A common struggle against oppression A REPRESENTATIVE of the
ISRAELI STATE food convoy for Gaza. Some groups joined in the project, especially the In Al-Balad movement. Some Arab villages sent us trucks, even pickup trucks full of food, such as Um Al-Fahum and two villages in Galilee. We also tried to attract press attention. As we expected, the convoy stopped at the entrance to Gaza. This made quite a stir in the international and local press. Subsequently, we tried to take food in by other means.
But we managed to break the wall of silence. After this action, several organizations, movements and parties, such as Rakakh, the Communist Party, took up the slogan of "Support the Palestinian population of the occupied territories." And collections of food began to be organized on a large scale throughout the Arab population. From that time on, trucks left quite regularly for Gaza and the West Bank. • Do you collect exclusively among the Arab population?
We tried to collect everywhere. But very rapidly, we realized that it was impossible. We had to concentrate on those areas where we had some success. The only areas to give were Arab. Aside from the people who are more or less linked to the left and who come to the rallies, we had no success among Jewish people. This is no accident. It is very revealing of what is happening among the Jewish population. The situation today is very different from during the Lebanon war. There is no mass opposition in Israel to the repression in the occupied territories. • Why do you think that the situation among the Jewish population is differ-
The Lebanon war was very clear. It was a dirty war. People did not see the point of it. It seemed to be a sort of adventure of Arik Sharon, Rafael Eitan. For these reasons a real mass movement against the Lebanon war developed. Today, with regard to the insurrection of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, the reactions are
For the first time, I think, most of the Jews in Israel have understood that the real problem is not a confrontation between the Israeli state, the Israeli army, and the Egyptian or Jordanian state or army, that it is not a conflict among states; that the real problem, the root of the problem, is the Palestinian people, who are oppressed, who have been uprooted. And this problem is not limited to the occupied territories. In fact, the insurrection of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories has also provoked important developments among the Arab-Palestinian people in Israel. The first general strike in January, and the general strike on March 30, saw very important mobilizations of the Arab-Palestinian population in Israel.
All of a sudden everyone realized that 16 ple and prat per a no question te peo- the real problem was the Palestinian peoInternational Viewpoint #144 • June 27, 1988 foundations of the Zionist state. At the time the question was raised, people could see that the Palestinians were being oppressed in the occupied territories, and then all of sudden in Galilee and in the Triangle, they were demanding their rights.
On the other hand, what the army was doing in the West Bank was what the extreme right has always said should be done. So, the extreme right could say to movements such as Shalom Arshav [Peace Now, dominated by the Labor Party], "You are totally hypocritical. What we are doing now in the occupied territories is what you — the Kibbutzim, the Zionist left - did in Galilee and in all of Israel in 1948."
Then, all of a sudden, many articles began appearing in the press describing what happened in 1948. Many things have come out that for a long time only Matzpen talked about. They have written about the destruction of villages, the expulsion en masse of whole towns, like Lod, Ramle, about entire regions where the population was expelled by force. These are things that have been hidden for more than 20 years. Their denial was the real big lie of the Zionist regime. Today all this is appearing in the papers, all the papers. Why is this all coming out in the open? It is the answer of the right, which is saying that in fact the liberal and left Zionists are hypocritical.
