Five months have passed since the start of the criminal attack on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas’ attack on Israeli territory. Despite knowing about the preparations, the Netanyahu government allowed this assault on the border kibbutzim, to use it as justification to go commit indiscriminate murder of children, women and the Palestinian population in general.
Millions of people have mobilized on all continents to support the struggle of the Palestinian people to condemn Israel’s murderous aggression. Events, conferences, debates and social networks were organized to denounce this crime and demand a ceasefire.
Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip was more destructive than the bombing of Germany during World War II. The total power of the bombs dropped on Gaza already exceeds the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
70% of homes are destroyed and the rules established in all wars to stop attacks on civilians as well as on health and education amenities, have been flouted. Under the pretext of liquidating Hamas and recovering the hostages, the barbarism of the State of Israel goes all the way to wish Gaza wiped off the face of the earth, to appropriate the Palestinian territory from the sea with the reserves of oil and gas.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 12,000 children, and 8,000 are missing beneath the ruins. Most schools and universities have been totally or partially destroyed. Among the 35 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, 30 are out of service, as are most health centres. The only remaining hospital has no anaesthetic or medical supplies, Israel blocking these outside the Rafah crossing. Of the more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 80% are displaced internally, having had to leave their homes and flee the bombing.
The massacre that is being committed in Palestine has repercussions on all the Arab masses that mobilise in support of the Palestinians. There is the response of the Houthis of Yemen who, even with few means, attack the ships that cross the Red Sea (in direct or indirect support of Israel). This expresses the determination of important sectors within Arab countries who cannot express, or do not express themselves in their own countries.
Israel is a state invented by imperialism. It did not emerge from an economic development in the zone. With the economic, technological and advanced military means it received, it turned itself into a military centre with the objective of stopping the development of the Arab revolution.
Israel’s military capacity corresponds neither to population or economy. Israel was originally an agreement between the United States and the Soviet bureaucracy under Stalin, supported by all communist parties. Besides, the criminal policy of the State of Israel could not have been sustained without the existence of the Arab monarchies of Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco, which you can see uninvolved and impassive in the face of such atrocity.
A demonstration against Elbit in the UK. Most weapons used by Israel are manufactured in countries like the UK.
Imperialism is the basic prop under Israel; it has supported Israel since its creation, with all the (possible) means and latest technologies in armaments. Although Biden has publicly criticized Netanyahu and called for a ceasefire, partial, the US, Nato and their allies never stopped supplying the Israeli army. The way they send food to alleviate hunger in the Gaza Strip is a whitewash to blunt Gaza’s influence on the American masses and manage the coming US elections.
On the West Bank, the Palestinian leadership took a line of regression in a process of conciliation: Submitting to the European bourgeoisies, economically dependent on them, confronting the Hamas wing, leaving aside a large part of the historical demands of the Palestinian people.
The processes in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon, express the need to retake the road of nationalisations and mass interventions in the Middle East, transform society, and despite the contradictions of their leaders.
This is not a religious war. It expresses the sharpening of the class struggle in a region that escapes the control of imperialism. The manner in which a part of the European bourgeoisie calls for a ceasefire shows its fear of being dragged by this conflict into a global confrontation.
This is a catastrophic situation, with the lack of water, food, medicine in Palestine. In spite of this, the European Union so quick in sanctioning Russia for its military operation in Ukraine, takes here no decision, implement no blockade, applies no sanction – even if there are more reasons than enough to condemn Israel for the genocide it is committing.
There is no chance of stabilizing a Palestinian state in the Middle East. And this would not even resolve the problem, because the new state would have no democratic rights and no possibility for self-determination. It would be a weak structure, surrounded and threatened by the Israeli army. Besides, it is now impossible to develop a country economically in the whirlwind of the crisis and concentration of capitalism in its war preparations. To move forward, a Palestinian state would have to carry out social transformations that the current situation makes impossible. The perspective must be that of a Federation of Arab countries expropriating imperialism and advancing measures to build a new society.
South Africa and others denounced Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide. Other countries like Brazil and Colombia have cut relations with Israel. This is very important. The mobilizations in support of the Palestinians in Cuba, in the United States, in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, show the unity and support for the resistance and struggle of the Palestinian masses.
Large protests in Britain, Germany, France and most European countries express their rejection of European Union’s policies largely aligned with those of the United States, demanding:
§ Denounce this crime committed by Israel and hold the Netanyahu government accountable
§ Join the denunciation of the genocide against the State of Israel made by South Africa and other countries before the International Court of Justice
§ Immediately suspend arms deliveries and trade with Israel, as well as military collaboration
§ Economic sanctions against Israel, until the end of the occupation
§ Boycott of Israeli products and companies
§ Severance of relations with Israel
§ For the full self-determination of the Palestinian people
Social movements, unions, left-wing parties, the student movement and intellectuals should become more deeply involved and call for ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Gaza, the entry of the humanitarian aid to lessen the catastrophic consequences of this genocide.
Posadistas Hoy – March 2024
Feature picture : Recent Demonstration in London, circa 9.3.24
