As this is being written, it is the second anniversary of Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel. The killing of over 1,000 civilians, hostage-taking and rape was met by Israel with a war of extermination that has turned into genocide.
Gaza has been transformed into a lunar landscape of rubble. There is acute starvation. The population has been driven back and forth between different parts of Gaza in a constant forced march. According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 67,139 people have been killed, an extremely high proportion of the population of 2 million. More than 10 percent of the population has been killed or injured, according to CNN.
This summer, information from Israeli intelligence services was leaked to The Guardian newspaper, revealing that 83 per cent of the casualties are civilians, making this one of the worst wars ever. The testimonies of IDF soldiers shooting children in the head are difficult to comprehend. Already this summer, Save the Children reported that 19,000 children had been killed in Gaza, and now Al Jazeera reports 20,000. Many of them were standing in line to get a ration of the tiny amount of food, water and medicine that Israel allows in.
An important objective of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which sailed with supplies to Gaza before its 500 heroes were kidnapped by Israel in international waters, was to try to break an 18-year blockade. It didn’t start two years ago. Not even 18 years ago. The Israeli state was born out of a direct expulsion, the Nakba, of 750,000 Palestinians from their land in 1948.
Is it evil that rules? It’s more concrete than that. The economic system produces exploitation and oppression. The 77-year-old open wound that is this conflict is a product of capitalism and imperialism. Western imperialism has always backed Israel in order to have a power base in the Middle East and be able to make various deals. It is basically about controlling trade, oil and markets.
During these two years, Israel has waged war or launched military attacks on six countries. In addition to Palestine – with attacks not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank – Israel has launched military attacks on Yemen, Iran and Qatar, and is still fighting in Syria and Lebanon. The bloody regime of death in Israel is not quenching its thirst for military success; on the contrary, the monster is on steroids and wants more.
The Nobel Peace Prize – to Trump or Greta?
The last time negotiations were to take place, Israel bombed the Hamas negotiating delegation in Doha, Qatar, without any legal repercussions. Now Donald Trump has said that the peace plan he has drawn up could be “a historic turning point for humanity”. Despite Israel continuing to kill, negotiations have begun. Over the weekend, the IDF killed 129 Palestinians in Gaza and on Monday another 10 people, including those queuing for food, according to Al Jazeera.
Desperation is clearly enormous in Gaza, and journalists have reported about hopes being placed in the negotiations and growing opposition to Hamas. Most of what is in the plan was on the table before and not even developed by Trump, but Israel broke off negotiations and ceasefires every time. However, Trump wields strong power in the world and can force Israel and other governments to support the plan. Governments that recognised Palestine as a state the week before, such as France and the United Kingdom, are now backing a plan that would see Gaza occupied by a new power led by Donald Trump and Tony Blair (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and war criminal). Arab regimes and Islamic governments such as Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey are also expressing their support for Trump.
Donald Trump not only had the ICC-indicted mass murderer Benjamin Netanyahu by his side when the so-called peace plan was announced. The US is also the largest financier of the genocide. That this would lead to Trump to win a peace prize is completely absurd, but unfortunately possible given the current state of affairs.
Escalate the Resistance
Over the past month, resistance to the genocidal war has reached a new level as the Global Sumud Flotilla approached Gaza, supported by tens of thousands on the streets in every port of call along the way. The classic socialist propaganda image of many small fish coming together to form a giant fish that can swallow the big pike – if only we many small ones come together, we will be strong – became a reality. In the end, only one boat, but at least one boat, made it through. According to rumours, the flotilla also enabled Israel’s attention to be diverted and Gazans to fish for the first time in two years.
Even more important is how the flotilla has connected with the working class, which in Italy has risen up in support of solidarity and for an immediate end to the war on Gaza. The general strike on 22 September was followed by an even larger mobilisation on 3 October. Already on 2 October, when the flotilla was stopped, mass demonstrations were triggered in Italy and around the world. On Saturday, a million people demonstrated in Rome, a quarter of a million in Amsterdam, and tens and hundreds of thousands in Mexico, the United States, Spain, Turkey, Tunisia, Yemen, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Pakistan, Morocco, Poland, Belgium, and surely in almost every country around the world, including Israel.
The Right Wing is Seething with Hatred and Racism
The stench of hatred from the Swedish government hangs over the entire country and even encourages Israeli violence. Greta Thunberg was tortured in an Israeli desert prison, used as a trophy and forced to kiss the Israeli flag. Israeli Minister of Hate Ben-Gvir travelled to the prison to ensure that the kidnapped peace activists would be treated as terrorists.
How did Sweden’s Prime Minister react? Ulf Kristersson is much more upset that Greta Thunberg and others went. It was stupid, he said on Swedish state TV. The fact that a member of parliament – Lorena Delgado Varas – was kidnapped for trying to deliver emergency aid through an illegal blockade to a starving people is given no attention at all. Ship to Gaza’s lawyers say it was obvious that other countries’ diplomacy was much stronger than Sweden’s.
There is no boundary between the traditional right and the extreme right on this issue. Ulf Kristersson calls it ‘unswedish’ to demonstrate for peace, while the Moderate Party’s [traditional conservative party that holds the post of Prime Minister] parliamentary group leader, Mattias Karlsson, calls Palestinian demonstrators ‘beasts’. Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Bush famously believes that Israel is doing the whole world a favour, which is the same as leader of the racist Sweden Democrats Jimmie Åkesson’s view that we should thank Israel for doing the ‘dirty and thankless job’ in Gaza. While Sweden Democrat (SD) Member of Parliament Rashid Farivar secretly films and exposes a mother at a preschool wearing a Palestinian scarf, Moderate Party Member of Parliament Henrik Sundström defends an SD member who has been reported to the police and calls the Palestinian scarf a ‘kind of swastika’ and the woman a ‘Jew-hater,’ according to Expo.
Lasting Peace
The war must end immediately. If Trump’s plan means a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, it will unfortunately only be a plateau from which new attacks can be planned. Hamas voluntarily disbanding and going into exile may be possible on paper, but two years of the horrors of war are fuelling new extremism in conditions where people are occupied by a foreign power. Above all, the extremists in Israel’s government will continue to be driven by hatred and will begin settlements in Gaza. So there is no question of peace.
Nor is the idea of a UN-led military force to defend Palestine, as proposed by some, viable. The UN is a toothless reflection of the world’s powers, and its liberal credentials have no foundation. The only thing that can bring lasting and real peace to Palestine is if the working masses who have been on strike and in mass demonstrations throughout the Mediterranean, including in Israel, continue their struggle. All reactionary regimes must be overthrown and socialism based on workers’ democracy from below must be established. For a socialist Palestine in a socialist world.
