JERUSALEM, Feb. 17 (JTA) — Palestinians are looking upon Israel’s jubilee year with despair. Had the political circumstances been different, the leadership may not have placed the “nakba,” the Arabic word for disaster, at the top of the public agenda. But recent events have ripened the sour feelings among Palestinians: * The peace process is mired in mud — the latest evidence of this came when a Palestinian delegation returned home from Washington last week with no progress to report; * Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has been warning of a renewed intifada, the 1987-1993 uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; * Some Palestinians are marching in support of Saddam Hussein and, as the clouds of war gather over the Middle East, calling for an Iraqi missile attack on Israel. A frustrated, but determined Arafat announced the opening of the nakba commemorative events in a ceremony last week in Ramallah. His announcement came the same day that Israeli President Ezer Weizman announced the official opening of the festivities marking the 50th anniversary of Israel. Although the Ramallah ceremony bore the title “50 Years After the Disaster,” the speeches did not radiate self-pity. In fact, Arafat spoke of a vision of a new independent Palestinian state, which he has said he would announce in May 1999, after the interim period in the Israeli-Palestinian accords ends and regardless of the status of Israeli-Palestinian talks. “We are here, and we shall remain here,” said Arafat. “We shall declare in the near future the creation of an independent Palestinian state, whose capital will be Jerusalem. And those who are unhappy about it can drink the waters of the Sea of Gaza or the Dead Sea,” he said, the former being his oft-repeated term for the Mediterranean Sea. These comments intensified official Israeli frustration with the Palestinian leadership. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained this week that the very fact that the Palestinians speak of Israel’s creation as a “disaster” is a breach of the Oslo accords. As part of the commemorations, the Palestinians are planning an international event for May 15, the day in 1948 when the last British soldiers left the country and Israel proclaimed its independence. The Palestinian Authority plans to invite representatives of other “oppressed” peoples, such as black South Africans or American Indians. Other possible elements in the commemorations include creating a national museum, opening a documentation center and producing a full-length documentary film that would tell the story of the Palestinian people. Another initiative calls for building a model of a Palestinian village destroyed in 1948. In one sense, these events are just another indication of the perilous state of Israeli-Palestinian relations. But there is also evidence of a growing alliance between the Palestinian Authority and the leadership among Israeli Arabs. The 400-member planning council for the events includes representatives of Israel’s Arab citizens. Indeed, some 20 Israeli Arab personalities, including some who are considered moderates, attended the Ramallah ceremony. “This is only an act of solidarity with our brethren in the Palestinian Authority,” said Knesset member Taleb Alsana of the Arab Democratic Party-United Arab List. Hardly a week passes without an Israeli Arab delegation paying tribute to the Palestinian Authority. The growing involvement of Israeli Arabs in Palestinian politics is personified by Dr. Ahmed Tibi, the Israeli Arab politician who has become Arafat’s “Israeli” adviser. Yasser Abed Rabo, the authority’s minister of culture and information, reinforced these ties as he spoke in Ramallah about the unity of the Palestinian people “who live in the Galilee, the Triangle and the West Bank.” The Galilee in northern Israel and the Triangle — the area between Petach Tikva, Hadera and Afula in central Israel — are heavily populated by Israeli Arabs. The ties are increasing because they serve the not-so-dissimilar interests of both groups. Israeli Arab politicians, frustrated over their lack of influence in the Netanyahu government — in contrast to their close relationship with the previous Labor government — use this relationship in an attempt to leverage political and economic gains for their communities. The Palestinian leadership points to the support of its Israeli brethren to demonstrate their broad political power — hinting, perhaps, that if the peace talks do not rebound, they will once again attempt to speak out on behalf of Israeli Arabs as well as Palestinians in the self-rule areas.
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