Palestine: solidarity with the intifada!
APPEAL FROM PALESTINIAN STUDENTS
The influence of Zionism inside the western labour movement has meant that the mass slaughter of Palestinians since 28 September by Israel has met with a muted response from the workers' movement and left.
Especially deserving of our solidarity are those who bear the brunt of Israel's death squads and also seek to forge an alternative leadership to Fatah inside the Occupied Territories; amiong them are socialist students on the campuses of the West Bank, some influenced by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Stalinist and Arab nationalist influenced organisation.
We reprint here a letter received from the Marxist group urging solidarity with some of these forces.
"Dear comrades,
At least three socialist Palestinian students have been killed.
Below you will find a letter we have received from Palestine. On the basis of this we think we have to step up our solidarity campaign.The figures speak for themselves: 250 killed since 28th September, more than 9000 injured, and 500 arrested! We are asking you to take this information to the branches of the Communist parties, Socialist and Labour Parties, to trade union branches, youth committees, etc., and all other areas of political, trade union or student work you may be involved in. We should present resolutions to these organisations to be forwarded to the local Israeli embassy, to MPs, trade union leaders etc.
FROM PALESTINIAN STUDENTS:.
Dear comrades,
We are proud to reply to your questions [about our comrades that were killed]. Unfortunately, in the last few days another dear comrade fell in Nablus!! Of the three comrades that were killed:.
The 1st one is: ISSA ABED ABU SAREI', from Ramallah city. He was shot dead a few months ago during some brief clashes on 20/5/2000. The soldier who killed him - a sniper! - said "he had to die .. because he was a threat to us". When the soldier was asked, "are you proud of that?", he replied with a mean smile "Yes, very much!!"
ISSA was a member of the chief secretariat of the PFLP (Popular Front.
for the Liberation of Palestine). He was arrested by the Zionist army in 1988 and only released in 1996 after 8 years. And what was he charged with?? The adoption of a Marxist-Leninist movement.
The 2nd one is: ESMAT AL-SABER from Nablus city. He was shot dead in the head, just like ISSA I was an eye-witness to this and I say, "He was near me in the clashes; first he fell unconscious because of a tear gas bomb. The medical staff took him away for the necessary medical care. After he recovered he returned to the area where the clashes were taking place. That was when a Zionist soldier shot him."
The 3rd one is: DEIA'A... Unfortunately we couldn't gather much information about him from here (Nablus city ), because he's from Jerusalem, and our comrades can't move by any means of transport from one city to another because the Israeli army would seize any one who has relations with us. Every comrade who has been viewed on T.V. channels is now arrested at the checkpoints by the Israeli army. The security situation is very critical as you can see!.
And with all of this, what did Mr Arafat do?? He went running to the capitalist government of the USA, without any care for the people who are being killed every day!!
These painful numbers explain why we don't trust the Israelis to make a real peace!!! The question now is: why does Israel call us terrorists, when these are the numbers of Palestinians killed and injured!??
Comradely,.
SY.
Palestinian Socialist Students - INTIFADA PALESTINE!!.
November 9th, 2000.
For more: socappeal@easynet.co.uk.
http://www.marxist.com
The LRCI and Workers Power Global urges subscribers to raise the following motion with their workmates, their trade union brothers and sisters, and political activists. Let us know what success you have.
“The Israeli state has murdered over 200 Palestinians since 28 September. Many of the dead Palestinians are children. Their stones face tanks and bullets. We unreservedly condemn the latest Israeli offensive and support the Palestinian right to defend themselves from this onslaught.
The latest outbreak of resistance is the direct result of the daily oppression faced by Palestinians in the occupied territories and within Israel itself. The peace accords have brought no let up in Israel's systematic descrimination against the Palestinian people. Paestinian's cannot return to their homesin Israel, they are locked out of work through the closure of borders, denied the right to rule themselves, and their land and property stolen and occupied.
There can be no justice for the Palestinians while the Israeli state, built on the denial of their rights exists. We support the self determination of all Palestinian people across the middle east.
• All IDF out of West Bank and Gaza strip
• All Jewish settlers out of the Occupied Territories whose numbers have doubled to 200,000 in the last decade of "peace process"
• Support the right of all Palestinians to return to their homeland
• End the discrimination and persecution of Israel's Arab citizens!
There can be no religious or capitalist solution to Palestinian oppression. Only the working class has the power to break both the Islamic and Jewish workers from their religious leaders. Only through combining the fight for democracy with the struggle for a secular bi-national socialist republic will the terrible cycle of national oppression be broken and the liberation of people across the region be won.”
Palestine: the shape of Israel's "final settlement"
Palestine: casualties of the propaganda war
Israel: history of an oppressor settler state
Palestinian Nationalism and the PLO
[LRCI 1988]