nena ene EE Ia co

By Philip Honor

I. is becoming ‘increasingly evident
_ that the Palestinian problem will be a
_ ‘Tucial issue at the forthcoming Geneva
2 October war has brought pro-
_ ‘Ound Changes in the balance of forces
feat region. It has weakened the mil-
_ .Ty power of Israel and loosened the
j Anpetialists’ grip on the oil-producing
a ab countries. The determined strug-
f €s Of the Palestinian Arab people
_ or their legitimate rights has. gained
fnversal support. An acceptable solu-
n of the Middle East crisis will have

include the right of the Palestinian
= ab people to self-determination and
: Settlement of the Palestinian refugee
Toblem based on various UN resolu-
Rae It must also include, of course,
: Aa Been of the State of Israel by the
é hag Countries; a willingness to do so
word aay been indicated in the Arab

‘ a Mfortunately, the Palestine National
flan which is considered the unof-

al parlia ine Li
"eration 6; ment of the Palestine Lib-

rganizati ue
Zation ganization, umbrella organi

an S a provision in its program call-
ten the creation of a democratic
in tou the whole territory of Palestine
World distant future. In the present
the Context this gives ammunition to
Ete, Eines of the Palestinian Arab
Dubh ©, who want to turn international
- liberss Pition against the Palestinian
_ station movement.
* there have been important
peuin PLO policy which recognize
stor Y ih Palestine and hold promise
Providing coexistence in that area,
 ehded. Israeli intransigence can be
“moan”, Moderate leaders of the PLO,

cing Notably Yasir Arafat, its chair-:

; show a readiness to accept a poli-
Which olution of the Middle East crisis
Ble to Would enable the Palestinian peo-
Stabligh their national rights and to
| State an independent Palestinian
% and ther the West Bank of the Jordan
€ Gaza Strip. :
Progressive Tel Aviv weekly Der
Ports that some Israelis are of

‘Drag.’ Willing to accept this as a
dicated an, e7angement, and have in-
er t a more flexible attitude by
ae government would be met
aq .vvorable response. One leader
Betemia recognition of the PLO by
recip, Yitzhak Rabin would lead to
liberat; 1 action by the Palestinian
‘On movement.
18) y°* 8 conference in Cairo (June
Yoteq as Palestine National Council
the fore wtelmingly to participate in
bal invitee o™ming Geneva conference,
the Pal aS a representative body of
‘st n Arab people. The PNC
Palestin ved to establish a “national
mon eonity” (in effect a Pales-
Vacuatea ©) on the Palestine areas
-Dlieg With by Israel, once Israel com-
| Calling fo: UN Resolutions 242 and 338
Re 40Fr such

evacuation.

Since. th
— Setty © beginning of the Zionist
Ara went Of Palestine the indigenous
rooted ulation has been victimized,
thousands oppressed. Hundreds of
- their ho of Arabs were driven from
| Wars, ppecland in the 1948 and 1967
~ Pastas ye”,

have been forced to live the -

In 19°28 in squalid refugee camps.
¥ ting, there were 60,000 Jews in Pal-

» Ceased * 1939 their number had in-

: the state 429,000. In May 1948, when

~ Jewish —°f Israel was proclaimed, the
ag Peron uation had control of over
; Of the area of Palestine. In

or various liberation groups, —

inion that Arafat and other PLO -

€rence on peace in the Middle East. .

Palestine
and
Geneva

1949, when Israel applied for UN mem...
bership, the UN passed a resolution re-
questing the new Jewish state to allow
the Arab refugees to return to their
homes, or to grant them compensation
if they so chose. The UN has annually
passed similar resolutions, which are
ignored by Israel. c
Pope Pecu: noted expert.on the Mid-
dle East, states in his book, Israel and
the Palestine Arabs: es
‘Abandoned property was one of the
greatest contributions toward making
Israel a viable state . . . Of the 370 Jew-
ish settlements established between 1943
and the beginning of 1953, 350 were on
absentee property .. . In 1954 more than
one-third of Israel’s Jewish population
lived on absentee property and nearly a
third of. the new immigrants (250,000 .
ple) settled in’ urban areas aban-
doned by Arabs . . - Ten thousand shops,
businesses and stores were left in Jew-
ish hands . . . Most of the Arab (citrus)
groves were taken over by the Israeli
Custodian of Absentee Property. (pp

143, 165)

people has become a blight on the con-

spout 3,000,000 Palestinian Arabs scat-

tered mostly

East: 300,000 are in the Gaza Strip and —

war), 300,000 live in Israel. About one

million Pales q
miserable existence in

banon, and the rest are.
250,000 are in We rab countries and

nized the rights

inian
ee Quisling administrations
in the occupied territories, the Israe:
authorities unleashed a reign of gies
under the pretext of fighting aon 3
rorism. Thousands have been jai om
thousands of homes have been cee
The terrorist oe Lae seen ae
ically ee sil played into the

Israeli ruling circles, mak-

violated.
been staged on S772 Tas not been the
Israel, powerer ee sn of the Pales-

King Hussein attempted to destroy the.

