The Death of Baroness Thatcher
after Patricia McGuigan and Alexander Pope
Her hair was a headmistress dreaming
of again being allowed to use the cane.

Her ambition was a brass door knocker
on what was once a council house.

Her brain was a conversation about money
Sir Keith Joseph had with himself.

Her back passage was Basil Fawlty
complaining about car strikes to the Major.

The look in her eyes was a shoot to kill policy
in Northern Ireland.

Her sentimentality was a spinster’s thimble
in which you could fit what’s left of the Tory Party
in Scotland, Liverpool, Manchester,
Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle…

Her clenched fist was a skinhead
in nothing but Union Jack y-fronts.

She said the word ‘Europe’
like a woman coming down
from a severe overdose of Brussels Sprouts.

Her Christmases were dinner at Chequers
with a recently deceased sex offender.

Her ‘out’, ‘no’, ‘never’
were striking print workers
being given the cat of nine tails.

Her fingers and thumbs
were ten riot shields in a row.

Her final nightmare
was the silent, black eyed ghosts
of Joe Green and David Jones ,
who did nothing but each offer her
a hand.

NOTES
David Gareth Jones, from Wakefield, died amid violent scenes outside Ollerton colliery in Nottinghamshire on 15 March 1984. On 15 June Joe Green was crushed to death by a lorry while picketing in Ferrybridge, West Yorkshire.

The post The death of Baroness Thatcher – a poem by Kevin Higgins appeared on Socialist Unity.

Not just that – Israel long ago made it illegal for Palestinians to sink wells, or to take water from Israeli wells. Palestinians are regularly shot, attacked and imprisoned simply for trying to get water.

The graphic below, from the excellent Visualising Palestine, describes the problem. Please feel free to share it – and next time a supporter of Israel tells you it’s a democratic, peaceful state, remind them: This is apartheid. Different roads for Jews. Military trials for Palestinians – in fact a completely different set of laws applied to Palestinians. Water denied to the Palestinians. “Skunk water” sprayed over Palestinian homes and farms. And, in Gaza, the deliberate total destruction of the sewer system, so the Gaza coastline stinks like a sewer and presents serious health risks to the population. This was carried out by Israel as a parting gift when it withdrew from Gaza and sealed its population in (along with massive destruction of Palestinian graves by IDF soldiers).

This is apartheid.

The post Israel: Stealing water from the Palestinians appeared on Socialist Unity.

The March-April edition of the Israeli left magazine Challenge, included an interesting article about the documentary Asurot– which is an untranslatable word in Hebrew, referring to women both confined and forbidden. The full article is available here.

The story behind the documentary is that two film makers, Anat Even and Ada Ushpiz went to make a film about three Palestinian widows living in Hebron.

Hebron is a reasonably large Palestinian town, of around 200,000 inhabitants, but since 1996 the town centre has been designated as under Israeli control, as special area H-2, under the Oslo agreement. This Israeli enclave is home for some 300 religious extremists, mainly from America but some from France. These ultra-Zionists do not work, and live on hand outs from the Israeli state, and are guarded by an entire brigade of the Israeli Defense Force – some 4000 troops. (Here is a report of my own visit to Hebron last year)

The documentary film follows the lives of Siham, Nawal and Najwa from the Abu Minshar family. Their house faces into the Zionist H-2 enclave on one side, and they have an Israeli army post on their roof, the soldiers clatter up and down their stairs, depriving the women and children of any privacy or respect. This was the story the film makers went to capture.

But when they were there, they uncovered a deeper more personal tragedy. All three husbands of these women were killed in road traffic accidents. But to be a widow in the more conservative parts of Palestinian society is a stigma. Widows are expected to spend the rest of their lives at home rearing the children, and have no further social life. If a widow wears make up or smart clothes she is mocked for being a man hunter, and if she remarries she is ostracised.

The original motive for the film was to expose how the occupation reaches deep into the family life of civilians, having soldiers moving daily through their house. This is a deep oppression that the Israelis are inflicting on this family. Without any thought for the civilians whose house they are using the Zionist troops piss on the roof, and empty shells of their bullets lie scattered about. Nawal angrily asks whether the Palestinian question has to be solved on her own roof.

But the national oppression becomes a marginal question in the film, as during the year the film makers spent there, the conflicts within Palestinian society, and the oppression of women become revealed. Anat Even said: “At first I thought it was none of my business to treat this. I thought it should be the task of Palestinian society. But from the moment the women began telling us their stories, there was simply no question. It was clear the film would deal with their position as widows in their society. Maybe they talked to us precisely because they couldn’t talk within their society – or even among themselves.”

One of the women, Nawal, rebels: “I hate the word “widow”. It repels me. I reject the notion that a woman loses her worth when she loses her husband”. But her husbands family took all the insurance money paid out after his death, giving her only a tiny pittance each month, and little by little her sons are adopting traditional chauvinist views and lording it over her.

The least rebellious of the three, Siham, is visited by her younger sister, whose husband has taken a second wife, and is stingy and violent towards her, the younger sister wishes she was a widow. But Siham points out to her that her husband’s death would bring her no freedom.

The third widow, Najwa, turns her rage and frustration into beating her son. She is the only one with a blue card enabling her to travel to Jerusalem, where she escapes into a fantasy of shopping and relative normality.

The story ends with an escalation of the occupation’s violence, the family’s house is commandeered by the army of occupation and turned into a military base. The national oppression of the Palestinian people again takes centre stage, and the oppression of women is again forgotten.

The post The double oppression of Palestinian women appeared on Socialist Unity.

Who said protesting couldn’t be fun.Doing the Bhangra with @onkarsahota #SaveOurNHS Demo twitter.com/KamaljeetJandu…

— Kamaljeet Jandu (@KamaljeetJandu) May 18, 2013

Best placard at #SaveOurNHS demo by far . So typically English I love it!twitpic.com/crgt7o

— Lee Jasper (@LeeJasper) May 18, 2013

“@mralbertsteptoe RT @cpeedell: Just about to speak to this wonderful lot at the Defend the NHS rally #saveOURnhs twitter.com/cpeedell/statu…”

— Shirley (@shirleykay11) May 18, 2013

‘@mattwillgress with Islington Trades Union Council banner on #SaveOurNHS #SaveOurHospitals demo twitter.com/benfolley/stat…

— Ben Folley (@benfolley) May 18, 2013

Louise Irvine from Lewisham #NHS campaign speaking outside Downing St. #SaveOurNHS twitter.com/MichaelH14/sta…

— Michael H. (@MichaelH14) May 18, 2013

Setting off on #SaveOurNHS march with @islingtongreens. Rosemary’s wheelchair revealed how v inaccessible London is. twitter.com/highburyonfoot…

— Caroline Russell (@highburyonfoot) May 18, 2013

“@15mlondon: Cual es nuestra solución, los banqueros a prisión #SanidadPública #SaveOurNHS twitter.com/15mlondon/stat…“

— Domingo Carabajal (@doming745) May 18, 2013

The post London NHS Demo – pictures from Twitter appeared on Socialist Unity.

