionist of the first degree.

Thus, the vision of all Arab national leftist forces including the Palestinian revolutionary leftist one at the front, should be founded on that and not from without. The Zionist state is the anchor of the imperialist existence in the Arab World and the existence of this state is decisive for the imperialist control’s continuation and ensuring the permanence of Arab disparity and backwardness. Therefore, it is necessary to re-presenting the national vision out of the inclusive democratic national progressive vision heart which is based on deep understanding of the imperialist/Zionist project and its reactionary comprador Bureaucratic tools. The aim is to establish our democratic national struggle in the light of this view.

No doubt that this mission, firstly, the mission of the Palestine and Arab World Marxists. The Palestine revolutionary leftist, who is rejecting Oslo, negotiating with the enemy or participating in one of the two illegitimate governments of Ramallah or Gaza, should be at the head of Marxists for getting back the historical rights of Palestine land.

Comrades and friends,

Despite the imperialist and Zionist terrorist operations, expulsion, torture, killing and suffering has befallen on the Palestinians since early 20th century up to present, all these aggressive practices, in the context of the existence historical conflict with the Zionist enemy, didn’t succeed in uprooting our people wholly from its land, in accordance to the plans drawn to this end.

After 64 years of the first catastrophe, estimations point out that about 70% of our people were born in Palestine that is (8 million people), (4.2 millions) of them live today in the cities, villages and camps of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while (1.6 millions) are in the cities and villages of 1948 occupied land, while the rest live in the refugee camps in Arab and foreign countries. On the contrary, the Zionist enemy is. Although, the temptation means are available, the total of Israelis born in occupied Palestine doesn’t exceed 45% out of whole Israel population according to 2010 estimation. The rest 55% came from European countries, especially the former Soviet Union, and Arab, African, Asian and other varied nationalities different in their origins, histories, languages and civilization development. This is a paradox points to many objective lessons, indications and conclusions that emphasize with no doubt that there is no future to this apartheid functional state. It is existed as a form of colonization imperialism based on bases of brutal force and exaction to protect the globalized imperialist interests in the Arab world. Furthermore, it will never be, by any means, a part of the area fabric and its future because of its functional role.

The talk about the secular democratic state solution, at least theoretically, requires in this stage alerting the left energy for reconsidering the political discourse to arrive at a discourse/program responds to the current and future requirements and necessities. A matter needs serious and deep dialogue between the Arab Marxist leftist parties to achieve this end. As such, we can start a new stage in the struggle for re-establishing the awakening democratic liberating national project as a central unification idea that popular masses in Palestine and the Arab World can gather around. The working class and all, oppressed, exploited Arabs must be the lead of those masses.

The struggle for achieving the goal of establishing the secular democratic Palestine state ensures a solution for the Jewish question within the united democratic Arab society framework. Some may suppose rightly or wrongly that this is a utopic stance. Clearly, it is not more than a revolutionary dream its elements and capabilities are existed in our Palestinian and generally the Arab ones’ fabric. It’s also being found amongst the oppressed social slices of the oppressed workers, farmers, small bourgeoisie which are eager to participate in materializing this revolutionary dream. A dream embodies the Arab people’s future democratic national aims.

The idea of secular democratic Palestine state manifests today, as the revolutionary embodiment for the strategic optimum solution for our people rights and the whole Jewish question, is a strategic solution. It is a solution ensures the restoration of our people historical, political and sovereignty rights on Palestine but it is bound of force balance change. This leads us back to the activating of the Arab/Zionist struggle idea which requires the work to overcome and changing the Arab system, in result, changing force balance in preparation to impose the just solution of a democratic state for all its residence.

The great challenge faces our peoples today must start by democratic radical political change process engenders from the class struggle against the humiliation, tyrannical, exploitation and corruption regimes that rule our people. We have to be aware that these regimes constituted the main basis for increasing and expanding the imperialist dominance over our Arab peoples’ capabilities and wealth. Also, they paved the ground for the increase and expansion of the Israeli enemy “state” racism, smugness and savagery.

In this revolutionary moment, the belief in the promising future for our Arab people doesn’t mean that we believe in a historical determination the time and place has a main and unilateral role in. It means, through the revolutionary Marxist leftist factions and parties, the activation and ripening the factors and tools of contemporary modern democratic change and the search for its urgent and objective justifications and grounds from the heart of our recent status.

Based on that, we have to dream on the condition of realizing the revolutionary dream power’s secret which constitutes the source of change and revolution. The revolutionary power is the lord of this dream without it detached out of the reality zigzags to arrive to a noble goal and clear end. Thus, we have the right to wonder if there is nobler than materializing the secular democratic state of Palestine for all its inhabitants, politically, legally, morally committed to solve the Jewish question within its framework.

