Palestinians Criticize Italian

"We Demand Respect for PalestinianRights, for our Heritage and Struggle We Do Not Need Commercial Initiatives Aimed at Normalization with Israel"
In early September, an Italian community initiative for peace in the Middle East, organized by Flavio Lotti on behalf of Italian community institutions (municipalities, NGOs), brought some 1,000 Italian tourists to the Jerusalem-Bethlehem area.

 The Italian visitors, hosted by Israeli and Palestinian institutions (municipalities NGOs, Bethlehem 2000) participated in a program which aims to promote the current Middle East peace effort by means of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian community organizations.

  Palestinian institutions and community activists were shocked to learn, on 4 September 2000, that while the Italian program included visits to the Israeli holocaust memorial Yad Vashem and the grave of assassinated former Israeli prime minister Yitzhaq Rabin, the program on the Palestinian side included neither reference to the Palestinian victims of the historical conflict, nor a visit to one of the Palestinian memorials of the martyrs of the Palestinian people's struggle for its basic rights.

"Deir Yassin, located only several hundredmeters from the Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem, is the symbol of the some 500 Palestinian villages destroyed by Israel in 1948 and a symbol for all Palestinian refugees in the world. There are no monuments or signs indicating Deir Yassin, the site of the massacre committed by Zionist forces against innocent Palestinian villagers on 9 April 1948, but for the Palestinian people, whose culture and history has been passed from generation to generation, the memory of Deir Yassin will always remain alive," wrote Kamal Al-Qaisi/Popular Committee of the Beit Jibrin ('Azza) Refugee Camp in a statement of protest to the organizers of the Italian initiative.

An Italian delegation visited the remainders of the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin on 4 September, following the Italian visit at Yad Vashem, in response to the popular demand addressed to the Italian organizers, as well as Faisal Al-Husseini/PLO Jerusalem portfolio and Palestinian Legislative Council member Hatem www Abdelqader.

Deheishe Camp, Bethlehem, 11-9-2000.
To: Mr. Flavio Lotti, Coordinating Director of the Italian Local Institutions; Organizers of the Italian Week in Palestine for Peace in the Middle East (September 1 to 9, 2000); Mr. Gianni Ghisi, Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem; Representatives of the Italian municipalities and local councils; The editorial boards of the Italian press, Il Manifesto, Il Messaggero, La Repubblicca, Ansa; Mr. Mitri Abu Aita, Palestinian Minister of Tourism; Mr. Hanna Nasser, Mayor-Bethlehem; Mr. Nabil Qassis, Minister, Bethlehem 2000; Mr. Faisal al-Husseini, PLO Jerusalem portfolio;

Re: Italian Week in Palestine (1-9 September 2000)
We, representatives of the popular committees in the Palestinian refugee camps and Palestinian non-governmental organizations, deeply appreciate the role of the Italian government and its people, who by their position and initiatives for peace building in the Middle East express their solidarity with the Palestinian people, our struggle for the right of return and the Palestinian independent state with Jerusalem as itscapital.

At the same time, we strongly criticize the coordinators of the Italian Local Institutions for Peace and their actions during the Italian Week. They took a negative position towards the Palestinian people and the Palestinian case; they launched their program with a visit to the Israeli side, which included visits at the Israeli holo-caust memorial and the grave of ex-prime minister Yitzhaq Rabin.

At the same time, they abstained from organizing activities in comme-moration of the Palestinian catastrophe (Nakba), such as a visit to the destroyed Palestinian villages - sites of massacres, destruction and displacement, or a visitto the graves of our martyrs fallen in our  truggle for the homeland and liberty.

We hereby raise our voices loudly and express our protest and objection to what was done by the organizers of Italian Week in Palestine, who eliminated the Palestinian political position from their program by remaining silent about the right of the Palestinian people to return to their homeland and to establish the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and by hesitating to visit the destroyed village of Deir Yassin.

We have no doubt that the refusal to cooperate with a central Palestinian coordinating committee (composed  of various types of Palestinian institutions on the governmental and non-governmental level), which would have allowed to coordinate the Italian Week on the national Palestinian level, served the purpose of leaving all strings in the hand of one person, who played the game of divide and rule in order to keep issues vague and unclear. Moreover, the coordinators of the Italian Week are still aiming to present their program as a joint Palestinian-Israeli program, which has achieved its objectives and is thus beyond criticism by any Italian or Palestinian party.

We ask all respected persons addressed above,to evaluate this Italian event objectively, and to discuss if this week really achieved its goals as planned, irrespective of other aims which might have been involved Thank You, Signed by:

Salem Abu Hawash (Head of Board, BADIL Resource Center), Jamal Farraj (Journalist), Othman al-Azza (Head, Executive Committee of Beit JibrinYouth Center), Abed al- Rahman al-Titi (Head, Popular Service Committee, Al-Arroub Camp), Ismail Jum'ah (Fatah Treasurer, Al-Arroub Camp), Usama al-Jawabra (Popular Committee, Al-Arroub Camp), Abed al-Nasser al-Jawabra (Public Relations, Popular Committee Al-Arroub Camp), Ala al-Azza (Beit Jibrin Cultural Center, Beit Jibrin Camp), Abdallah al-Zghari (Fatah), Imad Aiad (Popular Committee),

Dr. Abed al-Fatah Abu Srour(Al- Rowwad Theater, Aida Camp), Adnan Ajarmeh (Rehabilitation of the Handicapped, Aida Camp), Mousa Abu Hashhash (Popular Right of Return Committee), Yousef Hilqawi (Popular Right of Return Committee), Mohamed Hilqawi (Popular Right of Return Committee), Mohamed Abu Alia (Fatah, Deheishe Camp), Ra'fat al-Jawabra (Fatah, al- Douha), Issa Qaraqa' (Palestinian Prisoners Club), Rajeh al- Till (Presidential Security), Ziad Hamad (Ibdaa' Cultural Center, Deheishe Camp),

Ziad Abbas (Ibdaa' Cultural Center), Hajar Hamdan (Women's Center, Deheishe Camp),Mohamed al-Sous (Popular Committee, Al-Fawwar Camp),Afif Ghatashe (Youth Activity Center, Al-Fawwar Camp),Khalil Al-Azza (Head, Popular Service Committee, Beit JibrinCamp), Bassam Abu Akar (Aida Camp), Kamal al-Qaisi (Secretary of the Popular Committee, Beit Jibrin Camp), Ziad al-Hmouz (Head, Popular Committee, Al-Fawwar Camp), Muna Muhaissen (Across-Borders Project, Deheishe Camp)