> Defeat Sharon's insane war driveDefeat Sharon's Insane War Drive > > > > The Palestinian people are facing a barbaric war waged by the Sharon-Peres > government with full approval and support by the greatest terrorist > organization on earth, the United Stated of America. The war against the > Palestinian Authority is aimed against the Palestinian popular uprising, and > at the same time it seeks to derail the class struggle of the workers class > in Israel into an orgy of nationalist death and destruction. > > > > In this difficult hour we are calling for the unconditional defense of the > Palestinian people and the PA, including Arafat, against the Zionist > criminal aggression. Our defense is not conditioned on the political > character of the PA and its actions. We are calling the Palestinians, the > Arab popular masses and the international working class and militant youth > in Europe and America to mobilize themselves immediately against the ethnic > cleansing operations of the IDF. We are calling on the Jewish workers in > this country to oppose and fight back Sharon's insanity, which is > endangering the existence of the Jewish workers and poor. > > > > We are calling on Jews everywhere to mobilize themselves against the insanity > of the Zionists. This criminal government is the source of a new and most > dangerous worldwide wave of anti-Semitism. In order to overcome it, is > absolutely necessary for the Jewish workers to break from Zionism. Israel is > a very sick Apartheid state on the death raw. In its dying stage it > generates only destruction, insanity and death. The road of survival for the > Jewish workers is to unite with their Palestinian brothers and sisters in > the struggle to end occupation, for the right of return of all Palestinian > refugees and for a united, secular, democratic and socialist Republic of > Palestine. > > > > It is a Zionist-Imperialist lie that Israel is defending itself against the > Palestinians, in reality Sharon is acting according to a plan. He wants a > regional war in order to drive many Palestinians out of their homes in the > West Bank and Gaza. On March 29, at the end of the Arab summit in Beirut, > the Lebanese minister of foreign affairs, the Saudi foreign minister prince > Saud al-Faisal and the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, > triumphantly told the world that a "just and comprehensive peace is a > strategic option for the Arab states." This "initiative" which called on > Israel to pull out from the Occupied Territories, gave Israel control over > 82% of the historical land of Palestine, cleared of the refugees expelled by > Israel in 1948 and 1967. The Arab rulers' support or Partition in Palestine > is an open betrayal of the right of the self-determination of the > Palestinians people, especially of the right of return of the four million > refugees, motivated by their fear of social explosion among the Arab masses. > It of course received the enthusiastic support of the petty-bourgeois and > pro-imperialist Israeli "left," which misleads the Jewish masses into > believing that it is possible to have "peace" (i.e. a peaceful control of > the Arab markets and workers) between the Zionist state and its neighboring > Arab states in the framework of the imperialist Pax Americana. > > > > Were Israel a state seeking peace with its Arab neighbors, it would have > grabbed this offer with both hands. However the Israeli prime minister Ariel > Sharon rejected the initiative, claiming that the complete Israeli > withdrawal from the Occupied Territories will result in the destruction of > Israel. On Sunday, in a less than five-minute-long speech, which made 14 > mentions of the word "terrorism," Sharon who seemed deranged, told the > Israeli television: "The chairman of the Palestinian Authority is the enemy > of Israel and the entire free world." The Arab League's appeals to the US to > save the stability in the Middle East have also fallen on deaf ears, as Bush > has declared in the face of Israel move to reoccupy the West Bank and Gaza > that "Israel has the right to defend itself." This rejection exposes the > fact truth that imperialism and its Zionist outpost do not have any > "peaceful" solution to the crisis. Imperialism attempts to overcome the > growing world crisis using brutal and naked force and demanding total > submission. > > > > In spite of the U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli > pullback, the Israeli tanks besieged Ramallah including Arafat's > headquarters. The Israeli soldiers are shouting over loudspeakers for Arafat > and his entourage to "come out with their hands up." So far Arafat has > refused to surrender, preferring to die as a Shayd (Martyr). But while > Arafat would like to see himself as a modern Saladin, as late as March 30 he > continued to appeal to the imperialist world leaders for help from a dark, > windowless room, as Israeli troops tightened the siege of his compound and > stormed his office buildings. He brings to mind the Chilean president > Salvador Allende, who blocked the socialist revolution, only in order to die > later as a martyr in the hands of more efficient instruments of the local > bourgeoisie and imperialism. > > > > Elsewhere in Ramallah, Israeli soldiers using megaphones ordered all men aged > 16 to 45 to report to detention centers. "In an office building in downtown > Ramallah, five Palestinian policemen were found shot in the head or neck at > close range," with a pattern of bloodstains on the walls that suggested they > were murdered in cold blood rather than killed in a "close-quarter > firefight" as the Israeli army claims. By Sunday evening, Israeli tanks were > on the move again, thundering into Qalqiliya, on the edges of the West Bank, > while maintaining their stranglehold on Ramallah. Other tanks and armored > vehicles are massed in the Bethlehem area on their way to sow death and > destruction. > > > > While Sharon is sending the Israeli army to reoccupy the West Bank and Gaza, > Israel Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said on Sunday that Israel did not plan > to physically harm Arafat. He further said that "to do so could spark a > regional war," as his government did not work to provoke such a war. This > has been all along the division of labor between the right and the left wing > Zionists, both in the same