The Summit between the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump will take place in Singapore on June 12. Kim Jong Un has received U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang on two occasions in preparation for the Summit. At the meeting on May 10 they discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Chairman Kim told Pompeo that he appreciated President Trump's "deep interest in settling the issue through dialogue," the KCNA said. He shared with Pompeo his appraisal and view on the acute situation on the Korean Peninsula, which is now a pressing matter of the whole world's concern, the news agency said. "The coming DPRK-U.S. summit would be a historic meeting for the excellent first step toward the promotion of a positive situation on the Korean Peninsula and the building of a good future," Kim Jong Un told Pompeo.

At the request of U.S. President Trump, Kim Jong Un, in his role as Chair of the DPRK State Affairs Commission gave amnesty and signed for the release of three Americans of Korean nationality imprisoned in the DPRK after being charged and found guilty of crimes against the state.

This is a critical and historic moment in U.S.-Korea relations. The Summit to be held in Singapore has aroused great expectations as well as trepidation.

During the Inter-Korean talks held in Panmunjom on April 27, the leaders of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the DPRK signed a Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula in which they agreed to "declare an end to the Korean War" within this year and "turn the armistice into a peace treaty." On the nuclear question they "confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula." Immediately after the Panmunjom Inter-Korean Declaration, Kim Jong Un pledged to shut down the DPRK's nuclear test site in May and invite experts and journalists from the United States and the ROK to observe the dismantling of the facilities. This creates optimal conditions for successful talks between the United States and the DPRK if the U.S. is so inclined.

However, as a prelude to the upcoming summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, U.S. media have reduced this important issue of peace on the Korean Peninsula to warnings that Kim Jong Un cannot be trusted. They demand that the DPRK unilaterally denuclearize as a show of good faith and remain silent about the obligations of the United States. Their reaction is in stark contrast to that of Koreans around the world who celebrated the historic Declaration.

Those who demand the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula by demanding unilateral denuclearization by the DPRK are either ignorant of or willfully distorting the history and the essence of the conflict and negotiations between the United States and the DPRK surrounding the nuclear issue.

Both the Geneva Agreement in 1994 and the Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six Party Talks in 2005 refer to the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," not unilateral denuclearization by the DPRK. They contain pledges by the DPRK, the United States and the ROK to each take steps toward the denuclearization of the peninsula.

Residents of Jeju Island in south Korea denounce presence of the U.S. military and its
nuclear-powered vessels and weapons, November 25, 2017.

The 1994 Geneva Agreement states, "Both sides will work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula" and commits the United States to "provide formal assurances to the DPRK, against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the U.S." while north Korea takes steps toward denuclearization.

The 2005 Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six Party Talks, clearly states that the goal of the talks was the "verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." It commits the United States to pledge "that it has no nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula and has no intention to attack or invade the DPRK with nuclear or conventional weapons," and south Korea to affirm "its commitment not to receive or deploy nuclear weapons and that there exist no nuclear weapons within its territory."

So far, the DPRK has taken initiatives while the United States has done nothing. Empty rhetoric against the DPRK while doing nothing will be a sure way to undermine the current peace process. It will not be unexpected. However, should this take place, the Korean people and their leaders will not be deterred. The historic Summit between President Moon of the ROK and Chairman Kim of the DPRK in Panmunjom on April 27 was the first meeting of leaders from north and south in eleven years. It proclaimed the beginning of a new era of national reconciliation and co-prosperity. Shame on those who seek the failure of the concrete measures taken by the DPRK and ROK to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Let all those who uphold the banner of world peace stand with the Korean people without any hesitation! The imperialists seek to sow doubt about the motivations of the leadership of the DPRK in order to hide their own motivation to dominate the Korean Peninsula. All out to support the efforts of the Korean people to speak for themselves and ensure that their desire for peace and reunification prevails!

Letter to Members of U.S. Congress

Peace activists, U.S. citizens of Korean background and others call on their government to
do its part to ensure peace on the Korean Peninsula, Washington, DC, July 20, 2013.

Kim Jong-hoon, a member of the Republic of Korea National Assembly and Co-Chair of the Minjung Party, wrote a letter to U.S. Congress members on May 4. Kim Jong-hoon wrote: "Given the historic significance of the current moment in U.S.-Korea relations, the silence of Washington lawmakers, on the other hand, is puzzling. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops shed blood in the Korean War. For the past sixty-five years, the United States deployed to Korea countless young men and women, who braved repeated war threats in a tense military standoff against north Korea. Last year, north Korea claimed to have developed a weapon of mass destruction that can threaten the continental United States. And now, the leaders of north and south Korea and the United States are discussing a solution to finally end such a treacherously dangerous situation. Should this not be applauded?"