Palestine National Liberation Move-

‘ment, which had a strong base in Jordan.

by a genocidal: military campaign in
which thousands of Palestinians per-
ished. The bases of the Palestine Na-
tional Liberation Organization were
destroyed..

These efforts to crush the Palestine

- Liberation movement failed, however.

It has gained strength and become more
unified. The Palestine Liberation Or-
ganization, founded in 1964, is now gen-
erally recognized as the representative
body of the Palestinian Arab: people.
Yasir Arafat, its chairman, is also pres-
ident of Al Fatah, the largest national
liberation group. The PLO includes four
other principal groups: As Saiga, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, the Popular Democratic

‘Front, and the Arab Liberation Front. |

There are a few smaller member groups

‘also. Arafat and other moderate PLO

leaders have established a workable
relationship with the Soviet Union which
is co-chairam with the United States’ of
the Geneva peace conference. :
The position of the Soviet Union on the
Middle East is crystal clear. The Soviet
government has steadfastly called for
the implementation of UN Resolution
242 as a means of bringing peace in the
Middle East. A joint Soviet-Syrian com-
munique, issued May 29 in Damascus,
states that a just and lasting peace in the

‘Middle East must be based on a com-

plete Israeli withdrawal from all oc-

- ian people.

_ with Palestinians.

. against the PLO, and help them in their

a new page in the relations between the

cupied territories and the restoration
of the legitimate rights of the Palestin-

The Soviet government supports the
participation of the PLO in the Geneva.
conference. It is well known that the
United States doesn’t. The greatest op-
position comes from.Israel and Jordan.
Premier Rabin stated in his first Knes-
set speech that he will not accept a sep-
arate Palestinian state or negotiations

The Zionist rulers of Israel still re-
fuse to face reality. Defying world pub-
lic opinion, they are groping for a 19th
‘century colonialist solution of the Pales-
tine problem. Their objection to an in-
dependent Palestinian state is. in no
small measure, rooted in the fear that
such a state will align itself with the
anti-imperialist. progressive forces in
other parts of the world. and further
the cause of socialism in the Middle
East.

This coincides with the position of
King Hussein. *

Rabin is yielding to pressure by the
Likud (a coalition of several reaction-
ary Israeli parties) that is intent on
territorial conquest and a drive for a
“greater Israel.”” These hawks want to
hold on to all occupied territories and
are clamoring for renewed warfare.
Rabin’s intransigence on the Palestin-
jan question serves still another pur-
pose. He is aware that this may provoke
the Arab militants to commit some
acts of violence. The Israeli rulers.
would only benefit:-from such incidents
by turning western public opinion

designs to exclude the Palestine liber-
ation movement from the Geneva talks.
Such an attempt must be defeated.

Shulami Aloni, the only dovish mem-
ber in the Israeli cabinet, has sharply
criticized Rabin’s obstinate stand. She
has said: ‘“‘Whoever does not want Is-
rael to become another Northern Ire-
land, Cyprus or South Africa, must be
prepared to give up Nablus and Hebron’’
(the two largest cities on the West Bank
of the Jordan — P.H.).

iE Toubi, a leader of the Com-
munist Party of Israel, discussed the
present situation in the Middle East in
two articles in Der Veg (June 12 and 19).
He concluded the series with the follow-
ing:

“Seven years after the 1967 war the
yearned peace begins to appear on the
horizon. These were years of bloodshed,
ruination, death and much suffering . . .
Vigilant against the dangers and ob-,
stacles that will obstruct the road to
peace, the Communists will remain
devoted to the interests of both peoples
in this country — the Jewish and Arab |
people. We’ll strive with all our strength
to make it possible that the prospects
for peace should outweigh the dangers;
that we should soon reach the yearned
day... when we will be able to turn

peoples of our region — a page of peace
instead of a page of war.” :

The progressive Jewish community
in’the United States can best serve the
interests of the Israeli people by follow- —
ing the peace program of the Commun-
ist Party of Israel.

PACIFIC TRI BUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1974-PAGE 3