OPINION Wednesday, November 15, 1989 Page 4 The Michigan Doily Independence for Palestine '"Now by virtue of the national historic and legal rights of the Palestinian people in their homeland, Palestine, and the sacrifices of successive generations who gave of themselves in defense of the freedom and independence of their homeland ... The Palestine National Council, in the name of God, and in the name of the Palestinian Arab people on our Palestinian territory, with its capital Jerusalem." Palestinian Declaration of Independence: November 15, 1988.' Today, Palestinians from all over the world will be celebrating the first an- niversary of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. Many years of struggle against the foreign occupation of their homeland and the denial of ba- sic human, political, and national rights have finally materialized into a clear and undeniable message to the world: the Palestinian people need and will ac- cept nothing less than self-determina- tion in an independent state in Pales- tine. In November 1947, the United Na- tions (comprising almost exclusively western powers) partitioned historic Palestine - without consulting its Arab inhabitants - into two states. As a result nearly 500,000 Palestinians found themselves residents of a Jewish State, a state established on most of historic Palestine. The founders of the new country, Is- rael, were not long content with what they had achieved. They soon set out to seize the remainder of historic Palestine and drive the indigenous people off the land. More than 900,000 Palestinians were made refugees in a war of con- quest, and they have never been permitted to return to their homes. Those who were able to remain within what became Israel faced discrimination and have since been relegated to the status of third class citizens on their own soil. In 1967, Israel launched another war of aggression, aimed at acquiring the Palestinian land occupied, and held with military force, by Egypt and Jor- dan since 1948 - the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As a result, thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave Palestine. Those who stayed have tried to carry on with their lives under the military occupation which continues to this day. The measures adopted by the Israelis to control the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza were even more re- pressive than those of the Egyptians and Jordanians. Policies and practices were adopted to destroy all expressions of Palestinian national identity and to erase Palestinian history. Villages were renamed, nationalist poetry and litera- ture were outlawed and political leaders and activists were exiled from their homeland permanently. formations. The Israeli government goes on with its repressive and racist policies, but the intifadah is forging links between all Palestinians, and bringing everyone - from the young to the old, women and men - into the struggle for freedom. The role of Palestinian women has changed dramatically in the last few 'But in December 1987, after more than twenty years of military occupation, the intifadah, a unified Palestinian uprising, emerged. Since that time, the intifadah has become the voice of the Palestinian people and has forced the world to see them as a people with legitimate political and cultural aspirations.' But in December 1987, after more than twenty years of military occupa- tion, the intifadah, a unified Palestinian uprising, emerged. Since that time, the intifadah has become the voice of the Palestinian people and has forced the world to see them as a people with le- gitimate political and cultural aspira- tions. Now nearly two years old, the in- tifadah has developed sophisticated and liberating infrastructures for life under military occupation. Though Israeli re- pression of Palestinian self determina- tion is nearly total, Palestinians have found ways to seize control of their own lives, usually at tremendous physical risk. Since the intifadah, the Israeli Iron Fist has responded by increased brutal- ity at every level. Over 700 Palestinians - mostly youth - have been killed and the rate of arrest is one in every three. Administrative detention -- de- tention without charge, trial or access to legal advice - has been increased to one year. Hundreds of people have been made refugees through the demo- lition and seizure of homes and land. As the Intifadah enters its twenty- forth month, Palestinian society con- tinues to undergo tremendous trans- years. Women have assumed roles of leadership in the resistance and play an essential role in the effort to create co- operatives and alternative schools. At the same time of its Declaration of Independence, the Palestine National Council formally accepted United Na- tions Resolutions 242 and 338 which implicitly recognize Israel. The accep- tance of 242 and 338 as a basis for ne- gotiations in addition to Arafat's deci- sion to recognize Israel's right to exist represent major concessions on the part of the Palestinian leadership. It is clear that the Israelis are not prepared to re- ciprocate as they continue on their path of rejectionism. Israel still refuses to negotiate with the PLO, the sole, legit- imate representative of the Palestinian people; they refuse to discuss the pos- sibility of returning one inch of occu- pied Palestine and they continue the il- legal seizure of land and property. The message of the Palestinian peo- ple today is clear: it is perfectly possi- ble for there to be peaceful coexistence with Israel, but it has to be based on equity and on mutual recognition. In spite of the many attempts by the Israeli government to destroy all remnants of Palestinian national identity, the in- tifadah will continue. 4 The above painting by a Palestinian artist living in Gaza is a symbol of the Palestinian struggle for independence. At the bottom he has included the date 11/15/1988, written partly in Arabic - the day of the Declaration of Palestinian Independence. Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan '::.:." cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion :.:;,,. . 2 }' * '' " ":* . of the Daily. I so Woo 'U' not for weapons TODAY AND Friday the Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) and the Los Alamos National Labs (LANL) will be recruiting physicists and students at the University for em- ployment. The LLNL and LANL are the two principle nuclear weapons labs in the U.S. They have designed every warhead in the United States' nuclear arsenal and are currently developing the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), more commonly known as "Star Wars" along with nuclear first-strike weapons. In light of the end of the Cold War and the globally destabilizing effects that their research is widely believed to have, the activities of these two labs must be described as dangerous. By bringing weapons labs like these to recruit and do research on campus, the University irresponsibly promotes the potential destruction that these weapons represent. These labs work to undermine the process of strategic nuclear weapons negotiations. While the United States signs treaties with the Soviet Union to eliminate intermediate and short range nuclear weapons, these organizations demic freedom. They argue that un- classified research will become classi- fied research and will restrict the ex- change of information with foreign colleagues. Many scientists conclude that the University should try harder to bring socially responsible organiza- tions to campus that study issues like the energy and environmental crisis. These weapons labs are able to hide behind a veil of ignorance when faced with these charges because they work for the seemingly benign Department of Energy (DOE). However, close analysis of the DOE budget reveals that more money is spent on nuclear weapons research than on energy re- search. John Holdren, a physics pro- fessor at the University of California has called the DOE "the Department of Nuclear Weapons and Energy." One only has to look to President Duderstadt and the Board of regents to see why these organizations work with the University. Duderstadt has worked at both the LLNL and LANL and has done significant research on laser fu- sion that is valuable to the develop- ment of new nuclear weapons. Two years ago, the Board of Regents elimi- nated a clause from the bylaws that prohibited classified research that 0 The First Anniversay of th& Palestinian Declaration of Independence and voice your support for the people of Pick up tomorrow's Daily for the second installment of Mike Sobel's four-part series on the origins of the AIDS virus. LV ~UWXIF1 ~d k~1 A V i i '