As the Madrid peace talks wound down, Israel was bombarding the villages of southern Lebanon, which have seen so much bloodshed in the past. The Israeli aim is to drive the villagers out, to widen the size of its northern buffer zone', the better to prevent Palestinian commando attacks. At the same time, Palestinians demonstrating for peace were having their marches broken up, and were being arrested by Israeli soldiers. The fighting in southern Lebanon - business as usual for that part of the world - highlight the reality behind the conference rhetoric. In the past four years there have been more than 1200 Palestinian deaths during the Intifadah - the mass Palestinian uprising in the territories under Israeli military occupation. The Palestinians fight back because they have no alternative. Tens of thousands of young Palestinians have decided that it is better to die on their feet, rather than live on their knees - in the squalor and hopelessness of refugee camps policed by Israeli military thugs. Whatever is decided in the 'peace process', the Palestinians and their struggle will not go away. There can be no peace without Palestinian freedom, and no Palestinian freedom without liberation from Israeli tyranny.
Feeble line on Home News