Since the revolt of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories has put back in question the very foundations of the Israeli state and of Zionism, the reaction of the Jewish people in the street is one of fear. They understand that everything has been put in question again. And they feel real, personal danger. So, the expressions of crude racism are often reactions of fear, panic. Not everyone has a good answer to
What does the Zionist left say? At best, they say maybe we should leave the occupied territories. But what lies behind this? Organizations like Ratz or Mapam, or sometimes those even further left, say frankly, "Yes, the Palestinians have to be given a state in the territories, and then if
YOU KNOW WHAT
GOLIATH'S PROBLEM
WAS? — HE DIDNT
HAVE AUTOMATIC WEAPONS OCCUPIED TERRITORIES WASSERMAN © 87 THE BOSTON GLOBE Arabs dare open their mouths, or raise their heads inside Israel, we will kick them out and send them there." In fact, there are lot
"Yes, we'll let them have a state there and we'll get rid of the Arab population." Again, they don't attack the heart of the problem, the racism that un• Are these expulsions of Palestinians accused of being "ringleaders" of the insurrection the first steps toward mass
These were not the first expulsions. There is a lot of attention on this today, because all the press is there. In fact, it is a method that has been used very frequently. The government says all the time that there are no leaders on the Palestinian side that it can talk to. In fact, it is trying to prevent the development of a national leadership in the territories. Every time some cadres manage to educate themselves, become representative of the population on the ground, it tries to get rid of them. It can't always put them in prison. So, it follows a consistent policy of expelling these people to prevent a real Palestinian national leadership from form-
Even in Israel, often young Palestinians who have gone abroad to finish their studies abroad are arrested when they come home. Sometimes they are expelled, sometimes the authorities prevent them from coming back. Every time young Palestinians leave the country, they know that it is not at all certain that they are going to be able to get back. • Are the Israeli authorities moving toward mass expulsions of Palestinians?
Today, they cannot afford to do that. But I think that they are beginning to consider it concretely, and this is one of the important points about what is happening now. A few years ago, the phenomenon of Kahane [a neo-fascist American rabbi who calls for expulsion of the Palestinians] suddenly appeared in Israel, and everyone talked about it. Kahane is there. He has even been
elected to the Knesset [parliament]. It is estimated that in the next elections he may double his vote.
But in the last months, nothing has been heard about Kahane. When racism is every where in Israel, when there is the worst sort of repression, we aren't hearing about Kahane. And this is no accident. In fact, Kahane's proposals are being raised by a whole fringe of the Israeli political establishment. This starts with the party of Rafael Eitan, who was the commander of Israeli forces during the Lebanon war. It includes Geula Cohen of the Tehiya party, a party of the fascist extreme right which more or less represents Gush Emunim[Bloc of the Faithful, an organization devoted to Jewish settlement of the West Bank] in the
For example, Geula Cohen in the Knesset told an Arab, Miari, who represents the Progressive List for Peace, "We have to resettle you outside Israel." This term, "resettle," is being repeated also inside Likud, by the Mafdal [Miflegeth Datit Leumith, National Religious Party]. There was a symposium a month and a half ago including both reserve generals and academic figures on the question of resettlement: Is resettlement possible? How can it be carried out?
This means expulsion en masse of the Palestinian population. Today this is really the answer of a whole section of the Zionist institutions, which are beginning to consider this possibility in a very practical way. It is not exactly for tomorrow. But I think that it is a concrete, serious danger. They may be thinking about it in the framework of a future conflict, perhaps a future war that will be an opportunity for the regime once again to organize mass expulsions.
On the day before the March 30 general strike, the security minister issued quite a clear threat to the Arabs in Israel itself. He said that if they continued in that direction — demonstrating, striking, solidarizing with the West Bank and Gaza - they could provoke something similar to what happened in 1948, that is, a mass expulsion of the Palestinian population. • Are there any signs of conflicts arising in the Israeli army over the role it is being called on to play?
At the beginning, when the Intifada [insurrection] broke out, they sent the elite units of the regular army, which from their point of view were the best trained and controlled. Very rapidly, when they realized that it was a deepgoing movement that would continue for a long time, they were increasingly forced to send reserve units. Everyone serves in the reserve in Israel. This is supposed to involve 30 to 40 days active service a year. They announced recently that the reserves have to do 60 days active service a year, two months a year,
They are sending such units into the territories more frequently. There are several reasons for this. First of all, a lot of higher officers have been saying that the fact that our elite units are in the West Bank and Gaza all the time is damaging the professional level of the army. This is a serious problem for the Israeli army, which constantly seeks to maintain its high level against the Syrian army, a highly trained army. Also, the northern frontier has heated up recently and they have had to send
Moreover, there has been discussion by psychologists and sociologists about the way the soldiers react on the ground doing the dirty work of repression beatings, torture and so on. They have had to recognize that there is a danger of a development similar to what happened in the French army in Algeria and the American army in Vietnam: a moral rot, a sort of mental illness. So, their conclusion was that people could not be left there too long. They started a constant rotation. And so they resorted to reserve units, which led to opposition on the part of reserve soldiers to being sent to
There are the two aspects to this, a non-political reaction and a political one. On the political side, there is the movement called Yesh Gul, a movement of reserve soldiers who refuse to go to the occupied territories. This movement was formed during the Lebanon war on the basis of refusing to go to Lebanon. And today, it has resurfaced around the slogan "We are not going to the occupied territories." movement had a very big impact. It is not a mass movement. You should have no illusions about that. But it had a very big impact, and every time this movement organizes something, it attracts attention.
