We are republishing this article by Yacov Ben Efrat, from Challenge
magazine. He looks at the present struggle of the Palestinians and
shows that an internationalist solution is the only way forward.
While the number of Palestinians killed in the present Intifada reaches
nearly 300, Arafat is attempting to change the aims of the struggle. He
is hoping for some form of compromise with the Israeli government that
will allow him to bring the Intifada to an end. But the conditions on
the ground do not allow for a quick solution. Now Arafat is placing his
hopes in the United Nations. Decades of experience show that this is
not a solution. The Palestinian masses can only have confidence in
their own ability to struggle, together with the support of the workers
of the whole of the Middle East.
We are reproduced 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.
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.
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.
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