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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Lead story

Lebanon truce – but for how long?

by our Arab affairs correspondent

Secret talks between Iran and the USA begin as the guns fall silent on the Lebanese front and the Iranian blockade is lifted to allow free passage of all shipping in and out of the Persian Gulf. The Israelis reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon under US pressure – and Iranian insistence. But while the spot price for crude oil has dropped to under $100 a barrel the market remains jittery as dealers speculate on what will happen at the next formal round of truce talks in Pakistan and whether the truce will go beyond the two-weeks both sides signed up for to get back to the bargaining table.

Read the full story here >> Lebanon truce – but for how long?

No cuts! No war!

by New Worker correspondent

CND has condemned Israel’s brutal escalation in Lebanon killing hundreds of civilians. The targeting of residential areas and infrastructure are war crimes. This is a breach of the ceasefire agreement between the USA and Iran, mediated by Pakistan, which covered all the arenas of the conflict including Lebanon. That truce has now been confirmed following pressure on the Americans from their own NATO allies and the feudal Arab oil sheikhs who have so much to lose if the fighting resumes – although for how long depends on the outcome of the next round of peace talks in Pakistan.

Read the full story here > No cuts! No war!

Editorial

A lull in Lebanon

Everyone will welcome the ceasefire in Lebanon – not least the people of the south who have borne the brunt of the Israeli incursion that has cost countless lives of innocent Lebanese civilians and wreaked havoc on the villages and towns of the borderland. How long it will last is, of course, another matter.

Read the full story here >> A lull in Lebanon