Whether those involved have been motivated by anti English hostility or not – and in both instances the answer is clearly more likely not – perception is all in politics. And in this regard, with both events being covered widely by the media, any English person living in Scotland watching this developing trend will be justified in experiencing a growing sense of unease.

Oppressed

Scotland is not an oppressed nation. Scottish people do not suffer national oppression, nor have they ever in the context of Scotland’s history as part of the United Kingdom. On the contrary, Scots played a prominent and shameful role in oppressing others throughout the British Empire. From Ireland to India, Africa to the Americas, Scottish regiments, colonialists, financiers, slavers, and militarists have been responsible for some of the most heinous crimes ever committed in the name of civilization and progress. Moreover, the development of Scottish industry – its shipbuilding, steel, and manufacturing industries of a bygone age – was financed on the back of the the super exploitation of millions of human beings throughout the southern hemisphere, whose under development was a condition of Scotland’s industrialisation.

Unfortunately this history seems lost on a fringe element within the campaign for Scottish independence, as increasingly we see evidence of a lapse into the reductionist politics of nationalism, leading to the blurring of the real dividing line in society between capital and labour.

Millions of people in Newcastle, Manchester, and Liverpool – all over England – are equally suffering under the weight of this vicious Tory government, yet in Scotland there are those who believe that the answer to Tory attacks now is independence three years hence. It is classic ‘jam tomorrow’ politics so beloved by mainstream parties and political leaders, such as Alex Salmond, and is a diversion from the battles that need to be fought and engaged in today.

Cathartic

While it may be cathartic to heckle Tory ministers and right wing politicians with ‘Get back tae England!’ it will inevitably contract the potential base of progressive support for Scottish independence throughout the UK. It also risks a concomitant rise in anti Scottish sentiment south of the border, where hundreds of thousands of Scots live and work and have done for generations. The ties that bind people across these islands are deep and long established, with the enemy of the Scottish worker – unfettered capitalism – the same enemy of the English, Welsh, and Irish worker.

There is also the irrefutable evidence that in an epoch of neoliberal orthodoxy, when competition for inflows of capital between nation states has never been more fierce, the break-up of larger states and political formations has seen those smaller states turn to the right rather than left. Xenophobia, national particularism, and cultural chauvinism has been the norm; and there is scant evidence of Scotland becoming the socialist or progressive paradise that many supporters of Scottish independence are convinced it will be if the Yes campaign succeeds. On the contrary, with the SNP devolved government currently trumpeting an independent Scotland as a member of NATO with an unelected monarch as head of state, introducing one of the lowest rates of corporation tax in Europe at 15 percent, and with its commitment to neoliberal nostrums, the politics of delusion have clearly infected a large section of the Scottish left as it marches lockstep towards the 2014 referendum behind the Saltire.

The irony is that when Nigel Farage appeared in Edinburgh trumpeting his odious brand of British nationalism, many or some watching him being heckled may have been left with the impression that he was met with an equally odious brand of Scottish nationalism. This is the inevitable consequence of thinking that socialists can tail nationalism and retain their political compass.

As Albert Einstein said, ‘Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

The post ‘Get back tae England!’ appeared on Socialist Unity.

Visualising Palestine encourages people to share these graphics – please feel free to download it and share. Click the image for a full-size, high-quality version

The post The forced exile of the Palestinians appeared on Socialist Unity.

The audit came about after the losing right wing candidate, Henrique Capriles, refused to accept the result of April’s presidential election, that saw Nicolas Maduro elected, and instead claimed that fraud had been committed.

Venezuela has a fully electronic voting system. As well as voting electronically each voter gets a paper receipt corresponding to their electronic vote, which the voter can check, and which is then placed in a traditional ballot box. To ensure the accuracy of the electronic results, an audit of 54% of these paper ballots is automatically made on election night before the results are released and in front of witnesses from all political parties and members of the public. During this audit no discrepancies were reported by witnesses from the campaign team of Henrique Capriles. Venezuela’s fully automated electoral system underwent 18 audits before, during and after the vote. These were conducted in the presence of witnesses from all political parties who certified the system’s proper functioning and integrity. There was not one single instance of irregularity registered by these witnesses. On the contrary, all of the audits were signed off by all witnesses including those representing the losing parties. One further safeguard was the presence of over 150 electoral accompaniers from 22 countries who declared the elections free and fair.

Following Capriles rejection of the results, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council proposed the extension of the audit to the remaining 46% of the votes. This is now underway and the first set of results, released on 16 May, showed that with 75% of the vote now verified there has been a level of accuracy between the electronic and paper votes of 99.98%.

With 75% of the vote now audited, the level of accuracy with the first set of results is 99.98%.

Whilst initially requesting and accepting a process that will mean 100% of all the votes were audited, Henrique Capriles has since said he will still not recognise these results.

Venezuela’s Ambassador to the UK Samuel Moncada commented as follows:

“This audit once again underlines the robustness and accuracy of Venezuela’s voting system. That is why Nobel Prize winner Jimmy carter called Venezuela’s electoral system the ‘best on the world’. It seems that Henrique Capriles is simply trying to sully the reputation of Venezuela’s electoral process for political purposes rather than raising genuine concerns about Venezuela’s voting system”.

The post Venezuela’s election – audit shows the vote is valid appeared on Socialist Unity.

The post There is a blacklist – the biggest civil liberties scandal in the UK appeared on Socialist Unity.

The post Israel’s treatment of Palestinian child prisoners appeared on Socialist Unity.

Although delegates to the FBU’s annual conference did not vote to call a strike ballot immediately, they agreed to put a seven point plan to ministers and seek further talks. General secretary Matt Wrack said: “We still hope to avoid industrial action but we are determined to defend our pension rights. Genuine talks are still a real option and the ball is now firmly in government’s court to sort out the mess they have got themselves into.”

continue reading

The post Link: FBU moving towards strike over pensions appeared on Socialist Unity.

It’s not often that I’m exercised enough about something that I feel compelled to write more than 140 characters on the subject. Yesterday morning I read a lengthy tract by Ajmal Masroor on the issue of sex, sexual exploitation and Pakistani men – it was probably in response to Tuesday’s news of the conviction of seven men in Oxford in the latest prosecution of sexual exploitation of young, vulnerable girls. The post was entitled ‘Sex grooming – whats (sic) gone wrong with Pakistani men?’ After a wave of criticism, the original post (the link is to a screenshot of the now-deleted post) was removed, edited, and reposted. But the gist of it remained the same – he simply added more brown people to have a go at.

No-one should question the severity of their crimes: abusing and exploiting some of the most vulnerable members of society. These men, and others like them, took advantage of young girls who had been otherwise abandoned and rejected by society.

Questions need to be, and are being, asked of the agencies with statutory responsibilities – local authority social services and police forces – and those people who failed these young girls also need to be held to account. No expense should be spare in providing the victims the support they need and measures need to be put in place to ensure other vulnerable young people never have to suffer as they did.

