Vol. 76/No. 44      December 3, 2012

Working people worldwide should demand an immediate end to the Israeli assault on Gaza, where workers are not only getting caught in the crossfire, but are left to deal with the economic, social and political consequences, including destruction of residences, power, communications and other infrastructure; and loss of jobs and food supplies.

Workers worldwide should also champion the struggle of the Palestinian people against national oppression by the government of Israel, established on their dispossession. The Palestinian fight for rights and against discrimination takes place on many fronts: for land and water rights, the ability to live and work where they choose, the fight for jobs, release of political prisoners, and against repression by Israeli cops and military assaults.

The Israeli rulers’ assault was provoked by Hamas, the ruling bourgeois political party in Gaza. Apparently under the false impression that the rise of Islamist regimes in the area from Egypt to Libya would strengthen their hand, Hamas’ leaders decided to step up missile strikes into southern Israel.

Hamas’ terrorist “strategy”—indiscriminate killing, hostage taking, etc.—is a dead end and political obstacle that continues to disorient, demobilize and weaken the Palestinian struggle. The only possible results are those playing out today—punishing military reprisals that fall disproportionately on toilers there.

Bourgeois misleaderships from Hamas to Fatah have dealt one setback after another to the political gains registered by the popular Intifada of the 1980s and ’90s—mass uprisings that won sympathy around the world, including among Jews in Israel. Hamas’ actions are designed to keep the masses out of politics. And they help the Israeli rulers garner support among working people in Israel for Tel Aviv’s violent repression.

The just and necessary struggles of the Palestinian people won’t go away, but will sharpen as the world crisis of capitalism deepens. Their fight for liberation is an integral part of the working-class struggle in the region.

The road forward in this fight is along the line of march to build a working-class revolutionary movement that can unite the toilers across national lines—Arabs, Jews and others—and fight to wrest power from the capitalist exploiters in what is now Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
 
 
Related articles:
Tel Aviv launches assault on Gaza, workers pay for Hamas ‘strategy’
Protests of Israeli bombing of Gaza held in NY  
 
 
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