GAZA
CITY, September 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The
three-year-old Intifada has managed to inflict heavy losses on the
Israeli occupation forces and should go non-stop, because it is the one
and only way to liberate Palestine, Palestinians told IslamOnline.net,
as thousands took to the streets to mark the third anniversary of the
Intifada.
"When
the (second) Intifada was sparked, analysts reckoned that it would last
for a couple of weeks, but thank God it enters now its fourth year and
the enemy has sustained heavy losses," said Mo'men Al-Dalw, 21.
"The
Intifada is no longer about armless children and youths who stand up to
the occupation forces with their military juggernaut, but it helped
Palestinian factions develop their resistance techniques and architect
more accurate operations to resist the occupation forces and force them
out," he added.
Abu
Alaa, another Palestinian youth, also said that the Intifada has had its
impact on the Israeli economy, noting that the enemy has not suffered
that much since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
"The
Intifada has made impressive strides over the past three years. We hear
now mortars and missiles reaching Asqlan," he said, referring to
Al-Qassam missiles launched by Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on
Israeli settlements.
Zaniab
Al-Astal, a 42-year-old mother of two boys who were killed by Israeli
forces one year ago, said that the Palestinian people should carry on
with their resistance of the occupation and remain patient at their
misfortunes.
"The
Intifada is the only way to the freedom of our sons," she said.
While
pointing at the nearby Israeli settlements from her house in the Gaza
Strip city of Khan Yunis, Mrs. Astal said: "Everyday I look at
these settlements, which besiege us, hoping to see the day when Israel
pulls out its troops from our territories."
"Al-Aqsa
Intifada is the banner which brings together all Palestinians
irrespective of their ideologies," she said.
Overreaching
Media
 |
|
Palestinians
burn a model of an Israeli F-16 during demonstrations
|
Ismail
Barawi, 28, regarded the second Intifada as a historic opportunity for
the Palestinians to win back their inalienable rights.
"Palestinians
should sacrifice to liberate the land, but we must have overreaching
media to expose barbarism of the Zionist onslaughts," he said.
"We
want a media machine highlighting the brave-heart sacrifices paid by our
people…We proudly tell our martyrs: your blood will not go
unrewarded," he added.
Proud
as he was, Barawi said the Intifada is a source of pride for the Arab
and Muslim world.
"We
are spearheading the confrontation (with Israel)…We defend our Arab
and Muslim nation."
Negotiations
But
other Palestinians voiced their opposition to the continuation of the
Intifada.
"The
Intifada has not made any achievements for the Palestinian people and
proved futile," said Mohmmad Khoussa, adding that negotiations were
the best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Because
of the disproportionate use of force by Israel, so I go for small-scale
resistance on parallel with negotiations," he said.
"Our
economy is in tatters; if we peruse the history of Jews, we find out
that they have never committed themselves to any peace process…I do
think that negotiations are the best way until the resistance becomes
stronger," Khoussa added.
Ismail
Abu Mansour agreed that Jews are supported by the world's sole
superpower, the United States.
A
latest toll released by the Palestinian national information center put
at 2740 martyrs the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the
second Intifada in September 28, 2000, when the then Israeli opposition
leader Ariel Sharon, now prime minister, paid a provocative visit to the
compound of Al-Aqsa mosque.
An
Agence France-Presse (AFP) toll said that 822 Israelis have been killed
within the same corresponding period in addition to 4,200 others
injured.
The
martyrs included 513 Palestinians under 18, 140 activists, 30 embryos,
whose mothers were denied access to hospitals by Israeli forces.
Children
and boys account for 22 percent of the martyrs, 11 percent o them are
girls.
Figures
provided by Amnesty International show that over the last three years,
the Israeli army has destroyed more than 2,000 Palestinian houses.
Some
6,000 Palestinians are under Israeli lock and key, of whom several
hundred are administrative detainees.
Pro-Intifada
Rallies
Meanwhile,
Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades vowed Sunday to continue the
armed struggle against Israel as thousands of people rallied to mark the
Intifada's third anniversary, reported AFP.
"We
affirm our determination to continue the Intifada until occupation ends
and we demand that the Palestinian Authority and new government resist
pressure from the Americans and the Zionists aimed at ending our right
to resist," Hamas said in a statement.
"Resistance
is the only language that the enemy understands and the only means to
free Palestine from occupation," said a similar statement from
Al-Aqsa, an offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group.
In
the West Bank town of Nablus some 5,000 Palestinians hit the streets in
a new rally to mark the anniversary.
The
demonstrators, many carrying Palestinian flags and those of Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, marched from Al-Najah University to the town centre,
chanting slogans of defiance.
"Get
rid of the occupation not our leaders," was the common refrain, a
reference to Israel's threat to exile Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat.
They
set fire to a cardboard replica of an aircraft with an Israeli flag.
Israeli
soldiers, occupying the town, did not intervene and the rally passed off
without incident.
Late
on Saturday, September 27, hundreds of Palestinians also marched in
Bethlehem to mark the anniversary.
The
marchers, many carrying candles or Palestinian flags, made their way
along a main city artery before congregating at Manger Square in front
of the Church of the Nativity.
On
Friday, September 26, hundreds of Hamas supporters also turned out for
the occasion in the central Gaza Strip refugee camp of Nusseirat.
Some
200 masked fighters paraded with models of the Qassam rockets used by
the Hamas military wing and burnt a coffin covered with the Israeli and
U.S. flags.