Back to Masroor’s post. He makes a number of assertions in his post that I profoundly disagree with.

First of all, Pakistani men are no more predisposed to sexually exploiting young girls than men of any other ethnic origin. The reason we’re hearing so much about these specific cases is because they fit with a particular narrative which needs to evoke images of dusky savages in order to be maintained. The Muslim community in the UK has been under unrelenting attack – in the political sphere and in the media – for a number of years now. This focus on the religion and ethnicity of the offenders is only a continuation of those attacks. It’s no coincidence that at a time when Muslims are under such sustained attack by the media and the state, so much more attention is paid to heinous crimes, whether that be terrorism or sexual abuse of children, when the perpetrators are brown and Muslim.

Why was there so little coverage of the case in Derby in 2012, where seven out of the eight men were white? As recently expressed by Joesph Harker, why were there no calls for the ‘white community’ to engage in some soul searching, to ascertain what it is about white culture or their religion that leads to them acting in such a despicable way?

This isn’t an issue of ethnicity or religion – this is an issue of a group of men exploiting vulnerabilities in young girl in order to abuse them for their own sexual gratification. It happens in all ethnicities and religions; just have a look at those who’ve been arrested as part of Operation Yewtree, the Metropolitan Police Services investigation into historic allegations of sexual abuse, particularly of children. Jimmy Savile was neither Pakistani nor Muslim. Which papers have referenced Savile’s religion when writing about the prolific abuse he was engaged in? I don’t think Gary Glitter will be taking the Muslim declaration of faith any time soon.

Figures

Masroor claims that “the reality is that more than 80% of those found guilty of sex grooming and exploitation of young girls have Pakistani ethnic origin.”

Let me be absolutely clear – that figure is wrong. In fact, it’s so wrong that it’s worth repeating – that figure is just not true. I don’t know where it came from as it’s not referenced in his post, but the figures I’ve come across from a simple Google search suggest otherwise and, in fact, show a significant divergence from the figure he’s reporting.

The Ministry of Justice reported that 8% of those convicted of sex offences in 2010 were Asian. I didn’t miss a zero off – the figure is eight percent. That figure relates to a wide-range of offences – ranging from sexual assaults, rape and other crimes, against both adults and minors, that are classified as sex offences.

The closest figures we can find to test Masroor’s specific claim – relating to sex grooming and exploitation – come from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) report ‘Out of Mind, Out of Sight‘. Their research identified that of those individuals who were reported to them as “possible offenders in relation to street grooming and child sexual exploitation”, and about whom information was available, 28% were identified as Asian. This covers people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian origin.

The CEOP, in their report, were at pains to stress that no conclusions could be drawn from those figures as they were incomplete and the standard of data collection was inconsistent and poor – they drew the data from limited geographical areas where local agencies had been proactive in collecting data and there had been substantial police investigations. If the data came solely or predominantly from areas with large Asian populations, that might explain the over-representation of Asian people in those figures. The report also suggests that “an unconscious bias among agency responses” might account for the larger number of Asian people in the figures. And let’s face it, the Police and other agencies don’t exactly have a noble history when it comes to their treatment of Black and Asian people.

Justice

So where did Masroor get his 80% figure from? And why am I banging this particular drum? Surely the main thing to do right now is to get justice for the victims and ensure we never allow things like this to happen again? Yes, the victims need justice but the record also needs to be set straight before we condemn 1.2 million people of Pakistani ethnicity, or the 4.2m who describe themselves as Asian.

The danger of this kind of thinking is evident in the evolution of Masroor’s post. He started off this morning simply talking about the depravity of Pakistani men. But clearly stung by criticism, he later rewrote his post to also aim his fire at Arabs and Bangladeshis – with a nod to white sex offenders, a group entirely missing from his initial post. He still reserved his worst for the Pakistani community. The point here is, he’s still wrong.

It doesn’t help when people in positions of influence, with a platform and a pulpit (literally in this case), resort to the same smears and damaging assertions that feeds today’s undercurrent of racism and Islamophobia.

We all need to take a stand against the exploitation of young people – if we make it into an issue of race or religion, we’re turning it into something it’s not. And we give succour to the EDL and their ilk who squeal with delight every time a Muslim is convicted of a crime, especially of this nature. The idea that hordes of Muslims are dangerous child abusers is their narrative, we mustn’t let it becomes ours.

As a community, we can stand up to the sexual exploitation of young people without feeding into the racist and Islamophobic narrative that has gripped this country. In fact, I would urge Ajmal Masroor to do just that. Don’t give in to the nonsense about Asians and Muslims being worse that other ethnic or religious groups, stand up and defend your community against the racism that’s showing no sign of relenting and leaving many young Muslims angry and alienated.

The post Sex, sexual exploitation and Pakistani men – in response to Ajmal Masroor appeared on Socialist Unity.

The Oslo Accords weren’t a failure for Israel — they served as a fig leaf to consolidate and deepen its control over Palestinian life

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israeli government. Officially known as the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements, the Oslo Accords were firmly ensconced in the framework of the two-state solution, heralding “an end to decades of confrontation and conflict,” the recognition of “mutual legitimate and political rights,” and the aim of achieving “peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security and … a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement.”

Its supporters claimed that under Oslo, Israel would gradually relinquish control over territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with the newly established Palestinian Authority (PA) eventually forming an independent state there. The negotiations process, and subsequent agreements between the PLO and Israel, instead paved the way for the current situation in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian Authority, which now rules over an estimated 2.6 million Palestinians in the West Bank, has become the key architect of Palestinian political strategy. Its institutions draw international legitimacy from Oslo, and its avowed goal of “building an independent Palestinian state” remains grounded in the same framework. The incessant calls for a return to negotiations — made by US and European leaders on an almost daily basis — harken back to the principles laid down in September 1993.

Two decades on, it is now common to hear Oslo described as a “failure” due to the ongoing reality of Israeli occupation. The problem with this assessment is that it confuses the stated goals of Oslo with its real aims. From the perspective of the Israeli government, the aim of Oslo was not to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or to address the substantive issues of Palestinian dispossession, but something much more functional. By creating the perception that negotiations would lead to some kind of “peace,” Israel was able to portray its intentions as those of a partner rather than an enemy of Palestinian sovereignty.

Based on this perception, the Israeli government used Oslo as a fig leaf to cover its consolidated and deepened control over Palestinian life, employing the same strategic mechanisms wielded since the onset of the occupation in 1967. Settlement construction, restrictions on Palestinian movement, the incarceration of thousands, and command over borders and economic life: all came together to form a complex system of control. A Palestinian face may preside over the day-to-day administration of Palestinian affairs, but ultimate power remains in the hands of Israel. This structure has reached its apex in the Gaza Strip — where over 1.7 million people are penned into a tiny enclave with entry and exit of goods and people largely determined by Israeli dictat.

