ISRAELI ARMY THREATENS WIDER WAR AS PALESTINIANS  STAND UP/ U.S. BACK REPRESSION BY APARTHEID REGIME

By Richard Becker, Western Region Coordinator, IAC

Oct. 11, 2000--The new Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, continues, backed  by millions marching in the streets throughout the Arab  world. At the same time, the Israeli army, backed by the  United States, continues its deadly repression. Since Sept.  29 at least 90 Palestinians have been killed and more than  2,500 seriously wounded.

On Oct. 9, the Middle East appeared to be on the brink of  war. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's ultimatum to  Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat--to end the  Intifada or face "the full force" of an Israeli army attack  in the West Bank and Gaza--was set to expire.

That day the front page of the New York Times revealed that  the Israeli military command "was weighing a major strike  against Lebanon and Syria."

Such a momentous decision could lead to the overturning of  the established order in this strategically key region.  Therefore, it could not be made by Israel alone. Top U.S.  officials intervened, forcing Barak to back off--at least  for the moment.

As of Oct. 11, a furious round of diplomatic  moves is underway. In addition to U.S. representatives, a  familiar cast of diplomatic players has appeared on the  scene, including United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan  and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. In the past, both  diplomats have advanced U.S. interests in the region.

The U.S. ruling class fears that while the Israelis might  achieve a short-term military victory, the long-term consequences could be catastrophic for its interests in Middle East.

One very real scenario could be the collapse of the  genocidal sanctions against Iraq. As anger against the  United States and Israel has risen, so has the number of  Middle East governments defying Washington by flying planes  to Baghdad loaded with humanitarian relief.

Even the most compliant regimes, like those in Saudi Arabia,  Kuwait and Jordan, have been compelled to create at least  the impression of distance from Washington's anti- Palestinian policy.

DECADES OF SUFFERINGPROPEL OUTRAGE

Behind the immediate mass outrage in the area lie decades of  suffering and humiliation at the hands of imperialism.  Israel is almost universally seen in the Middle East as a  settler, garrison state, established--at the Palestinians'  expense--to safeguard the interests of the Western  imperialists.

In this oil-rich region, the masses live in poverty while a  thin layer at the top lives in luxury. These rulers serve as  the junior partners of Washington, London and Paris.

The inherent instability of the situation is well understood  by the strategists of the U.S. national security apparatus.  They also know that nothing is more destabilizing than war.

At the same time, the United States and Israel are proposing  no viable solutions to the crisis. So the danger of a new  and wider Middle East war remains very real.

The Israelis, who have military superiority thanks to  massive U.S. assistance, would like to shoot their way out  of the crisis. It is certainly possible that U.S. decision- makers could still reach the same conclusion.

ISRAELI FASCIST PROVOKES UPRISING

The latest uprising began on Sept. 28, when the notorious  war criminal Gen. Ariel Sharon and his entourage invaded the  Haram al-Sharif, site of the Al-Aksa and Dome of the Rock  mosques. The site is revered by Muslims worldwide and  administered by Islamic and Palestinian authorities.

Sharon presided over the massacres of more than 2,000  Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in  Lebanon in 1982. He is known as a virulent anti-Arab racist.

His "visit" was intended to affirm Israeli control of Haram  al-Sharif. It was a gross insult and provocation to the  Palestinians, who fought back, despite the fact that Sharon  was accompanied by over 1,000 Israeli troops.

The next day, 2,000 Israeli soldiers surrounded people  coming to the mosques for Friday prayers. Intense fighting  broke out and rapidly spread throughout the West Bank, Gaza  and inside the 1948 borders of Israel, where more than 1  million Palestinians--called "Israeli Arabs" by the media  here--live.

Some Palestinian Authority police joined in the fighting,  siding with the people, after the Israeli Army began to fire  indiscriminately into crowds armed only with stones.

In addition to the nearly 90 Palestinians killed, hundreds  more have suffered disabling injuries. On the Israeli side,  four have died.

Despite this enormous disparity, U.S. Ambassador to the UN  Richard Holbrooke abstained on a Security Council vote  condemning the Israeli brutality. Holbrooke said the  resolution was "one-sided" and that "Israelis are dying,  too." The resolution passed 14-0 with the U.S. abstaining.

Washington didn't veto the resolution out of fear that it  could provoke widespread anti-U.S. revolts in the Middle  East and beyond. But the abstention makes clear that the  United States is far from being the "honest broker" it  pretends to be.

Despite the lethal repression, the new Intifada has spread  to virtually every city and town in the West Bank and Gaza.

RACIST MOBS BACKED BY ISRAELI GOV'T

Inside the 1948 Israeli borders, an unprecedented,  widespread rebellion broke out. Palestinians inside Israel  are concentrated in the northern part of the country, with  the largest concentration living in Nazareth.

While the "Israeli Arabs" are citizens, they face heavy  discrimination in jobs, housing, social services and every  other respect. Their communities receive few development  funds from the central government.

Sitting above Arab Nazareth is the well-to-do Israeli town  of Nazareth Illit. On Oct. 9, thousands of Israelis came  down the hill to attack the Arab residents, shops, mosques  and churches in Nazareth.

The Nazareth authorities called for help. According to press  accounts, when the Israeli police showed up, a number of  Palestinians were backed into alleys. They fought  desperately with stones to hold off their attackers.

The Israeli police pulled back the racist mob, then opened  fire on the trapped Palestinians. Two were killed and  several wounded.

Similar attacks were reported in many cities, including  Haifa, Bat Yam and Tiberias. The same day in Tel Aviv, more  than 500 Israelis chanting "Death to the Arabs" set fire to  a restaurant because they thought there were Palestinian  workers in the kitchen.

These attacks bear an indisputable similarity to the anti- Semitic pogroms that targeted oppressed Jewish people in pre- 1917 Russia, Poland and other European countries.

In the West Bank, fascist settlers protected by the military  launched many attacks. They besieged small villages, smashed  cars with Palestinian license plates and attempted to burn  down mosques and churches.

U.S. MEDIA DRAW EQUAL SIGN

The U.S. corporate media have attempted to draw a false  equal sign between the Palestinian uprising and the Klan- like Israeli mob attacks.

But there is no similarity between the two. The Palestinians  are waging a just struggle against a brutal and illegal  occupation. Even under bourgeois international law, they  have the right to fight to liberate themselves from  occupation by whatever means they choose.

The Israeli fascists and their followers, on the other hand,  are using mob violence and terror to crush any challenge to  their racist apartheid-style state. In this respect, their  attacks are reminiscent of white racist assaults on African  American communities in the United States after World War I.  Those assaults were meant to crush the mood of Black  assertiveness that arose out of the war.

The Palestinians' long, determined and heroic struggle  richly deserves the support of all those who fight for  economic and social justice. Against incredible odds, the  Palestinians have stood against the militarized Israeli  state and U.S. imperialism's plans for domination in the  Middle East.

The latest developments make crystal clear that there will  be no peace until there is real justice for the Palestinian  people--including a truly independent state with its capital  in Jerusalem and the right of the 5 million Palestinian  refugees to come home. And there will be no peace in the  Middle East as a whole until the United States gets out.

 

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PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE