During the last few weeks, the Israeli forces of peace have strengthened their activity, as was marked by both the mass manifestations held on the two last Saturdays. Many thousands of peace activists have filled the streets and squares and called to stop the Israeli government's aggressive policy and to end the occupation of Palestinian lands. Especially, we want to point to the successful rally which took place on the 9th of February, at which the most consistent peace forces, organized in 28 movements, took part. This rally was marked by the impressive participation of army reservists who refuse to serve in the occupied territories, the appearance of whom was answered by enthusiastic applause from the huge crowd.
The Israeli Communist Forum expresses its full support for the conscientious objectors of army service in the occupied territories, the veteran as well as the new ones, who refuse to take part in the crimes of the occupation. The new initiative of this refusal, lately raised anew by over 50 reserve combat officers and soldiers, joined by now already by more than 200 reservists, has drawn vast public reverberation. It has brought to the forefront a wide public debate about the occupation and its morbidity. This initiative, which we hail, was answered by the army echelon and the General Chief-of-Staff with hysterical outbursts. They were hysteric because of the fact that relatively many reservists, among them high-ranking officers, who hitherto never took similar steps, have taken part in this initiative.
Doubtless, the impulse to all this stems from the aggressive policy of the Sharon-Peres government which proved in a brutal way more than ever that it is not interested at all to arrive at any kind of negotiations with the Palestinians. After there had been a relatively short period of time-out of war-like activities, the government returned again to the policy of liquidations (and particularly the assassination of Ra'ed Karmi), knowingly precisely that these would be retaliated by renewed escalation and ignition of sanguinary retaliation and counter-retaliation, the victims of which would be Arab-Palestinians as well as Jewish Israelis.
The Israeli government's hypocrisy is particularly eminent by its ever-repeated declaration that the PLO Chair and President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat, is being "irrelevant". At the same time when the Israeli occupation army is encircling Arafat's Ramallah residence by tanks, by this completely restricting his freedom of movement, while also uninterruptedly shelling and bombarding Palestinian authority offices, police stations and jails - after all these aggressive actions, the Israeli government has the brazen impudence of accusing Arafat that "he is not acting to stop the terror...". Israel's state terror and occupation are the main source and cause for other acts of terror. Only a complete elimination of this cause will end all those condemnable acts of mutual terror which bring to the loss of lives of innocent people.
The Israeli Communist Forum condemns also the U.S. Administration, some leaders of which - as the Israeli War Minister Ben-Eliezer revealed after his visit in Washington - side with the positions of the Israeli most ultra right-wing nationalist extremists. Upon the U.S. government falls the central responsibility for the present dangerous deterioration in our region. Its radical anti-Palestinian positions is answered by a growing opposition in the mid-eastern region, as well as the world over, including from the side of some of its allies in Europe.
The Israeli government's military escalation is accompanied by a great economic and social deterioration on an unprecedented scale since decades. The rate of unemployment rose to over 10 percent. Almost daily, industrial plants and enterprises are closing down. Whole branches are on the brink of bankruptcy. The national currency is losing its value. Its rapid devaluation causes deterioration of the living conditions of the masses of hundreds of thousands of families who have to pay their monthly rates on mortgages, rents and other obligations, usually bound to the U.S. dollar exchange rate. Precisely at the time of these difficulties, the government has decided to impose anti-social decrees of straining the income of precisely the anyway impoverished strata. The old age pensions, the children increments, and other such allowances have been frozen in spite of the growing inflation and consumer price hikes. Precisely at the same time, funds amounting to billions and billions are found for added budgetary expenditures which are spent for ever more weaponry, for establishing and expanding the colonialist settlements in occupied Palestine and other occupation-tied expenses. We call for an overall change of priorities, of reversing funds from the expenditures for armament and military occupation up-keep, and transfer them to social welfare, education and health services.
We extend our solidarity greetings to the participants of the many labor struggles, including strikes and partial strike actions. We extend particular solidarity to the already more than 60 days long sit-in strike of the disabled persons in front of the Knesset and government offices, under conditions of cold winter weather, who are up against an incredible obturation from the state's establishment.
We call for strengthening the public struggle against the occupation and for just peace on the basis of "Two States for our Two peoples" along the lines of the 1967 borders, including the appropriate re-division of Jerusalem, as well for the solution of the Palestinian refugee problem according to the provisions of respective U.N. resolutions !
We call to strengthen the struggle against the anti-social policy of the government which deteriorates the situation of the working masses, the old-age pensioners and youth !
We call upon the peace forces around the world, to express active solidarity with the just struggle of the Arab-Palestinian people for implementing of their just national rights, as well as with the Israeli peace forces, that fight against the government's policy of occupation and military oppression of the Palestinian people !
