Volume 1, No. 9, November 2000

Palestine:

For A New Intifada

Patience has its limits. Finally the Middle East has exploded once again. The draculan fangs of the Zionists are yet again crudely exposed, camouflaged earlier by ‘peace talks’. They have come out with their naked brutality. Over the last three weeks from September 28, 120 Palestinians have been killed and 4,000 injured. Of those killed 26 were below 20 years, and of the injured, 1000 were children.

Years of fake ‘peace talks’ by the US stooge Yasser Arafat, has tried the patience of the Palestinian people. The fraudulent ‘Palestinian Authority’ with its illusory powers, was another blow to the discerning Palestinians. And the final straw that broke all illusions of a settlement came with the failure of the Camp David talks where Arafat was closeted with the two international gangsters Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, for a full 14 days. A full fortnight of secret negotiations, with not even an appearance of a settlement, raised Palestinian’s anger not only against the Zionists, but their puppet leader, Arafat. The only ‘power’ Arafat had, as head of the Palestinian Authority, was to police the Palestinians and prevent them from violent actions against the Zionists. This dangerous conspiracy, hatched by the US-Zionist fascists, of using Palestinians to kill Palestinians, is now on the verge of collapse. In the present upsurge even the Palestinian police, have once again turned their guns on the Israelis. The prisons, housing Palestinian rebels, have been forced open, and the fighters are once again amongst the people, having broken Arafat’s chains.

The spark for the present conflagration was ignited on September 28, when that notorious butcher, Ariel Sharon, paid a visit to Jerusalem’s holiest site, the Al-aqsa mosque compound, which also houses the Jewish Temple Mount.

Sharon, the chairman of the opposition Likud party, is Israel’s most notorious butcher, having the blood of thousands of Arabs on his hand, since the past 50 years. In the early 1950s, as head of the infamous Unit 101, it was he who led the massacre of innocent women and children. Since then, he has been personally involved in a series of massacres and butcheries.

Hundreds of demonstrators protested against Sharon’s provocative visit to the compound that contains two of Islam’s most venerated mosques. This was the spark that ignited the conflagration. The Israeli police viciously attacked the demonstrators (which included Palestinian police) injuring 30. With this, Palestinian youth came out with fiery attacks on Israeli forces throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip and in Jerusalem. With years of rage bottled up, they mounted reckless charges against a fully armed Israeli army. Using stones, rocks, sling-shots and petrol bombs, wave-upon-wave of young Palestinians launched attacks against Israeli forces. They took control of the religious site on the town of Nablus (West Bank) forcing the Israeli army out. Palestinian gunmen, infact, intensified shooting attacks on Israeli positions after hearing of Barak’s 48-hour ultimatum to end the conflagration.

In Lebanon, Palestinian refugees marched to the border with Israel, and many were mowed down by enemy guns. In retaliation, the pro-Iran Hizbollah guerrillas attacked Israeli positions and captured three Israeli soldiers. Later, they also captured an Israeli army colonel, linked with Israeli intelligence. This action threw the Israelis into a panic.

Israel responded with a brutality that far exceeded the level of the struggle. They rushed commandos to the north and their bombers, gun-ships, artillery and naval units shelled Hizbollah targets. Their tanks and bulldozers destroyed buildings in the Gaza strip. Israeli tanks shot with machine guns on Palestinian positions on the West Bank. Israel sealed off the entire Gaza strip and ringed the Palestinian towns with tanks. International crossing points between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and between the West Bank and Jordan were blockaded. In effect, Palestinians were put into separate geographical boxes with Israeli military helicopters hovering overhead.

In addition Israeli helicopter gun-ships fired rockets on select Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A Palestinian TV station, that was propagating the Palestinian view, was completely destroyed. Also, Israeli helicopters hit Palestinian targets near Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah and in Gaza city, hours after Palestinians lynched two Israeli soldiers.

There was an outburst throughout the world in support for the Palestinian cause and against Israeli brutality. All the Arab and muslim countries saw militant and violent protests against Israeli and US targets. So strong were people’s feelings, that even Arab governments were forced to make anti-Israeli statements.

Also, many clashes took place in other countries of the world. In South Africa, a protest rally broke out into violence. Demonstrators, chanting anti-Israeli, anti-US slogans, burnt Israeli and American flags, smashed a McDonald’s outlet, destroyed a number of cars and set one on fire. In Sydney, in Australia, a group of men broke from a 2,500-strong crowd of protesters and tried to storm the US consulate. In Paris demonstrators set fire to a Jewish school and synagogue. In London, militant demonstrations were held and a Jew was stabbed in broad daylight, in front of hundreds of people.

What frightened the US the most was the daring bomb attack on the warship USS Cole at the port of Aden in Yemen. In this attack 17 US military sailors were killed and 22 seriously injured. This was followed by an attempt to blow up the British embassy in Yemen. So panic-stricken are the Americans that they immediately ordered the closure of 37 of the Embassies and Consulates in various countries, particularly those in West Asia, the Persian Gulf and North Africa.

The Summit called by Clinton in Egypt, was a farce from the start. It comprised US puppets from Egypt and Jordon; it played down the participation of Russia, in case they make inroads into the volatile situation; it was held with Palestine under a virtual state of siege; and was attended by UN secretary general Kofi Annan, who had spent his time attempting to free the Israeli soldiers from the control of the Hizbollah. Prior to this the US Security Council called for an ‘objective inquiry’ into the events but stopped short of accepting the Palestinian demand for an International Commission. Israel rejected both calls, while the US abstained from the Security Council vote which was passed 14-0.

The summit ended with a vague verbal call for a ceasefire, with no written agreement. It is obvious the situation has gone well beyond any fake ‘peace talks’ and Arafat’s acrobatics may no longer be able to fool the Palestinian people.

Though Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs have since been meeting to work out the modalities for enforcing and monitoring the ceasefire, clashes continue throughout the region. As we go to the press over two hundred Palestinians have been killed and 7,000 injured in bitter battles. Besides, militant groups like the Hamas and Islamic Jehad, have declared that the summit understanding is not applicable to them and that they will go on with the struggle.

The Indian rulers, in a vague statement, drafted along the US standpoint, called for peace in the region. It mentioned not a word against Israeli brutality. Such a neutral position by both the US and Indian governments amounts to a de-facto support to Israel. While the US openly backs Israel, and seeks to utilise their influence on Arafat to broker a pro-Israeli agreement; the Indian rulers have, for the first time, given up their ‘pro-Arab’ stand, and joined the Zionists. It is not surprising therefore, that Jaswant Singh’s much publicised three-day visit to Saudi Arabia was cancelled by the Saudi Arabian government at the last moment. Later, in typical BJP-style double speak, they supported a UN resolution, together with 92 others condemning Israel’s excessive use of force.

Today, the US-Israeli gangsters stand more isolated than ever before.

Of late, country after country have openly flouted the UN air embargo on Iraq. The widely attended Arab Summit on Palestinian events called for limited action against Israel, but fell short of the Arab people’s demand to break off all ties with Israel.

The people of the world have come out in open opposition; the other imperialist powers are silent on events in the Middle East, hoping to increase their inroads into the region; and even the most pro-US third world rulers are afraid to come out in open support of the US and the Zionists. But, in the final analysis it is only the people’s force that will be able to smash these international gangsters. The Palestinians would need a new intifada, replacing sling-shots and stones, with guns and bullets; and replacing open suicidal attacks with guerrilla warfare. Death to the Zionists and their US backers is the clarion call of the world’s oppressed people, specifically those in the Arab countries, and Palestine.

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