Behind the Headlines: Prominent Palestinians Urging End to the Intifada in Its Present Form

For Palestinians who marked the start of the 43rd month of the intifada this week, the burning issue was self-inflicted wounds.

The popular uprising this past year has become less a struggle against the Israeli presence than a murderous Arab civil war.

Hardly a day passes without at least one gangland-style execution of a presumed “traitor” to the Palestinian cause, so designated by the “popular committees” that control the streets.

Lately the category has been enlarged to include such “negative elements” as prostitutes and drug dealers. And many a personal score has been settled under cover of the intifada.

The situation has degenerated to the point where prominent Palestinians have issued public appeals to end the bloodbath.

On Tuesday, a group of Palestinian journalists, university professors, trade unionists and white-collar workers gathered at the Hakawati theater in East Jerusalem for one of the soul-searching sessions that have become a regular event since the Persian Gulf War.

The message that emerged would have been unheard of six months ago. It was basically a call to end the intifada, at least in its familiar form.

Dr. Yussuf Abu-Samra of Bir Zeit University suggested a fundamental change of tactics. Shops closed each afternoon to protest the Israeli administration should be reopened. Strike days should be limited to one or two a month, but schools should remain open. And children under 15 should not be involved in the struggle.

INTIFADA MAY NOT LAST

But the most painful issue was the destructive effect the murders are having on Palestinian society. Abu-Samra called the killers “fascists.” If the intifada does not change, he warned, it will not last out its fourth year.

As television cameras from the Israeli and foreign media recorded the scene, speaker after speaker urged the Arab intelligentsia not to abandon the struggle to “the youths in the streets.” Some claimed the masked youths terrorizing the population are criminal elements not interested in politics.

It was also charged that some are even provocateurs of the Israeli authorities.

There were many suggestions, including a two-month “freeze” on the activities of the violence-prone popular committees and an end to the frequent strikes and boycotts of Israeli products which hurt Palestinians more than Israelis.

No answers were given at the meeting and no new directives were issued. But the consensus was that the intifada should take a new tack, comprising less violence and more civil protest.

Also proposed were the fostering of local institutions for the benefit of the population and special efforts for the advancement of education.

Basically, the call was for a new leadership to seize the initiative from the streets. But that leadership must be able to enforce its authority. It can expect no help from the Israeli authorities whose attitude is “a plague on both your houses.”

Experience has shown that in a contest between the meeting hall and the streets, it is the most brutal elements that take the upper hand.