Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 44)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 44)
- المحتوى
-
The Zionist forces suffered great
losses on October 19th, when a
Lebanese patriot drove an explosive-
laden car into an Israeli convoy near
Metullah at the Israeli-Lebanese
border. The driver was martyred, and
seven Israeli soldiers were killed by the
explosion, in an operation claimed by
the Islamic Resistance, and dedicated to
the Palestinian uprising in the occupied
territories.
In the same week, three guerrilla
groups tried to penetrate the Israeli
security wall in the South, to attack
Zionist settlements in occupied
Palestine. ‘Israel? reacted with a
massive upsurge of aggression in the
following ten days, shelling Lebanese
villages north of the ‘security’ zone and
staging five major bombing attacks,
ranging from the Bekaa to just south of
Beirut. Meanwhile, SLA militiamen
launched an offensive against the Sidon
area from their stronghold in Jezzine.
This brought to 22 the number of
Israeli air strikes on Lebanon in 1988,
as of November Ist, causing the death
of 108 persons and the injury of 309,
according to Lebanese police records.
On November 6th, the Israelis bomb-
ed the city of Sidon itself for the first
time since the 1982 invasion, and on
December 9th, Israeli air, sea and
ground forces staged one of their
broadest aggressions since that time.
Over 200 Israeli commandos attacked
positions of the PFLP—General
Command in the hills of Naima, south
of Beirut. There was a clash lasting
several hours during which time Israeli
helicopters brought in reinforcements,
while fighter planes staged 17 con-
secutive bombing raids. As the Israeli
forces withdrew, they admitted the
death of the lieutenant who had led the
operation, plus three soldiers. Nine na-
tionalist militants were martyred.
Attacks on the Israeli occupiers and
the SLA have continued, with the most
outstanding occurring on November
7th, the eve of the sixth anniversary of
the founding of the Lebanese National
Resistance Front. Soha _ Beshara,
Lebanese Communist Party member
and a resident of the occupied village,
Deir Mimas, in South Lebanon, shot
SLA commander, Antoine Lahd, three
times, seriously wounding him, in his
home in Marjayoun. She was captured
and subjected to interrogation by
44
Israeli intelligence officers. The
Lebanese Communist Party issued a
communique terming Lahd the symbol
of treason, collaborating as he is with
the partitionists in the interior (a
reference to the Aoun-Geagea alliance).
Lebanese militant Soha Beshara
THE LEBANESE
NATIONALIST FORCES
The opposing pole to the Israeli and
right-wing partitionist plan for
Lebanon is the Lebanese nationalist
forces. Their position is in turh rein-
forced by strict Syrian opposition to the
Aoun government, plus the Palestinian
revolution’s ongoing struggle against
the occupation and partition of
Lebanon.
However, at this crucial juncture, the
Lebanese nationalist forces are falter-
ing. Though the Lebanese National
Movement has historically had a plan
for a united, democratic, Arab
Lebanon, today they stand without a
concrete unified plan for fighting for
this in the current situation where par-
tition is a de facto. Though there have
been some public gatherings of all na-
tionalist forces in West Beirut, their
level of unity is not sufficient to sur-
mount the present dangers. This situa-
tion contrasts sharply with the earlier
one where broad unity engendered the
rise of the Lebanese National
Resistance, eventually enforcing Israeli
withdrawal from most of Lebanon, and
abrogation of the May 17th accord
which Gemayel’s government conclud-
ed with ‘Israel’.
One major reason for this is that
some in the broad nationalist coalition
have yet to surmount sectarian tenden-
cies in their own ranks, in favor of
broad united action for the good of the
Lebanese people at large. The corollary
of this problem has been the flare-up of
secondary conflicts. Most recently, the
long-standing conflict between the
Amal movement and Hezballah, over
who represents the Shiite community,
broke out anew. Early in November,
Amal leader Nabih Berri openly accus-
ed Hezballah of being behind the
assassination of three Amal cfficials a
month earlier. There were clashes in the
southern quarters of Beirut, added to
the intermittent fighting between the
two in parts of South Lebanon.
A united militant nationalist move-
ment dedicated to unifying Lebanon
and liberating it from fascist control
and Israeli occupation, is the urgent
need today. This would promote effec-
tive coordination with Syria and the
Palestinian revolution, instead of in-
volvement in secondary differences. All
efforts could then be put for
democratic reform in Lebanon, rather
than the present situation where some
forces divert energy to false causes, like
challenging Palestinian presence in
Sidon or other parts of the South,
under the pretext of fighting the
«resettlement» of Palestinians in
Lebanon.
The current deadlock in Lebanon
demonstrates that there is no solution
without radical democratic reform in
the sectarian system. Without such
reform, there will not be peace or
stability; nor will the energies of the
Lebanese people and political forces be
concentrated in the essential struggle
between a national democratic
Lebanon and a fascist Lebanon, tied to
‘Israel’ and US imperialism. In view of
this, it is an essential task to unify the
efforts of the Lebanese nationalist
forces, the Palestinian revolution and
Syria, as a prerequisite for con-
solidating the struggle for a united na-
tional democratic Lebanon. @ - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 31
- تاريخ
- ديسمبر ١٩٨٨
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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