Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 26)
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- Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 26)
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sions and seriously seek mid-way com-
promises acceptable to all and reflecting
the views of all parties of the coalition
without reflecting any real position.»
There is, indeed, some truth in what
Al Hamishmar says, but it lacks accu-
racy. «The full coach», boarded by the
unity government, will move from where
it stands to wherever Likud and its right-
wing allies want it to, because time will
work in their favour. The independent Ha
Aretz wrote, «The major winner of the
national unity government is Likud. For
in a normal state, Likud would be in the
opposition. But now we see Likud lead-
ers sharing the government with Labour.
Also Labour will be responsible for the
Outcome of the new economic mea-
sures. It hopes to remedy the economy
which is in ruins as a result of Likud’s dis-
asterous economic measures over the
last seven years».
Likud’s strength and _ Labour’s
weakness in the new government were
exhibited on two more occasions: the
first when Peres had to accept giving the
important Ministry of Industry and Trade
to General Ariel Sharon. This showed
Sharon to be a stronger figure in his
party than Moshe Arens, now minister
without portofilo. Sharon’s new position
has special significance owing to its
close connection with settlement. Sha-
ron is well known to have played a major
role in «agricultural settlement», when
he was the Minister of Agriculture. Now
his job will, no doubt, be to promote «in-
dustrial and commercial settlement»,
which will affect the entire economical
situation.
The second occasion was when
Likud succeeded in barring Jad Yakobi,
of Labour, from the Ministry of Finance
and having it given to Yitzhak Moda, a
liberal and an ally to Likud.
Ha Aretz says Likud will strive to
patch up the shattered economy. If it
succeeds, its position will be
strengthened. If it fails, then Labour will
be blamed. Furthermore, Labour will
have to put up with all complaints
against any austerity measures that
Moda manages to have the government
approve, no matter whether they turn a
success or a failure.
In his speech at the Knesset confi-
dence session, Shamir summed up
Likud's policy saying that «the land of
Israel should never be the object of any
bargaining», and that any settlement
with Jordan should be approved only by
a plebiscite and that whatever they
would do «will strengthen our power to
ensure our line».
26
Peres may sound clever when,
playing with words, he calls his present
government one of «nonagreement»,
but this will never make it more comptent
than if he calls it a government of
national paralysis, as he actually did
before the elections. Furthermore, the
Likud is now powerful enough to kill the
government at any moment if it so
wishes. One can, therefore, say with
confidence that the present government
will be unable to provide any real solu-
tion even for the issues Peres said he
had agreed upon with Likud, i.e. those of
the economy, Lebanon and «the Middle
East peace process».
Of all this however, we are con-
cerned with what the existence in office
of such a government with no option in
prospect other than the line dictated by
Likud, with seven generals, all of whom
at one time or another, were involved in
wars against the Arab countries; a state
of near paralysis where power of the
extremist terrorists is escalating, such a
government is capable of one, and only
one thing: launching or threatening a
war. The «friendly» US will make use of
the Israeli government's weakness to
extort further Arab concessions for the
benefit of both Zionism and US
imperialism. Also, the US will try to per-
suade its friends in the region that
although a strong Israeli government is
certainly dangerous, a weak one is
indeed more dangerous. Therefore, the
US calls on all the Arab reaction to coop-
erate with Peres under the pretext of his
«good intentions» and «willingness» to
facilitate the «ME peace settlement».
This Arab position, as US would claim, is
needed to confront Likud's pressure on
Peres and lessen the threats of dissolv-
ing the existing government.
At no time have we had any illusions
about Labour or any other Zionist party.
At no time have we believed that a
Zionist assuming power in the Zionist
entity could be preoccupied with the
question of peace in the region. We have
always believed, and still do, that all
Zionists are «hawks», war criminals,
and incapable of understanding any lan-
guage other than that of guns and com-
bat. And today recalling the Israeli «na-
tional unity government» that was
formed on the eve of the 5th of June war
of 1967, we declare that the present
Peres-Shamir «national unity govern-
ment» is worse than that one and capa-
ble only of more aggression and crimes.
Resistance to !|.P.O. Tour in Australia
Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra
(1.P.O.) had a tour in Australia arranged
by the A.B.C. (Australian Broadcasting
Commission). From July 17th to July the
21st they had a series of concerts in Mel-
bourne, while on July the 22nd they
played in Hobart of Tasmania. These
tours were resisted by the Palestine Sol-
idarity Committee (P.S.C.), the General
Union of Palestinian Workers
(G.U.P.W.) and the Australian-Palesti-
nian Democratic Organization through
several types of action.
In Melbourne these groups had
issued a press release condemning the
visit and explaining what was behind it,
drawing a parallel with South African
‘sporting policy, and issuing facts about
the Israeli aggression at the same time
talking about Palestinian rights, and
hence demanding people to oppose the
visit and the A.B.C. to cease its anti-
Palestinian bias.
In Hobart, Tasmania, the P.S.C. of
Hobart took two separate types of
action. The first was an unauthorized
demonstration outside the A.B.C.’s
Odeau theatre building, the venue for
the concert. Several P.S.C. members
occupied the area on the foot path out-
side the theatre and held up two large
banners, one saying «Israel is Occupied
Palestine», and the other cne saying
«Smash Zionism-Free Palestine», while
other P.S.C. members handed out leaf-
lets against the visit explaining the
Palestinian cause to people entering the
theatre and other people passing by.
The second part of the protest was
a more direct and fierceful challenge to
the orchestra, where P.S.C. members
entered the theatre and briefly disrupted
the concert by shouting out that the
!.P.O. represents a fascist settler state,
and that «israel» has committed mas-
sacres in Palestine and Lebanon and
are responsible for the Sabra and
Shatila massacres. Therefore, as an
orchestra representing a country, they
should exclain these actions. At the
same time leaflets explaining the
reasons for the disruption were distri-
buted. A Palestinian flag was raised.
Police then flooded the theatre and
forced all the P.S.C. members out, who
on their way shouted: «PLO not!.P.0.». @ - هو جزء من
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