March 28, 2001
Escalation of the Intifada

"Al-Iyyam" (daily newspaper) report from Ramallah by Faris Tanina, March 21, 2001:

During the consultation meeting that was held (March 20) in the Palestinian Trade and Industry Office in Ramallah and Al-Bireh - following the call of Fatah's Supreme Council in the West Bank, in order to discuss the scope of the national activities in honor of Land Day and the convening of the Arab Summit - representatives of political bodies, official and popular institutions and the unions decided to escalate the Intifada activities, to organize torch-lit processions and to send the demands of the Palestinian people to the Arab leaders who will meet at the Arab Summit on March 27, 2001. They also called for the planting of trees and for the organization of marches towards the lands which are in danger of being expropriated, in order to mark Land Day.

During the meeting, the Secretary of the Supreme Council of Fatah in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti, called for the escalation of the Intifada and to turn the two days of the meeting of the Arab Summit and Land Day into days of escalation, during which there will be mass-participation processions, in order to demand that decisions that support the rights of the Palestinian people will be taken and that their expectations will come true.

Legislative Council member Azmi Al-Shaibi said: "The Israeli people elected a government of war and the meaning of this thing is the rejection of the peace process". He added: "Intifada activities which are carried out in a systematic manner will threaten this government". Al-Shaibi also called for the activities to be diversified and to organize some of the activities in the evening hours so as to expand popular participation in them and also to dedicate the current week to the memory of the martyrs and to hold torch-lit processions in remembrance of the mothers who were killed during the Intifada.

"Al-Hayat al-J'didah" (daily newspaper) report, March 26, 2001:

Fatah's Supreme Council called for the participants in the Arab Summit whose meeting will begin in Amman on March 27, 2001, to isolate the Sharon - Peres government from the Arab, regional and international standpoint and not to receive emissaries of this government in Arab capitals. The Council also called for the participants in the Summit to immediately sever diplomatic and economic relations between the Arab states and Israel and to act in order to ensure Arab - and not only international - protection for the people.

The Supreme Council asked the people to answer the call of the national and Islamic forces to consider the days of March 26-27, 2001 as days of escalation and massive popular procession in the framework of the struggle against Sharon's threats. The Council also called for the public to respond to the decision of the national and Islamic forces to proclaim the day of March 30, 2001 as a day of a general strike and processions.

The Council also praised the popular initiatives in everything connected to the organization of activities in all parts of the Homeland and noted that these activities truly reflect popular participation in the Intifada. In its announcement, Fatah's Supreme Council called for widespread participation in the upcoming weeks and months and for the quick application of the national decision to expand the frameworks of the Intifada and its committees.