FRFI 161 June / July 2001

The last two months have seen a serious escalation in Zionist violence against the Palestinian people. However, huge Palestinian demonstrations on Nakba Day – the anniversary of the foundation of the Israeli state on 15 May 1948 – show that the Al Aqsa Intifada is undefeated. General Sharon’s boast that he would break Palestinian resistance has proved empty.

The litany of Zionist violence reached a new level when on 18 May F16 jets pounded Nablus on the West Bank, killing eight people, and one more in an air raid on Ramallah. The same day, the Zionists unleashed a missile attack on Gaza; more air raids took place the following day. In the weeks beforehand:

• On 15 May, the anniversary of the nakba, or catastrophe, Israeli snipers shot dead two stone throwers in Ramallah on the West Bank, and also shot a French TV journalist.
• The previous day, Israeli troops executed five Palestinian policemen aged 17 to 29 at a checkpoint near Ramallah. The same day they shot dead two more Palestinians in Gaza. Israeli helicopter and naval gunships shelled Palestinian security forces installations in Gaza.
• On 9 May, Israeli tanks and bulldozers invaded the Rafah camp again in Gaza. Shrapnel from heavy machine guns hit three-month-old Reema Ahmed. One piece remained lodged in her skull.
• Two days earlier, Israeli tanks shelled the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza, killing four-month-old Iman Hijjo and seriously injuring her 19-year-old mother. Four other members of the family were also injured by shrapnel.

By the middle of May, over 450 Palestinian people had been murdered. 13,500 had been injured, one in five by live gunfire. Over 1,000 have been left permanently maimed. Many have been shot with modern small calibre bullets: 5.56mm rounds from M16 rifles. Small bullets such as these cartwheel within the body and disintegrate into hundreds of fragments. It is like a small explosion, with an effect far more horrific than larger rounds which pass straight through.

For weeks, the Israeli army has repeatedly invaded Palestinian Authority territory on the West Bank and in Gaza. Houses have been shelled and bulldozed. Blockades have continued, raising unemployment to levels of 45% and reducing half the population into acute poverty. In an effort to defend their actions, Zionist propagandists have pointed to the continuing attacks on illegal settlers. They are however legitimate targets: right-wing fundamentalists who campaign for the Palestinian people to be expelled from the West Bank and Gaza altogether. Their illegal occupation is maintained by force of arms, and settlers are regularly involved in attacks on Palestinian villages. Nevertheless, deaths of settlers and especially their children get far more media exposure than the far greater number of Palestinian people who have died at the hands of Israel.

Debates are now taking place within the Intifada about the way forward: whether the military struggle should be confined to the Occupied Territories or carried into the heart of the Zionist monster itself. What is at present missing is any accounting for the role of the Arafat administration, for, despite everything, Arafat is determined to return to the negotiating table. Despite the constant Israeli invasions, there have been numerous contacts between Palestinian and Israeli security officials. Palestinian security forces have attempted to restrain the tanzims. Sharon has made it clear that he will not give up any more of the Occupied Territories beyond the 42% that is within nominal Palestinian control. His government has voted to allocate £200m to expanding existing settlements. The only issue that Arafat can negotiate over now is ending the settlement expansion programme – Sharon has ruled out everything else. Yet the central question facing the Palestinian people is not setting limits on the extent of the Israeli occupation, but ending it altogether. As Israel moves towards total war against the Palestinian people, the need for active international solidarity grows ever more pressing.

End Zionist terror! Isolate the Zionist state! Victory to the Palestinian people!

Robert Clough

Labour collusion with Israel

In the early days of the Intifada, Labour distinguished itself by refusing to condemn the extreme violence of the Israeli army when it came before the UN Security Council. In April, Britain abstained when the UN Security Council voted on a motion to send an international observer force (armed with notebooks and pencils). Although the US vetoed it, the fact that Britain and other European countries on the Council abstained encouraged Sharon to believe he could escalate the war without fear of retaliation.

Meanwhile, the EU has turned a blind eye to an Israeli fraud which takes advantage of the position it has as a favoured trading partner. Evidence has emerged that Israel has been re-branding produce from other countries such as Brazil and exporting it to Europe as Israeli. More seriously, it has forced Palestinian producers to export their produce via Israel. Hence much ‘Israeli’ produce is in fact produced by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Because the Palestinian producers know that if they do not hand it over, the Zionists will refuse to allow it out of the country, they have had to succumb to this naked economic colonialism. In addition, produce from the illegal settlements is also being branded as being of Israeli origin. Asked whether Britain would agree to the termination of the trading agreement using a clause on human rights, Robin Cook responded by citing a separate one about the right to take essential security measures. He then added ‘any EU moves towards suspension of the agreement on human rights grounds would involve lengthy and difficult negotiations with Israel on the relative weight to be attached to these two articles. These negotiations would leave little room for anything else in the EU-Israel relationship.’ No reference to the Palestinians: just a complaint that negotiating with Israel is just too bothersome. Some ‘ethical’ foreign policy. It shows the need for all supporters of Palestinian freedom to continue with the campaign to boycott Israeli produce and those companies such as Marks and Spencer which profit from Zionism.