>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Morale is a weapon >PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE STUNS ISRAEL, U.S. >By Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center > >For decades the struggle for Palestine's liberation has played a pivotal >role in the Arab people's struggle to break imperialism's stranglehold on >the Middle East. > >Although only a few million people, the Palestinians have been heroic in >their determination to survive as a nation. This struggle against >overwhelming odds despite many setbacks has revived again and >again. > >The courage of youths confronting Israeli tanks day after day with >stones and slingshots is once again changing the equation of forces in >the entire region. > >As powerful as the 1987 Intifada was, the scope of the new uprising is >greater. It has gone beyond the occupied territories, spreading within >the 1948 borders of Israel and mobilizing people throughout the Arab >world. > >Millions of outraged people have mobilized support, from Lebanon to >Egypt, Morocco and Yemen. The Palestinian struggle has aroused a >mass movement in these countries that inspires mortal fear in the thin >ruling strata. These demonstrations are increasingly targeting U.S. >imperialism. > >This new chapter in the Palestinian struggle began Sept. 28 when >Israeli general Ariel Sharon visited Jerusalem with over a thousand >troops to declare Israeli sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This >calculated provocation would have been impossible without the Barak >government's approval. > >Barak authorized a massive Israeli military presence the following day, >the Moslem day of prayers. As thousands streamed out of the mosque >after prayers, the first clashes began. Now a whole generation has >awakened to resistance. > >Divide and rule > >This new wave of resistance has brought down the whole U.S.- >orchestrated plan to use coercive diplomacy and overwhelming force to >impose a permanent state of dependent reservations or Bantustans on >the Palestinian people. > >The Oslo "peace process" provided that the Palestinian Authority would >administer these impoverished and fragmented cantons. A lightly armed >Palestinian police force was to collaborate with U.S. and Israeli overall >control and repress any forces that attempted resistance. > >Israel spent the seven years of negotiations building and reinforcing >settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. There are now over 170 >militarized settlements for over 200,000 Israeli settlers. The number of >settlers doubled during the "peace process." > >The Israeli regime uses the settlements to justify a large Israeli >military presence and an invasive system of super-highways >connecting the expanding settlements throughout the West Bank to >Israel. These highways also divide the Palestinian segments from each >other and from their center in Jerusalem. > >End of collaboration > >The plan was a calculated effort to divide and weaken the Palestinians >geographically--and even more important, politically. A key strategy of >the Oslo Accords was to subvert and co-opt a section of the Palestinian >movement and use it against the rest. > >As part of the peace process PA President Yasser Arafat's forces were >given tens of millions of dollars to combat "terrorism." This did not mean >reining in the ongoing terrorism of Israeli settlers, but Palestinian >police were supposed to arrest and jail all the forces committed to >continuing the fight against Israel. > >Now that an uprising has broken out, increased Israeli repression and >terror tactics have led to increased resistance with each passing day. >The U.S.-Israeli plan to shape a section of the Palestinian police into a >repressive army of collaboration has collapsed. > >In October, CIA Director George Tenet was shown on television seated >next to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and just across from >Arafat at a key meeting in Paris. But what has become of Tenet's >plans to build collaboration between the armed forces of oppressor and >oppressed? It has collapsed. Israel has launched a missile attack on >the headquarters of Arafat's personal security forces. The PA >responded by releasing all Palestinian political prisoners from jail. > >On Nov. 9 Israeli troops carried out a rocket attack and assassination of >Hussein Abayat, a regional commander of the Tanzim militia in the >West Bank. In return, on Nov. 11 Palestinian guerrillas ambushed two >armed settler-convoys, the first daylight operations by Palestinians in >Israeli-run areas of the West Bank. > >Morale and political unity decisive > >The balance in war is not decided by weapons alone. Though U.S.