"Peace' deal tightens Zionist grip on South Lebanon

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Syrian President Assad with PLO leader Arafat Israel, the equally reactionary Arab regimes of the surrounding countries, are busy devising ways of implementing or not implementing the policies they voted to adopt.

On the one hand, there are the hardline states such. as Syria and Iraq which would stand to gain much from the collapse of the Egyptian political leadership and the Egyptian But on the other there are . those, largely Gulf states which have much invested in Egypt.

instance has a backward, largely peasant economy, lacking such basic amenities as electrification and adequate roads and railways; it depends for most of its income on handouts from other states, and it spends more than 70% of its current expenditure on defence alone.

Inflation runs at around 10% and pay rises promised to civil servants sometime ago have not been paid because the state can't afford them.

Given this economic framework it is hardly surprising that the Syrian government should , be pressing for the immediate implementation of that part of the Baghdad agreement, which calls for the transfer of the Arab League headquarters from Cairo.

Money

It is even less surprising that the Syrian government is pressing for those headquarters to be resited in the Syrian capital Damascus.

The same government also expects the large amounts of money which have hitherto been made available to the Cairo government to be made available to itself.

But the givers of the money are somewhat reluctant, and certain Gulf states, notably Kuwait, have made it plain that any agreements made at Baghdad will have little real meaning.

The boycott agreements do no fo instance, cover the with drawal of private invest ments in Egypt.

Direct aid

Only direct government to government aid seems to be affected. There is relatively little of this, and what there is can be surreptitiously re-directed through private banks which are exempt from the Egyptian boycott.

In consequence, the much hailed 'unity' of Baghdad means nothing apart from a jockeying for position by rival reactionary. Arab rulers in the Middle East, each eager in the wake of the Iranian events to prove their dedication to the Palestinian liberation struggle while doing nothing to rock the fragile boat of capitalist stability on which their own repressive regimes depend.

Activities

Meanwhile, _as predicted last week, the Israeli government has stepped up its activities in the Lebanon after signing a separate peace with Egypt.. The Lebanese government, which now lacks a proper army, has been trying for some time to position a battalion of troops in the south of the country, but have been prevented from doing so by the Israeli governmentbacked fascists in the area.

The Zionists now effectively control a strip of the Lebanon, approximately nine miles wide, running along the Lebanon's southern border.

The • Lebanese government are eager to show that they can control Palestinian guerrillas in the area in order that they can hang up a "business as usual" sign.

The leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), have in turn shown themselves willing to co-operate with both the Israeli and Lebanese governments, since United Nations troops were sent to the area, by promising to disengage their guerrillas.

Iranian oil worker- Arab areas contain most of Iran oil wealth But the guerrillas have on occasion ignored PLO leader Yassir Arafat's orders and conducted duels with Israeli troops on both the Israeli and Lebanese sides of the border.

It would appear to have been such incidents in the last week that have encouraged the Israeli army to bombard the Southern Lebanon with heavy artillery.

However, the support of the new Iranian government which has acted as the spur to increased Palestinian army activity, now seems to be waning as Iranian Deputy Prime Minister Abbas Entezam thinks again.

The Iranian government has already had to face nationalist uprisings amongst Kurds and Turkomanis since the Shah was deposed, and he now believes that Arabs in Khuzestan will be the next to demand a better deal. Khuzestan contains most of Iran's oil wells, and it now seems questionable whether the PLO will in fact be allowed to set up a consulate in Ahwaz, the main oil town in the area.

Following the more moderate lead of the neighbouring reactionary Arab regimes, the Khomeini government has come to see the only: acceptable nationalism as Iranian nationalism, and any other line as a threat to its own stability.