government of crime. The right wing ignites the > fire while the left wing Zionists provides the smoke screen. Peres of course > blamed Arafat for Sharon's crimes: "General Zinni came. He made a ceasefire > proposal. We accepted it and even kept it for a week. Arafat had to do the > same thing and he again made a very big mistake, when instead of accepting > Zinni's proposals he made counter-proposals." In reality, Arafat accepted > the Saudi plan while Sharon's government rejected it. > > > > The Socialist Workers League has condemned many times the terrorist attacks > against civilian population, which have also resulted in the killing of > several Palestinians and only help the Zionists and their criminal masters > in the White House. Sharon's government has consciously provoked these > criminal indiscriminate acts of terror against the civilian population > inside the Green Line because it needs them in order to justify its plans to > destroy the PA and provoke a regional war. When the US declared that it > delays the war against Iraq or Iran to the summer and the Saudis came out > with their "peace" plan, Sharon decided to push for an immediate war to save > his government that was losing rapidly public support. Israel is in deep > economic crisis and the working class struggle became sharper until a few > weeks ago. Sharon desperately needs to derail the class struggle into a > nationalist regional war. > > > > Unless the masses of the Middle East come to Arafat's defense against the > Zionists, this may be the end of his government in parts of the West Bank > and Gaza Strip. Rabin agreed to it in return for Arafat's commitment to > suppress the Palestinian national aspirations. Sharon is destroying the PA > not because Arafat is a terrorist, but because with the outbreak of the > present uprising he began to act in a Bonapartist way, since he came under > double pressure from the Imperialists and the Zionists on the one hand and > from the Palestinian masses on the other. Acting under cross fire he is not > able to suppress the Palestinians' desire to be free of the Zionist > occupation of their country. Because he is not an effective enough tool for > the interests of the Zionists and the imperialists, Sharon is planning to > occupy the West Bank and Gaza, remove the PA, divide the land and find lower > grade collaborators for the Zionist rule over the Palestinians. > > > > The puppet Arab rulers who pined their hopes on Sharon, believing that he > will destroy the Palestinian uprising, have began to realize lately that > Sharon not only is unable to put down the Intifada, but that he is likely to > ignite a regional uprising that will bring down their own corrupt regimes. > The masses in many countries-most importantly in Egypt, Jordan, and > Syria-are taking to the streets. To save themselves, the rulers of these > countries are threatening Israel with diplomatic sanctions. They may very > well find that it is too late for these diplomatic games. > > > > The role of the Zionist left of Peace Now, Meretz, and Gush Shalom of Uri > Avneri, as well as Hadash (the Communist-Party-led electoral coalition), who > have preached to the Palestinian masses to accept imperialist rule and the > Bantustan mini-state as the only realistic solution, is becoming more > transparent with every passing day. This was quite clear in the Day of the > Land, where the leaders of Hadash and the Arab leadership in Israel > sabotaged the mobilization and tried its best to split the mass action into > small controllable demonstrations. In this they acted openly in the service > of the imperialists and the Zionists, who are afraid that the Palestinians > in Israel will play a more active part in support of the struggle of their > sisters and brothers in the West Bank and Gaza. > > > > The imperialists and the Zionists are preparing a new slaughter against the > Palestinians as well as against the Iraqi or Iranian masses. In that war, > the interest of the masses is the military defeat of imperialism and its > allies. The insane Sharon is planning to use the war to carry out a mass > ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, thus risking not only the lives of > innocent Arabs but also of the Jewish masses. The Zionist state is a death > trap and can turn into the new "final solution" for the Jews. > > > > The only way out of the imperialist-Zionist inferno is a socialist > revolution that will unite the masses against the imperialists and their > local servants-especially against the Zionist state. It is now only a > question of time before the masses of the Middle East will strike back. What > is required is to build a working class revolutionary leadership in order to > win the struggle against the imperialists, the Zionist and the Arab > collaborators. This revolutionary leadership will come only through the > struggle to rebuild the Fourth International in the fire of the struggles of > the working class and the masses. > > > > We call on the organizations of the left and the workers in Israel to > organize an immediate huge demonstration of Jews and Palestinians against > the insane war drive of the government. We call on the Israeli soldiers to > refuse to take part in this butchery and organize themselves against it. We > call on the workers and left organizations of the Middle East and the world, > and especially those who see themselves as revolutionary socialists to > mobilize the masses of their own countries against the Israeli government > and in defense of the Palestinian uprising. > > > > · Down with the Israeli government of war criminals! > > · The Israeli Army and settlers out of the Occupied Territories now! > > · Defend Arafat without any political illusions in the PA that > represents the interests of the Palestinian capitalists. > > · Mobilize the masses of the Middle East and the world, including the > Jewish workers, against the Imperialist and Zionist crimes. > > · For a Secular, Democratic and Socialist Republic in the whole > territory of historic Palestine within the framework of a Socialist > Federation of the Middle East! > > > > Monday, April 1st 2002 > > > > Socialist Workers League > > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - www.geocities.com/swl_p - P.O.Box 8753, Jerusalem, > 91087 > > > > > > > > > > >
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