The October 7th operation and the battles which have followed have proved that the Palestinian resistance has strengthened its military capacity and achieved broad political unity. All armed groups are now cooperating together from a common base of resistance. The resistance struggles against the Zionist regime which is armed and funded by the United States and other Western countries. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Palestinian resistance has inflicted serious loses to the enemy. The Zionists have been forced to continue operations in Gaza for more than 6 months without achieving their initial or intermediate goals. The Zionist regime has left behind more than 40,000 dead or missing persons, including 14,000 children with over 80,000 seriously wounded. Civilian infrastructure in Gaza … [read more]

The Vienna City Council has taken a number of unanimous decisions against anti-Semitism. In principle this is to be welcomed. However, the satisfaction is clouded by the fact that there is no resolution on the current aggressive smear campaign against Muslims. What is more, criticism of Israeli colonialism and the oppression of the Palestinian people is to be labelled anti-Semitic and subsequently even stopped. The anti-fascist basic consensus is thus turned against democracy and human rights, which should be equally enjoyed by all. The BDS boycott campaign, launched by Palestinian civil society according to the South African model, which aims to achieve nothing more than compliance with the relevant UN resolutions in a peaceful manner, is thereby placed in the … [read more]

Graz Karlau, October 19, 2019 So, I communicate to you, all free human beings: I am the prisoner Abdel Karim Mohammed Abu Habel from the Gaza strip in Palestine. My family had to flee from Palestine in the Autumn of 1948. On the morning of black Sunday 20/05/1990 I was born, at the same time as the blood of our Palestinian people was being shed by the Israeli Zionist Forces. I was a young boy, like any other, playing with boys my age, despite the occupation, the killing and the blood; these things that were never bad before the occupation. On 20/07/2000, I was shot in the joint of my left foot by the IOF; I was nine years old, and I still suffer from that injury, to this day. A few years passed, after which we were taken by surprise from an offensive attack by the IOF on … [read more]

  Zoabi, born in Nazareth in 1969, belongs to the Arab minority in Israel. From 2009 till 2019 she was a member of the Israeli parliament. According to the new „Nationality Law,“ the 20 percent Arab minority is not supposed to exist. The law defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people in which only the Jews have the right of self-determination. The Arab minority can’t make use of such a right as the indigenous People of Palestine. The speaker made clear how dramatic the transfer of power and wealth was after the establishment of the State of Israel. Before 1948 native Palestinians owned 83 percent of the land, today only 2.3 percent, although they make up 20 percent of the inhabitants of Israel. Having been a majority in Palestine, the … [read more]

At first glance, the whole story sounds quite unbelievable. In our ostensibly peaceful and harmless alpine republic, the maximum sentence is rarely meted out. A maximum sentence for an act that was obviously politically motivated, to be carried out in occupied Palestine, and which actually wasn’t carried out after all, should raise your eyebrows. The defendant, Abdelkarim Abu Habel, was born in 1990 in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip. At the age of 14, he was sentenced to nine years in prison by the occupying forces, an Israeli military court. According to media reports, he was denied visits by his father for five years – just one example of the severe conditions in Israeli detention. We don’t know the details about this case, but the general situation in Gaza and the disproportionate … [read more]

Let’s briefly recall the political context of 2004: the US government believed they could “export democracy” to Iraq, but in fact US occupation troops in Iraq faced a growing wave of resistance that had deep popular roots. The Anti-Imperialist Camp initiated a symbolic campaign under the slogan “10 Euros for the Iraqi Resistance”, which was supported by thousands with their names. The campaign intended to demonstrate that resistance to the occupation, including armed resistance, is not only politically and morally legitimate, but also protected by international law. The political activities of the Anti-Imperialist Camp as well as the alliances and cooperations we formed were obviously successful enough to register with the NSA. The Signal Intelligence Directorate with … [read more]

Do not harm the good name of the Robert Bosch Foundation by collaboration with the JNF Dear Professor Rogall, Dear board members of the Robert Bosch Foundation, Dear Minister Schmid, On 3 December 2015, there was a meeting in Stuttgart between the board of directors of the Robert Bosch Foundation (which owns 92% of the multinational automobile supplier Robert- Bosch GmbH), the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and representatives of the Israeli embassy, the Baden-Württemberg State government (Minister for Economic Affairs Nils Schmid) and prominent businesspeople and politicians. According the reports by the Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper on 10 December and the Jewish National Fund itself (on its website), the main topic was joint projects in third countries. The two organizations … [read more]

