In Britan: Onhodox Jeus join Palestine Solidarity demonstration workers face a job apartheid, cally nost conca a consul tion and labouring jobs, as well as service sector jobs. Otticial unemployment rate is 20% but the real figures are undoubtedly higher. for I sat in on a meeting with some local people who WAC Registrar were tving to persuade take building jobs they had negotiated with the employ. ers. Asked whether they had important, since nobody eise is attempting to organise Arab workers.
Obviously ( the regime is not enthusiastic about an independent union its Arab population. WAC was registered with the Non-Profit Associations only after a 2Registrar has again raised questions about the registraY GIO IU TH VULF The right in Saitab •Settlements asing is guarant Internationa! soul the vere foundation of ril S00 "They don't deserve water and electricity." the braimwashing of young israel jews. itizens, with af the rights that Jews have. The crisis in Israell society has been deepened by the latest incursions into the West Bank. A statement by 52 young people refusing to participate in the oppression of the Palestinian people marked the first collective refusal to serve for some years. It was followed by a statement of over 50 army reservists that they would not serve in the occupled territories in a "war for the settlements". Military service is compulsory for Israeli Jews, save for the ultra-orthodox. It is no easy thing to refuse in a war zone in which the propaganda of the Israeli war machine presents this service as defending "Israeli democracy". I mec with a number of young people, from l6 to 18, Involved in the Forum in Support of Conscientious Objectors. They were somewhat shy with somebody who had travelled from abroad o meet them. However, once they opened up, the discussion showed that unlike the reservists they were asking questions They told me about the racist attitude of mary of their fellow school/college students, most of whom never come into contact with Arabs, except when they go to an Arab village to buy some cheap goods at a market, or maybe one of them serves them.
was a comment which summed this attitude up. They feared that change would be very slow to come because of what they considered to be Naomi commented that "Instead of the army being a tool in he hands of the country, the country was a tool in the hands of the arse frie levs on a solution were dferent they all agred that the starting point was israeli withdrawal from the occugied territories. They also belleved that Arab Israels should be full My impression was that these young people cend to feel somewhat isolated, pointing to the fact that there are fow people in thoir casses who have taken their stance. There is a lot of anger against them from their follow students. But they are taking a stance which they feel they are morally obliged to take, whatever the consequences. Athough many of sympathetic, their decision, neverthcless has the potential to tum them into social outYet they represent a trend in Israeli society which runs far deeper than mighe first. appear. It struck me that these young peole do not realise how important they are. They deserve the support of the international labour moverent to give them a sense that there is an international move-