Kim Jong-hoon points out that "the signatory to the armistice at the end of the Korean War was not south Korea but the United States. Not only was it a party to the Korean War, but the United States was directly involved in the division of Korea. The United States maintained military rule from 1945 to 1948, and this led to the establishment of two separate governments in the north and south, which in turn led to the Korean War in 1950 when the United States took operational control of south Korean forces. As such, replacing the 1953 armistice with a peace treaty requires the United States and north Korea as the central parties.

"Even today, the United States maintains wartime operational control of south Korean forces. In the absence of a peace treaty, war could break out at any moment in Korea and the United States will automatically be pulled in. The U.S. media and political leaders seem singularly concerned with denuclearizing north Korea, but signing a peace treaty and establishing a complete and irreversible peace system on the Korean Peninsula are the only way to free the United States from the constant threats of war on the Korean Peninsula."

Kim Jong-hoon concludes his letter by pointing out that "reunification is a shared dream of Korean people around the world. Americans often ask, 'Do south Koreans really want reunification?' Soon, you will no longer need to ask this question. From the moment Kim Jong Un stepped over the military demarcation line at Panmunjom on April 27, there has been a sea change in the way south Koreans view the north. Excited conversations can be heard all throughout south Korea about the resumption of inter-Korean exchanges and visits and the opportunity to meet again with our north Korean counterparts.

"The upcoming U.S.-north Korea summit could produce a general framework for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as well as normalization of relations and the creation of a peace system. If all goes well, we could see, concurrent with a timeline for denuclearization, a declaration to end the Korean War before the end of this year and a peace treaty by 2020.

"This requires a bipartisan effort. You don't have to like Trump to support peace in Korea. We are on the brink of achieving something historic for global peace. Let us work together to ensure the upcoming U.S.-north Korea summit leads to a long-term resolution of the Korean conflict."

Korea Peace Petition Campaign Stepped Up

Following the spectacular success of the April 27 Panmunjom Inter-Korean Summit held just south of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean nation, the Canadian Committee for Peace on the Korean Peninsula informs that it is stepping up its work to engage Canadians in the important work of supporting peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The Petition was launched in October 2017 in Toronto. Thousands of Canadians of all ages and from all walks of life have signed it and engaged the organizers in discussion at the information pickets held in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Edmonton, amongst other places. They have also taken the discussion to their family, friends and peers and the Korean community especially has been invigorated by the hope for reunification and peace the Panmunjom talks generated.

The enthusiasm with which people sign the Petition reflects the principled stand of the Canadian people that all nations and peoples, especially in this case the long-suffering Korean people, have the right to self-determination, independence and peace.

The pickets and signature collection for the Petition are an opportunity for Canadians to express themselves on this vital question of peace on the Korean Peninsula and to call on the U.S. government to sign a peace treaty with the DPRK to formally end the Korean War. They also provide an opportunity to call on the Canadian government to cease and desist its threat of war, imposition of sanctions and stirring up of trouble on the Korean Peninsula. The Canadian government continues to pay lip service to finding a diplomatic solution to the Korean crisis, while continuing to enforce illegal and unjust sanctions against the DPRK and to engage in military and surveillance exercises against that country along with Britain, the U.S. and Australia.

The pickets also arm people with facts to combat the Cold War caricature of the DPRK as the aggressor and threat to peace on the peninsula. Check for dates of information pickets in your city and join in!

For a copy of the Petition, click here.

Please mail all completed petitions to: Committee for Peace on the Korean Peninsula, PO Box 264, Adelaide Station, Toronto ON M5C 2J8.

Imperialist Attempts to Disrupt Constitutional Order and Undermine
Democracy in Latin America

Venezuelans Uphold Their Dignity
in Face of U.S. Hooliganism

In recent days U.S. imperialism has dispatched its Vice President Mike Pence, Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and other officials to attack Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba in international fora with Cold War-style tirades.

Speaking at a special session of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on May 7 in Washington, Pence called Venezuela's upcoming May 20 presidential, legislative and municipal elections "a fraud and a sham" and called on the government to suspend them and hold "a real election." He called Venezuela a failed state and raised the spectre of the consequences of its collapse "radiating across the hemisphere, affecting all of our countries." Stating that the objective of the U.S. was to restore democracy for the people of Venezuela, Pence exhorted other countries to join its economic war and destabilization campaign and to support its call for Venezuela to be suspended from the OAS using the so-called Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Pence went so far as to invoke the names of three Latin American liberators so as to suggest the U.S. is their real champion. Simón Bolívar, José Martí and José de San Martín fought in the anti-colonial wars of independence against Spain and represent the opposite of what U.S. imperialism represents. He said he hoped OAS member states were "willing to do in our time, for freedom, what they were prepared to do in theirs."

