Democratic Palestine : 2 (ص 28)
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- Democratic Palestine : 2 (ص 28)
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tral African Republic, Nigeria and South Africa. The next
month, while in Washington negotiating the original US-
Zionist strategic alliance agreement, Sharon conferred with
Zaire’s Mobutu, who then announced that he would resume
diplomatic relations with ‘Israel’ and anticipated that others
would follow suit. The following fall, then Foreign Minister
Shamir had secret meetings in New York with African offi-
cials, and the following summer in Geneva. Back in ‘Israel’,
Shamir could boast, “Hardly a week goes by when there isn’t
someone here from Africa” (Jerusalem Post, August 7, 1983).
So far, only Liberia has officially followed Zaire’s example,
but this beginning has cemented the Tel Aviv-Pretoria-Zaire-
US alliance, pivotal for imperialism’s plans in the region.
Victims of the South African raid on Matola. 1983
Zionism’s place in neocolonialism
Aside from their own efforts, there are three factors that
have facilitated the Zionists’ comeback in Africa: (1) the na-
ture of the neocolonial African regimes, (2) Arab reaction’s
politics, and (3) US imperialism’s global offensive.
While there is sympathy for the Palestinian and Arab cause
among the African people, the neocolonial regimes are most
concerned with maintaining their own positions of power.
Generally speaking, these regimes lack a viable program for
confronting the socioeconomic problems inherited from co-
lonial rule, much less the discriminatory workings of the
imperialist-dominated world market. They are thus highly
dependent on foreign aid. It is these conditions which ‘Israel’
exploited when originally infiltrating Africa in the fifties and
sixties. In this period, the Zionist state provided expertise in
agriculture, education, construction and services. Posing as a
fellow developing country with humanitarian aims, ‘Israel’
sent 2,763 experts to Africa between 1958 and 1971, and
trained almost 7,000 Africans in occupied Palestine (Near East
Report, January 21, 1983). The bulk of funding for these
28
projects came from the US; ‘Israel’ served as the conduit,
getting imperialism’s foot in the door of countries that were
sceptical of dealing with the big powers. The US’s specific
interest in this ‘third country’ approach was countering the
influence of Nasser and the tendency of newly independent
countries to turn to the socialist community for aid. -
In the early seventies, with the rising power of OPEC and in
the context of ‘third world’ countries seeking more equitable
terms within the imperialist system, neocolonial African re-
gimes found it opportune to align with official Arab positions.
This trend reached a climax when most African states broke
diplomatic relations with ‘Israel’.
Covert Zionist presence
Figures reveal the limits of the political positions taken by
such states at the UN and elsewhere. In the decade after 1973,
Israeli-African trade tripled. The details of this figure show
which side was benefitting: ‘Israel’ exported over three times
what it imported from Africa. As of 1983, ‘Israel’ had econom-
ic ties with twenty African nations in the absence of diplomatic
relations. More Israelis (at least 4,000) now work in Africa than
in 1973, with Israeli economic presence concentrated in Ke-
nya, Ivory Coast and Nigeria; more than 400 Israeli firms
operate in Lagos through various ‘fronts’. Israeli involvement
in these countries includes major infrastructure projects. In the
absence of diplomatic ties, ‘Israel’ has maintained interests
sections in other embassies in Zaire, Kenya, Togo, Gabon and
Ivory Coast.
From the start, the Histadrut, the Zionist colonial enterprise
which poses as a trade union, played a central role in Israeli
involvement. Such a cover for spreading Zionist influence
among African workers and youth was especially convenient
in the period of no official ties. Today, Histadrut prides itself
on not having relations with the white South African trade - هو جزء من
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