IRSP: Long Live the Intifada

[Danielle Ni Dhighe <nidhighe@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Press Statement ­ Press Statement ­ Press Statement
Irish Republican Socialist Party
17 April 2001

IRSP: Long Live the Intifada

As the Zionists again launch bombing attacks on the Palestinians, a heroic
resistance continues. A spokesperson for the Irish Republican Socialist
Party's International Department Secretariat recently used the situation in
Palestine to draw conclusions about the way forward in Ireland.

"The plight of the Palestinian Authority demonstrates the significant
problem when revolutionaries attempt to negotiate with imperialists, simply
put 'bad faith'. The fact of the matter is that the Zionists made no
serious attempt to keep the agreement they had reached with the
Palestinians, just as Britain  has repeatedly broken its promises to the
people of Ireland over the course of the last century and a half, at least.

"The actions of the Israeli government well before the new Intifada was
launched made it clear that they were not prepared to return the entirety
of the West Bank to the Palestinians, but intended to leave intact Zionist
settlements there. They blocked the ability of the Palestinians to open
their international airport, refused to permit the return of the tens of
thousands of Palestinians forced into exile. Refused to even discuss the
return of any part of Jerusalem and they refused to permit a declaration of
statehood on the part of Palestine. Clearly, all that they had sought from
the negotiations they had conducted with the Palestinians was the
opportunity to turn over to the Palestinian Authority the costs and
administrative problems associated with maintaining a cheap labour force of
Palestinians lying just outside their borders, within territories they
still ultimately controlled. The imperialists of the EU and US also broke
their vows, by failing to provide the desperately needed funds they had
promised the Palestinians and have failed to lift a finger as the Zionists
have renewed the slaughter of the Palestinian people.

"We are not at all surprised to hear that many, if not most, of the actions
undertaken against the Zionists by the Palestinians have been carried out
by the rank-and-file of the revolutionary socialists organisations of the
Palestinians, the DFLP and PFLP. For example, the bus driver who ran down
seven IDF soldiers was a member of the PFLP--though Hamas tried to claim
him, he got word out from prison and listed his true affiliation  This is
to be expected, because those of us who hold a revolutionary socialist
perspective understand that there can be no compromise with imperialism. We
have long said, as Connolly did before us, that national liberation cannot
be obtained without also liberating the working class of Ireland, since
they are the vast majority of this island's people. We cannot speak of
Ireland being free, while most of its people continue to be exploited, and
this is just as true of Palestine."

The spokesperson concluded:

"Just as the Assembly has proven to be a trap for the Sinn Fein members
elected to it, the Palestinian Authority is nothing but a glue-laden trap,
intended to hold the Palestinians trapped in a process of negotiations that
ultimately lead nowhere. The Palestinian people have rejected this attempt
to conquer them through negotiations and illusionary steps towards
sovereignty by re-launching the Intifada, The Irish Republican Socialist
Party condemns the continued acts of violence launched by the Israeli state
against the Palestinian people and its failure to meet its commitments
under the agreement they had reached with them. We salute the heroism of
the Palestinians and the analysis of the PFLP, that only a united, secular,
democratic and socialist Palestine can bring justice and peace to this
entire region."

ENDS