In her diatribe against Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba the next day at the Washington Conference on the Americas, Ambassador Haley repeated the lie that "the Maduro regime threatens the peace and security of the entire region." Her threats, even more explicit than those of Pence, were expressed in hooligan statements such as, "For the safety and the security of all peoples in Latin America, it is time for Maduro to go."

Venezuela's Response

Venezuela's Ambassador to the OAS, Samuel Moncada, remarked on U.S. Vice President Pence's speech and the fact that the OAS had given him a platform to make it. He said the OAS was only discrediting itself by entertaining such criminal activity in its name, a situation that he said recalled its approval 53 years ago of the U.S. invasion of the Dominican Republic. There is zero possibility, he said, of the elections being called off, least of all at the behest of the vice president of the most racist, intolerant U.S. government in decades and the most aggressive and humiliating one in all of the Americas that has been threatening, extorting and coercing the whole region.

The Venezuelan government also issued a statement rejecting Pence's aggression and interference in Venezuela's affairs. It said that in recent years the OAS has reaffirmed its original status as a colonial body in the service of Washington's ambitions to dominate the region.

The statement said the arrogant behaviour of the United States only serves to reaffirm Venezuela's decision to renounce its membership in the OAS which it says is "an institution that, far from promoting diplomacy and cooperation among the countries of the region, has been an instrument of aggression that revives the colonialism that our liberators defeated more than two hundred years ago.

"Mr. Pence, in his supremacist cynicism, seeks to cover up the damage his government has done to Venezuelan society through unilateral coercive measures, with a false humanitarian concern whose objective is to distort the will of the people in order to seize the riches and natural resources of our country."

In conclusion the statement declared that on May 20, without fail, presidential elections will take place in Venezuela, and that the world will witness another expression of the popular will which will reaffirm the democratic character of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. No empire will be able to stop the will of the Venezuelan people, it said, calling them "worthy heirs of the Liberator Simón Bolívar in his vital effort to build free, sovereign, independent and deeply anti-imperialist nations and societies."

By all indications things are on track for yet another set of well-run, transparent elections on May 20 of the type for which Venezuela is known. Some 2,000 international observers have been lined up, including delegations from the Council of Latin American Electoral Experts, the Community of Caribbean States and other regional bodies. There is also good reason to expect Venezuelans to vote in large numbers, uncowed by the escalating threat of U.S. intervention.

Coming Events

Ottawa
Significance of May 20 Elections in Venezuela
Keynote Speaker: Professor Luis Acuña,
Chargé d’affaires, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
Thursday, May 17 -- 7:00 pm
University of Ottawa, Vanderbilt Hall (Vnr), Room 3035
136 Jean Jacques Lussier Private
For information: albasocialmovements@gmail.com

Discussion: Election Results in Cuba and
Attacks on Democracy in Latin America
Keynote Speaker: Her Excellency Josefina Vidal,
Cuban Ambassador to Canada
Thursday, May 25 -- 7:00 pm
Friends Meeting House, 91A Fourth Ave
For information: 613-261-7793 albasocialmovements@gmail.com

"Great March of Return" Boldly Affirms
Palestinians' Right of Return to Their Homeland

The Great March of Return, that began on Land Day (March 30) will shortly culminate on May 15, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Al Nakba (the catastrophe). On May 15, 1948 the Zionist state of Israel was established on the basis of the dispossession and mass expulsion of the Palestinian people. Today, the Palestinian people face ongoing occupation and increasing encroachment and dispossession by the Zionists. The Great March of Return is a bold affirmation of the Palestinian people's right to resist and right of return to their homeland, as enshrined in international law.

The Great March of Return began six weeks ago and calls for the return of the Gaza Strip's 1.3 million refugees to their original villages. People are encamped not far from the boundary of Gaza, where spirits are high and several generations of Palestinians regularly converge to express the profound demand that their lands must be returned to them.

The Gaza protests have been violently targeted by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). As of May 9, it is reported that 47 people have been killed, including five children and two journalists. More than 8,536 Palestinians have been injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 2,000 people have been injured by live ammunition. Injuries have also been caused by rubber bullets and tear gas asphyxiation.

Rights organizations report that the IOF is deliberately targeting medical staff as they attempt to aid the wounded. As of May 9, the Gaza Ministry of Health reports that 163 medical personnel have been injured by live ammunition and gas asphyxiation. Twenty-four ambulances have been damaged. Journalists covering the protests also report that they are being deliberately targeted.

