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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
One of the Israeli practices that has to stop, he says, is the killing of Palestinian militants in so-called targeted assassinations. Badawi assumes he is on Israel's list of Palestinian militants marked for death and takes precautions. One of his offices is in a building used by civilians, which, he says reassuringly, will not be targeted by the Israeli guns and missiles positioned on the hills surrounding this West Bank town: "They wouldn't dare," he says. On the walls of the office, Yasser Arafat's portrait is the only one of a living person; the others are all legendary martyrs for the cause: the PLO's commander Abu Jihad, the PFLP's Abu Ali Mustafa and Nasser's younger brother Yasser, one of the founders of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Yasser was 30 years old when he died, the victim of an Israeli missile fired from a nearby hill, says his brother. The Israelis maintain he was killed in a so-called "work accident," shot by one of his own men. Yasser was a dyed-in-the-wool militant from the Balata refugee camp, a nationalist stronghold, whom the Israelis deported to Jordan during the first intifada.
The current round of fighting was sparked by the Israeli assassination of the Brigades' commander Raed Karmi in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, says Badawi. "Then we decided to hit inside Israel as well. The occupier doesn't understand anything except violence." The attacks are not only meant as revenge, he says: They are intended "to shatter Israeli society that has elected Ariel Sharon as its prime minister." The Palestinians know Israel's might and that it can attack anywhere at will, he says, but adds that now the Israelis are being made to feel "that we too can reach anywhere we want."
Badawi acknowledges that attacks inside Israel proper carry a political price, but he thinks they are worth it because they keep the Israelis off balance. Besides, from his point of view there is really no difference between attacks in the occupied territories and those inside Israel, since "they also attack our population." The tactic is working too, Badawi says: "They are afraid now." He is strengthened in that perception by recent concessions made by Sharon. The prime minister has given up on his demand for seven days of total calm before negotiations can resume. "It means nothing to us, it is an internal Israeli matter, but we do see it as a victory for our tactics."
The recent Israeli offensive against the Palestinians, in which the army invaded cities, villages and refugee camps, blew up houses, arrested thousands of people and killed hundreds, was totally ineffective, maintains Badawi. "They didn't arrest anybody important." Rather than hinder the Brigades, it helped them, he claims. "Because they hurt the civilian population we received even more support than before." He brags that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades don't have a problem finding suicide bombers, or volunteers for "martyrdom operations" as the Palestinians call them: "They come in the thousands."
The Brigades will exact vengeance for the Israeli offensive, he says, but he remains deliberately vague about whether that will also be the case if the political leaders decide on a cease-fire. Even then, he says, "the Al Aqsa Brigades will remain active," though what that entails he won't divulge.
For the moment, Badawi believes there's no use even talking about a cease-fire, despite the Israeli withdrawal from Area A, where the Palestinian Authority is supposed to exercise full control. "There's nothing on the ground that indicates that the fighting will end -- not even Zinni can change that." He resents the cease-fire drive's focus on security: "We want political negotiations parallel with the security talks." For a commander of a military movement who says he has no direct contact with the political leaders, he toes the official line remarkably closely.
Badawi says he has little faith in Zinni's mission, because "the Americans are clearly biased towards Israel." He blames the U.S. for having given Sharon the green light for the all-out offensive against the Palestinians, and doesn't think that Washington has changed its attitude. He dismisses as window dressing the recent U.S.-drafted U.N. resolution calling for a Palestinian state, U.S. statements criticizing Israel, and the return of Zinni. "That is only propaganda, to please the Arab countries so that Cheney can pave the way for an American strike against Iraq." Badawi has kinder words for the Saudi Arabian peace initiative, although he criticizes its failure to mention the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are not just an armed gang, Badawi says proudly: He insists that the group has clear political objectives. "We are Fatah people and we accepted Oslo. The problem is that the Israelis didn't stick to their word." He says that the Brigades are completely different from Hamas and Jihad, because "there is a different political vision. We are fighters but we hope to have peace."
The Brigades have become a force to be reckoned with, one that cannot be ignored in the run-up to a cease-fire and even during subsequent political negotiations. The question now is whether the Fatah-based group, having taken over the leading militant position in the intifada, will do as it says and obey the Palestinian Authority if it does decide to suspend the uprising -- or if, like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it will decide to follow the path of war.