Comrades and friends,

Sixty fife years have elapsed after issuing the 181 partition resolution on 29th November 1947 without providing our people the minimum of its national goals, self-determination and establishing its state on its homeland. Our people’s struggle, and the poor popular masses of workers and farmers, in specific, has never stopped. We have continued the fight against the imperialism and the Zionist movement, the fight which continued, after the founding of the Zionist state, up to present using all types of resistance, masses strife and the armed one. We offered hundreds of thousands martyrs, injured, detained and handicapped but the struggle conditions throughout that long historical period to present weren’t favorable and contradicted our aims and our people aspirations of the freedom, self-determination and return. On the contrary, under those circumstances, especially under the recent globalization system and under the accretion of the imperialist/Zionist alliance in our country, the Zionist state hegemony, hostility, illegal colonization expansion consecrated with no commitment of fulfilling any international legitimate resolutions since that date to present.

Sixty four years have passed after perpetrating the capitalist imperialist system, its created Zionist movement and its Arab reactionary regime’s followers, a crime, was and still is, one of the most vicious crimes in modern era. It is the crime of uprooting most of our Palestinian people from its homeland, substituting it with the exacting Zionists by arms, terrorism, and forging the history facts. This is the ways by which the state of the Israeli enemy was established as a functional one ensures, on the one hand, the continuation of fragmentation state and deconstructionism among the Arab Word peoples and, on the other, to protect imperialist capitalist interests built on dominating and controlling our resources and wealth. The conflict mustn’t be a Palestinian-Israeli one; it should be between the progressive Arab liberation movement and hand in hand with the world leftist and democratic forces against the imperialist-Zionist alliance. In this context, it is also natural and inevitably that the Palestinians and their national movement have a pioneering role in that struggle to achieve its goals of self-determination and return to the secular democratic Palestine state for all its inhabitants. This state should be founded on the ruins of the Zionist state and as integral part of the Arab state and the Arab united democratic society.

Comrades and friends,

The nature and the shifts implications, changes, the specific features and contradictions the new phase expresses, need us to design a plan for a confrontation which is in harmony with deepness, inclusiveness and type of the challenges and dangers we suffer. The confrontation in this sense is of a totalitarian character _ strategic _ and tactic against the imperialist-apartheid Zionist existence. It is also a building process in the sense of starting types, methods, ways, organizing forms and struggle practices bear the renewal dynamics and the ability of re-recruiting and attracting on the two levels; the territorial and national.

Comrades and friends, the conference members,

As a reflex of your true solidarity stands with our people and its right to return and self-determination, I say: in our revolution tales, there is a national epic was created by our people’s sacrifices of hundreds of thousands martyrs, causalities, captives, and detained in the Zionist prisons. Your gathering, today, is an embodiment of a true solidarity with our people to achieve its legitimate national ends. Therefore, you have to continue your active solidarity with our people’s revolution … support it, in pride and dignity, through your beloved people, colleagues, fellows, relatives and friends. It is the tale of an oak journey still live in international, national, territorial struggle and question.

Please, read our revolution and our hoped inspirations in the eyes of the poor, on the vulnerable fronts and in the steadfastness of the refugees in the camps. Read them in your faces, minds, hearts, and emotions supporting us. Read in them revolutionary human, democratic, international, national and territorial thoughts. Thoughts never know neutrality, distortion or deviation. It is a popular revolution - human, revolutionary and democratic one – always aligns to those in the “bottom” as Guevara’s commitment poor and salt of the land. A revolution excels all oppressed languages and fights for its liberation, freedom and progress until the victory despite all forms of conspiring and the Zionist-imperialist aggression, and all sources and colors of rightist storms.

A revolution struggle bases on coexistence and integration with the poor popular masses through its national fighting factions and the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine is at the front.

We find in your awareness, and in your moral and material solidarity with our revolution a source of its strength, prevalence and reinforcement that lead to its political and military struggle escalation. This revolution lightens the future path for the poor masses and all toilers, faithful to our people’s sacrifices, our martyrs, those who paid years of their ages in the enemy’s prisons and at the top of them our brave PFLP General secretary, the stubborn and revolutionary intellectual, Ahmad Saadat, the Fateh national fighter Marwan Al Barghoti, and all brother fighters from Hamas, Jehad, democratic Front, and People’s party.

Therefore, we are in a deep need for more solidarity types with our revolution, with our prisoners through more demonstrations, strikes and conferences in all your countries cities and capitals under the call “freedom for the prisoners”, “Yes for fighting the Zionist Nazism with all arm and political struggle”, “Down with the imperialist existence in our countries” and “Freedom, independence and right of return for the Palestinian people.”

Glory and eternity for the martyrs… long live Arab free Palestine… long live the human progressive international friendship between world peoples in their struggle against the imperialist system and against all forms of exaction, aggression and racism, against all forms of tyranny, oppression and class exploitation. Long live for you and for the Palestinian democratic liberation national revolution as an integral part of the Arab democratic national revolution with its socialist horizons… definitely we are victorious.

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