Oslo also had a pernicious political effect. By reducing the Palestinian struggle to the process of bartering over slivers of land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Oslo ideologically disarmed the not-insignificant parts of the Palestinian political movement that advocated continued resistance to Israeli colonialism and sought the genuine fulfillment of Palestinian aspirations. The most important of these aspirations was the demand that Palestinian refugees have the right to return to the homes and lands from which they had been expelled in 1947 and 1948. Oslo made talk of these goals seem fanciful and unrealistic, normalizing a delusive pragmatism rather than tackling the foundational roots of Palestinian exile. Outside of Palestine, Oslo fatally undermined the widespread solidarity and sympathy with the Palestinian struggle built during the years of the first Intifada, replacing an orientation toward grassroots collective support with a faith in negotiations steered by Western governments. It would take over a decade for solidarity movements to rebuild themselves.

As it weakened the Palestinian movement, Oslo helped to strengthen Israel’s regional position. The illusory perception that Oslo would lead toward peace permitted Arab governments, led by Jordan and Egypt, to embrace economic and political ties with Israel under American and European auspices. Israel was thus able to free itself from Arab boycotts, estimated to have cost it a cumulative $40 billion from 1948 to 1994. Even more significantly, once Israel was brought in from the cold, international firms could invest in the Israeli economy without fear of attracting secondary boycotts from Arab trading partners. In all these ways, Oslo presented itself as the ideal tool to fortify Israel’s control over Palestinians and simultaneously strengthen its position within the broader Middle East. There was no contradiction between support for the “peace process” and deepening colonization — the former consistently worked to enable the latter.

It is worth remembering that amid the clamor of international cheerleading for Oslo — capped by the Nobel Peace Prize awarded jointly to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat in 1994 — a handful of perceptive voices forecast the situation we face today. Noteworthy among them was Edward Said, who wrote powerfully against Oslo, commenting that its signing displayed “the degrading spectacle of Yasser Arafat thanking everyone for the suspension of most of his people’s rights, and the fatuous solemnity of Bill Clinton’s performance, like a twentieth-century Roman emperor shepherding two vassal kings through rituals of reconciliation and obeisance.” Describing the agreement as “an instrument of Palestinian surrender, a Palestinian Versailles,” Said noted that the PLO would become “Israel’s enforcer,” helping Israel to deepen its economic and political domination of Palestinian areas and consolidating a “state of permanent dependency.” While analyses like Said’s are important to recall simply for their remarkable prescience and as a counterpoint to the constant mythologizing of the historical record, they are particularly significant today as virtually all world leaders continue to swear allegiance to a chimerical “peace process.”

One question that often goes unaddressed in analyses of Oslo and the two-state strategy is why the Palestinian leadership headquartered in the West Bank has been so willingly complicit with this disastrous project. Too often, the explanation is essentially tautological — something akin to “the Palestinian leadership has made bad decisions because they are poor leaders.” The finger is often pointed at corruption, or at the difficulties of the international context that limit available political options.

What is missing from this type of explanation is a blunt fact: some Palestinians have a great stake in seeing the continuation of the status quo. Over the last two decades, the evolution of Israeli rule has produced profound changes in the nature of Palestinian society. These changes have been concentrated in the West Bank, cultivating a social base that supports the political trajectory of the Palestinian leadership in its eagerness to relinquish Palestinian rights in return for being incorporated into the structures of Israeli settler-colonialism. It is this process of socioeconomic transformation that explains the Palestinian leadership’s submission to Oslo, and it points to the need for a radical break from the two-state strategy.

The Social Base of Oslo and the Two-State Strategy

The unfolding of the Oslo process was ultimately shaped by the structures of occupation laid down by Israel in the preceding decades. During this period, the Israeli government launched a systematic campaign to confiscate Palestinian land and construct settlements in the areas from which Palestinians had been driven out during the 1967 war. The logic of this settlement construction was embodied in two major strategic plans, the Allon Plan (1967) and the Sharon Plan (1981). Both these plans envisaged Israeli settlements placed between major Palestinian population centers and on top of water aquifers and fertile agricultural land. An Israeli-only road network would eventually connect these settlements to each other and also to Israeli cities outside of the West Bank. In this way, Israel could seize land and resources, divide Palestinian areas from each other, and avoid direct responsibility for the Palestinian population as much as possible. The asymmetry of Israeli and Palestinian control over land, resources, and economy meant that the contours of Palestinian state-formation were completely dependent on Israeli design.

Combined with military-enforced restrictions on the movement of Palestinian farmers and their access to water and other resources, the massive waves of land confiscation and settlement-building during the first two decades of the occupation transformed Palestinian landownership and modes of social reproduction. From 1967 to 1974, the amount of cultivated Palestinian land in the West Bank fell by about one third. The expropriation of land in the Jordan Valley by Israeli settlers meant that 87% of all irrigated land in the West Bank was removed from Palestinian hands. Military orders forbade the drilling of new wells for agricultural purposes and restricted overall water use by Palestinians, while Israeli settlers were encouraged to use as much water as needed.

With this deliberate destruction of the agricultural sector, poorer Palestinians — particularly youth — were displaced from rural areas and gravitated toward work in the construction and agriculture sectors inside Israel. In 1970, the agricultural sector included over 40% of the Palestinian labor force working in the West Bank. By 1987, this figure was down to only 26%. Palestinian agriculture’s share of GDP fell from 35% to 16% between 1970 and 1991.

Under the framework established by the Oslo Accords, Israel seamlessly incorporated these changes to the West Bank into a comprehensive system of control. Palestinian land was gradually transformed into a patchwork of isolated enclaves, with the three main clusters in the north, center, and south of the West Bank divided from one another by settlement blocs. The Palestinian Authority was granted limited autonomy in the areas where most Palestinians lived (the so-called Areas A and B), but travel between these areas could be shut down at any time by the Israeli military. All movement to and from Areas A and B, as well as the determination of residency rights in these areas, was under Israeli authority. Israel also controlled the vast majority of water aquifers, all underground resources, and all airspace in the West Bank. Palestinians thus relied on Israeli discretion for their water and energy supplies.

Israel’s complete control over all external borders, codified in the 1994 Paris Protocol on Economic Relations between the PA and Israel, meant that it was impossible for the Palestinian economy to develop meaningful trade relations with a third country. The Paris Protocol gave Israel the final say on what the PA was allowed to import and export. The West Bank and Gaza Strip thus became highly dependent on imported goods, with total imports ranging between 70% and 80% of GDP. By 2005, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that 74% of all imports to the West Bank and Gaza Strip originated in Israel while 88% of all exports from those areas were destined for Israel.

With no real economic base, the PA was completely reliant on external capital flows of aid and loans, which were again under Israeli control. Between 1995 and 2000, 60% of the total PA revenue came from indirect taxes collected by the Israeli government on goods imported from abroad and destined for the occupied territories. These taxes were collected by the Israeli government and then transferred to the PA each month according to a process outlined in the Paris Protocol. The other main source of PA income came from aid and foreign disbursements by the United States, Europe, and Arab governments. Indeed, figures for aid measured as a percentage of Gross National Income indicated that the West Bank and Gaza Strip were among the most aid-dependent of all regions in the world.

