WHEN PLO leader Yassir Arafat and Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin signed their agreement last year, Socialist Outlook warned that 'peace' on Israel's terms could only be enforced by military strength and domestic repression.
The shooting by PLO police of worshippers leaving a Gaza mosque, which left dead at least 13 alleged Islamic fundamentalists, is stark evidence that we were right.
Although an uneasy truce has been agreed in Gaza, all forces agree that this can only be temporary, and further clashes, leading possibly to a bloody civil war, seem inevitable.
This conflict plays right into Israel's hands. The Guardian has already reported demonstrations in Gaza calling for the return of the Israeli army as the lesser evil. SOCIALIST Outlook is proposing a formal and structured discussion on the main tasks facing revolutionaries to Militant Labour, the publishers of Militant.
Our proposal - for a joint discussion bulletin initially for supporters of the two currents - follows a full page article in Militant by two former supporters of Socialist Outlook. A reply, as yet unpublished by Militant, was in the last issue of Socialist Outlook. £3,000 is to be raised over the coming months by SoMeanwhile, international support for a rising which can be portrayed as fundamentalist is far lower than for the earlier stages of the Palestinian Intifada.
The Palestine solidarity movement, with few exceptions, is either silent, or calling for increased for the Palestinian 'self-government".
For the past 50 years, Gaza has remained under military rule - British, Egyptian, Israeli and now Palestinian collaborator.
Expelled
Overcrowded with refugees expelled from their homes in 1948, dotted with Israeli settlements, surrounded by an electritied tence. with few natural resources, it powerfully symbolises the reality of Palestinian existence. "self-government' has not addressed any of these issues; it has merely replaced the Israeli army with Palestinian surrogates.
Despite Arafat's betrayal of represents a major organisational consolidation of the revolutionary, movement.
The €3,000 raised will go to set up the staff team and to secure new printing and distribution facilities, as well as to finance the preparation of the upcoming World Congress of the Fourth International.
Contributions to the fund should be made payable to Outlook International and posted to PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. Following requests by readers, a limited number of copies of "The polities of Militant?, a 40page 1978 Socialist Challenge booklet are available mail-order from Socialist Outlook. • Single copies are available for f1.00 from Outlook International, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. Bundles in multiples of five are half-price.
The politics of Palestinian interests, the Palestinian left has also remained silent, leaving Hamas apparently alone in its opposition.
Several years ago, following the vicious civil war in the refugee camps of Lebanon, the PFLP declared that 'national unity' was its major goal, and replaced its historic call for 'Revolution Until Victory' with the more accommodating 'Unity Until Victory".
Ailing PFLP leader Dr George Habash no longer seems to realise that this accommodation with the Palestinian and Arab bourgeoisie is delivering neither unity nor victory, while many former cadres have switched allegiance.
According to reliable reports, at the time of the Gaza shooting, Arafat was seen dancing in the streets of Gaza with the former head of the PFLP underground resistance in the region.
While this has been going on, Israeli eyes have been focused on the agreement with Jordan's King Hussein, who has visited SRI LANKA public meeting with NSSP speakers 8.00pm Conway Hall WC1 MARCH to London, to mark one year of Campsfield immigration prison, 'arrives at Harmondsworth Immigration Detention Centre and Southall. Friday 2 MARCH to London, to mark one year of Campsfield immigration prison, arrives at Westminster. Saturday 3 REFUGEES 12.0 noon -1.30pm protest outside Harmondsworth Detention CenIsrael and received a hero's welcome.
Israel has promised to recognise Hussein's special status in East Jerusalem, thus offering a further snub to Arafat.
Rejected
Rabin has also refused to permit elections for the 'Self-Government' authority in the Occupied Territories, has guaranteed the security of Israeli settlements, and has rejected calls for the release of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners.
It has become clear that his only purpose in signing the agreement with Arafat was to co-opt the PLO to police the occupation, and that there was 4.15pm Conway Hall WC1 Sat 4 - Sun 4 CND campaigning conference London details 0171 607 3616 Tuesday 6 Hemlata Patel appeal against deportation -peaceful lobby 10.00am outside the Government building, Clay Lane, Yardley Free transport from Soho Rd Library 9.30am Weds 7 ALL London Section 11 campaign lobby 2pm Department of Education Great Smith Street SW1 ALL London Section 11 campaign rally 5.30pm -7.00pm Camden Bidborough St. with Dianne Abnever any intention of honouring even the minimal Israeli commitments in the agreement.
Offered the choice of siding with the occupation against the Palestinian people, or struggling with the Palestinian people against the occupation, Arafat took the first opportunity to side with the occupation.
Although this was no great surprise, the failure of the Palestinian left to identify this betrayal and to offer a genuine political alternative has left the field wide open for Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other fundamentalist groups.
They are reversing the social gains of the Intifada, while themselves seeking accommodation with the Israeli regime. Saturday 10 LIBERATION! committee 11am - 5pm Birmingham Sun 11 LIBERATION! dayschool and editorial meeting 12 noon - 5pm Union Club Pershore Rd Birmingham Weds 14 DEFEND the Cuban revolution! Socialist Outlook forum with Will McMahon 7.30pm Afro-Caribbean Road Birmingham Weds 28 DEMONSTRATE at a nuclear base with CND details 0171 607 3616. JANUARY Weds 4 Liberation! production meeting Sat 7/Sun 8 Socialist Outlook supporters educational weekend on The State and Revolutionand the politics of Leninism. Sat 28
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"The Politics of Militant'
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