Israel & Palestine

In Israel things are beginning to change. On February 16, over 20,000 people demonstrated for peace. The demonstration was addressed by both Israeli and Palestinian speakers. What was even more significant was the presence of a delegation of the approximately 250 Israeli soldiers (including officers) who have refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. More than 400 Israeli soldiers have refused to serve in the Palestinian territories, and the number is growing daily. One opinion poll has revealed that 31% of the Israeli population supports these protesting soldiers.

A. Kramer sends us an update on the internal situation in Israel. He calls for a united front of stuggle to be built that can challenge reactionary Israeli imperialism and create the conditions for a profound transformation of the whole situation. That is the only hope for the future of both Israelis and Palestinians.

The Israeli ruling class were disappointed with the political results of the September 11 terrorist act. Contrary to their hopes, the American government did not include any Palestinian group on their list of "main terrorist organisations". Just two days after the terror attack in the USA, the Israeli military launched a brutal attack against the Palestinians. This was closely followed by the assassination of an Israeli minister, Rachavam Zeevi. Our correspondent reports on the situation.

The landslide victory of right-winger Ariel Sharon in the Israeli elections opens a new and convulsive period in the history of the Middle East. Barak's administration has been a complete disaster from every point of view. Under the pressure of US imperialism he attempted to reach a "compromise" with Arafat and the PLO leadership. As we predicted from the start, the Oslo agreement broke down. The problem is an insoluble one on a capitalist basis. Far from improving, the situation went from bad to worse. The farce of "peace" has ended. The Oslo agreement, already a stinking corpse, has now been officially buried.

We are reproducing some correspondence we had with a group of revolutionary Palestinian youth in January of this year. We have decided to publish it now in view of the recent events, because it clearly explains our position on individual terrorism and the tactics of the Intifada. The events of the last few days merely serve to underline the counterproductive nature of individual terrorism, which have, as the letter of Fred Weston explains, always led the Palestinians to defeat.

This is a letter from the Palestinian Socialist Students on the question of Arafat and the Arab leaders.

We republish here these two articles by Yacov Ben Efrat, from the Challenge Magazine which give a very interesting analysis of the current uprising in the Occupied Territories and amongst the Arabs in Israel

We republish here these two articles by Yacov Ben Efrat, from the Challenge Magazine which give a very interesting analysis of the current uprising in the Occupied Territories and amongst the Arabs in Israel.

It is URGENT we step up the solidarity campaign with the Palestinian Socialist Students. The Israeli army have targeted this organisation among the Palestinians, obviously because of its left and socialist orientation. As you know this is a Student Union organisation. It is called the USSC, Union of Secondary Student Committees. It has a Socialist orientation, and takes a militant stance.