Since the end of the Second World War Turkey has been firmly in the orbit of the Western alliance though in the past decade a number of events have occurred which have strained the relationship with the West. At present Turkey is surrounded by actual or potential conflicts with Greece, Cyprus, Syria, the Soviet Union, and to the east Iran and Iraq – both with dissatisfied Kurdish minorities.
The state of Israel was built in struggle against the Orient; but once it had been built, about half its (Jewish) people were offspring of that same Orient. Neither the Zionist movement nor the state of Israel has ever been able to resolve that contradiction.
The present issue of Khamsin goes to the press almost exactly one year after Israel's invasion of Lebanon. The central theme of the issue is not a description of the war events themselves, but their broader context.
In the minds of Begin and Sharon the Lebanon war is an opening move in the one-front strategy. The aim of this strategy is to build around a greater Israel a zone of direct Israel presence and influence. A zone of pax Hebraica.
Will the election of Amin Gemayel as president of 'all of Lebanon' finally put an end to the ghastly pageant of civil war in that country? Many Lebanese hope so, but their desires are as mangled and bewildering as were their heroes of yesterday – or their martyrs
The PLO, with all its political currents, is facing its historical problem today: adopting a policy under the circumstances of defeat in Lebanon and subjection to the influences of the Arab regimes.
Seán MacBride et aI, Israel in Lebanon, Report of the International Commission to enquire into reported violations of International Law by Israel during its invasion of the Lebanon, Ithaca Press, London, 1983.
Selim Nassib with Caroline Tisdall, Beirut: Frontline Story, Pluto Press, London, 1983.
The political allegiance of Israel’s Oriental Jews to the Likkud, and their rejection of Labour, are firmly rooted in the history and class structure of Israeli society.
A critique of Farjoun's Class divisions in Israeli society.
The tales of repression and resistance we were told that evening, as well as the accounts and testimonies we were to hear during the next few days, are hardly known outside the Strip. 'There is no Hilton Hotel in this town,' remarked a Gazan friend, 'and journalists hate discomfort. They never stay here longer than a couple of hours.'
This article was written several years ago, as a discussion paper... I believe that some of what it contains may still serve as a starting point for further discussion and clarification.
The question mark hanging over Egypt is whether the bourgeoisie can impose its solution, or whether the working class can smash the bourgeois state and reorganise production. If those of us outside Egypt can contribute something by way of analysis for and solidarity with the workers in Egypt, all the ink that has flowed will have been worthwhile.
A Judeophobic anti-Zionism is the best weapon in the hands of Zionists. Rather, it is the task of progressive anti-Zionists (Jews and non-Jews alike) to challenge Zionism as a false liberation, or better, as a total surrender to antisemitism and an actual negation of liberation.
Nikki R. Keddie, Roots of Revolution: An Interpretive History of Modern Iran; With a section by Yann Richard.
The picture that emerges in the book is very different from the popular myth of the kibbutz , which can be seen as a commune not so much of utopian socialists as of militants of a colonialist-nationalist movement.
The families in the study are desperately poor although they are not the poorest of Egypt's capital city. They at least have somewhere to live other than cemeteries and sewers, and they have a wage earner in the family. But no family has an income sufficient to meet its needs.
This issue of Khamsin continues the crucial debate on religion in the Middle East and its reactionary impact on politics in the region today.
The Jewish religion and its attitude to non-Jews - Part-3: Social Structure of Classical Judaism
The Jewish religion and its attitude to non-Jews – Appendix: Talmudic and rabbinical laws against gentiles