By Mahmoud Al Abed
English News Editor
Politically-minded people must remember that in the 1970s, the Palestinian struggle was marked by bitter ideological feuding. Especially in Jordan, people may recall that many politically-oriented mosque imams dedicated much of their Friday sermons to attacking Baathists, communists and other leftists as kuffar or non-Muslims, while the other camp was calling Islamists “reactionaries” held over from the dark ages.
But those who have read the news and watched TV coverage of the assassination and funeral of Abu Ali Mustapha, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader and PLO founder, must have realized how badly Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had erred by “liquidating” the leftist Palestinian leader.
An old woman, speaking to Abu Dhabi satellite channel at the funeral, had to struggle to remember the names of all the Palestinian factions’ military wings. But in the end, she called on not one, but all of them to take revenge for the murdered leader.
The next clip showed an interview with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mishaal, who vowed that his group would retaliate for the murder, putting aside all ideological differences in order to achieve one goal: the liberation of a land and a people.
Similar vows have been made by all Palestinian movements, as well as PA officials.
The latest Intifada has united the Palestinians in one front against the 34-year-old Israeli occupation, the US military support it receives, and the helplessness of the Arab governments to do something about Israeli aggression.
National unity has been bought with the spilled blood of Abu Ali Mustapha and the rest of the resistance fighters, rendering all Palestinians, from President Arafat to the youngest stone-thrower in the streets of Gaza and the West Bank, blood brothers.
For this contribution, at least, Ariel Sharon will one day be known for helping to found the country of Palestine.