Changing Labor Structure

This system of control engendered two major changes in the socioeconomic structure of Palestinian society. The first of these related to the nature of Palestinian labor, which increasingly became a tap that could be turned on or off according to the economic and political situation and the needs of Israeli capital. Beginning in 1993, Israel consciously moved to substitute the Palestinian labor force that commuted daily from the West Bank with foreign workers from Asia and Eastern Europe. This substitution was partly enabled by the declining importance of construction and agriculture as Israel’s economy shifted away from those sectors toward high-tech industries and exports of finance capital in the 1990s.

Between 1992 and 1996, Palestinian employment in Israel declined from 116,000 workers (33% of the Palestinian labor force) to 28,100 (6% of the Palestinian labor force). Earnings from work in Israel collapsed from 25% of Palestinian GNP in 1992 to 6% in 1996. Between 1997 and 1999, an upturn in the Israeli economy saw the absolute numbers of Palestinian workers increase to approximately pre-1993 levels, but the proportion of the Palestinian labor force working inside Israel was nonetheless almost half of what it had been a decade earlier.

Instead of working inside Israel, Palestinians became increasingly dependent on public-sector employment within the PA or on transfer payments made by the PA to families of prisoners, martyrs, or the needy. Public-sector employment made up nearly a quarter of total employment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2000, a level that had almost doubled since 1996. More than half of the PA’s expenditures went to wages for these public-sector workers. The private sector also provided substantial employment, particularly in the area of services. These were overwhelmingly dominated by small family-owned businesses — over 90% of Palestinian private-sector businesses employ fewer than ten people — as a result of decades of Israeli de-development policies.

Capital and the Palestinian Authority

Alongside the increasing dependence of Palestinian families on either employment or payments from the Palestinian Authority, the second major feature of the socioeconomic transformation of the West Bank was related to the nature of the Palestinian capitalist class. In a situation of weak local production and extremely high dependence on imports and flows of foreign capital, the economic power of the Palestinian capitalist class in the West Bank did not stem from local industry, but rather proximity to the PA as the main conduit of external capital inflows. Through the Oslo years, this class came together through the fusion of three distinct social groups: “returnee” capitalists, mostly from a Palestinian bourgeoisie that had emerged in the Gulf Arab states and held strong ties to the nascent Palestinian Authority; families and individuals who had historically dominated Palestinian society, often large landowners from the pre-1967 period, particularly in the Northern areas of the West Bank; and those who had managed to accumulate wealth through their position as interlocutors within the occupation since 1967.

While the memberships of these three groups overlapped considerably, the first was particularly significant to the nature of state and class formation in the West Bank. Gulf-based financial flows had long played a major role in tempering the radical edge of Palestinian nationalism; but their conjoining with the Oslo state-building process radically deepened the tendencies of statization and bureaucratization within the Palestinian national project itself.

This new three-sided configuration of the capitalist class tended to draw its wealth from a privileged relationship with the Palestinian Authority, which assisted its growth by granting monopolies for goods like cement, petroleum, flour, steel, and cigarettes; issuing exclusive import permits and customs exemptions; giving sole rights to distribute goods in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and distributing government-owned land below its value. In addition to these state-assisted forms of accumulation, much of the investment that came into the West Bank from foreign donors through the Oslo years — infrastructure construction, new building projects, agricultural and tourist developments — were also typically connected to this new capitalist class in some way.

In the context of the PA’s fully subordinated position, the ability to accumulate was always tied to Israeli consent and thus came with a political price — one designed to buy compliance with ongoing colonization and enforced surrender. It also meant that the key components of the Palestinian elite — the wealthiest businessmen, the PA’s state bureaucracy and the remnants of the PLO itself — came to share a common interest in Israel’s political project. The rampant spread of patronage and corruption were the logical byproducts of this system, as individual survival depended on personal relationships with the Palestinian Authority. The systemic corruption of the PA that Israel and Western governments regularly decried throughout the 1990s and 2000s, was, in other words, a necessary and inevitable consequence of the very system that these powers had themselves established.

The Neoliberal Turn

These two major features of the Palestinian class structure — a labor force dependent on employment by the Palestinian Authority, and a capitalist class imbricated with Israeli rule through the institutions of the PA itself — continued to characterize Palestinian society in the West Bank through the first decade of the 2000s. The division of the West Bank and Gaza Strip between Fatah and Hamas in 2007 strengthened this structure, with the West Bank subject to ever more complex movement restrictions and economic control. Simultaneously, Gaza developed in a different trajectory, with Hamas rule reliant on profits drawn from the tunnel trade and aid from states like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In recent years, however, there has been an important shift in the economic trajectory of the Palestinian Authority, encapsulated in a harsh neoliberal program premised on public-sector austerity and a development model aimed at further integrating Palestinian and Israeli capital in export-oriented industrial zones. This economic strategy only acts to further tie the interests of Palestinian capital with those of Israel, building culpability for Israeli colonialism into the very structures of the Palestinian economy. It has produced increasing poverty levels and a growing polarization of wealth. In the West Bank, real per-capita GDP increased from just over $1,400 in 2007 to around $1,900 in 2010, the fastest growth in a decade. At the same time, the unemployment rate remained essentially constant at around 20%, among the highest in the world. One of the consequences was a profound level of poverty: around 20% of Palestinians in the West Bank were living on less than $1.67 a day for a family of five in 2009 and 2010. Despite these poverty levels, the consumption of the richest 10% increased to 22.5% of the total in 2010.

In these circumstances, growth has been based on prodigious increases in debt-based spending on services and real estate. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the hotel and restaurant sector grew by 46% in 2010 while construction increased by 36%. At the same time, manufacturing decreased by 6%. The massive levels of consumer-based debt levels are indicated in figures from the Palestinian Monetary Authority, which show that the amount of bank credit almost doubled between 2008 and 2010. Much of this involved consumer-based spending on residential real estate, automobile purchases, or credit cards; the amount of credit extended for these three sectors increased by a remarkable 245% between 2008 and 2011. These forms of individual consumer and household debt potentially carry deep implications for how people view their capacities for social struggle and their relation to society. Increasingly caught in a web of financial relationships, individuals seek to satisfy their needs through the market, usually by borrowing money, rather than through collective struggle for social rights. The growth of these financial and debt-based relations thus individualizes Palestinian society. It has had a conservatizing influence over the latter half of the 2000s, with much of the population concerned with “stability” and the ability to pay off debt rather than the possibility of popular resistance.

Beyond the Impasse?

