By Catherine Brown
GENEVA — "The government of Israel is continuing its predecessor's iron-fist policy of oppression, repression and terrorism against our people", Yasser Arafat, chair of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, told activists gathered here for the ninth United Nations International Coordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine (ICCP).
The conference, "Protection and Statehood", brought together a network of non-governmental organisations from August 26 to 28.
The other major speech at the conference was delivered by Oliver Tambo, national chairperson of the African National Congress.
The Rabin government has stated it will establish the 11,000 housing units in the occupied territories that were approved by the Shamir government. The Rabin government still violates international law and the UN resolutions in respect to Palestine, observed Arafat.
"In addition", Arafat stated, "Israel is denying the fundamental principles on which the current peace process is based ... which included land for peace, implementation of the Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, realisation of the political rights of the Palestinians and security for all in the region".
The Palestinians' right to self-determination is being violated by the Rabin government's disregard for "our right to hold legislative elections under international auspices, rather than the administrative elections that it is proposing to hold under the guns of its tanks".
Israel wants an administrative council of about 12 members. The Palestinians want a 180-member legislative council that would serve as the basis for full self-government and eventual independence.
Arafat declared that the Israeli elections were an important step because "they were an expression of the rejection of war, procrastination, expansion and the building of settlements ...
"Unfortunately, however, we have seen how Mr Rabin's statements, since he took office, contradict his actions. While addressing the world with honey-coated words, he is actually continuing to pursue the iron-fisted policy of the former Shamir government."
Arafat attacked the role of the US and its "totally biased position in favour of Israel ... In fact, the US decision [to give loan guarantees to Israel] and commitment towards Israel are encouraging Israel to continue its occupation."
Arafat concluded, "Peace requires greater courage than war, but a genuine and just peace, rather than the imposition of a r of a diktat".
Oliver Tambo saw as an important fact "the emergence of an international consensus in favour of the peaceful resolution of regional conflicts. It is a possibility which we, the oppressed, exploited, uprooted and dispossessed of the world, must turn into an opportunity to accelerate our struggles to overturn the fate which the colonial experience imposed on us."
"Since we first convened under United Nations auspices in 1983, the world has changed dramatically", noted Don Betz, chair of the ICCP, in opening the meeting. Despite the changes "one constant has endured: Palestine remains occupied. Palestinians are unable to exercise their human and national rights."
Betz commented on the exclusion on the UN from the Middle East peace negotiations, despite its involvement from Croatia to Cambodia. Yet UN resolutions reflect the overwhelming international consensus that Palestinians should enjoy the full measure of human and political rights.
"We should not forget that neither the United States nor Israel have ever recognised the Palestinians' national rights."
The liveliest debate was in the plenary sessions, around the right of return for Palestinians and the nature of the Rabin government. Many in the audience were outraged when Meir Pail, the director of B'Tselem, the Israeli Human Rights Centre, argued that Palestinians who had been forced from their land should not demand a right of return. This has long been a PLO demand, supported by the UN. Today many Palestinians living in refugee camps still hold the keys and legal title to their homes, occupied by Israeli settlers.
Abie Nathan, an activist from Peace Now, argued that the Rabin government represented a real change in direction. He said it was what the peace movement had fought for for 10 years, and should be given more time to demonstrate its commitment to the peace process.
While no-one questioned Nathan's own commitment (he has been jailed for his activities), other delegates disagreed with his rather naive assessment. There was nonetheless optimism that real change will come as a result of a determined Palestinian struggle, aided by international solidarity.