Saudi Arabia is trying to present the operation “Decisive Storm” as a regional coalition to support the “legitimate government” of Yemen against the advancing “pro-Iranian” Houthi militia. In the Western world, instead, the conflict is being inaccurately described as an attempt of a Sunni coalition to prevent Shia from coming into power. The situation in Yemen is much more complex and entering into all its aspects would exceed the scope of this statement. However, we would like to state the following: 1. The conflict in Yemen is not a confessional war yet. It is a power struggle among rivaling groups, which is unluckily taking place against the background of a regional conflict between the West and Saudi Arabia on the one side and Iran on the other. Neither is this a … [read more]

The quintessence: none of the regional and global players want Kurdish self-rule in Northern Syria to survive! The decisive role is being played by Turkey: In Kobani Ankara got the final say. The Turkish calculus is obvious. If Rojava held on it would serve as a precedence enormously strengthening PKK. The pressure on Ankara to grant substantial autonomy also to its own millions of Kurds would increase massively. The US, on its part, is pushing Turkey, pillar state for the NATO, to join their alliance against the Islamic State (IS) thus defining the Jihadis to be the main enemy in the regional civil war. The US air campaign is turning Asad into the lesser evil potentially upgrading his regime even into a partner. This is, however, unacceptable for Turkey’s ruling AKP. For them … [read more]

1. Israel’s war targets Israel never clearly stated the aims of its war. Maybe they even did not define them for themselves. In general it was about weakening the resistance and Hamas, riding on a wave of Zionist chauvinism which has taken hold of a sweeping majority in Israeli society. Right from the start the maximum goal, the annihilation of the armed resistance, was unrealistic and therefore not proclaimed. The destruction of several tunnel systems served both as a justification for the assault as well as for its termination. In any case an accurate evaluation of the war’s result needs to take into account its extraordinary asymmetric character. 2. Resistance confirmed Destruction in Gaza is massive. There are thousands of dead and wounded. Human misery is … [read more]

At 1.30 A.M on 20 August 2014 approximately 50 Israeli occupying soldiers surrounded Jarrar's home in Ramallah. An Israeli captain then proceeded to hand Jarrar an order which states that Jarrar must not leave the district of Jericho for the next six months and can only leave with the express permission of the Israeli military commander in the West Bank. Accompanying the order was a map outlining the boundaries of Jericho district. The order states, based on secret information, that Jarrar is a threat to the security of the area. She was given 24 hours to leave Ramallah. Jarrar refused to sign the order. Jarrar was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January 2006 and has continued to serve as an elected representative ever since. She is also the Palestinian … [read more]

1) Israel needs to present a success The current attack on Gaza has been growing into an outright showdown to tilt an equilibrium that is no more acceptable to either side. In this extremely asymmetric war one can assume that if the Zionist Goliath does not succeed in substantially weakening Hamas, the battle might turn into an affirmation of the Palestinian David. Israel has been proclaiming the destruction of Hamas, the political and military force dominating the resistance, at least for the past two decades – to no avail. Also this time there is no indication that would suggest such an outcome. The Palestinian resistance has been a world-shaking event ever since serving as an emblem of anti-imperialist popular struggles. This is one of the reasons why the Israeli Army well … [read more]

Following article was kindly translated from Spanish by John Catalinotto of Workers World www.workers.org in New York. We publish it because it plausibly points out that the military takeover of Northern Iraq by ISIS forces is intertwined with a popular rebellion and much broader than the Jihadi phenomenon. We do, however, not share the optimism that Daesh will be expelled as an alien force. Conversely we believe that Jihadism could sink deep popular roots and sectarianism from both sides has infected Iraqi society more than any other Arab country. None of the major forces involved got an instrument against sectarianism. And the Syrian events are showing the predominant dynamics of the region which transformed a supra-confessional democratic popular rebellion into a sectarian … [read more]

