EDITORIAL
Massacre in Gaza
The Israeli state occupies Palestine. That's the most
important point to start with when you evaluate the latest
slaughter in Gaza. The Israeli army's murder of 82 Palestinians
in the week after Sept. 28; Ariel Sharon's unleashing of
artillery and rockets on civilian areas; the U.S. veto at the
United Nations backing Sharon's massacres; the position of the
Kerry-Edwards campaign--all must be looked at in the light of
the ongoing occupation.
An extraordinary number of Pales tin ians have been killed
since Sept. 28. But the battle did not start on that date. The
struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination
against the Israeli state has been going on, with varying level
of intensity, since that state was established in 1948.
Because the Israeli state occupies the territory, because
the Israeli state acts as an outpost of imperialism in the
Middle East, this is not simply a battle between two peoples
who differ in language and religion. The Israeli state is a
settler state and an oppressor. The Palestinians are fighting
for their liberation. They are an oppressed people.
That is why the Palestinian people have the solidarity of
the great majority of the people of the world. The world looks
at the U.S.-armed Israeli settler state not much differently
than it did at the apartheid settler state in South Africa, and
with good reason. That is why most people in the world support
a Palestinian state, at least as a first step toward
self-determination.
The latest Israeli invasion of the northern end of occupied
Gaza shows once again that the Sharon government is unwilling
to allow even the smallest steps toward a Palestinian state. It
has directed its fire at any organization of the
Palestinians.
Right now Israel claims to be firing at the Hamas
organization, calling its members "terrorists," just as the
Bush government calls anyone in the Iraqi resistance
"terrorists." Israel's attacks kill many civilians, along with
some Hamas fighters. In the not-too-distant past the Israelis
fired on the Palestine Liberation Organization and even on the
Palestinian Authority.
Washington has made it clear that it supports this Israeli
offensive. The Bush administration, in an attack on Yasser
Arafat, says the Israelis have no negotiating "partner." With
equal belligerence, John Kerry and John Edwards say the
Israelis have the right to fight against "terrorists," meaning
Palestinians.
But against all the hostility from Washington, and even with
the leaders of their organizations jailed or murdered, the
Palestinians have been carrying on a liberation struggle
against Israeli rule for decades. Despite their relatively
small number, they have been a central factor in the struggle
for the liberation of the people of the Middle East. They
continue to inspire others to struggle.
Washington treats Israel as a strategic ally. When the U.S.
wants to intimidate Iran, Israel threatens to bomb its nuclear
facilities. Yet Israel has developed its own nuclear bombs
without penalty or even criticism from Washington. That is why
the U.S. representative in the United Nations Security Council
vetoed a resolution, supported by every other country on the
council, that condemned the latest Israeli raid in Gaza. And
because that raid was so much like the U.S. invasion of
Samarra, in Iraq.
Neither will be effective in stopping the resistance to
occupation, in Iraq or in Palestine.
Reprinted from the Oct. 14, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page