against the military assaults of the reactionaries. We also of course would participate in proportion to our strength in the military attacks launched by the left forces.
Secondly, however, we had to try to use this same base inside the neighbourhoods in order to participate in and push forward the processes of internal reorganisation that were going on amongst the inhabitants. One should not forget that the state authority has more or less completely collapsed.
We responded to this by trying to initiate examples of self-organisation of the working population on matters of everyday life. For instance, on the question of food, we organised an expropriation of a supermarket warehouse, the contents of which were distributed by community committees.
However, we were unfortunately alone in emphasising that this dismibution or tood snoura Bol De carried out by the left in a paternalistic manner as if we were some kind of welfare agency. Rather we should attempt to make it the beginning of a process of mass participation in the running of their own affairs.
It is important to understand development of more advanced methods of mass self-organisation.
Also, in the Moslem neighbourhoods which we were defending, we tried to defend wherever necessary the Christian minorities who were still living in these areas. This was in order to undereut the sectarian and confessional character which the war was more and more developing into.
We also took the initiative, along with other leftist groups, in developing a campaign inside the neighbourhoods against the landlords, who were still collecting rents from the poverty stricken masses even though they had not been receiving regular wages for almost a year As I have said, a large part of our work was directed towards defending the political rights of the masses to develop their own independent organs of authority inside their own neighbourhoods. On this question we organised several meetings which had to be defended not only from the Phalangists, but also from the confessional and reactionary Moslem representatives, who would try to disband our gatherings sometimes the establishment of the Zionist state in 1948. the population of the occupied territories). burning paraffin.
naturally The settlement of Jews on land robbed from Palestinian Arabs has been ne cornerstore of sae eovernment Doney CYCE SICC The uprising in the Galilee on 3U March and tne growing lever or struggle in ta West Bank amount to the most profound challenge to Zionist colonisation in the Arab region since the October war in 1973.
At least six Arabs were killed, untold numbers wounded and over 300 arrested on 31 March, during clashes with the Israel army in the Galilee northern region of Israel. This is the first time since 1948 that Istaeli troops have been used in such a confrontation with the Arab population of Israel (as distinct from The occasion for the clashes was the day-long general strike initiated by Rakah (the Arab Communist Party inside Israel) against government attempts to compulsory purchase around 5,000 acres of Arab land in the Galilee for use as the site of a Jewish Housing Development project. Hundreds of inhabitants of the three main Arab villages involved in the land expropriations - Sachnin, Deir Hana, and Arabeh - attacked a military convoy of soldiers armed only with bottles, stones and tin cans filled with All of the major towns on the West Bank were affected by the strike, including a large number of Israeli Arab towns. Official Zionist policy to 'Judaise the Galilee', to say nothing of the Israeli settlements going on in the West Bank and the Golan Heights captured from Syria, has undoubtedly received a serious political setback. The divisions that are appearing today amongst the ZionIst leadersnip concerning tne best way to nancie tne compiex situa tion inside Israel are reflections of the gravity of current developments from the point of view of the Zionist establishment.
The next stage in the rising struggle of the Palestinians under threat to the Zionist state from these explosions. Palestinian mass movement as it is presently untolding.
Tur mtennons functions of a Palestinian mini-state in the West Bank. have a hard ride before them. West Bank municipal elections on 12 April. The traditional ArabZionist collaborators are today not putting themselves up for nom ination out of fear of the anger of the West Bank population. Meanwhile more than 500 candidates have registered - the overwhelming majority of whom are supporters of Rakah or the Palestine Liberation Organisation. In such an explosive situation the Israeli state may very well cancel the elections, which in itself would present the West Bank masses with a direct challenge.
It is important to assess the effects these mobilisations may have on American imperialism's attitude towards the possible formation of a Palestinian - Jordanian bantustan' on the West Bank One thing is very clear. There is no question of any military However, the political consequences of conceding the West Bank to some kind of PLO-Jordanian leadership in the wake of the latest struggles could very well prove extremely damaging for the long-term continued existence of the Zionist state - and consequently for imperialist interests in the Arab region, which cannot afford to give up their single most reliable ally. There is no guarantee that the establishment of a West Bank mini-state under the present circumstances would serve to defuse the rise of the In order for this to happen, it is not enough for the PLO leaders to offer paper guarantees to imperialism of their future peace These leaderships will have to be put to the test, and demonstrate to imperialism and Zionism that in fact they are capable of smashing and curbing the rise of the mass movement. Only then will such leaderships prove that they have become worthy bourgeois allies who can safely be entrusted with the repressive But they
Red Weekly 8 April 1976