For example, recently [American singer] Joan Baez came to Israel. She wanted to express her solidarity with Yesh Gvul. We organized a demonstration with Joan Baez in front of the prison where the soldiers who refuse to go to the territories are held. There were Kahane people there, and we had a physical confrontation with them. All the demonstrations of the Yesh Gvul movement have an impact. They make a big impact in the Israel press. Up to now, 600 people have signed the petition refusing to leave for the territories. • Is there opposition to doing the two
Yes, but it's always been like that in Israel. In the Lebanon war, a lot of reservists did two and three months service. A large part of the population have to spend time in the army, you have to do it regularly twice a year. At that level, there is no change. But most organizations and parties have had to respond to the fact that there are people who are refusing to go to the territories. An example is the army itself, which has reacted very violently, obviously.
Army officers regularly go into the schools, that is part of the regimentation of the youth. They give speeches explaining what the army is, what they expect of young people — in fact political speeches
ISRAELI STATE Jewish anti-Zionists arrested THE GRAVEST attack yet on Jewish anti-Zionists is the prosecution of members of the small organization known by the name of its Hebrew and Arabic papers, Derech HaNitzotz/Tariq Ash-Sharara ("The Way of the Spark").
This group is of far-left origins and is currently a member of the Communist Party-led coalition, Hadash. On February 18, its publications were closed by the Israeli authorities. On March 8, an editor, Ribhi alAruri, was placed under administrative detention, and has since been adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. On April 15, leading member Ya'akov Ben-Efrat was arrested and held incommunicado for two weeks.
On April 23, Roni Ben-Efrat was arrested at Tel Aviv airport. She was on her way to an anti-fascist conference in Bologna, Italy. Two people accompanying her, a young man of 16 and young woman of 15, were subjected to internal searches.
On April 27, Michael Schwartz was arrested. Hadas Lahav was arrested on May 5. On May 3, the police searched the office and home of Abed al-Assali, a lawyer representing the arrested members of Derech Ha-Nitzotz and confiscated files related to the case. A sixth member, Asaf Adiv, the publisher of Derech Ha-Nitzotz, was arrested on May 17.
Charges were filed against Roni Ben-Efrat and Michael Schwartz on May 23 in the Jerusalem District Court. They were accused of having joined the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) in London in late 1983 or early 1984. It was alleged that they had set up Derech Ha-Nitzotz on the basis of an agreement with the DFLP and that the Palestinian guerrilla organization had financed it. They were charged specifically with four security offenses: "contact with a foreign agent, membership of an illegal organization, serving an illegal organization and membership of a terrorist organization."
These charges bear potential penalties of up to 40 years in prison. The jailed activists have denied all of them. This is clearly an important test of the rights of anti-Zionist Jews in Israel, and the severity of the penalties threatened indicates how high the stakes are. * • Protests against the arrests should be sent to: Eli Swissa, Jerusalem District Commissioner, 1 Queen Shlomzion 17 Street, Jerusalem 94146, Israel. June 27, 1988 • #144 International Viewpoint
ISRAELI STATE to prepare them for the army. And in such speeches and statements in the press, they never fail to mention the Yesh Gul movement. They attack it in very violent terms, to keep the youth from joining.