The two journalists who were killed were both well away from the IOF and wearing blue flak jackets that clearly said "PRESS." The Israeli Defense Minister later sought to justify the killings of the journalists.

Sand artist Mohammed Abu Amr was among those killed by Israeli forces on Land Day:
left, he is honoured in banner placed beside a sand map of Palestine made in his memory;
right, one of his sand sculptures.

Banner and posters at Great March of Return camp honour Palestinian photographer
Yaser Maurtaji, killed while covering the march.

During that same period, Israeli forces killed 13 other Palestinians in Gaza who were not participating in the protests when they were fatally wounded, the Electronic Intifada reports.

TML Weekly denounces the brutality of the Zionists and expresses its full support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people and calls on everyone to go all out to take part in the actions to mark Al Nakba. TML Weekly also denounces the ongoing support of the government of Canada for the Zionist occupation and war crimes, and its refusal to hold Israel to account by condemning all of its illegitimate acts that contravene international law.

Scenes from the Great March of Return

(Photos: Activestills, M. Asad, KUNA, Great March of Return, A. Samaan, Visualizing Palestine, Quds Network, Razan, M. Smiry, M. Hughes-Thompson)

Zionists Codify Discrimination and Ethnic Cleansing with "Jewish Nation-State Bill"

On May 3, Israel tabled a draft law that defines Israel "as the Jewish and democratic nation state of the Jewish people to self-determination in their historic homeland."

Sixty-four members of the Knesset voted in favour of tabling the bill, while 50 voted against. One of the bill's sponsors, MK Avi Dichter was quoted as saying during discussion of the bill: "Anyone who does not belong to the Jewish nation cannot define the State of Israel as his nation-state."

Dichter continued: "The Palestinians will not be able to define Israel as their nation-state. The nation-state law is the insurance policy we are leaving for the next generation."

PLO Executive Committee member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi immediately issued a press release which said the bill was illegal, a violation of human rights and accused it of seeming to condone "ethnic cleansing."

"Once again, Israel has reaffirmed its intent of institutionalizing discrimination, racism and xenophobia against all aspects of Palestinian life, transforming the military occupation into a deliberate sectarian confrontation and establishing ideological beliefs as official policy," Dr. Ashrawi said.

"Undoubtedly, Israel is working to achieve ethnic purity and prolong the occupation and its ongoing system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, ridding itself of any responsibility toward the Palestinians and eradicating the right of return for Palestinian refugees," Dr. Ashrawi said.

She called on the international community to respond to Israel's passage of the draft: "In light of the serious escalation of Israeli efforts to superimpose all of the 'Greater Israel' on all of historic Palestine, it is incumbent upon all members of the international community to intervene immediately, not just to prevent further deterioration, but to also undo the damage and rectify the situation as soon as possible."

According to Israeli media, "another section of the bill approved in the late-night session is intended to allow establishment of communities for Jews only, even though representatives of the attorney general's office and the Knesset's legal department have deemed such a move discriminatory and unconstitutional."

As alluded to by Dr. Ashrawi, besides all of its other nefarious intent, the bill conflates the Jewish religion with the Zionist ideology, so that a bogus hue and cry can be raised about "anti-Semitism" by those with malicious aims when the Zionists and their brutal crimes against the Palestinians and others are opposed.

About the Balfour Declaration

TML Weekly is reproducing below an excerpt from the essay by Dr. Ismail Zayid titled "Ethnic Cleansing and Dispossession," reprinted from the Dossier on Palestine, and originally presented as a lecture at the Conference on Palestine, Vancouver, May 23, 1998.

***

It was the second of November 1917 when Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, issued his infamous declaration in the form of a letter written to Lord Rothschild. It read:

His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people..., it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.

It is interesting to note that the four-letter word "Arab" occurs not once in this document. To refer to the Arabs who constituted, at the time, 92 per cent of the population of Palestine and owned 98 per cent of its land, as the non-Jewish communities is not merely preposterous but deliberately fraudulent. I do not need to tell you that this letter has no shred of legality, as Palestine did not belong to Balfour to assume such acts of generosity. Dr. Arnold Toynbee described the British role, in issuing this document, accurately:

We were taking it upon ourselves to give away something that was not ours to give. We were promising rights of some kind in the Palestinian Arabs' country to a third party.

Similarly, the well-known Jewish writer, Arthur Koestler, summed it up aptly when he described the Balfour Declaration as a document in which "one nation promised a second the country of a third."

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed its Resolution No. 181, recommending the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state, in 56 per cent of the land; an Arab state in 42 per cent of the land; and an International Zone in Jerusalem. At the time, the Jews, a large proportion of them recent or illegal immigrants, constituted one-third of the population of Palestine and owned 5.6 per cent of its land. In the area that was apportioned to the Jewish state, half of the population was Arab (Muslims and Christians) and half was Jewish.

