Socialist Analysis of Operation Protective Edge |
Another deadly night has passed in Gaza. Explosions rock the city, smoke obscures the blood. The roar of tanks and gunfire almost drown out the wails of Palestinian mothers mourning the death of children, of hope, almost. For nearly three weeks now, Palestine has been decimated by yet another Zionist invasion. As of this writing, an estimated 1,100 Palestinians killed, 6,500 wounded. Nearly eighty percent of these casualty figures have been civilians and children. Israel has suffered 48 deaths by comparison. The invasion of Palestine by Israel is indeed a war crime. In the U.S., we have been indoctrinated, that America is the beacon of freedom to the world. Obviously, this doctrine is an outright fabrication. Since 2000, the U.S. has given $45 Bn in military aid to Israel. Our government knows full well that our tax money is allowing genocide to occur before the eyes of the world. What else would Israel do with it? Iran is presently contained, Syria is in flames. The rest of the Arab world is too busy with the capitalist oil orgy to care. Israel doesn’t need our money to defend itself from simple farmers and fishermen. It was Capitalist trade interests, that created this nightmare in the first place. The highly praised, but deeply flawed, Balfour Declaration of 1917, said that Britain(with full U.S. support) supported “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” This was done not for humanitarian reasons, but to protect trade through the Suez Canal, and the most profitable British colony, India. In essence, the Capitalists gave land that really wasn’t theirs, to a religious group, as Jewish is a religion, and not a national identity, in the hopes of “free trade” relations and future profit. The Palestinians were not consulted, nor would they have cared, about Imperialist profit worries. They had lived in Palestine since the end of the Crusades, farming, fishing, and raising generations of families. It was only after the “Nakba” in 1948, that they formed so-called “militant” groups like Hamas, Fatah, and the PLO. These groups formed after the state of Israel was created, in defense of their land and families, against Zionist pillage. It is important to understand that Capitalist imperialism, both Zionist and American alike, has no interest in either an end to the bloodshed or a lasting peace. For them, it is paramount to feed the military-industrial beast with the blood of innocents, many of them children. American military equipment, sold to the Zionist occupation, for the express purpose of slaughter. The idea being that American war industries will have customers until at least every last Palestinian is laid waste, and Gaza burned to the ground. It is also important to note that the working classes of all three states, Israel, Palestine, and the U.S., are vehemently opposed to the current horror. Daily protests in all three countries with attendance in the hundreds and thousands, are growing rapidly. In fact, right here in Philadelphia since March of 2014, there has been a rally at the Israeli Consulate protesting an end to the genocide. The situation inside Israel among the working class is according to the CWI, “…Many Israeli people detest the barbarity of the far right, and have had enough of government policies that have only brought another round of violence in the national conflict while the social crisis in Israel deepens. A Knesset Channel poll in recent days showed rising support for the Labor and Meretz parties, indicating that despite the present nationalist reaction, parts of the Israeli public are interested in parties that are seen as being on the left. Opinion polls continue to indicate that a majority of the Israeli population supports the dismantling of settlements and ending the occupation.” This is a touch of sunshine amidst the decay of yet another destructive imperialist war. $45 Bn is a lot of money. Money that could go a long way in rebuilding our crumbling schools and infrastructure. Billions of dollars towards social programs instead of slaughter. Why should we feed the bourgeoisie war machine, when our own people are experiencing massive unemployment and hunger here? How does our government justify horrific injustice while labeling those wronged as “terrorists”? Slogans, rocks, and the occasional unguided Katyusha rocket against Merkava tanks, Uzi’s, and F-16’s is not a war. It is genocide. It is the duty of every Socialist, if not every human being, to speak out against these atrocities.To flood the streets, and airwaves, demanding an end to U.S. support of Zionist genocide. We have enough hell in this country, we don’t need to export it elsewhere. |