Israeli settlements increase

As representatives of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government entered a new round of talks November 11, the construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land continued apace. PA president Yassir Arafat noted a week earlier that Israeli settlers have continued to take over areas of the West Bank and the government has not dismantled those built over the past year. The number of illegal settlers stands at 171,000, not including those in East Jerusalem.

The government of Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak organized a high-profile eviction of a small group of settlers on West Bank land on November 10. On the same day, Barak's cabinet agreed to a 5 percent pull out of the West Bank territories. Less than 5 percent of the West Bank is under full Palestinian control. Another 30–35 percent, spread out in disconnected patches, is controlled militarily and economically by Tel Aviv. U.S. President William Clinton, who traveled to the Middle East to press for a settlement in mid-November, refused to criticize Israel's construction of further settlements.  
 

British Army accused of collusion

In the first week of November cops in Northern Ireland reported they found secret documents of the British Army in an office of the Protestant Orange Order. The Orangemen support continued British rule of Northern Ireland. The documents listed detailed information about 300 individuals who take a republican stance and oppose British rule. The cops were looking for information on groups that have been linked to bomb attacks on republican households. Sinn Fein, the leading republican political organization, said there was clear "collusion [between] loyalist death squads" and the army.  
 

Mexican union raises safety alert

The Flight Attendants Union of Mexico has accused the country's third-largest airline of deceptive and dangerous maintenance practices. The airline, Transportes Aereos Ejecutivos S.A. (Taesa), has called the charges "irresponsible." Union leader Alejandra Barrales Magdaleno alleged November 12 that Taesa management keeps two sets of maintenance records, one of which accurately records problems. The company gives the other, sanitized version to federal aviation authorities during periodic inspections. The union's claims followed by only two days the crash of a Taesa commuter jet, which killed all 18 people on board. The 300 flight attendants who work at the airline are covered by a different, progovernment union, and a number are fighting for affiliation with the Flight Attendants Union.  
 

Pakistani, Indian forces clash

Fighting broke out again between Pakistani and Indian forces along the Kashmir border between the two countries. Officials from Pakistan said November 10 that 15 Indian soldiers were killed; their counterparts from India said 17 Pakistani troops died. The clash came four weeks after the chief of Pakistan's army, General Pervaiz Musharraf, deposed the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The coup occurred in the aftermath of heavy fighting in Kashmir involving Indian and Pakistani forces. Both countries have developed nuclear weapons and came close to using them in 1990. On November 11 the military government charged ex-Prime Minister Sharif and officials from his government with treason, a crime punishable by execution. Washington has given tacit support to the new regime.  
 

Basque prisoners protest

Twenty Basque political prisoners started an indefinite hunger strike November 1. Held in French and Spanish jails, the prisoners demand the release of all Basque political prisoners. As well, they called for the transfer of Basque prisoners to the Basque country, an area that straddles the Spanish-French border. The Spanish government has reneged on a September promise to transfer 105 prisoners, shifting only 27.

The Basque country is the scene of a long-standing independence fight. The national liberation organization ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced a cease-fire in September 1998 and entered negotiations with the Spanish government. ETA canceled a round of talks scheduled for August, explaining that Madrid was demanding further concessions. In October French police arrested a member of the ETA negotiating team, Belén González Penalba and another supporter of Basque self-determination.  
 

Bangkok evicts Burmese workers

The Thai government decided in early November to deport up to 600,000 undocumented workers from Burma, and from industrial towns on the border between the two countries where migrant laborers have congregated. The measure will affect potentially up to one-fifth of the Thai clothing industry. Bangkok claims that it is acting to provide jobs for Thai nationals.

Workers from crisis-ridden Burma cross the border to find work, despite the fact that Thailand remains in recession. The military government in Burma closed the border in October after Burmese dissidents staged a protest in Bangkok. Thai police make workers wade across unguarded stretches of the border river back to Burma.  
 

ANC joins Socialist International

South Africa's governing political party, the African National Congress, joined the Socialist International, which held its congress November 8–10 in Paris. Jacob Zuma, deputy president of both the ANC and South Africa, headed the delegation. The Socialist International is made up of social-democratic and labor parties from many countries, including the Socialist Party of France, and the UK Labour Party.  
 

U.S. Senate ups minimum wage

The U.S. Senate voted to raise the hourly minimum wage in the United States by $1, to $6.15. The Republican-controlled body decided to phase in the increase over 28 months, and appended tax breaks supposedly to offset the cost to employers. A Democratic alternative, which would have somewhat reduced the implementation period and the tax cuts, suffered defeat. The increase faces obstacles in the Senate before being considered by the House of Representatives. Eleven million workers in the United States earn the minimum wage, which applies in 40 states and stands today at $5.15. In the last 30 years its buying power has declined by about 20 percent at 1999 values.  
 

New York mayor hits homeless

New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration announced on October 25 that by next year it will force "able-bodied" homeless people to work as a condition for sleeping in city shelters. The measure extends the administration's policy introduced in 1997 which requires welfare recipients to accept work or face a cutoff in benefits. Under this program 40,000 people work at jobs for the city. Many have replaced union-organized workers. More than 80,000 people use the shelters in a given year, and 21,000 shelter beds are occupied every night. Workers who receive wages higher than welfare levels may be forced to hand over the difference for the right to use the shelters.

— PATRICK O'NEILL  
 
 
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