(Israeli sympathising group of the Fourth International).
What is the situation in Israel now, nearly two months after the fourth Arab-Israeli war? I'll answer that in two parts. Fintly, the whole population is in a profound state of shock. The feeling of 'security" which existed before has disappeared completely. This is expressing itself politically in a certain polarisation. In the election campaign, this has been shown by the growth of the right on one hand, and the growing number of "doves' in the Labour Party on the other.
I don't think that the Labour Party will be forced from office, but it will lose a large number of votes. The position of the MeirDayan "hawks' inside the Labour Party B increasingly weak. The plan for the election campaign put forward before the war by Gallis (Minister without Portfolio) has been abandoned. A new text, very unclear in its perspectives, has been adopted. The Labour Party is pumbling on presenting itself as the party of peace against the right wing. One thing. however, Is very clear: the present majority has no plan, it deals with developments as they arise.
The second important point concerns the effects of the war on the cconomy. Even today. because of the mobilisation, the wheels are turning very slowly. The economy is on the brink of a major crisis, in spite of the American aid which has just been voted by the Senate. What about the negotiations?
Israel is quite prepared to drag the whole thing out. The Govemment has no plan, it is going to Geneva to see and hear what goes on —a very passive approach, There is no doubt that the U.S, will put pressure on Israel to bring abour positive conclusion to the Geneva talks. Bu don't think this is likely to happen ver quickly. It certainly won't be a question of Two months of negotiations and then a peace settlement with the return of the nccupied territories.
What exactly is happening today among the Palestinians in the occupied territories? There has been quite an important upsurge in the activities of the Resistance. In particular, we should note that the Palestinians recently deported fonned the elements of an alternative leadership to that of the old, decgying team. This was obviously a preventive measure on the part of the Israeli Government, threatened with the emergence of a left-wing leadership which could sweep the old leadership aside. But we should not overestimate the possibility of a development of the Resistance in the beart of the occupied terntories, given the intensity of the Israeli repression.
What are the perspectives for Matzpen-Marxist? There is a tremendous amount to do. There is a new mood of questioning ahout the dependent relation of Isracl to the United States, about the permanent war situation, security, the policy of force pursued by Israel, and so on, We are meeting today with a response and an audience which we haven't seen for many, many years. To judge from the development of our groups of sympathisers, our influence has never been so great. Our comrades who are still in the urmiy inform us that there, too, there a a considerable degree of intense political questioning. We are responding to this on a fundamentally anti-Zionist basis, by unravelling the real nature of this society, by exposing its repressive role, and by continuing from the inside the strugele to undermine the State of Israel, which we share in common with all revolutionaries in The Arab East. Work in progress on Thieu's pathetic tank-trap trench outside saigon