Editorial:
Israel's murderous aggressive war

The murderous Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people is now 
plain for all to see. It was always an unequal struggle — stones against 
high-powered weapons and now, helicopter gunships firing on unarmed 
civilians. One can imagine the screaming headlines should such events occur 
in China, Russia or many other countries on the hit-list of the mass 
media.

The Palestinian demonstrators are doing no more than protesting the years 
of oppression at the hands of the Israeli police and military and are 
demanding their legitimate right to form an independent Palestinian state 
on lands which have been owned and occupied by Palestinians for thousands 
of years.

It is now and has always been the Zionist leaders of Israel who have been 
the aggressors with the real aim of establishing a "greater" Israel in the 
region.

In 1967, it was Israel that committed aggression against Syria, Egypt and 
Lebanon and on that occasion administered a severe defeat on these 
countries.

The UN resolution 242 adopted at the time, called for the withdrawal of all 
Israeli occupation forces. But with the backing of the United States, 
Israel did not and has not implemented this UN resolution.

The struggle against Israeli occupation grew again after some years and 
took the form of the Intifada in the West Bank and Gaza, and guerrilla 
warfare in southern Lebanon.

The Intifada became a very severe embarrassment to the Israeli authorities 
as the demand for a real settlement with the Palestinians began to grow 
internationally and inside Israel as well. There grew up a genuine Israeli 
peace movement.

To save Israel from its embarrassment the US, as always, came to the rescue 
and initiated what was falsely called a "peace process" in 1993. The real 
aim was to bring an end to the Intifada which it did, and to provide time 
to build up Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands and build strategic 
roads linking these settlements which could rapidly transport Israeli 
military forces.

The Declaration that was signed in 1993 between the Israeli Government and 
the Palestine Liberation Organisation did not recognise, even as an 
objective, the formation of a Palestinian state. The Palestine Interim 
Self-Governing Authority which was set up was to have only autonomy within 
the Israeli state.

Some secret papers that The Guardian published at the time 
(22/9/1993), revealed in detail what the real aims of the Israeli and US 
negotiators were. As far as Jerusalem was concerned, this city was to be 
retained by Israel, come what may.

Throughout the years of the "peace process", the Israeli and US negotiators 
attempted to force the Palestinians to accept an arrangement which would 
make them subservient to Israeli military, economic and political power 
into the foreseeable future.

Perhaps to the surprise of the Israeli Government and to the US which is 
adept at arm-twisting, Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders finally 
refused to play the role of betrayers of the Palestinian cause.

The outrageous tactics of the US were dramatically demonstrated when Yasser 
Arafat walked out of a negotiating session recently and found the gates of 
the US Embassy in Paris, where the negotiations were taking place, closed 
against him. He was not only expected to capitulate to the Israeli/US 
demands but was to do so as a prisoner, behind the bars of the US Embassy 
gates.

In the face of the new Palestinian uprising the real face of the Israeli 
authorities is to be seen again in the new war against the Palestinian 
people and their threat to re-occupy the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It 
signals that the Israelis will use all their military force to prevent the 
formation of an independent Palestinian state.

The role of the US is also clear. Clinton's objective in the so-called 
peace process was to buy time to further build up Israel as the gendarme of 
the US in the Middle East to be used against the Arab countries as 
required.

While hypocritically demanding that others implement UN decisions, the US 
has systematically frustrated the implementation of the UN decisions 
calling for the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories. 
Furthermore, the Western powers have no intention of backing the "people's 
power" of the Palestinians.