Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 25)
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- Democratic Palestine : 10 (ص 25)
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Atlit. In the end, Amal was prepared to
release the hostages if only Reagan
would promise to see to it that the
Lebanese detainees would be released,
and refrain from taking retaliatory action.
Of course, it was very easy for
Reagan to give non-binding promises.
He was released from the dilemma of
having to make concrete concessions to
the highjackers, or running the risk of
ordering military action of unknown con-
sequences (though such an operation
was indeed prepared for). Thus Reagan
was able to turn the highjacking to his
advantage, in contrast to the ordeal of
the former US President Carter when
Iranian students seized the US embassy
in Teheran in 1979. At that time, Carter
embarked on an abortive military opera-
tion to rescue American hostages. Ulti-
mately he had to yield to the demands of
the Iran students, an event that cost him
his presidency in the ensuing elections.
Reagan expands on the
incident
Not only did Reagan reap the
benefits of Amal’s having taken control
of the highjacked airplane, by gaining
the hostages’ release in return for a
promise. He also capitalized on the inci-
dent to realize an aim he had failed to
achieve over the past two years: Punish-
ing the Lebanese people and nationalist
forces for resisting the May 17th accord;
the invasion of Israeli, US and NATO
forces; and the imposition of Camp
David via Lebanon. This was especially
bitter for the Reagan Administration
which had planned for Lebanon becom-
ing a NATO base, and possible site for
the Rapid Deployment Forces. Thus,
Reagan was quick to begin a campaign
to halt traffic to Beirut’s airport and stop
Lebanese flights from landing in the US.
He proceeded to threaten action to hit
the «sources of terror».US imperialism’s
«anti-terrorist» campaign was refueled
with the folowing aims:
1. Preparing to deliver a deadly
blow to the Arab liberation movement,
especially the Palestinian revolution,
and to increase pressure on the
nationalist regimes that are hostile to the
US and ‘Israel’. Such preparations are
not restricted to the Middle East, but are
directed against anti-imperialist forces
and countries that «harbor and support
terrorists». New «arguments» were pro-
duced to justify contemplated military
operations against the people of El Sal-
vador, Nicaragua, etc. Reagan's accus-
ing finger extends farther, with insinua-
tions that the Soviet Union and other
socialist countries also have a hand in
«terror». When Reagan speaks of
eradicating the roots of «terror», he is
ultimately alluding to his aggressive
aims against the socialist community.
2. Rallying domestic support for
Reagan's aggressive policies which
have come under broad criticism from
various interest groups and the Ameri-
can people in general. A recent opinion
poll had shown that a high percentage of
the American people are not satisfied
with Reagan’s foreign policy; 42% of
those interviewed favored reduction of
aid to ‘Israel’. The campaign around the
highjacking was used to alleviate this
situation. Robert Hunter, member of the
Georgetown Institute for Strategic and
International Studies published an arti-
cle on the highjacking in which he
evaluated that Reagan was the greatest
beneficiary because within 17 days he
succeeded in arousing the American
people’s maximum nationalist and
chauvinist feelings.
3. By concentrating on the high-
jacking, the Reagan Administration
managed to close ranks with its Western
allies. Reagan worked hard to convince
them that this and other «terrorism» is
directed not only against the US, but
against what he calls the «free world».
This is significant in the context of the
prevailing crisis in the Western alliance.
This crisis was clearly manifest at the
last meeting of European Common Mar-
ket countries held in Milan, Italy. This
meeting turned down Reagan's «Star
Wars» in favor of France’s Eureka pro-
ject for European armament. The meet-
ing also adopted the West German-
French project for establishing a Euro-
pean confederation. Washington fears
that this project could lessen Western
Europe’s dependence on US foreign
policy and lead to better understanding
between Western and Eastern Europe.
The real source of terror
Although Reagan managed to reap
the fruits of the TWA highjacking, this is
not enough to erase from history and
mankind's collective memory the long
record of US crimes: miltary invasions,
atrocities, instigating reactionary coups
and supporting the most repressive
regimes around the world - in short, state
terrorism at its ultimate. This record
includes the US being the first and only
state to drop the atomic bomb
(Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in
1945), invading Vietnam and Grenada,
and making possible the continuation of
apartheid and Zionism’s colonization of
Palestine.
—J
RUSSIAN AGENts
AND/ox DUPES
WSSONRY
Reaganspeak,
KAA KKX
PEACE KEEPER
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