Samidoun Spain joined with Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization and fellow organizations in the Masar Badil, the Palestnian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, in Spain, to organize an online political seminar on Sunday 9 July about the current situation in occupied Palestine, the Palestinian resistance and Zionist attacks, with Fadia Barghouti, a Palestinian political activist based in the West Bank of occupied Palestine.
Dozens participated in the event on Zoom and YouTube, where the event was streamed in Arabic, English and Spanish, discussing the brutal aggression targeting Jenin city and refugee camp, the growing Palestinian resistance in the West Bank, and the campaign of arrests targeting the Palestinian student movement both by the Zionist occupation and the Palestinian Authority security forces, engaging in “security coordination” with the occupier.
Throughout the discussion, Barghouti emphasized that the period following the Oslo Accords and the so-called “peace process” launched in Madrid has been marked by intensified settlement expansion, land confiscation, colonization and attacks on Palestinian villages, under the protection and with the participation of occupation forces. She emphasized that these practices make clear that all slogans about “negotiations” and “peace” are a fig leaf to provide cover for intensified colonization and targeting of the resistance. She denounced the role of the PA in coordinating with the occupation to undermine the resistance that is the major force challenging the settlers and their ongoing assault.
She spoke about the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails as well as the leading role in resistance that the prisoners continue to play behind bars. Barghouti, the wife of a Palestinian prisoner in occupation jails, also emphasized the role of prisoners’ families in supporting their loved ones as part of the popular cradle of the prisoners’ movement, taking particular note of the role of Randa Musa in supporting her husband, Sheikh Khader Adnan, during his hunger strike and his martyrdom after 86 days of striking behind bars. Barghouti emphasized that supporting the prisoners’ movement outside the prisons and internationally has an important role in supporting the prisoners’ steadfastness and enabling their ongoing confrontation and resistance in the prisons and detention centers.
She also emphasized the lack of interest or action on the part of the official “international community,” particularly in the imperialist West, even as fascist forces openly attack Palestinian villages, as has been seen in Huwarra and elsewhere. She noted that this has exposed the reality of the so-called “peace process” and the role of the Palestinian Authority, particularly after 2005, following the Al-Aqsa Intifada, when the Palestinian security forces were “restructured” by U.S. General Keith Dayton to more effectively serve the interests of the occupation.
On the other hand, she emphasized the importance of the role played by liberation movements, solidarity organizations and peoples supporting the Palestinian cause, particularly the role of Latin America in standing with Palestine and confronting U.S. hegemony. “Every act of solidarity, no matter how small or symbolic, brings us closer to ending the occupation and contributes to strengthening the steadfastness of our people,” she said.
Discussing the growing popular and armed resistance in the West Bank of occupied Palestine, she noted that this is a natural consequence of these policies and a necessary path for a new generation that has grown up amid the ever-escalating aggression of the occupation. She said that the organizations of this rising generation of resistance, such as the Jenin Brigade, the Lion’s Den and other formations, have the support of Palestinians everywhere, especially amid the difficult situation imposed by the occupation on the Palestinian people in the villages, cities and camps of the West Bank.
She thanked all for participating in the meeting, organized to mark the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Palestinian revolutionary leader and writer Ghassan Kanafani, noting that his sayings about the need to “bang on the walls of the tank” ring just as true today, emphasizing that “we are banging, and we are climbing over the tank” toward liberating “our land, from the river to the sea.”
