By Yossi Schwartz, Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 11 May 2021, http://the-isleague.com
The Gaza Strip is home to a population of approximately 1.9 million people, including some 1.4 million Palestine refugees expelled by Israel in 1947-8. The socioeconomic situation in Gaza has been in steady decline. The blockade on land, air and sea imposed by Israel continues to have devastating effects.
According to the United Nations: “The UN Secretary-General has found that the blockade and related restrictions contravene international humanitarian law as they target and impose hardship on the civilian population, effectively penalizing them for acts they have not committed Years of conflict and blockade have left 80 per cent of the population dependent on international assistance.” (1)
Gaza that came in under Egypt in 1948 was occupied by Israel 1967. Because of the heroic resistance to the Zionist settlements Israel, under the butcher Sharon, was forced to withdrew from Gaza in 2005. By 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian elections and has since been the local government. Israel has blockaded the Strip since then and turned it to the largest Ghetto in history.
Israel has launched assaults against the people of Gaza in 2008-09, 2012 and 2014. Every time killing more civilians than of Hamas’ fighters. In 2014 Gantz, who is today the minister of war of Israel, was the head of the Zionist army in 2014 was responsible for the killing of 2,251 people, of whom 1,462 were civilians. On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers were killed along with six (!) civilians.
Israel is using brutal force once again against Gaza in response to its humiliation defeat in Jerusalem. On Monday due to the heroic resistance of the Palestinians the Zionist police was forced to change the route of the Jerusalem Day march, in which thousands of far-right Zionists flag-waving and chanting “death to the Arabs” usually march in the Moslem quarter of the old city in Jerusalem. As the marchers were diverted toward Jaffa Gate, sirens sounded alerting Israelis to incoming rockets from Gaza, forcing the marchers and other Zionists to flee for cover in Jerusalem, nearby towns and in Israeli settlements near Gaza.
For the Zionist it is essential to break the resistance of the Palestinians by killing and injuring many Palestinians, most of them civilians. On Monday, more than 300 Palestinians were injured there in clashes with Israeli police, who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas in the compound, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
The interest of the international working class is to see the defeat of the Zionist apartheid state.
There are people who consider Israel a Nazi-type state but in my opinion the Zionist wars against the Palestinians are similar to the USA Indian’s wars of the 19th century when the USA cavalry murdered entire Indian villages.
As I write this article the Zionist army has attacked more than 130 targets throughout the Strip. The Palestinian WAFA news agency reported that a total of 25 people including children were killed in the strikes and another 103 were injured.
At the same time 5000 Jewish reservists have been called up. The Zionist chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi also ordered the reinforcement of the Gaza Division with infantry and armored brigades.
So far Hamas and the other resistance organizations have used homemade 250 rockets since Monday afternoon, injuring 31 Israeli civilians.
Palestinian citizens of Israel are demonstrating and expressing political sympathy for the Palestinians in East Jerusalem. They say that we are all of the same Palestinian nation. In Lod an Arab Jewish city Zionists shot and killed a Palestinian.
In response the Zionist president Rivilin has called on the Arab leaders to act as collaborators and “be a clear voice for calm” “I just made an urgent phone call to Mudar Younes, chair of the Arab Councils Mayors Committee, and passed on a sharp message about the Arab violence that went wild in the streets of some mixed cities last night, including Lod, Ramle, and the cities of the Triangle,” Rivlin said in a statement on social media.”
In spite of the political line of Hadash and of Tibi’s Ta’al of recommending Lapid, who support the police against the Palestinians, to the position of the next Prime Minister and their call on the Zionist police to defend the Palestinians citizens of Israel, they cannot accept at the present this role without losing their base of support.
The heroic struggle of the Palestinians may lead not only to a new Intifada but to the full renewal of the Arab revolution. All the Arab rulers who collaborate with Israel and other imperialists are shacking in their boots!
Victory to the Palestinian struggle!
Military defeat for Israel!
For the full renewal of the Arab revolution!
Footnotes
1) https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip
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See also: Joint Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and Convergencia Socialista (Argentina): The Fourth Gaza War Has Begun! Defend the Palestinian People – Defeat Israel! After their failure to conquer the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Al-Quds/Jerusalem, the Zionists wage a new war, 11 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/the-fourth-gaza-war-has-begun/
Emergency Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and Convergencia Socialista (Argentina): Occupied Palestine: Stand with our Brothers and Sisters in Jerusalem! Forward to the Third Intifada! Down with the Zionist State! Long live the Struggle for a Free Palestine! 10 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/occupied-palestine-stand-with-our-brothers-and-sisters-in-jerusalem/
Statement by the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine): Israel Hands Off Sheikh Jarrah and Out of Al Aqsa! 8 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/occupied-palestine-hands-off-sheikh-jarrah/
Yossi Schwartz, Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine): Victory for the Palestinians! Time To Go Forward! 10 May 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/victory-for-the-palestinians-time-to-go-forward/