Moreover, movements like Shalom Arshav or parties like the Mapam, the Kibbutzik movement, the whole left wing of Zionism, don't tell people not to go to the territories. Very much to the contrary, they try to convince people to go. For example, in the Kibbutzim, they try to convince their youth who ask questions to go. During the Lebanon war a good number of young people on the Kibbutzim refused to go to Lebanon. Today, they are trying to convince them to go to the territories by every means possible. The pretext they use is to say. "We can't let just the sadists go to the territories. People like us have to be there too." In other words, the repression has to be clean. That is another thing that shows that the movement today is more difficult than in 1982-83. • Does that mean that at least temporarily the Israeli national consensus has been rebuilt?
I think so. Even a movement like Shalom Arshav does not go against the national consensus. They have had very few mobilizations. That is very revealing. When different movements arose, for example our committee in Haifa, the committee backed by Rakakh (Dai La-Kibush), and all sorts of other groupings of academics and so on, we tried to develop common work. Constantly people kept asking what Shalom
"1
Arshav was doing and looking to it. The Communists in particular keep hoping that Shalom Arshav will reappear. They would be ready to subordinate themselves entirely to Shalom Arshav and integrate themselves into it. That is what they did, for example, in 1983. But there was no sign of it.
In Haifa, Shalom Arshav does not exist. There are a few people who still meet in the name of this movement. But they are not ready to come into the street. They were not even prepared to come to meet us to see what we could do together.
For months they have done absolutely nothing. They have mobilized only once to support an international conference. And I have to say that pressure is beginning to build up on Shalom Arshav. They see that there are various movements that are mobilizing, that they are losing their base. So, a few days ago, they organized a convoy of cars through the West Bank. But there again, what did they do? They distributed a leaflet. The army wanted to stop them, and asked the High Court to rule against them. It did, but what sort of leaflet did they want to distribute? What do they say to the Palestinians? They tell them simply to stop demonstrating, to stop the struggle, that we have to have dialogue between the state of Israel and Palestinian representatives. They refer in a veiled way to the PLO, but above everything they say stop the struggle. That's all they have to say to the Palestinian population!
That is why I say the Shalom Arshav movement does not break the national consensus. Yesh Gul is another matter. It is a problem for Israeli society. It touches the most sensitive point, which is the army. It touches another pressure point that is a great gain for us, the phenomenon of opposition in the army. This is a minority phenomenon. But simply the fact that it exists is something new in Israel. This never existed before the Lebanon war. The fact that this is growing is a very important
When reservists are called up to go to the occupied territories for their second and third time, that's when we will see how people react. It won't be because they are for Israel leaving the occupied territories, but simply because they are sick of going there. During the Lebanon war, there were a good number of people who evaded service. They did not say, "We are against the war in Lebanon," but they tried by all sorts of means to get out of it. Fear was a factor,
There is also fear about going to the occupied territories. The soldiers face an entire population — women, children, everyone demonstrates. They curse them. They spit in their faces. This is hatred of the entire population against the occupation forces. A good number of Israeli soldiers are already beginning to hesitate. • What position do you take toward the Zionist left?
Our slogans are "No to the occupation! Unconditional withdrawal of all Israeli forces from all of the occupied territories." On the basis of these slogans, even Zionists can join us. It is true that most of the activists come from the far left, are anti-Zionists or Arab Palestinians. But we have managed to organize broader mobilizations and rallies. For example, in Haifa we had a function with people who came from the territories. There were about a hundred people. I don't think that there are a hundred anti-Zionists in Haifa. Most of the people there were not at all anti-Zionist.
What we say, and what distinguishes us from the other committees - especially those dominated by the Communist Party, called Dai La-Kibush (Enough Occupation) — is that we do not want to build a movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the same way as was done during the Vietnam war, for example, when there was a movement in solidarity with the Vietnamese people. We say that we are in the same struggle against oppression, that it is the same struggle on different fronts.
