Printed by Tridant Press, Edenbridge. Published by Idolrare Ltd, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. Copyright © 1993 FOR SIX years the Palestinians have been waging an heroic uprising, the Intifadah, in the occupied territories. More than 1500 people have been gunned down by Israeli soldiers in that time. And after all this, after decades of struggle for Palestinian the PLO leadership group around Yasser Arafat intends to make peace with Israel in return for almost nothing.
The new peace plan is not a 'breakthrough". The outlines of the plan are 20 years old, and for most of that time utterly rejected not only by the left, but by the majority of Palestinian opinion.
The plan is for two tiny 'Bantustans' under direct Israeli surveillance. The PLO fighters will police them for the Israelis. There is no guarantee even of a Palestinian statelet, on Gaza and the whole of the West Bank, being the end-result.
"Limited autonomy' around Jericho and Gaza is not even self-rule in these two tiny areas. It does not even amount to a state-in-formation.
Most Palestinians live outside the territories occupied in the 1967 war. What of their future? will they be released? negotiations in secret. Plans like these have been repeatedly rejected by the mass of Palestinian opinion Of the hundreds of thousands in refugee camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon? Where will they go? What about the 13,000 political prisoners held by Israel in appalling conditions? When The Arafat-Rabin deal is opposed not just by the Islamic forces, but by all the more militant forces in the PLO; it has been rejected out of hand by the Popular Front and the Democratic Front. No wonder Arafat conducted his In the end the plan will not work. The Palestinian struggle cannot be stifled by Arafat's bureaucratic manipulation of the PLO leadership structures, or a deal which leaves the oppression of the Palestinian people intact. Arafat: petit-bourgeols nationalist 40% of cover price! Subscriptions now inchades indepth analysis of the deal The new toternational Viewpoiot cat ended the attacks on Lebanon. international Bar 1109, Londoa Nt ZUU VIEWPOINT