The comprehensive strike … a militant approach that unites the Palestinians and establishes a new phase

The Palestinians united in “historic Palestine” by declaring a comprehensive strike Tuesday against the Israeli occupation policies that sparked a war on Gaza, which started in Jerusalem and extended to the Green Line and the occupied West Bank.

The last steps in the struggle between the Palestinians from the sea to the river were in the second Palestinian uprising, the “Al-Aqsa Intifada” in 2000, when the former Israeli Prime Minister Sharon stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque and this sparked Palestinian anger in all places of the Palestinian presence.

New stage

The head of the Popular Committee for the Defense of Land and Housing in Wadi Ara, Ahmad Melhem, says, “We are talking about a spontaneous popular uprising that is based on the youth movement in Arab towns, which is an uncharacteristic movement far from traditional organizations, and it carries a message to the Israeli establishment to ignite a cumulative spark of anger, as it has become clear that no Anyone can control and control this gift. “

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Melhem explained that the protests and marches witnessed by the Palestinian interior mainly reflect the struggle for existence of the Palestinian people who rose up in support of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, and the younger generations chose to wage confrontations through a popular gift in self-defense against the settler gangs’ attacks on the Palestinian presence.

The Chairman of the People’s Committee believes that the comprehensive strike inside the Palestinian interior establishes a new stage in the Palestinian consciousness in all of historical Palestine, far from the approach and performance of the Palestinian leaders, and it also re-calculates the future and nature of the relationship between the Palestinians inside and Israel, which faces challenges regarding how to deal with the Palestinian youth who He does not hesitate to depart from the circle of silence to rise up against Israeli practices.

historical event

For his part, the leader of the national movement, Suleiman Abu Rashid, describes the comprehensive strike in Palestine as a historical event, and believes that the popular gift ignited by accumulated sparks of anger, injustice and persecution imposes a new equation, the essence of which is Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Abu Rashid believes that the approach and practices of Israel towards the Palestinians – in all of historical Palestine – have made the artificial borders that Israel invented mere lines and ink on paper. It is absolutely true that they do not have a specific privilege over the people of Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but rather face settler attacks and police bullets.

Abu Rashid explained that the continuous protests and a comprehensive strike at home is what worries Israel most at this stage, as it used during its previous wars that the home front was stable, while the wheel of the economy continued its normal movement with the arms of 48 Palestinians, which differs this time as the home front is on fire and the economy wheel is idle. . 

Unity and cohesion

For the first time since the Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa uprising, which broke out in October 2000, a comprehensive strike has spread to the Arab towns within the Green Line, reflecting the cohesion and unity of the Palestinian people who are engaged in struggle activities in support of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, condemning the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and confronting settler gangs’ assaults on Palestinians 48.

The strike decision, which was approved by the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab People, was preceded by the escalation of protest activities and rallies of the youth movement that established a spontaneous popular flame in the Palestinian interior towns after the death of Musa Hassouna (31 years) from the city of Lod by settlers’ bullets, and the Israeli police unleashed settler gangs by attacking Arab citizens, coinciding with the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

In the face of the momentum of Palestinian protests, especially the younger generations, and the expansion of demonstrations and marches in all Arab towns, despite the unprecedented violence of the occupation police and the arrest of more than a thousand Arab youths, the committee announced a comprehensive strike that pervaded all life facilities and work sectors, and organized a march with the participation of tens of thousands in the city of Sakhnin. In the Galilee, and presenting a document to the international bodies calling for international protection for the 48 Palestinians.

Militant approach

University lecturer says d. Bilal Salameh The struggle steps that the Palestinians used against the occupier were many, and the strike was one of them. The peasants in the Sahel carried out the first strike in Palestine in 1892 against the policies that were exploiting marginalized groups. Then came protests in 1917 against the “Balfour Declaration”, the mass donations in the 1920s against the British, then the general strike and mass protests in 1936.

Salameh confirms in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net that the Palestinians confirmed their modern identity as one people in 1936 in the strike and protests that lasted for many months, through the struggle steps against the British mandate and the immigration of Jews and the policies pursued against them, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque was the sensitive axis that explodes events historically and nationally.

According to him, the unification of the Palestinians did not continue much against the occupier. After the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 on more than 70% of historical Palestine, the changes began and the attempt to impose the Israeli occupation as a new reality, and to “isolate” society, Judaize education, impose the Hebrew language, and work to isolate the Palestinian personality from The Arabian Ocean.

The separation of the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, the absence of geographical contact between them, and the dispersal of the Palestinians in the refugee camps prevented them from uniting, and this situation continued after Israel occupied the rest of the Palestinian land in 1967, and began to distinguish them according to their geographical location.

Land Day in 1976 united Palestinian society again and restored its unity despite its geographical separation, when the spark of protests began against the policies of Judaizing the Galilee within the Green Line, and these events contributed to confirming the Palestinians ’adherence to their land and their national identity, and the annual celebration of Land Day became a symbol of steadfastness and unity.

And d. Salameh that the Oslo Agreement in 1993 split the Palestinians by not talking about the Palestinians inside, and strengthened the Palestinian division, but the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, after storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque, united the Palestinians again through the demonstrations that led to a massive uprising in all of Palestine, before it returned and receded. In the West Bank and Gaza.

The target of the strikes

The Palestinians clearly used the strike in the first intifada in 1987, which was concentrated more in the occupied territories in 1967, and was as a decision by the unified national leadership as one of the forms of struggle, and civil disobedience was used to express rejection of the occupation policies, and the strike was carried out for a day, two days or a month, depending on the variables. Political.

Dr. Salameh that what distinguishes the comprehensive strike in Palestine today is the complete reunification of the Palestinians, indicating that the steps and forms of protest for the Palestinians must differ according to their geographical location, as the tools used in the West Bank differ from Gaza, which faces the occupation militarily, and differs from the Palestinians inside Israel who are involved in Israeli society More.

Salameh believes that in this a functional integration constitutes a clear pressure on the occupier and a message stating that the Palestinian does not adhere to the artificial borders and adheres to his collective identity, and considered that the strike is an occasion to frame the national discourse and unify slogans, in order to crystallize the demands of all the Palestinian people.