This is why there are Arab comrades working with us in our committee. And when we go into the occupied territories and meet people there, for them it is clear that we are not people coming from outside — obviously the conditions are different in Haifa and on the West Bank — but for them it is entirely clear that we are part of the same struggle against repression, against the occupation.
We tell Jews who would like to oppose the occupation and are looking for ways to struggle, "If you really intend living togeth-
Warschawsky trial
THE TRIAL of Michel Warschawsky and the Alternative Information Centre has been postponed until July 5. In a surprise move, the prosecution decided er on a basis of equality with the Palestinians without any oppression, without racism, without discriminatory laws such as those that exist today in Israel, what is important above all is to fight together. This is how we will develop a real confidence be-
ISRAELI STATE at the last minute to hold the trial before a panel of three judges rather than tween the Palestinian Arabs and Jews.
just one, thereby opening the way for imposition of the maximum penalty. The
This is quite different from saying that we
Centre was raided, its equipment seized, and Warschawsky arrested in Febshould have dialogue or maybe withdraw ruary 1987. (For the history, see /V 115-118.) The May 31, 1988, issue of the from the territories. After all, from the
Centre's bulletin, News from Within, described the status of the case:
standpoint of the inhabitants of the occu-
Mikado [Warschawsky] and the Alternative Information Centre are charged pied territories, they have suffered 21 years under the Emergency (Defence) Regulations (1945) with rendering typesetof oppression. Today it is a repression that ting services to a prohibited organization [the Popular Front for the Liberation can only be compared to that inflicted on of Palestine - PFLP] and with possession of material belonging to a prohibited organization, and under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (1948) with the Algerians during the Algerian war. The
Israeli army is establishing real concentrathe support of a terrorist organization. Now that the case will be heard before tion camps. There is mass torture. Naturally three judges, the full sentence of 23 years could be passed on Mikado, if this oppression is creating hatred, hatred in any case against the Israeli uniform.
The witnesses in the trial will be six members of the "special branchminorities division" of the Jerusalem police, five Shin Bet [intelligence service]
• Doesn't this hatred tend to extend to personnel — who will testify in camera - and a Palestinian secretary who
We haven't experienced any resentment
Following repeated protests and an appeal to the High Court for a judicial reagainst us as Jews. To give just one examview, the authorities finally released part of our confiscated material on May ple, I was in a village called Kabatiya, with
19. About eight boxes of published material were returned, including the 1986 which we in Haifa have had fairly continu-
Jerusalem telephone directory, an English-Arabic dictionary, and back issues of News from Within. The photocopier, too, was returned, but not in working orous relations. I was there when we took a convoy of food for the People's Committee der. We also received back a bag of confiscated rubbish - cigarette ends, tea bags, tissues. However, we have not received back our computers, printer, of this village. There was a demonstration while I was there. The army opened fire. I
FAX machine, subscription and address lists, or any manuscripts. They are heard shots. I was in a house with members of the local committee and other people
• Solidarity messages and contributions towards the defence should be sent who had come from Haifa. I was the only to: Alternative Information Centre, PO Box 185, West Jerusalem, Israel.
Jew. I never saw any sign of hostility or hatred. On the contrary, everyone told me,
"You have to explain in Haifa that we are fighting against the Israeli army, not against the Jews."
As much as we see a fear of the Arabs and a racist hatred in the Jewish population — and that, unfortunately, is one of the successes of Zionism — in the Palestinian population there is a confidence, a real hope, sometimes even illusions about the Jewish community. For example, many still have illusions in Shalom Arshav — not the politicized people, but everyone who is mobilized today, including workers, ordinary politicized.
Many of these people think that Shalom
Arshav is a movement that really wants to work with them, really extend a hand to them against the occupation. They have a lot of illusions in many left Zionist establishment figures. They think that a whole section of the Jewish population is really against the occupation, that it really wants to live with them on the basis of equality.
• What is the outlook of the politicized people in the Palestinian communities, then?
