Part 5 - DW062 001 028 005

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5 THE WORLD SCENE LEBANON Continued from Page 1. But apart from a handful of traitors, the Lebanese nation as a whole united to resist this attack. SOVIET AMBITIONS Now Lebanon has once again become the focal point of con- flict in the area. The reason for this is not the same as it was in 1958. Now it is because the Palestinian revolution has become the ma- jor issue in the Middle East and one of the key issues in world politics. Soviet social-imperialism is now the rising imperialist su- perpower with ambitions to do- minate the peoples of the Mid- dle East and the rest of the world. Pinning its hopes on the ru- ling national bourgeoisie in Arab countries where there is a strong state-controlled sec- tor in the economy, and decep- tively pretending to support the sincere desire of the Arab people for socialism, the Rus- sians managed from the late '50s onwards to build up a very powerful influence. SIDON LEBANON SYRIA ISRAELI- TYRE OCCUPIED LEBANON OCCUPIED PALESTINE (ISRAEL) HAIFA ISRAEL OCCUPIED SYRIA FIGHT FOR LIBERATION Collaborating with the United States, the USSR has maintained a no-peace no-war situation in the Middle East and has been making a vast profit in selling to the Arabs arms which they needed to defend themselves against Is- rael which is armed to the teeth by the USA. Recently they have suffer- ed setbacks with the rejection of Soviet diplomacy by Egypt and other Arab countries. Meanwhile, the Palestinian revolution has been develop- ing in strength. The Palestinians, led by their Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) are a thorn in the flesh of the two superpowers. They have militantly been holding to the road of self- reliance, and have nothing to gain from the no-peace no- war situation which keeps them deprived of their land while enabling Israel to immobilise the other Arab states and con- centrate on fighting the Palestinians. COMPLEX CONDITIONS The approach of American imperialism has been and still is to crush the Palestinians and wipe them out as a politi- cal force. In 1970 the Jordanian gover- nment, with US support, car- ried out its notorious "Black September" massacre of Pales- tinians. After that, the Palestinian forces had to use Lebanon as an external base for military operations aimed at liberating their country. The Soviet Union uses dif- ferent tactics from the Ameri- cans. Rather than exterminating the Palestinians, the USSR would like to enslave them, and turn the PLO into a tool of its own great-power inter- ests. Thus the Palestinians are fighting under very complex conditions. The Russians would like to see them beaten down to a point where the PLO has no choice but to give itself up heart and soul and seek Soviet protection. They are quite happy when the Palestinians are subjec- ted to aggression, as is hap- pening in Lebanon at the mo- ment. CIVIL WAR The handful of Lebanese reactionaries, who are quite powerful financially, are still available to serve in suppressing the Palestinians. They are the same people who served US imperialism a long time ago, such as the leadership of the National Liberal Party headed by Camille Chamoun and the Phal- angists led by Pierre Gemayel. During the recent Lebanese civil war, which was at its height two years ago, Israel infiltrated the southern part of Lebanon. Those Lebanese forces which favoured national independence and supported the Palestinians were held at bay by Syrian troops armed by the Soviet Union while Lebanese right- wingers, supported by Israel were able to massacre many Palestinians, notably in the Tell-el-Zaatar district of Bei- rut (meanwhile Czechoslovakia, under Soviet orders, was sel- ling arms to both sides). FURTHER EXPANSION But all this completely fail- ed to wipe out the Palestinians or to dampen their revolution- ary enthusiasm. So Israel has pursued its expansionist policy still fur- ther through a large-scale ag- gressive operation against Lebanon. Israel's plan was to surround and wipe out the main forces of the Palestinians in a light- ning operation. This has failed Not only have the Palestin- ians been able to regroup their forces in an orderly way fur- ther to the north, but they have been fighting back with appropriate guerilla methods. Israel's hold even over that part of Lebanon which it oc- cupies is insecure. In these circumstances, Is- rael is committing itself to a large-scale war in order to re- alise its strategic objective Young Palestinians train to fight the Zionists. which is, as Chief-of-Staff General Gur recently put it, to "create a situation such that it would finally result in an agreement in the frame- work of which the activities of the PLO would be control- led throughout Lebanon." RIGHT-WING MAFIA One important purpose of the Israeli invasion is to pump up the Lebanese right- wing and use them against the Palestinians. For at least two years mini- warlords had been operating in southern Lebanon using Is- raeli arms and logistic sup- port. But they only had very limited success. Now these thugs are able to operate on a larger scale. A so-called "south Lebanese army" has been set up, led by Saad Haddad, and an attempt is being made to terrorise the Shiite villagers of the south, who support the Palestinians. They are being confined to barbed wire-surrounded stra- tegic hamlets, a method used by imperialist aggressors in other wars, like the Americans in Indochina and the Soviet- Cuban forces in Angola. NEW SOLIDARITY Israel would like to give the impression that Lebanon is being punished for the sins of the Palestinians, and to build up anti-Palestinian feeling there. But Israel has supported the atrocities committed by the Lebanese right-wing mafia, and has carried out indiscriminate terror-bombardment against Tyre, and has apparently de- vastated about 80% of the vil- lages south of the River Litani. This has meant in practice that many Lebanese are now more sympathetic than ever towards the Palestinians, since they have had a taste of what it is like to be driven out of their homes and subjected to constant harrassment. RESISTANCE FORCES One problem is that the Le- banese state is extremely weak owing to the effects of the Civil War. The Palestinians accept the authority of the Lebanese state over Lebanon, but in order to overcome the immedi- ate danger of Israeli aggres- sion they have constituted a special resistance force in conjunction with patriotic Lebanese. Yasser Arafat, leader of the PLO, has been appointed commander of these joint Le- banese-Palestinian forces. This is recognition of the fact that the Palestinians

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