The current cul-de-sac of Palestinian political strategy is inseparable from the question of class. The two-state strategy embodied in Oslo has produced a social class that draws significant benefits from its position atop the negotiation process and its linkages with the structures of occupation. This is the ultimate reason for the PA’s supine political stance, and it means that a central aspect of rebuilding Palestinian resistance must necessarily confront the position of these elites. Over the last few years, there have been some encouraging signs on this front, with the emergence of protest movements that have taken up the deteriorating economic conditions in the West Bank and explicitly targeted the PA’s role in contributing to them. But as long as the major Palestinian political parties continue to subordinate questions of class to the supposed need for national unity, it will be difficult for these movements to find deeper traction.

Moreover, the history of the last two decades shows that the “hawks and doves” model of Israeli politics, so popular in the perfunctory coverage of the corporate media and wholeheartedly shared by the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, is decidedly false. Force has been the essential midwife of “peace negotiations.” Indeed, the expansion of settlements, restrictions on movement, and the permanence of military power have made possible the codification of Israeli control through the Oslo Accords. This is not to deny that substantive differences exist between various political forces within Israel; but rather to argue that these differences exist along a continuum rather than in sharp disjuncture. Violence and negotiations are complementary and mutually reinforcing aspects of a common political project, shared by all mainstream parties, and both act in tandem to deepen Israeli control over Palestinian life. The last two decades have powerfully confirmed this fact.

The reality of Israeli control today is the outcome of a single process that has necessarily combined violence and the illusion of negotiations as a peaceful alternative. The counterposing of right-wing extremists with a so-called Israeli peace camp acts to obfuscate the centrality of force and colonial control embodied in the political program of the latter.

The reason for this is the shared assumption of the Zionist left and right wings that Palestinian rights can be reduced to the question of a state in some part of historic Palestine. The reality is that the overriding project of the last sixty-three years of colonization in Palestine has been the attempt by successive Israeli governments to divide and fracture the Palestinian people, attempting to destroy a cohesive national identity by separating them from one another. This process is clearly illustrated by the different categories of Palestinians: refugees, who remain scattered in camps across the region; those who remained on their land in 1948 and later became citizens of the Israeli state; those living in the isolated cantons of the West Bank; and now those separated by the fragmenting of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. All of these groups of people constitute the Palestinian nation, but the denial of their unity has been the overriding logic of colonization since before 1948. Both the Zionist left and right agree with this logic, and have acted in unison to narrow the Palestinian “question” to isolated fragments of the nation as a whole. This logic is also one wholeheartedly accepted by the Palestinian Authority and is embodied in its vision of a “two-state solution.”

Oslo may be dead, but its putrid corpse is not one that any Palestinian should hope to resuscitate. What is needed is a new political orientation that rejects the fracturing of Palestinian identity into scattered geographical zones. It is encouraging to see the mounting chorus of calls for a reorientation of Palestinian strategy, based on a single state in all of historic Palestine. Such an outcome will not be achieved solely through Palestinian efforts. It requires a broader challenge to Israel’s privileged relationship with the US and its position as a key pillar of US power in the Middle East. But a one-state strategy presents a vision for Palestine that confirms the essential unity of all sectors of the Palestinian people regardless of geography.

It also provides a path to reach out to the Israeli people that reject Zionism and colonialism through the hope of a future society that does not discriminate on the basis of national identity, and in which all may live regardless of religion or ethnicity. It is this vision that provides a route to achieving both peace and justice.

The post The Oslo Illusion appeared on Socialist Unity.

Excellent evening last night, at Exeter City FC, for the SW TUC awards, where GMB activists involved in the dispute with Carillion at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital were winners in the Best Campaign and Organising category.

Receiving the award on behalf of all 150 GMB members were Rosa Estrocio, Maria De Souza, Veronica De Araujo, Eleca Rodrigues, along with their GMB branch secretary, Andy Newman. The award was presented by Richard Capps, chair of SW TUC, and the event was addressed by TUC General Secretary, Frances O’Grady.

Justin Bowden, GMB National Officer, said “GMB welcomes the fantastic news that our members and their representatives at Swindon Hospital are receiving this recognition and these awards. In recent times, I cannot think of a group of trade members and their fantastic union leaders more deserving of recognition.

“Their refusal to back down in the face of intimidation and opposition from Carillion and others at Swindon Hospital – and their leadership over 21 days strike action in the face of bullying, shakedowns, race discrimination and victimisation – is a shining example to working people everywhere.

“GMB’s Central Executive Council, when it meets in Plymouth before the GMB Congress next month, will applaud this recognition.

“Carillion has got to come to terms with what their managers have done to workers in Swindon and to the workers they blacklisted. They have to accept what they did was wrong and then take steps to put it right. Until this happens there will be no end to this dispute.”

Reps from @gmb_union in Swindon collect their well-deserved award for campaign against Carillion @andyd_newman twitter.com/TolpuddleTim/s…

— Tim Lezard (@TolpuddleTim) May 15, 2013

Equality award presented by Brenda Weston from @equality_sw to Jose Estrocio @gmb_union @andyd_newman twitter.com/TolpuddleTim/s…

— Tim Lezard (@TolpuddleTim) May 15, 2013

Frances, Jose and Brenda @gmb_union @equality_sw @andyd_newman twitter.com/TolpuddleTim/s…

— Tim Lezard (@TolpuddleTim) May 15, 2013

The post SW TUC ‘best campaign’ award appeared on Socialist Unity.

The accusation that Israel is an apartheid state is not one of political rhetoric. It is an accurate use of the definition of apartheid, which is parallel social systems in the same land for different ethnic groups.

Let us look at roads in the occupied territories; here we see the construction of an entirely separate infrastructure of road building to connect the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank with Israel and the illegally annexed city of East Jerusalem.

These roads are modern, and protected by walls or fencing to prevent Palestinians approaching them. In some parts of the West bank, the “wall” is a fence. Ththe following picture illustrates that it is not just a fence. There are motion detectors and CCTV cameras. The section of fence below protects the settler only road to the illegal colonists’ encampment at Har Homa. The picture shows two Palestinian persons on foot who had walked a few hundred metres from their homes in a Greek orthodox housing settlement just left of the picture (The Zionists are planning to demolish this Christian settlement in Bethlehem during the next few months – as they say it is too near the wall). As soon as these pedestrians came close to the wall, three vehicles appeared from Har Homa – presumably security personnel– and pulled up to intimidate them. Although it is hard to see in the picture, the Jews are armed with machine pistols – and they were not passers by, they came down from Har Homa just because a Palestinian was seen near “their” road. A road built on Palestinian land.

In addition, the wall is being used to systematically disrupt the transport infrastructure of the Palestinian economy. The following picture of the wall, built in Jerusalem, (considerable to the east of the “Green Line” – the 1967 borders) directly blocks the main Jerusalem to Jericho road. This road has existed for thousands of years, and is now completely blocked.

All Palestinian towns are being restricted to only one access road, which is controlled usually by 18 year old Israeli conscripts, who may capriciously grant or deny access at whim. The following photograph shows how the Zionists have blocked one of the roads into Hebron.

