Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud bloc, was elected as the new prime minister of Israel May 30, defeating the incumbent Shimon Peres by less than 1 percent of the vote. The Likud bloc is an alliance of right and extreme-right parties. The most bigoted and fascist elements in Israel, particularly the many U.S.-born settlers in the occupied West Bank, are emboldened by Netanyahu's victory. More settlements and more attacks on Palestinians by settlers in the occupied areas can be expected. Among those expected to hold top positions in the new cabinet is Gen. Ariel Sharon, a Likud leader. Sharon directed the Israeli invasion and mass bombing of Lebanon in 1982. That left tens of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. He collaborated with Lebanese fascists to carry out the horrible massacre in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps the same year. Sharon is a war criminal of the first rank. Netanyahu promised in his first post-victory speech that his government would not negotiate with the Palestinians over Jerusalem. He also called for greatly increasing the Israeli population by bringing in millions more Jewish people from around the world. This would require massive new settlements on Palestinian land. The Likud program calls for continuing to occupy the Golan Heights, taken from Syria in the 1967 war, and keeping Israeli troops in the Palestinian city of Hebron, despite the peace accord's promise to withdraw them. The underlying reactionary ideology of many Likud leaders calls for driving all remaining Palestinians out of what they call "Greater Israel." Netanyahu's father was a proponent of this wing of Zionism in the 1920s, long before the Israeli state existed. Peres was the candidate of the Labor Party, which, despite its name, is the capitalist party that has governed Israel for most of its 48-year history. Both Likud and Labor are pro-U.S. and anti-Arab; both have systematically carried out policies of racism and brutal repression against the Palestinian people when they have held power. At times, like during the Palestinian uprising known as the Intifada, they ruled together in a coalition government whose main objective was to crush the Palestinians. While the Clinton administration strongly supported Peres and worked for his re-election, there is no doubt that the U.S. will continue to send billions of dollars in annual military and other aid to the Netanyahu government. The motivation for this "generosity" is not concern for the welfare of the Jewish people-or any other people, for that matter. The U.S. ruling class invests billions of dollars in Israel every year because Israel stands guard over U.S. capitalism's most valuable and profitable assets: the vast oil fields of the Middle East. Israel is imperialism's forward base in the midst of the oppressed Arab world. The Pentagon has provided Israel with immense amounts of weaponry-high-tech, low-tech and nuclear, to carry out its assigned role in the imperialist system. Washington has also supplied the money to build thousands of new settlement units in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and economic aid to sustain a European-level living standard in a country which has never had the economic base to support it. The enormous assistance it receives makes Israel dependent upon Washington. The Israeli leaders and governing parties may have their own drives and interests, not always coinciding exactly with those of U.S. imperialism. But regardless of their ideology or inclination, none can ignore the strategic interests and policies of the United States. What Washington Wants Washington's support for Peres in this election was based upon his government's support for what is called the "peace process"-a major U.S. foreign policy initiative under both the Bush and Clinton administrations. This plan calls for the Palestinians to have limited autonomy within 60 percent of Gaza and 34 percent of the West Bank. The Israelis retain military, security and border control. The Palestinian Authority that has been established as the governing body is denied the right to engage in foreign affairs. There is no provision in the agreement for the 4 million Palestinians living in forced exile. By all accounts, living conditions for Palestinians in the occupied territories have sharply deteriorated since the "peace process" began. Raji Sourani, director of the Palestine Human Rights Center in Gaza, speaking after the election, described conditions "as the worst in the past 30 years. The mood of the people in Gaza is that peace and the image of peace mean nothing." Sourani called the situation "explosive." While Peres and his predecessor, Yitzhak Rabin, supported the accord, Likud and the Israeli extreme right have opposed making any concessions to the Palestinians. In December 1995, Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli opponent of the accord. The negotiations for this agreement, which is still being implemented, began after the Gulf war and the collapse of the Soviet Union. U.S. policy makers believed that, weakened by these developments, the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasir Arafat would be forced to accept the terms brokered by Washington. However one views this agreement, the U.S. objective is clear: to gain stability in this vital region by liquidating the Palestinian Revolution. The Palestinian struggle has been central to the Arab liberation movement as a whole for half a century. Opposition to the agreement has come from the Marxist left-including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front-and Islamic forces such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. These organizations view the accord as falling far short of an independent state and compromising the future of the Palestinian people. The PFLP, in a statement on June 1, said: "The election of Netanyahu has weakened the Palestinian Authority, which made a peace of capitulation with Israel, and strengthened the opposition which opposed this kind of peace." The organization stated that the election "paves the way for increased military operations during the coming period." A Hamas spokesperson stated that if there was no withdrawal from Hebron, "the people are going to escalate their resistance." The government of Syria responded to the election outcome with a statement that "commitment to Likud's election program will detonate the region and worsen tension and instability." The pro- U.S. regime in Egypt, the largest of the Arab countries, also expressed concern after a June 3 meeting in Cairo between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad. New instability, new tension, new resistance, and above all new explosions, are not what the U.S. government wants to see in the Middle East. And for Netanyahu and his new government, regardless of their campaign promises, what Washington wants will be the most important factor. Workers World, June 13, 1996 Shawgi Tell University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education [EMAIL PROTECTED]