It is interesting to note that times have not changed since 1947 when the United States got the General Assembly to delay a vote "to gain time to bring, by coercion, certain Latin American, Asian and African countries into line with its own views." Under-Secretary of State Sumner Welles stated:

By direct order of the White House, every form of pressure, direct and indirect, was used to make sure that the necessary majority would be gained.

Subsequently, fighting erupted between Arabs and Jews and by the end of the fighting in early 1949, Israel had occupied 78 per cent of Palestine and approximately 750,000 Palestinians were driven out or fled in terror from their homes.

The genesis of this exodus emanates from the inherent concept of the Zionist ideology of creating a pure Jewish state in Palestine, free of Arabs. The current powerful political agenda that exists in Israel today, as the policy of "transfer of Palestinians" from Israel and the occupied territories, is not a new one. Theodor Herzl wrote in his diaries in 1897, on the occasion of the First World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, where he presented his plans to create a Jewish state in Palestine, that: "We shall try to spirit the penniless (Arab) population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country... Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discretely and circumspectly."[1]

Ben-Gurion, in a speech to the 20th Zionist Congress plenum in Zurich on August 7, 1937, stated:

Transfer of (Arab) inhabitants happened in the past, in the (Jerzeel) Valley, in the Sharon (i.e. the Coastal Plain) and in other places. We know of the Jewish National Fund's actions in this regard. Now the transfer will have to be carried out on a different scale altogether. In many parts of the country new Jewish settlement will not be possible unless there is transfer of the Arab peasantry... The transfer of the population is what makes possible a comprehensive (Jewish) settlement plan. Thankfully, the Arab people have large, empty areas (outside Palestine). Jewish power in the country, which is continuously growing, will also increase our possibilities to carry out the transfer on a large scale. You must remember, that this method contains an important humane and Zionist idea, to shift parts of a people (i.e., the Palestine Arabs) to their own country and to settle empty lands [in Syria, Transjordan and Iraq].[2]

Here we go again! Expelling people from their homeland, we are now told, is a "humane Zionist idea." Professor Israel Shahak said it all:

In a letter in 1937 to his son, Amos, Ben-Gurion confided that when the Jewish state comes into being, "We will expel the Arabs and take their places." And while visiting the newly-conquered Nazareth in July 1948, Ben-Gurion exclaimed:

Joseph Weitz, who was the Jewish Agency chief representative, reported in the September 29, 1967 issue of Davar, organ of the Histadrut, that he and other Zionist leaders concluded, in 1940, that there was "no room for both peoples together in this country." The achievement of Zionist objectives, he realized, required "a Palestine, or at least Western Palestine (west of the Jordan River) without Arabs." He wrote that it was necessary "to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighbouring countries. To transfer all of them and only after such transfer would the country be able to absorb millions of our brethren." This, in essence, is the foundation for the policy of "ethnic cleansing" that the Zionist forces adopted in 1948 to remove, by massacre, or the threat of massacre, and by psychological warfare, virtually the entire Arab population in the area of the Palestinian territory that they conquered by military means, 78 per cent of Palestine.

The 1948 Nakba -- the forcible mass expulsion of the Palestinians by the Zionists.

The massacre on April 9, 1948 of the village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, where 250 men, women and children were butchered and massacred in cold blood by the Irgun Zwei Leumi terrorist gang, with the approval of the Jerusalem commander of the official Zionist forces; the Haganah, David Shaltiel, as recently documented by Yitzhak Levi, a veteran Israeli intelligence officer, was instrumental in this expulsion. Ironically, the village of Deir Yassin had made a peace agreement with their Jewish neighbours of Givat Shaul. This massacre was not unique and numerous similar massacres were carried out by Zionist forces and Israeli forces during that war. A recent article in the Tel Aviv newspaper, Hair, of May 6, 1992, by Guy Erlich, documents evidence collected by the American Jewish journalist Dan Kortzman, author of Genesis 1948, and the history researcher Ariyeh Yitzhaki, of at least twenty large massacres of Arabs and about a hundred more massacres committed by Israeli forces. Yitzhaki states:

For many Israelis it was easy to cling to the false claim that the Arabs left the country because that was what their leaders ordered. That is a total lie. The fundamental cause for the flight of the Arabs was their fear of Israelis' violence, and that fear had a basis in reality.

History researcher Uri Milstein, celebrated in Israel as the dispeller of myths, confirms Yitzhaki's evaluation regarding the volume of the massacres and even goes further:

If Yitzhaki claims that there were murders in almost every village, then I say that up to the inception of Israel every event of fighting ended in a massacre of Arabs. There were massacres of Arabs in all of Israel's wars, but I have no doubt that the War of Independence was the dirtiest.