I met two women who had been stopped on their way to maternity hospitals. Jewish settlers of course would be whizzed to hospital unimpeded on their separate road system.

The Israeli army also uses the Palestinian roads, rather than the settler roads to move their armour. The heavy, tracked vehicles do enormous damage.

When the wall is built around the industrial town of Beit Fajjar, the Zionists are going to permanently block the current (already inadequate) tarmaced road, and the only route in and out will be via the following track, that is bare rock. (It looks white because it is covered in marble dust from quarrying)

The disruption and destruction of the Palestinian road system means that the cost of car ownership is higher for Palestinians than for the colonialist settlers. What is more, economic development for the Palestinians – we must keep reminding ourselves that this is all within the occupied territories of the West Bank – is being undermined. Whereas the illegal settlements are being bound into the Israeli economy by their developing road system.

This is two different economic systems for two peoples on the same land.

This is apartheid.

The post Israel & Palestine: The apartheid road systems appeared on Socialist Unity.

The Christian religion was (quite literally) born in Palestine. This is extremely important both for the cultural identity and economy of the country, but persecution by the Zionists has led many Christians to leave for other lands. Famous Palestinians of Christian descent include Edward Said and George Habash.

Religious tourism, especially to East Jerusalem and Bethlehem is vital for the Palestinian economy, not only for hotels and restaurants, but also for the sale of handicraft religious souvenirs (the picture shows olive wood crosses being made in a small factory in Bethlehem).

The call by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for Anglicans to visit Bethlehem should be widely publicised, both for the economic benefit, but also so that Christians can bear witness to the destruction of Christian communities by the Israeli occupation. The British Foreign Office acts as a firm friend of Zionism by continuing to advise against travel to the West Bank, despite the fact that tourism to Palestine is safer than visiting Florida. The Foreign office advice often includes details of alleged security concerns that are several months out of date. The practical impact is that most travel insurance policies always exclude travel to areas where a Foreign Office caution is in place, which severely deters many travellers. (Write to your MP about this!)

Of the 136,000 people who live in the Bethlehem district, only about 45% are Christians today. Largely the churches are silent about the systematic destruction of Christian life by the Zionists. The following picture was taken from Shepherds Field, where Christians believe the Archangel Gabriel visited the Shepherds to tell them of the birth of the Lord. In the foreground is a housing project run by the Greek Orthodox church for their congregation. Behind on the hilltop is the wholly illegal Jewish camp of Har Homa.

Currently the wall (here a fence) runs between the two housing developments. But the Zionists have decided to extend the wall and demolish the Christian community, on “security” grounds. Of course no compensation will be given by the Israelis to the Christians made homeless. The community will drift apart, the children will be traumatised, and the cultural diversity of the Bethlehem area will be further diminished.

At the near end of the Christian housing is a green area where the Orthodox Church are building a church, if the extension of the wall goes ahead this will be the first Christian place of worship destroyed by the Zionists in the West Bank, although they have already made Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem an exclusively Jewish place of worship (it is sacred also to Christians and Moslems), and in 1998 demolished the dome and vestibule. (The dome of the mosque was originally financed by an English Jew, Sir Moses Montefiore in 1841, pointing to a time before Zionism when the religious communities lived in harmony.)

Rachel’s Tomb has been effectively annexed to Israel by building a bizarre special corridor of 8 metre high wall linking it to Jerusalem, although it is actually in Bethlehem. The Jews have also blocked Muslims from visiting half of the Tomb of the Patriarchs mosque in Hebron, which they have converted to a synagogue to serve the 300 or so ultra-orthodox fanatics who live in the Old City.

It is time for the Christian churches to come off the fence and condemn Zionism.

The post Christians in Palestine appeared on Socialist Unity.

Zionists throwing elderly Palestinian woman out of her home

The post Zionists throwing elderly Palestinian woman out of her home appeared on Socialist Unity.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood has launched the party’s Plan C to move the Welsh economy forward, a response to the current economic problems facing Wales.

The seven point plan includes a ‘buy local’ policy to improve Welsh public procurement, a business bank for Wales to assist small companies in Wales, support for a Welsh Metro in south-east Wales and improved research, development and training facilities in Wales to help Wales refocus towards a sustainable economy.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said:

“Since my election as Plaid Cymru leader, I have said that improving the Welsh economy is my number one priority.

“I want to see a Wales which can support and maintain new jobs, develop sustainable industry and employment, and provide a better and more equal life for our citizens.

“There are solutions available to improve and shape the Welsh economy if we are ambitious enough and creative enough to deliver them.

“The Party of Wales’ Plan C stresses the inter-linked nature of economic renewal and recovery in Wales. We want to develop an alternative to the economic stagnation which is the only choice being offered elsewhere.

“That’s why we are today publishing our alternative plan for the economy. Our plan outlines actions that a Plaid Cymru government would be taking today to help get our economy moving again. Plaid Cymru is ambitious for Wales, and that begins by being ambitious for our economy.”

A copy of Plan C is available here.

The post Plaid Leader launches ‘Plan C’ to move economy forward appeared on Socialist Unity.

The truth is, huge numbers of Palestinian children have been arrested and locked away in Israeli dungeons. But most of it happens away from the cameras. The very fact that Palestinian children are subject to a completely different justice system to Israeli children is just one more reason to say: Israel is an apartheid state.

If you want to compare, watch the video below, which shows Zionist settlers attacking a Palestian village under the full gaze of the military. There are no arrests.

The post Israel: arresting children appeared on Socialist Unity.

Cleaners, porters and domestic workers fighting a campaign at Swindon’s Great Western Hospital hospital will today be recognised by the South West TUC.

Around 150 GMB members employed by Carillion at the town’s Great Western Hospital have taken 21 days strike action over what they claim are persistent failures of management to deal with evidence of wrong-doing, including the allegation that supervisors demanded gifts in exchange for holiday approval and overtime.

Now their efforts have been rewarded by trade unionists in the South West, with reps picking up the South West TUC ‘s Campaign and Organising Award at a special ceremony at Exeter City Football Club.

The campaign has been co-ordinated by Andy Newman, the branch secretary for Wiltshire and Swindon GMB, who said: “This award is nice, but the real issue is that we’ve advanced the interests of our members at the hospital. It’s good to have the recognition of other trade unionists, but it’s more important that we’ve made progress and we’ve built organisation there. That’s a much more lasting tribute.”

As well as recognising the collective efforts of the GMB members, the South West TUC will also reward the individual work of two reps: Jose Estocio, who won the Equalities Award, and Paulo Fernandes, who won the Most Promising New Rep Award.

Jose Estocio said: “I feel great, really happy. The work we have put it is worth it because it feels we’ve been recognised and appreciated, which is really nice to hear.”

Paolo Fernandes added: “I’m very happy that I have been chosen but have been surprised because I had not intended to win – it is not why I became a rep.”

The campaign started in 2011 when the GMB suggested members signed a collective grievance against bullying at work by a manager. Expecting a dozen or so to add their names, the union as astonished to receive a petition signed by more than 130 people.

