by Mark Williams, Detroit Workers’ Voice (October 1996)
Brief excerpts:
At the end of September [1996], the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza were ablaze again. Faced with one outrage after another by the Israeli government of Netanyahu, the Palestinian masses arose in protest. Israeli troops replied in their usual way, with murderous repression. Israeli helicopter gun-ships fired point blank on Palestinian crowds. ....
Below we reprint an article I wrote on the situation facing the Palestinian struggle which originally was published in February 1995. It was part of a series of exchanges on this subject with Jason of the misnamed Revolutionary Socialist Study Group of Seattle. Jason, who had formerly written poems in support of the Intifadeh, was so excited by the prospect of a mini-state that he decided that the PLO-Israeli peace accords showed that past ideas about the reactionary nature of zionism and imperialism were wrong. ....
Although the article is not an up-to-date account of the Palestinian-Israeli situation, it touches on a number of important issues that must be grappled with by those who want to support the cause of the Palestinian masses. What was the significance of the Israeli-PLO peace accords and the setting up of the mini-state Palestinian National Authority (PNA)? What is the class nature of and role of the Islamic fundamentalists? .... Is revolutionary class organization needed independent of the PLO and Hamas or should the toilers place their faith in such forces? ...
The events since the article below was written confirm its conclusions about the nature of Israel, imperialism, and the PLO-Israeli peace accords. They offer more proof of the need for a revolutionary class orientation for the Palestinian masses.
From the debate on the Palestinian mini-state:
Reformist panaceas crash on the rocks of reality
by Mark Williams, Detroit Workers’ Voice (January 1995)
Brief excerpt from the introduction:
In May of 1994, Jason put forward views on the Palestinian-Israeli situation in which he stated his desire to challenge “certain long-held assumptions about international aid, as well as the role of zionism, which are .. .being proved suspect through the development of the current situation in Israel and Palestine.” In line with his “new” ideas, Jason concocted an elaborate scheme for the development of the newly-created Palestinian “mini-state” whereby the Israeli zionist bourgeoisie and international imperialism would bring the good life to the Palestinian masses. ... In june, Jason further elaborated his theories, arguing that Israel would become peace-living because “to have a huge military regime” and to “be a modern state” were “two mutually exclusive types of sate(s).”
It’s been over eight months since Jason began to release his views. The tumultuous events in the mini-state and the occupied territories over this time have been a test for Jason’s theories.
- Introduction
- Jason continues to run from reality
- Minor tinkering instead of real change
- Obscuring the class nature of the Islamic fundamentalists
- Jason’s distorted view of class analysis
- A theory for restricting the struggle
- Jason on organization
- Mocking class organization
- Jason declares Marxism-Leninism irrelevant
https://www.communistvoice.org/10cMini-state.pdf.
From Communist Voice #10, October 1996.