From: New Worker Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 02:14:32 +0100 Condemn Zionist Aggression! by our Middle East Affairs Correspondent GUN BATTLES rage throughout occupied Palestine this week as the Arabs mark the anniversary of the end of old Palestine and the establishment of Israel based on Arab land and Arab blood. Millions of Palestinian Arabs at home or in the diaspora marked the Palestinian Catastrophe on Tuesday 15 May. On that day 53 years ago the Zionist entity was established in blood and nearly a million Palestinians were driven from their homes in the conflict which began in 1948 and continues to this day. In the Arab world it was marked by protests and solidarity demonstrations. In occupied Palestine the Zionists once again unleashed their army in another vain attempt to crush the spirit of resistance. Tens of thousands of young Palestinians marched in the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip demanding the right of some four million Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now called Israel. "No right of return - no peace" was one of the slogans. And at noon the sirens sounded and three minutes silence was observed for the 200,000 Palestinian Arab martyrs who gave their lives defending their rights. Afterwards Palestinian President Yasser Arafat denounced Israel for trying to "kill justice with tanks, rockets and helicopter gunships". And the veteran Palestinian leader slated the West for "hypocrisy, double standards and silence in face of overwhelming oppression against the Palestinians". Arafat stressed that a just and lasting peace in the Middle East would not come with Israel's total withdrawal from all the territories occupied in 1967 including Arab East Jerusalem as well as the implementation of the right of return for the refugees in accordance with UN resolution 194. But on the streets it was also business as usual for the Israeli army and the Zionist settler gangs. Last Monday five Palestinian policemen were killed by Israeli fire - what Israel later called a "mistake" and two more Arabs were murdered by the Zionists. More Arabs died in clashes during the week while the Palestinian militias killed an Israeli settler and wounded many more in resistance actions. Arafat called the murderous attack on his Palestinian Authority police a "dirty assassination act, immoral and non-military" and demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to halt the brutal criminal acts of the Zionists against his people. Israeli army chief, General Shaul Mofaz made a belated admission on Wednesday that his men could have opened fire incorrectly. "If it appears that an error was made, we will not be ashamed to admit our mistake," he said. Needless to say no apology let alone compensation has been forthcoming from Tel Aviv. In the Egyptian capital, Cairo, Arafat made another call for an international summit to discuss the findings of the international panel headed by former US Senator George Mitchell. "The commission was set up by the Sharm el Sheikh summit and that summit must reconvene to discuss the commission's report," Arafat declared. But there's not much chance of that. The Mitchell report called on Israel to halt all new settler building on stolen Arab land but Tel Aviv has rejected the demand for a freeze on the expansion of Jewish settlements. Israeli raids into Palestinian "autonomous" areas are increasing on the orders of General Sharon, the reactionary Israeli premier who believes he can drown the uprising in Arab blood. Anger is spreading throughout the Arab and Muslim world. The Arab League issued a statement at the beginning of the week holding Israel responsible for the violence and stressing that the current Sharon administration was a war government rather than a government of peace. The Arab League called on the sponsors of the UN and Middle East "peace process" along with the European Union and People's China to move swiftly to halt Israeli aggression and ensure international protection for the Palestinians. This was echoed by Abdul Wahid Balqaziz, the Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, in a similar appeal. In Washington the Bush administration does nothing, thinking like Sharon, that the uprising will burn itself out, and that the Arabs will soon come crawling on their knees to the imperialists and Zionists. That's been their hope and prayer for 53 years. But the torch of resistance lit in 1948 has been picked up by generation after generation, and its flames will rage until the Palestinians win. New Communist Party of Britain Homepage http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk A news service for the Working Class! Workers of all countries Unite! Knowledge is Power! Elimination of the exploitation of man by man http://www.egroups.com/group/pttp/ POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change Delivery Options: http://www.egroups.com/mygroups Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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