Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 52)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 3 (ص 52)
- المحتوى
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lraq-lran War
The most recent round of fighting between Iraq and Iran, in
March, proved to be the heaviest and most atrocious battle.in the
entire war. The massive killing and destruction inflicted, without
achieving any results, indicates the degree of frustration experi-
enced by thousands of Iraqis and Iranians. The vicious circle per-
petuated by the war is apparent in the contradictory statements
made by the two sides, and in the course of the most recent battle,
which lasted for two straight weeks, using a huge arsenal, including
chemical weapons. As a result, the victims of the 41-month warrese
sharply, not to mention the material losses. Human losses on Qbth
sides, as of the end of the third year of the war, are paella oh
125,000-175,000 killed, about 300,000 wounded and 50,000 impris-
oned.
While the human and material losses are the most tragic aspect
of this war, its recent escalation poses grave new dangers, threaten-
ing to enlarge the area of combat. One side of the danger is seen in
lran’s having taken over a part of Iraqi territory. The other aspect is
the threat of a US and NATO intervention which would lead to full
imperialist control of the Gulf area, under the pretext of keeping the
Hormuz Strait oil route open.
From the start, we in the PFLP, { common with the goals of the Arab
along with a broad spectrum of progres- | national liberation movement.
sive and national forces, opposed this
war. We stressed that Saddam Hus-
sein’s battlecry of «liberating Arab land»
was a false cover for the regime’s own
reactionary ambitions. When raised by a
bourgeois regime that had pulled Iraq
out of the confrontation with imperialism
and Zionism, this slogan had nothing in
52
Today, however, the Iranian inva-
sion of Iraq has raised the other side of
this question. We now find ourselves
forced to stress that it is equally unac-
ceptable that any ‘Arab territory be
occupied, or any Arab country dismem-
bered. Just as the Iraqi regime’s original
aggression diverted from the main con-
tradiction and struggle in the area, that
against the imperialist-Zionist plans, so
does Iranian occupation of lraqi territory.
Today, although the aggressor is
forced to retreat and attempt to
negotiate a ceasefire, the war is bound
to continue. This is because the Iranian
regime, that has been scoring victories
in the last year, insists on continuing in
order to impose its own maximum condi-
tions. The declared Iranian conditions
are: overthrow of the Saddam Hussein
regime, payment of war indemnities of
around $100 billion, and the return of all
lraqi refugees to their country. The Iraqi
regime has accepted the last two condi-
tions, but obviously not the first. For the
Iranian regime, it remains essential that
the present Iraqi regime be replaced by
an lranian-style Islamic system.
This insistence on continuing and
escalating the war is tantamount to invit-
ing imperialist intervention. Already
more US and British warships are
stationed in the Gulf area, which has
long been defined by imperialism as an
area of «vital interest». The Reagan
Administration, as has been proved in
Lebanon, Grenada and elsewhere, will
jump at any chance to spread its
hegemony. Thus, whatever party invites
such interference is responsible for
drawing a great threat on all the people
of the area.
The threat of imperialist interven-
tion underscores the urgency of solving
the conflict on the basis of respect for
each country’s sovereignty and non- - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 3
- تاريخ
- مايو ١٩٨٤
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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