Israel: Sharon's Plan - The Road to Peace? Yossi Schwartz looks at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan and why George W. Bush, and now Tony Blair, as well as many inside Israel support it. The unilateral plan is presented as a means to solve the endless crisis and bring about peace and stability in the region. But beneath the road to the implementation of the Sharon Plan there lie two big landmines - the settlers and the Palestinian masses.
The insurrection in Iraq The US army is now faced with a general insurrectionary upsurge all over Iraq. This marks a qualitative change in the situation. This week has seen the heaviest fighting since the end of the war, with the US losing 33 soldiers in three days. By last night, the troops which overthrew Saddam Hussein a year ago this week, had been driven from five Iraqi cities after heavy fighting.
Iraq: "This is George W. Bush's Vietnam" Iraq is in flames. Insurrections and fighting have spread across the country. The US-led coalition is fighting a desperate war on two-fronts: against Sunni rebels concentrated in the western towns of Falluja and Ramadi and a Shia uprising in south and central Iraq. This is just three months before the US is due to transfer power to an Iraqi government and the situation is deteriorating with every passing day.
Call for Urgent Action Abnaa elBalad Political Activists, Mohammed Kannaneh and Majed Kannaneh, Detained for 54 Days under Inhuman Conditions in GSS Wing of Israeli Police Detention Center - District Court Refused to Grant an Immediate Remedy - Detainees on Hunger Strike
Israel: Abnaa elBalad appeal for action We have just received this appeal from the Abna elBalad movement. In spite of appealing - and going on hunger strike - the imprisoned leaders of this movement are still being held in terrible conditions.
Two letters of protest at the treatment of leaders of Abnaa elBalad We have received these two short letters of protest at the treatment of the leaders of Abnaa elBalad, one from Israel and the other from Sweden.
A poor Israeli woman pleads with Netanyahu A letter sent to the Israeli Finance Ministry, pleading for help for the poor and disabled who attend a help centre in Israel. It highlights the plight of an ever growing layer of poor in Israeli society.
Israel: Abnaa elBalad leaders on hunger strike in prison Yesterday, March 29, we received this statement from the Abnaa elBalad movement in Israel. Their leaders are still in prison “awaiting trial” and have now started a hunger strike to protest at the terrible conditions they are having to suffer.
Israel/Palestine: 20,000 march on Land Day More than 20,000 people participated today in the central Land Day Demonstration - 'Yowm al Ard' in Arabic - (marching from the Palestinian village of Sakhnin to Arabeh), protesting against the land confiscations, house demolitions, the arrest of the leadership of the Islamic movement and of the Abnaa elBalad movement, the Occupation, the Apartheid wall and the assassinations of Palestinian leaders.
The Rulers of Israel have killed Hamas' Shaikh Ahmad Yassin - A bloody crime against both nations This morning's criminal killing of Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, leader of Hamas, in Gaza, on the partb of the Israeli military will only serve to provoke more terrorist attacks on Israel. It will make the hellish spiral of tit-for-tat suicide bombings followed by state repression even worse. The Palestinian and Israel workers will be the ones to suffer. Only the working class on boths sides can offer a way out of this nightmare.
Israel: Ashdod bombings: How reaction and individual terrorism feed off each other The latest bombings in Ashdod highlight the fact that state terror provokes individual terror, and individual terror gives the state the excuses it needs to step up repression. A class policy is the only way out.
Sharon's plans point to a civil war in Gaza Sharon’s proposal to “withdraw” from Gaza do not represent a step towards a solution to the conflict in the Middle East, but rather hide manoeuvres on the part of the Israeli government. It is a cynical game played out at the expense of both the Israeli and Arab masses.
Harassment of Abnaa elBalad highlights plight of Palestinians in Israel The leaders of the Abna elBalad movement have finally been officially charged. The whole case smells of a witch-hunt, a determined offensive against anyone who dares to raise their head in protest.
Israel/Palestine: two states or one bi-national state? The idea of a bi-national state solution has become fashionable among some circles in Israel/Palestine. Yossi Schwartz in Jerusalem explains that on the basis of capitalism, with unemployment, bad housing, low wages and discrimination, neither the two-state nor the single bi-national state proposals can work. The only solution can be found within an overall Socialist Federation of the Middle East.
Latest bombings highlight plight of Iraqi people Yesterday’s bomb attacks in Iraq have brought the plight of the Iraqi people back into the attention of the whole world. It reminds everyone of the terrible mess that the US-UK war against Saddam Hussein has provoked. Iraq was no threat to anyone. That has been abundantly demonstrated now. So what has been achieved?