In the village of Duweima, an Arab village near Hebron, occupied without a battle by Battalion 89 of the 8th Brigade, some 80-100 civilians were murdered in cold blood by the occupiers. Later more civilians were murdered. In the village of Safsaf:

Fifty-two men were tied with a rope. Lowered into a pit and shot. Ten were killed. Women begged for mercy. Three cases of rape. A 14-year-old raped and four others killed.

The policy of massacre was complemented by a campaign of psychological warfare, initiating terror to force the Palestinians to flee. Leo Heiman, Israeli Army Reserve officer who fought in 1948, wrote in Marine Corp Gazette in June 1964:

As uncontrolled panic spread through all Arab quarters, the Israelis brought up jeeps with loudspeakers which broadcast recorded "horror sounds." These included shrieks, wails and anguished moans of Arab women, the wail of sirens and the clang of fire alarm bells, interrupted by a sepulchral voice calling out in Arabic. "Save your souls all ye faithful: the Jews are using poison gas and atomic weapons. Run for your lives in the name of Allah."

More subtle methods of psychological warfare were used by Yigal Allon, the Commander of the Palmach, an elite Haganah force, who later became Israeli Foreign Minister. He wrote in Ha Sepher Ha Palmach in 1948:

I gathered all of the Jewish mukhtars (headmen), who have contact with Arabs in different villages, and asked them to whisper in the ears of some Arabs that a great Jewish reinforcement has arrived in Galilee and that it is going to burn all of the villages of Huleh. They should suggest to these Arabs, as their friends, to escape while there is still time. The rumour spread in all the areas of the Huleh. The tactic reached its goal completely.

When the Arabs failed to flee, as required, a combination of terror and physical expulsion was used, as in the case of the cities of Lydda and Ramleh, which were occupied July 10, 1948. Yitzhak Rabin, recorded in his memoirs, published in the New York Times (October 23, 1979):

While the fighting was still in progress we had to grapple with the problem dealing with the fate of the civilian population, numbering some 50,000. We walked outside, Ben Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question. "What is to be done with the population?" B.G. waved his hand in a gesture which said, "Drive them out!"

One of the Israeli war crimes is relevant here. After the surrender of Lydda, a group of Palestinian men took refuge in the small Dahmash mosque. The commander of the Palmach's Third Battalion, Moshe Kalman, gave an order to fire several missiles at the mosque. The force that attacked the mosque was surprised at the lack of resistance. It found the remains of the Arab fighters stuck to the mosque walls. A group of 20 to 50 of the city's residents was then brought to clean the mosque and to bury the remains. When they finished their work, they were also shot, and thrown into the graves they themselves had dug. American Jewish journalist Dan Kortzman learned of the event from Moshe Kalman while working on his book, Genesis 1948, describing the War of Independence:

Rabin and his officers proceeded to drive these 50-60,000 civilians away from their homes in terror, with low-flying airplanes over their heads shooting the occasional person and forcing them to run. The sight of the terror-stricken men, women and children fleeing in horror in the midday sun of the hot summer, having run approximately 25 km to the village of Beit Nuba, where I saw them with my own eyes, is a sight not to be forgotten. ...

It is perhaps relevant to note that this piece of Zionist propaganda [that the Palestinians left their homes voluntarily and in response to broadcasts by their leaders] was first demolished by Dr. Erskine Childers who examined the American and British monitoring records of all Middle East broadcasts throughout 1948. He reported in the Spectator 1961:

There was not a single order or appeal or suggestion about evacuation from Palestine from any Arab radio station, inside or outside Palestine, in 1948. There is repeated monitored record of Arab appeals even flat orders, to civilians of Palestine to stay put.

The historical record clearly demonstrates that the Palestine refugee problem was created in response to a clear Zionist policy of cleansing the land of Palestine from its own people. Chaim Weizmann, the first President of Israel, described this process with a great deal of satisfaction as the "miraculous clearing of the land." However, the UN mediator, Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden, stated in a report to the UN:

It would be an offence against the principles of elemental justice if these innocent victims of the conflict were denied the right to return to their homes while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine, and, indeed, at least offer the threat of permanent replacement of the Arab refugees who have been rooted in the land for centuries.

Count Bernadotte paid heavily for stating this obvious principle and was assassinated by the Stern terrorist gang, on direct orders of Yitzhak Shamir, on September 17, 1948 in Jerusalem. The United Nations General Assembly proceeded, however, to resolve on December 11, 1948, in its Resolution No. 194:

Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date and those wishing not to return should be compensated for their property.

