Do suicide bombers serve Palestines best interests? [Archives:2002/20/Focus]

SAADI SALAMA
PALESTINIAN DIPLOMAT IN SANA’A
Its the same scenario that happened a few months ago when Israeli Prime Minister Sharon was in Washington upon an invitation by US President George W. Bush. Before midnight of May 8th, a strong explosion killed 15 Israeli and injured 42 others in attack at spiel hall in Rishon Litzion settlement near Tel Aviv.
This attack occurred while Sharon was meeting with the US president in Washington in order to try and put the Palestinian-Israeli conflict back on the diplomatic track. In that meeting President Bush said that he planned to send his CIA director George Tenet back to Middle East.
The attack was the largest one since the Israeli military forces reoccupied the Palestinian territories and destroyed the infrastructure of the Palestinian National Authority and the Palestinian properties. Immediately the Islamic resistance movement Hamas claimed the responsibility.
It is premature to try the recent explosion occurred in Rishon Litzion, but its important to study this case and wisely comprehend the lesson out of it.
I believe we are aware that such an action is welcomed and praised amongst some Palestinians, and this operation might sweep some popular admiration, since there is no political solution seen in the Palestinian horizon. All there is the Israeli game of hide and seek where the invading Israeli occupation forces withdraw their military machinery only for returning the next day to re-occupy and once again re-occupy, There is an Israeli sequence of lies backed up by the USA Administration, therefore we see that Sharon is responsible for violence, and Sharon will be responsible together with cabinet for future attacks and violence.
The Israelis did not withdraw as promised and agreed on yet. They are still terrorizing the civilians pushing them to the wall, leaving them no chance and no hope for the future, leading them to commit terror as a response to the organized state terror.

Humiliating us daily
What do the Israelis do? They are killing civilian citizens using the USA-made, sophisticated war machine. They are blindfolding eyes, tying hands from behind with plastic bonds, and they are humiliating the Palestinian daily by treating them as cattle or less, revealing their racist instincts, teaching the world how to invent war crimes.
Despite all these facts, does civilian killing at this crucial timing serve the Palestinian cause? Does it, by giving the Israelis justifications to in-turn massacre more Palestinian citizens?
There is an International political move to establish an independent Palestinian State that the American President George W. Bush and the United Nations have declared, emphasizing that the UN resolutions 242 and 338 are the references for the establishment of the Palestinian State. It is true that President Bushs declaration and vision is not clear enough to a degree that assures the Palestinians, and maybe the mysteriousness of this declaration is intended to pave the road for invading Iraq.
The struggle is not a goal, it is only a mean to achieve political gain or to materialize the goal.
This is what I believe when asked about the benefits of such operations, even if they were justified as a response to the killing of our civilians. There is a sacred rule that we all must abide by, and that is that no individual, group, or faction have the right to represent the majority, especially when their fate is in stake. That is the essence of pure democracy and freedom, where the opinion of the majority counts.
If some are mixing courage with fear, it is not courageous to bid on the majoritys fate: this Palestinian majority that have proven beyond any shadow of doubt that they are the most courageous nation on the globe.
The issue is that we need to accurately estimate the situation and the changes on the arena, and to deal with the events only from the interest of Palestinian national goals.
This is the homeland that belongs to all Palestinian, so no one can monopolize its fate and destiny, especially when it comes to the security and the political issues.

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