- >supplied Israeli weapons are far superior to the small arms of the >Palestinians, protracted struggle is decided by morale, by the level of >popular support and the level of political consciousness. > >Israel is facing a serious crisis of morale. Political divisions are >tearing the state apart. The escalating brutality and repression have >demoralized many. > >The whole Israeli state is built on the false promise of a secure and >prosperous lifestyle, heavily subsidized by Washington. Subsidized >housing, with large apartments, lush lawns, swimming pools and sports >clubs attracts Israeli settlers to the militarized West Bank settlements. > >But now, as Israeli violence escalates, Palestinian guerrilla fighters are >responding by targeting the settlements. Settlers travel only in armed >convoys. Many settlements are practically empty. > >In contrast, the Palestinians are more united and cohesive than they >have been in a decade. Their anger at seven years of fraudulent peace >talks while settlements expanded all around them has finally exploded. >Now each escalation in Israeli repression and terror tactics brings not >fear but new levels of outrage and organized resistance. > >Change in the whole region > >The heroic Palestinian youths who day after day challenge Israeli tanks >with stones and slingshots have inspired and aroused people >throughout the Middle East. Millions have taken to the streets in >solidarity with their struggle, denouncing not only Israel but U.S. >imperialism. > >In the last six weeks this shift in political climate has weakened U.S. >imperialism in the Middle East and unraveled its plans. > >Iraq, Syria and Iran are forging new relations. Iraq is openly >challenging the no-flight zones that U.S. and British aircraft carriers >and jet bombers have enforced with impunity for 10 years. Planes from >many countries are flying directly to Baghdad to challenge the >sanctions strangling the Iraqis. The charged political climate makes it >harder for the Pentagon to threaten or to intervene aggressively. > >Collapse of Israeli economy > >Washington's plans to make Israel the high-tech engine of the region >have collapsed. Promising business deals and trade offices have >closed. > >The crisis has derailed the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, a >European Union-inspired process to bring "southern Mediterranean" >countries into a free-trade area. Now Syria and Lebanon are >threatening a boycott because of Israel's participation. The real >beneficiaries of a free-trade zone are always the developed countries >with the strongest economies--the U.S., Israel and the West European >countries. > >The tourist industry, a mainstay of the Israeli economy, has totally >closed down. Flights to Tel Aviv are almost empty. The arrivals section >echoes. Departing flights are booked solid with no available seats. At >the airport and in every shopping or gathering area the mood is tense >and security is all-pervasive. > >U.S. tax dollars are once again the only real prop of the Israeli >economy. Congress has promised anew infusion of both military >hardware and economic subsidies. > >The military clampdown is even more destructive to the fragile >Palestinian economy. The enforced closing for weeks at a time of many >small businesses and endless roadblocks mean that it is difficult to get >to market even the olives and agricultural produce that are a mainstay >for many families. > >Workers can't get to their jobs. The 40,000 Palestinians who had >permits to work in Israel and the 60,000 who worked there illegally are >without an income. > >Although this creates enormous privation and hardship for the >Palestinians, it has also undermined joint business deals with Israel. >World Bank and International Monetary Fund long-term investment >projects that dramatically increased the dependence of the Palestinian >economy on Israel are the first casualties. Accommodation is no >longer an option for the thin layer of the population who benefited from >collaboration. > >A new era of continued resistance will revive the movement for the >liberation of Palestine. It will inspire anti-imperialist struggles >worldwide--and that will make it harder for the billionaire transnational >corporations to use oppressed countries as a cheap labor pool. > >The working-class and progressive movement here has a great stake in >this struggle. Its support for the righteous demands of the Palestinians-- >for full sovereignty, the right to an independent state with its capital in >Jerusalem and the right for return for all refugees--is vital. > >International Action Center >39 West 14th Street, Room 206 >New York, NY 10011 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >web: http://www.iacenter.org >CHECK OUT SITE > http://www.mumia2000.org >phone: 212 633-6646 >fax: 212 633-2889 >*To make a tax-deductible donation, >go to > http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. 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