The implementation of this Resolution, together with Resolution No. 181 of November 29, 1947, were reaffirmed and were made conditions for the admittance of Israel to UN membership in Resolution No. 273 of May 11, 1949.

Despite this and despite repeated UN General Assembly and Security Council Resolutions demanding the implementation of Resolution No. 194 for the return of the refugees, Israel continues to defy this international will and in essence, it can be argued that its membership in the United Nations is illegitimate, in view of its refusal to comply with the conditions that were imposed upon it. Not only that, Israel proceeded in 1967 after the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, to expel over 300,000 more Palestinian refugees from their homes or refugee camps. Many of them were in essence expelled a second time. Security Council Resolution No. 237 of June 14, 1967, called upon the government of Israel to facilitate the return of these refugees, and similar UN General Assembly resolutions to that effect remain unimplemented.

It is clear, for anybody, who has witnessed the history of that area, to see that the Palestinians remain determined to return to their homeland and their struggle continues despite repeated massacres and an orchestrated policy of genocide denying them their national existence. [...]

Notes

2. Benny Morris, "Looking Back: A personal assessment of the Zionist Experience," Tikkun. 13: 40-49,1998.

Anniversary Underscores the Need to Establish Anti-War Governments Today

On May 2, 1945, the Soviet Victory Banner is first raised over the German Reichstag in Berlin by Red Army soldiers, shortly before the surrender of German forces in the city and the decisive victory over the fascists on May 9, 1945. (RIA Novosti)

Seventy-three years ago, on May 9, 1945, with the unconditional surrender of Hitler Germany, and Italy having previously surrendered, the Second World War was declared officially over in Europe.[1] The anti-fascist forces of the world, with the Soviet Union and communists of all lands at the head of the Resistance Movement, had won victory over the German Nazis and Italian fascists. Celebrations broke out all over the world when it became known that fascist Germany, forced to its knees by the Red Army and the troops and resistance fighters of allied countries, acknowledged defeat.

"Now we can declare with legitimate right that the historic day of the final destruction of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism, has come," the great leader of the Soviet victory, J.V. Stalin declared.

"The great sacrifices we have made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Homeland, the indescribable privations and sufferings that our people have gone through during the war, the great work done in the rear and on the front in the name of the Homeland, were not in vain, they were crowned with complete victory over the enemy."

Today, while the Russian people and peoples of the former Soviet Union are joined by peoples all over the world to hail the contribution to the defeat of the Nazis by the Soviet Union and anti-fascist resistance fighters, the U.S. imperialists like to give the impression they were the decisive force in the liberation of Europe. Together with warmongers in Canada, they spread disinformation about the causes of the war, the conditions created after the war and their own refusal to permit humankind to consolidate its victory by making sure that such suffering never takes place again. Their self-serving propaganda to distort the history of the anti-fascist alliance and its leadership as well as the significance of the events since the war ended is done to justify the crimes they are committing against the peace today and the necessity for the peoples of the world to establish anti-war governments in their own countries to make sure another worldwide conflagration does not take place in the name of humanitarianism, peace and democracy.

The representatives of imperialism, including the monopoly-controlled media, distort the experience of the Second World War based on Cold War definitions. They do this for purposes of presenting U.S. imperialist democracy as the only form of representation and the imperialist United States as the "indispensable nation." Disinformation about the role played by the Soviet Union under the leadership of J.V. Stalin is for purposes of depriving the peoples of an outlook on the basis of which they can turn things around in their favour. Instead, they want the peoples of the world to adopt the imperialist system as their own. This system has plunged the world into a state of anarchy and violence where the crimes committed by the U.S. and its allies outstrip even those of the Nazis. It does not represent freedom nor hope for humankind. All of this is for purposes of covering up that modern communism is the source of enlightenment which opens society's path to progress and that governments which oppose imperialist war are necessary. By promoting a caricature of communism and equating it with totalitarianism and fascism, the aim of the warmongers is to get the peoples to conciliate with the imperialist demand of the United States and big powers that everyone submit to their dictate and imperialist democracy.

An anti-war government must necessarily uphold the principle that all nations big or small are equal and have the right to self-determination. An anti-war government must oppose all crimes against the peace and protect the sacred cause of peace. Solutions can be found for all the problems the people face within the context of work to make sure it is the people who govern themselves and exercise control over their lives. This is what the Second World War taught the peoples of the world and why they need anti-war governments today which act on these lessons. The struggle to unite the people in action for political renewal and to establish anti-war governments is the first step to building a society in which human beings can flourish.