The politicized elements, all the cadres of the insurrection, know who they can count on. And this layer includes thousands of people. It's a real mass movement, and the people's committees are genuinely representative. In every locality, they can mobilize thousands of people. They don't just have experience of organizing demonstrations; this is an insurrection.
used to work at the Centre.
still held "as evidence" in the trial. *
During the night, they to go to distribute food to needy families. If there is a curfew in a camp, food has to be smuggled in from the nearby villages. This is very dangerous, because the army shoots at everything that moves. Especially under a curfew, they fire without any warning. There are actions like putting up flags during the night. This is a deep-rooted movement. It is these cadres who are the real leaders of the insurrection. • Did this layer exist before the insurrection and play a role in unleashing it?
We have to ask ourselves why the insurrection is happening now, why not a year ago? I think there is a real reason why it is occurring now. The racism that is developing in Israel more and more openly, the raising of this slogan of resettlement, is not something that began just in these last months. This sort of thing is growing more now. But it has been increasingly open in Israel for about a year. The expressions of racism and talk about mass expulsion as a solution have been appearing more frequently in the past year in the press, on the radio, everywhere.
These young workers who are the real cadres of the insurrection come to work in Israel, they know Israeli society, I think they led a self-defence reaction against this aggression, that is, the aggression that is coming against their people. These cadres of the insurrection know what the story is. When we come into the villages, when we come into a refugee camp, they greet us like comrades in struggle, and while there are Muslim fundamentalists of course, especially in Gaza, nowhere, but nowhere have we had problems of rejection because we are Jews. On the contrary, we are constantly accepted with open arms, and not just as visitors but as people who are working together with them. • You mentioned the Muslim fundamentalists as an exception. Is Islamic fundamentalism anti-Jewish?
First of all, we do not seek contacts with such a movement. When we go into a village like Kadatiya, we go to the People's Committee. The committees include everyone, all the movements. They are genuinely representative of the entire population. There are fundamentalists in them. The Communist Party is there, although it does not have so much of a mass base. And above all, obviously, there is Fatah, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front. We don't try to make contact with any specific political movement.
But if we go into an area, it is obvious that it is first of all the Palestinian left who are the most open, who are the most politicized. They are the most conscious of the need for common work within Israel. The fundamentalists are generally inward looking. But again, I have not seen real reactions of rejection. At least, if it exists, it is not allowed to be expressed. In general, the real cadres, I am thinking of the most politicized, are the Palestinian left, and in a conscious way they seck to develop work with 19 June 27, 1988 • #144 International Viewpoint
NICARAGUA
Drinking
from a
bitter cup
RONALD REAGAN's trip to Moscow, and his haste to reach a last minute arms agreement with Gorbachev before the end of his second presidential term, cannot hide the republican administration's poor foreign policy record.
ARIANE MERRI
A CLOSE look at the USA's
"backyard", Central America, shows US foreign policy in this region to have been a complete
A failure in Panama where Reagan, in spite of trying everything, has not been able to dislodge General Noriega, a past ally who has become a real nuisance.
A failure in El Salvador, where the Christian-Democrat's "civil" plan has received what is undoubtedly its death-blow with the victory of the extreme-right ARENA party in the March elections. Divisions are the ChristianDemocrats. Duarte's imminent death (he is suffering from cancer) assumes a symbolism that nobody could have imagined when the dashing president took office in 1984.
The democratic face-lift in Guatemala, of which Cerezo was the kingpin, recently went awry when a section of the army plot-
Even Honduras, that caricature of a banana republic, has not been left untouched. The national feelings of the people exploded in recent weeks in violent anti-American riots. They are no longer prepared to be the living backdrop for the USA's annexed military base, or for their mercenaries, the contras.
Lastly, even if there is nothing notable to say about Costa Rica itself — at least for the time being! — the accord signed on March 23 between the Nicaraguan government and the contras is without any doubt a setback for the Reagan administration. More than anything else it represents the failure of the military option strategy chosen by the US in the region. Although this strategy has not been totally abandoned, the simple fact that the repeated demands International Viewpoint #144 • June 27, 1988
HILTON
9 9 2
AMERICAN EXCESS