One the signatories was Paulo, who said: “Every day we are afraid to go to work because whatever we do we will be threatened with a disciplinary. This is a constant threat to us – we cannot do anything right in the eyes of this manager – and before we leave home we have to prepare ourselves for this behaviour. It is very hurtful for us to get it all the time.”

The manager has since left the company, but the campaign is on-going, with Carillion refusing to accept there was a cover-up, and more than 50 union members filing claims at an employment tribunal.

Andy Newman said: “There are still outstanding issues at the GWH concerning unfairness in holiday policy, and inappropriate behaviour from supervisors, which GMB is confident could be resolved by negotiation.

“GMB represents 75% of their cleaning staff but Carillion will not talk to the union. The campaign will continue until Carillion agrees to recognise the union their staff have chosen, and resolve the outstanding issues over holidays and bullying.

“Carillion must come to terms with what their managers have done to workers in Swindon and to the workers they blacklisted. There is not much use just making apologies. They have to accept what they did was wrong and then take steps to put it right. Until this happens there will be no end to this dispute.”

Paulo Fernandes was nominated for his award after systematically recruiting members ward by ward, and by organising meetings and ballots, keeping members informed.

Andy Newman said: “Paulo has been the key activist in organising the strikes. He has done an extraordinary job of keeping in touch with every member individually as well as starting to represent members in disciplinaries and grievances.”

Jose Estrocio was nominated for his award after leading the campaign against racist bullying at the hospital, drafting the collective grievance that was signed by more than 130 staff and offering advice and support to victims of bullying.

Andy Newman said: “Jose has done a brilliant job in inspiring and recruiting 154 people to the union, and in bringing to light the racism and discrimination he and his colleagues have suffered at work.”

South West TUC Regional Education Officer Marie Hughes said: “This has been a terrific member-led campaign by the GMB that has achieved terrific results.

“We’re delighted to reward the determination and tenacity of members and the leadership quality of their reps. These awards are thoroughly deserved.”

This is the second SW TUC awards event. Wiltshire and Swindon GMB also won “best campaign” at the first awards in 2011.

The post Andy Newman & Swindon GMB activists win SW TUC award appeared on Socialist Unity.

The controversy surrounding this period in history, which to Israel and its supporters is referred to as the ‘War of Independence’, remains the subject of sharp debate, its ramifications continuing to underpin over six decades of misery and injustice for succeeding generations of Palestinians and Palestinian refugees.

One of the great injustices arising from this historical event is that the right of return of Palestinian refugees to the land from which they or their parents and grandparents were expelled has been denied by Israel since. Compounding this injustice further is that any person of Jewish faith – recent converts included – is automatically granted Israeli citizenship and the right to immigrate to the country even if they can trace no family or physical connection to the land beforehand. Moreover many of these new immigrants end up living in any of the number of illegal settlements that have and continue to be constructed on Palestinian land occupied by Israel since 1967, thus adding insult to the injury of the original sin of mass ethnic cleansing.

The history of the Nakba has consistently been revised and distorted by apologists for Israel in a concerted attempt to maintain a moral high ground over the state’s formation, one which grows increasingly shaky in light of the concrete historical evidence.

Analysing this evidence we see that the man considered the father of Zionism, Theodore Herzl, anticipated the ethnic cleansing of Palestine over fifty years before Israel came into being. In a diary entry in 1895, he wrote:

“We shall try to spirit the penniless [Arab] population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it employment in our own country…The removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.”

Fast forward to 1969 and you find Israeli Defence Minister and celebrated Israeli war hero, Moshe Dayan, making the following admission during a speech to students at Technicron University in Haifa:

“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages…Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushu’a in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population.”

The name given to the military operation to ethnically cleanse Palestine by the nascent Jewish state was Plan Dalet. According to the official Israeli history, this was a plan for the seizure and defence of all the territory ceded to Israel under the 1947 UN Partition Plan upon the withdrawal of the British Mandate. However evidence pointing to the fact that Plan Dalet was intended from the outset as an offensive military operation to seize as much land as possible from the Palestinians, in addition to the territory allocated to the Jewish State under the Partition Plan, is now well nigh irrefutable. According to the archives of the Palmach released in 1972 (the Palmach was an elite unit within the Haganah, which itself was forerunner to the Israel Defense Forces), Zionist military operations to attack and cleanse Palestinian villages of their inhabitants began almost six weeks before the British Mandate officially ended.

Atrocities

In the process of this military operation by the armed forces and militants attached to the newly declared State of Israel, atrocities were committed. The most infamous of these took place in the village of Deir Yassin – a Palestinian village located close to Jerusalem and outside the territory allotted to the Jewish Agency under the UN Partition Plan. It was known for its peaceful relations with its Jewish neighbours in surrounding settlements. Indeed, the village was one of the very few Arab villages that had not become embroiled in the clashes with its Jewish neighbours as the conflict intensified. In other words there was absolutely no legal or military justification for the horror its people were subjected to beginning in the early hours of April 9 1948, when a combined force of Irgun and Stern Gang Zionist paramilitaries entered.

In the preceding years both the Irgun and the Stern Gang had been heavily involved in a concerted and determined terrorist campaign against the British Mandate Authority, designed to drive the British out of Palestine. The most infamous incident of the campaign was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 by the Irgun. The hotel housed British Military Headquarters in Palestine and the attack killed 91 people, comprising Jews, Arabs and British military personnel. The leader of the Irgun, and the man who planned the attack, was Menachim Begin, who went on to become prime minister of Israel from 1977 to 1982.

By the time the attackers had finished their operation at Deir Yassin over 250 men, women, and children had been massacred. They went from house to house throwing hand grenades in through the windows and doors. Survivors were shot where they stood or lay, or dragged out, placed against a wall and shot execution-style. Many of the victims were finished off with knives and cutlasses, and many of the women were raped prior to being butchered. The atrocities committed were so bad that the official Jewish leadership felt compelled to condemn the operation, though according to veteran Middle East correspondent David Hirst in his ground-breaking history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, The Gun And The Olive Branch, the Jewish leadership had approved the operation beforehand.

The British Mandate authorities carried out an investigation into the Deir Yassin massacre. At the end of his report, Assistant-Inspector General Richard Catling included the following comment:

“There is, however, no doubt that many sexual atrocities were committed…Many young school girls were raped and later slaughtered. Old women were also molested.”

News of the massacre spread through other as yet untouched Palestinian towns and villages, prompting a mass exodus of civilians seeking sanctuary from the terror campaign that had been unleashed. It was this campaign which prompted the attempt by neighbouring Arab countries to intervene by sending troops into Palestine to halt what soon became one of the most concerted and ruthless ethnic cleansing operations in history.

Sixty five years later the wounds of the Nakba remain deep and open. The justice denied its victims remains a stain on the conscience of the world.

The post Nakba Day – Memory as resistance appeared on Socialist Unity.