ese Army and the Palestinian commandos have once again brought the simmering cauldron of Middle East politics into the Western headlines.
The latest outbreaks of fighting were triggered off by the Israeli terrorist raids on 10 April, in which three leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation were murdered and the offices of the left-wing Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine blown up. This operation was part and parcel of a systematic israel strategy, whose aims are to liquidate all elements of the Palestinian resistance, whatever their programme, tactics and numerical strength, and to bully the Arab regimes into accepting "peace' on states locals The Zionist regime, which has deservedly achieved a reputation for ruthiess and cynical counter-revolutionary violence second to none, is intent on pushing those Arab states which have not already got rid of the guerrillas into a choice between clamping down on the Palestinian movement of suffering episodic Israeli terror expeditions (no longer even dressed up as reprisals'). The repeated bombing raids against Lebanon and Syria show that tus is no idle threat. Each successful military exploit serves only to whet the Zionist leaders appetite for further demonstrations of their absolute military hegemony in the area.
Indeed, Israel is now more self confident than ever in its role as the policeman of the Arab East. Dayan boasts openly that it will intervene wherever stability is threatened Gone is the left phraseology of yesteryear: in its place is the naked reality of imperialism's watchdog in the Arab world. As the Isracl Ambassador wrote in the Spectator on 16 February: "If Israel wasn't tbete I think the British and Western powers would find that their interests and positions in the Middle East would have long been swept away by Arab radicalism and Soviet imperialism. The regimes арреат.
The Lebanose regime has responded to Israel's proddings in prediciable fashion, by launching an all-out offensive against the Palestinian commando organisations and their bases in the refugee camps. The Lebanese President, Suleiman Framich, has made it clear that he is determined, at the very least, to bring the Palestinian movement under still tighter control than before. His no-nonsense attitude is evident from his widely quoted remarka to Mahmoud Rind, the secretary general of the Arab League. When I took office 1 swore to preserve the sovereignty of this country, and l intend to da so, I will not allow the rise of a state within a state." Armed by Britain, France and the L.S., as well as Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, Lebanese reaction is bent on muzzling and paralysing the fedayin, if not destroying them altogether.
The Isracli one-eyed bandit, Dayan, is full of praise for this prompt action. Suddenly, a month after ordering an armed operation in the Lebanese capital, he has become the most enthusiastic advocate of Lebanon's 'national sovereignty. Such bypocrisy is matched only by the venal cowardice of the Lebanese regime itseif, which having stood by as the Israclis shot up Beirut then turned its riot police on student demonstrators the next day, and now turns its army on the Palestinians. Such, despite the patriotic rhetoric, is the sordid reality of passive complicity direct collaboration with Zionism 'PROGRESSIVE' The so-called "progressive Arab regimes ure no better. Anwar Al Sadat, the Egyptian president. did take time off from torturing dissidents to send a personal envoy to try to bring about a ceasefire, but his essential interest is in reaching a compromise deal with the Israelis, which will enable him to salvage some prestige al bome and shore up his hold over Egyptian society. The total confrontation" with Israel, promised so often that it has become a national joke, is in practice only an excuse for further domestic терготазол. circumstances.
most certain bern Fatah ieader Yassir Arefer-offers no wary forward. The Syrian government, on the other hand, bas given some support to the belcaguered guerrillas, purtly for internal reasons and partly because the Ba'athist regime knows full well that Israel will not return the Golan Heights under any But the Syrian regime has refused to commit its regualr army although the present truce is fundamentally shaky and renewed righting in the relative short term is alThe determination of the rank-and-file of the Palestinian movement to retain their hard-won positions should not be unter-estimated, As long as the root causes of the Palestinian prothe existence of an exclusive racist, pro-imperialist power structure built on the oppression of another people — are not atracked, resistance in one form or another will continue. The recent resurgence of guerrilla NAME activity inside the oocupied territories, and the even more significant discovery of spy rings or resistance cells among Arabs living in the pre-1967 borders, as well as among the Druze population, involving for the first time young Isracli Jews, testifies lo this fact. ism with which the guerrillas have held out against the most recent offensive. Their leader however, have demonstrated yet again their unwillingness to link the national struggle against Zionism with a policy of independent class struggle of the workers and peasants against the existing Arab status quo. Financial dependent on the Arab ruling clasa, they have consistently cling to the hankrupt formulas of "unity against the common enemy" and "non-interference in internal Arab affairs'. This has led them to make one retreat after another, pre paring the way for the latest Lebanese offensiv The Arab revolution, which sustained a numbe of heavy blows in 1970-72, is now experiencin the beginnings of a new and hopeful upturn. The student revolt in Egypt and the struggles of Lebanese workers and youth in the last period are only the first sigre of this recovery But the struggle against imperialism and against Zionism will only be successful if the crippling ideology of "Arab brotherhood' is cast aside and revolutionary socialist politics developed Never has this been more clearly shown than in the events of the past few weeks.
(British Section of the Fourth Internationall 182 Pentonville Road, London N.1 I would Tike more infor mation about the /MG and its actiwities Red Weekly 19 May 1973 Pag
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International Marxist Group