The conversation with Haytham was filled with laughter, as he commented on the numbers of voters in Lebanon. He said to Al-Nahar newspaper that the number of Syrians in Lebanon now represents ¼ of the country’s population. Thus they would need 150 polling stations, while today there are two polling stations for women and four for men. Prompted on whether he thought there was a considerable voter turnout in Lebanon, he responded laughing: “what rate?” pointing to visual tricks that can be used to inflate the presence of people on the streets. He also ridiculed numbers stated in various countries such as the Philippine where reportedly 70% of Syrians voted saying that there probably are only 20 Syrians there. In his view, “these elections are for the current authority and … [read more]

1. Militarily and in an immediate sense also politically the success of the government cannot be denied. But it is to be noted that it became possible because of a negotiated withdrawal and not a full-fledged capitulation. This shows how difficult it is for the government to advance militarily and that this does not mean a pacification of the situation. 2. The democratic left insisted that the better solution would have been a ceasefire and pacification leaving the militants in place this opening up spaces for dissent. In this way they would have been turned into a civil political opposition as they had started out three years back. Unfortunately first of all the government continues to be unwilling for such a step and secondly also the rebels seem not ready for that, neither the … [read more]

Elections Black Turkey boldly remains behind Erdoǧan regardless of corruption allegations. The decisive factor for the renewed electoral support is the social and economic ascendancy which also arrived at the Anatolian middle and lower classes – which actually is not a minor occurrence. To acknowledge this it suffices to compare it with the poor performance of all the neighbours. Furthermore there is the historic achievement of peacefully having pushed back the army allowing for a democratic opening which symbolically includes the important right to wear the hijab in public environments. Corruption, on the other hand, was widespread also before the AKP era. The new rulers just do the same as the old ones – for many even with more legitimacy. Actually, capitalism means systemic … [read more]

Exchange among the people – not power-brokering First of all, let us recall the aim of the “All Sides Consultation for a Political Solution” which took place in the “Peace Castle Schlaining” close to Vienna, Austria, from 7-10 March, 2014. The idea was to give a voice to Syrian society in its full diversity, voices emerging from the people who have been silenced and excluded by the powerful. It was not intended to hold negotiations between the conflicting sides and their global and regional sponsors as has failed in Geneva. A consultative forum of personalities not directly representing the sides involved but indeed representing the societal richness was called upon to explore ways to stop the catastrophic bloodshed. Thus we were not in search of sophisticated and … [read more]

Driven by deep worries about the deteriorating developments, the disastrous humanitarian situation and the future of the Syrian people, the All Sides Consultation has been searching for what can be done, by means of a political solution, to stop the war, the violation of human rights causing a huge number of victims, the destruction of infrastructure and culture. This solution should help the Syrians to find a new social contract for the construction of a State based on comprehensive national reconciliation and accountability, guaranteeing the rights and freedom for all Syrians. Recognizing the immense complexity of the situation and the increasing suffering and polarization, following points emerged as consensual during our deliberations. As conveners we are formulating them in the … [read more]

De-railing of Geneva II from the Basic Tracks I received several letters from friends of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change – NCB expressing surprise about the NCB’s boycott of the Geneva II Conference in the context of the arrangements, the formula and the conditions in which it is being held. We were particularly the brave defenders of this conference, and we were accused of all manner of sins after our defense of it even from some people who mounted the platform of the delegation of the Coalition on behalf of the Syrian opposition in Montreux. I wrote in my first notes about “Geneva I”/Geneva Communiqué on 10th July 2012: The Conference has been organised without the Syrians like a meeting of the Security Council, but this negative point has certainly … [read more]

Among its main victims there are the democratic rights of the Syrian people, who originally tried to claim these rights by launching a peaceful popular mass protest movement. However their efforts have gradually been thwarted by an increasing influence of sectarian tendencies as well as a growing regional and global involvement. Together with many people inside Syria and across the world our initiative for Peace in Syria continues to insist (see initial call www.peaceinsyria.org/mission.html) that the only viable solution is a political settlement with a ceasefire paving the way to a transitional government, based on a power sharing agreement between the socio-political, confessional and ethnical blocs maintaining a common State. We are conscious that this is not the ideal solution for … [read more]