Letters we have received from Students in Palestine, giving a flavour of what is happening inside the West Bank.

He gives his interpretation of the situation, together with an account of how Jews have been patrolling Arab neighbourhoods to defend the Arabs against possible attacks from right-wing Jewish reactionaries. There is also an appeal from an Israeli activist who has suffered beatings at the hands of the Israeli police.

The scenes of massacre and mayhem in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank have aroused general indignation and condemnation throughout the world. Almost one hundred people - almost all of them Palestinians - have so far been killed by the Israeli army of occupation.

After 22 years of the military occupation of South Lebanon, Israel's withdrawal marks an important change in the situation. Fred Weston looks at the history of Israel's occupation, the current state of the "peace process" and outlines an internationalist way forward.

Once again, the Middle East "peace process" hangs by a thread. The recent riots and gun battles throughout the West Bank and Gaza, which left hundreds wounded and a number dead, reveal the enormous frustration at the results of the "peace process" and the failure to end years of Israeli occupation.

The election of Ehud Barak as Israel's new prime minister was heralded as a new breakthrough aimed at ending "the 100 year conflict" in the Middle East. Barak promised to withdraw from Lebanon in 15 months and honour the Wye river agreement by October. However the situation simply marks a new stage in the conflict between Zionism and imperialism and the Arab masses.