Black September

In the myriad of concerns that occupy people’s minds, it is hard to remember all, of even the important things.
September has never been a good month in the Palestinian diary. Especially the days around it’s middle. Thirteen years ago today, The Declaration of Principles was signed in Washington. The 16th of the Month would mark the 35th anniversary for Black September as it is the day when King Hussein declared Martial Law in 1970. The day after is the day that marks the 24th anniversary of Sabra and Shatilla Massacres in Lebanon. And, in a loosely linked anniversary, the 28th of the month is 35 years since Nasser’s death (He had a heart attack after negotiating a deal to end Black September fighting between Hussein and Arafat- anyone is bound to have a heart attack after such a meeting!).
Anyway… with the many concerns hovering over Palestinians’ heads, the memory of Oslo was way low on everyone’s agenda. No one even spoke of it today, although it is the reason why we have reached such a stage- isn’t it?
It is a very dirty game they all are playing here. And I really don’t want to play. The strike again. Hamas gets a hundred school kids and a big van with loud speakers to protest the teachers’ strike. Everyone knows the strike is Fatah’s game. But it is not as if the civil servants don’t have a reason to strike, the government probably owes them more than a billion shekels (USD 250m), and they need money to survive. Hamas is not taking that into consideration and still expects support from the public which has really been burnt off after more than 6 months of giving such support to the “democratically elected government”. They continue to prove that they have no idea what politics is. And they probably believe that they can impose Syrian or Iranian style governance over Palestinians (they probably would have tried had they the police apparatus to execute it.).
The Israelis are enjoying the scene. Now, they think, we can impose things on the Palestinians. Afterall, in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs food comes at a much lower level than self determination (it is not in the actually hierarchy- but can be incorporate in second or third level needs). However, I like the quote Elena has on her blog (http://fazzoio.blogspot.com – 7th of September). It states the point that I always try to make. If Israelis go and say “we don’t support our government’s actions”, and sign all the petitions in the world, they are still complacent with these actions, because they continue to reap all the benefits of such actions. The true measure of dissent, is how many of them go out of their way to change this situation.