Translation of the Xekinima editorial
One year has passed since the Hamas attack on Israel. This was the pretext used by the Israeli army (IDF) to launch a genocidal war against the Palestinians.
Over 41,000 Palestinians have been murdered, Gaza has been razed to the ground and unspeakable atrocities have been committed by the “most moral army in the world”.
Yet none of Netanyahu’s stated goals have been achieved. Hamas has not been eliminated and the hostages have not returned to their homes. This failure, despite the carnage, is creating cracks in the Israeli society, the government and the army.
Since September 30, Israel has been at war with Lebanon, with terrorist attacks, bombings and a ground invasion. The Israeli establishment shows no inclination for any kind of “restraint” because its Western allies offer it full support to commit the worst crimes (even if they sometimes grumble a bit about its “excesses”).
The dominant part of the Israeli ruling class seems to believe that the current juncture is an opportunity to clear the landscape of the entire Middle East and reassert its dominance by dealing crushing blows to all the enemy forces: Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, Iran, Syria, etc.
By opening so many fronts, the Israeli government and its Western allies are pushing things towards a generalised conflict with unforeseen consequences. Such a confrontation, though still not the most probable perspective, could lead to tens of thousands more deaths and hundreds of thousands or even millions of displaced people.
The Israeli ruling class is behaving in this way for one reason and one reason only: because it has the backing of the USA and the major European powers (Britain, Germany, France, etc.) – these same powers who at the same time pretend to be the advocates of democracy, freedom and peace on the planet.
Is there a way out of this nightmare?
The peoples of the region are trapped in a conflict that cannot have a positive or sustainable outcome for anyone. This does not only concern the Arab populations of Palestine, Lebanon, etc. Ιt also concerns the Israeli Jewish people who cannot and will not be able to live in peace and security once their country’s army has massacred all the surrounding peoples.
On the contrary, the harder Israel hits the Arab people, the more extreme forms of reaction it will have to face in the near future. This is the experience of the past – every military victory of Israel and the USA has led to new, more aggressive and desperate reactions. This is how we arrived at October 7th.
On the other hand, as much as we support the struggle of the Palestinian and Lebanese people against Israeli brutality, we have to say that there is no way to defeat Israel militarily.
Arab regimes have attacked Israel three times in as many wars and been overwhelmingly defeated. Israel has one of the most effective armies, secret services etc on the planet, a constant supply of the best US weapons systems and an open funding line, and as long as the government manages to maintain a climate of national unity in the face of fears of new attacks and wars, it has the support of the majority of society.
History has also shown that neither guerrilla methods (as used by Hamas and Hezbollah currently and by Fatah and other forces in the past) nor attacks on civilians, as in last year’s Hamas attack on October 7, can bring a solution.
Of course, the right of the Palestinians to arm themselves and fight against the attack they are under, i.e. the right to defend themselves, especially through mass arming of the people (which is not practiced by any Palestinian leadership), is unquestionable. But this must not lead to the impression that Israel can be defeated militarily and expelled from the Palestinian territories. The military confrontation has been going on for almost eight decades (after the creation of Israel) and the conclusions should be obvious. It only brings more death and destruction.
The only way to find a solution to the Palestinian problem lies with the Palestinian people and the Jewish working class and youth of Israel. A solution to the Palestinian problem and peace can only be achieved through common struggle by Palestinians and Jews from below. This is only possible if the rights of both peoples are respected. This means, on the one hand, an end to the persecution of the Palestinians, the brutal repression, the destruction of their villages and property and the permanent colonisation of their land. On the other hand, the right of the Jews to a state of their own in the area must be recognised.
It is clear that the Israeli ruling class and its Western allies are not prepared to accept a truly independent Palestinian state. It is also clear that, Islamist forces such as Hamas and Hezbollah, by their very nature and political programme, which often leads to terrorist actions, have no way of reaching the Jewish masses (something they have no interest in doing anyway).
A long-term solution can only be found by building mass organisations of the Left, on a class-internationalist-socialist basis in Israel, Palestine, the neighbouring countries and internationally, which will fight for peace on the basis of the common class interests of the working people and not on the basis of nationalist and religious hatred. It is a long and difficult road, but there is no other way.
What we can do
For our part, those of us who live far from the war front, have a responsibility:
- To show our full solidarity to the Palestinian and Lebanese people now under attack, in every possible way (mobilisations, social media, events).
- To denounce the Israeli government for its barbarity, ethnic cleansing and genocide.
- To denounce the Western “democrats” for their utter hypocrisy, especially the ruling classes in our own countries.
- To support the thousands of Jews internationally and within Israel who are denouncing their government’s policies and facing repression and imprisonment.
- To highlight the need for Palestinian and Jewish workers, internationally and in the region, to build a common front of struggle for peace and for the rights of both.
Only the Left can offer such a perspective. And only on the basis of a class-internationalist-socialist programme. Capitalism will not solve the problem because of the competing interests in the region and the role of Imperialism. The struggle against Imperialism must be linked to the struggle against capitalism. The most decisive contribution we can make, in the long term, to the struggle of the Palestinian people and for peace in the region, is to build mass anti-capitalist organisations of the Left in our countries and internationally.