Commemorations of Victory in Europe Day

Around the world people participated in marches of the Immortal Regiment and other events to mark the 73rd anniversary of Victory Day in Europe -- May 9 -- when Nazi Germany was defeated and surrendered to the Red Army and the Allied forces, formally ending the Second World War in Europe, a war in which 50 million people were killed. In Moscow alone it is reported that close to a million people participated in the march. Immortal Regiment commemorations brought together the families and friends of Red Army soldiers and soldiers from other countries who gave their lives to defeat the Hitlerites. Everywhere flags and banners were carried, along with portraits of family members who made the ultimate sacrifice in defeating Nazism. As one banner in Toronto prominently stated, "Thanks to the Red Army for Victory Over Fascism 1941-1945."

Canada

Toronto

Toronto's march of the Immortal Regiment assembled at Dundas Square in the heart of the downtown. Between opening remarks and a program of songs from the period, such as "Katyusha," family members spoke of the heroic sacrifices made by their kin who were part of the Red Army and partisan forces that engaged in various historic battles, including in Stalingrad, where the backbone of the Nazi war machine was broken and the tide of the war turned in favour of the Allied forces. More than 1,000 people joined in the march to Old City Hall.

The Russian Congress of Canada distributed a statement which emphasized: "The Soviet Union paid the highest price for the victory. Twenty-eight million military troops and civilians were killed. Millions were sent to Germany and Europe to the Nazi concentration camps. The best of the Nazi troops were sent to fight against the Soviet Union and most of Europe was attacked and occupied as well. As Canadians, we wish to send our message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to say that Canada and Russia stood shoulder-to-shoulder against the Nazi plague. That was a perfect example of many nations joining their forces for the sake of peace and stability."

Ottawa

People in Ottawa continued their long tradition of celebrating May 9, 1945, Victory Day in Europe. Once again this year ceremonial events took place at the famous Red Army T-34 Tank exhibited at the War Museum. More than 300 people gathered in front of the T-34 which was covered with flowers, banners and photos of the heroic fighters from the Great Patriotic War. Several speakers paid homage to the sacrifices of the "Immortal Regiment," followed by a very moving cultural program to honour their heroic deeds. This was followed by the March of the Immortal Regiment on the grounds of the museum.

Montreal

On May 9 in Montreal, nearly 2,000 people gathered to celebrate Victory Day and take part in the March of the Immortal Regiment. People of all ages, families, and young people in large numbers carried flowers, red flags and ribbons of St. George and pictures of patriotic heroes, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and other family members who fought in the Great Patriotic War. A beautiful cultural program at the start of the march interpreted many patriotic songs and a tribute honoured the fighters of the Great Patriotic War and saluted the heroism of the Soviet people who spearheaded the fight to defeat German nazism. War veterans were given pride of place at the front of a platform erected for the occasion. The crowd cheered when a small plane flew overhead trailing a large banner that read: May 9 -- Victory Day.

United States

About 6,000 people from more than 20 U.S. cities took part in Immortal Regiment ceremonies. The largest event was held in Manhattan on May 5, with actions in Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, Miami, Kansas City, Birmingham, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle and elsewhere. This year families of the U.S. Armed Forces veterans of the Second World War joined in, carrying portraits of their family members, showing just who was allied with whom.

In New York, people from the former USSR, veterans of World War II from different nationalities and others met on the banks of the Hudson River and went to the monument dedicated to the soldiers who fell during World War II located in Battery Park, in front of the Statue of Liberty. They laid flowers at the monument, presented flowers to the veterans and released hundreds of white balloons, to the accompaniment of the famous Russian song "Cranes," dedicated to all fallen soldiers who gave their lives for freedom in WWII.

Immortal Regiment Marches in Washington, DC (left) and New York City.

"The Americans are showing an increasing interest in the Immortal Regiment from one year to another, although we don't engage in any loud advertising," said Igor Kochan, President of the Russian Youth of America Society which organized the New York City action. "We talk to our colleagues at the office and our children speak to their American schoolmates about what the Immortal Regiment is and Americans gladly join us," he said.

"Americans agree with us, it's important to remember the price that the world paid for the victory," Kochan said. "Like the Russian 'brother-soldiers,' the Americans also bring portraits of their relatives who are WWII veterans. Also, members of the Chinese community have shown interest towards the Immortal Regiment for the first time," he said.

Relating the grassroots efforts to organize and finance the actions, Kochan pointed out: "While we can see the deterioration of U.S.-Russian relations at the official level, the local politicians are seeking to tap ways of communication and rapprochement with the Russian-speaking communities, all the more so that the Immortal Regiment isn't a Russian action," he said. "It's a tribute to the Russians, Americans and representatives of other peoples who fought Nazism and emerged victorious from that fighting."