Buildings bombed by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza during November 2012. The IAF have killed numerous civilians and political officials., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Victory to the intifada! Join the axis of resistance!
Issued by: CPGB-ML
Issued on: 24 November 2012
The CPGB-ML sends a red salute to the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, whose courage against enormous odds is an inspiration to the oppressed masses of the world. We denounce the massacre unfolding there (136 Palestinians slaughtered and 941 wounded in eight days) whilst the supposed guardians of international law at the UN sit on their hands and reactionaries everywhere point the finger of blame, not at oppression and state terror, but at those who resist it.
A new wave of resistance
‘Operation Pillar of Defence’ is gruesomely reminiscent of 2008’s ‘Operation Cast Lead’, with the same massacre of men, women and children, the same zionist lies regurgitated by the BBC, the same denunciation of those who resist oppression and the same shameless excuses made on behalf of the executioners. True, then it was Bush who gave the green light to state terror and now it’s Obama, but we’ll leave it to star-struck liberals to explain what real difference there is between the two.
Palestinians are suffering the same barbaric collective punishments, and the same flagrant disregard of any humanitarian norms, including the destruction of a three-storey building allegedly housing a Hamas leader at the cost of eleven lives, many of them children, and the deliberate targeting of two buildings accommodating media workers (Sky News as well as Hamas), several of whom were injured, one seriously.
However, the world has moved on in four years. Friends of Tel Aviv like Egypt’s Mubarak and Tunisia’s Ben Ali have been overthrown in the course of popular revolts whose potential is far from exhausted. The warning by President Mohamed Morsi that Egypt will not tolerate an Israeli ground offensive demonstrates the degree of pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood to match its anti-zionist rhetoric with deeds. The firmness of the Gaza resistance under fire is an encouragement to the oppressed everywhere to stand up – not least in Egypt itself.
It is true that a combination of heavily-funded mercenaries and intense carpet bombing have temporarily succeeded in bringing Nato puppets to power in Libya, installed under a fake ‘Arab spring’ flag. True also that the imperialists hope to save their skin in the region by pulling the same stunt in Syria and Iran. But the axis of resistance forged in response to these barbaric provocations could yet usher in a second edition of the Arab spring that would make the original look like a vicarage tea party, sweeping away not only the degenerate feudal sheikdoms in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, but also the jewel in the imperialists’ crown – the state of Israel itself.
Imperialist panic
The truth is that the shells and bombs raining death on Palestinian heads are a sign of panic and desperation right across the imperialist camp, not of confidence or strength. What can the warmongers achieve by shooting at the captive inhabitants of what is in effect one vast concentration camp? It will only intensify Israel’s international isolation whilst reinforcing popular support for the Palestinian resistance.
However, even worse disasters await the zionists should they be tempted to resolve the stand-off by a ground invasion – as the US itself has been finding out in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Worse still for Israel, advances in the range of resistance missiles mean that it is no longer possible for Israel to bomb Palestinian families with impunity whilst settler families get on with their cushioned lives uninterrupted. Morale in the zionist state is at an all-time low, as the stigma of living in the world’s No 1 pariah state is compounded by the fear that the Palestinian people’s resistance can no longer be contained.
The Palestinians stand up
For these reasons, and despite the massive overall imbalance in military equipment, the resistance is refusing to be panicked by Tel Aviv (or coaxed by Cairo) into agreeing to peace terms that will leave Israel free to carry on as before. As a Hamas spokesman put it, the leadership will sign up to a ceasefire only when Israel “stops its aggression, ends its policy of targeted assassinations and lifts the blockade of Gaza”.
Or as Islamic Jihad expressed it: “We don’t fear them, the resistance is too strong and capable of confronting them. We hit the belly of Israel. The prime minister and leaders of Israel were forced to go to shelters. Israel wants calm. Egypt wants to stop the bloodshed. We also want to preserve our dignity ... The siege on Gaza should be lifted, the crossings should be opened ... We will not accept a humiliating offer.”
The PFLP’s statement hit a similar tone: “As the enemy continues its crimes, we call to confront the occupiers and their threats, to form a resistance front for a unified national defence ... Our people and our resistance will inevitably prevail. All greetings and glory to ... all of the fighting armed organisations and to the revolution and resistance everywhere in Palestine ... Victory is inevitable.”
No cooperation
British workers have a particular responsibility towards the struggle of our brothers and sisters in Palestine. It was British imperialism that founded the zionist state in 1948 and directly enabled the first mass slaughter and expulsion of Palestinians from their land and homes. And British imperialism, via its governments, its diplomats, its corporations and its media, has been backing Israel to the hilt ever since.
As a result of this backing, Israel is given ‘immunity’ by its imperialist masters in the US and Britain for the terrible crimes it commits against Palestinians every day as it pushes on with its slow genocide and ethnic cleansing programmes. In return, this armed and dangerous rogue state terrorises the entire Middle East on behalf of US and British oil monopolies, so they in turn can keep on looting Arab oil and raking in maximum profits.
Our job here in Britain is to obstruct and sabotage this criminal war effort. We must refuse to cooperate with writing or broadcasting propaganda in favour of Israel’s genocidal war; refuse to make or transport arms or other supplies for the Israeli war machine; boycott and disrupt any company that profits from Israel’s crimes; refuse to countenance the presence of British or Israeli war criminals in our midst.
It is past time that British workers followed the example of our Palestinian comrades and stood up to say ‘No more!’ Let us mobilise in our trade unions and elsewhere to coordinate a mass campaign of non-cooperation. Collectively, we do have the power to stop Britain’s part in this criminal war.
All power to the Palestinian resistance!
Death to zionism! Death to imperialism!
No cooperation with zionist war crimes!
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