Posted by John, December 29th, 2008 - under Palestine.



Israel is a terrorist state. It was founded on the genocide of the Palestinian people, dividing their land into two States. The Zionists then drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the artificially created state. The present attacks on Gaza represent but another chapter in the 60 years of genocide against Palestinians.

Genocide? The facts and figures in the paragraphs below come from Israel: the Hijack State by John Rose from Britain’s Socialist Workers’ Party. They seem to me to justify the argument that Israel was founded on genocidal terror against Palestinians.

At Deir Yassin, the Irgun murdered between 200 and 300 men, women and children. It is recognised now as a historical reality, a reality that was used in other towns and villages to drive Palestinians out.

According to Benny Morris, an Israeli historian, an Israeli intelligence report of June 1948 says that on the eve of the UN partition Plan Resolution of 29 November 1947, there were 219 Arab villages and four Arab, or partly Arab, towns in the areas earmarked for Jewish statehood. The total Arab population then was 342000. By 1 June, 180 of these villages and towns had been evacuated with 239,000 fleeing the Jewish state areas. Another 152000 Arabs fled areas earmarked for the Palestinian state.

Why? The intelligence branch says the major cause was hostile [JP – i.e. Haganah/Isaraeli Defence Force] operations. In other words the Israelis drove out somewhere close to 400,000 Palestinians from their homes as part of their objective to expand their borders and create an exclusive Jewish state.

In the present criminal actions, the Israeli state is targeting not just military installations but a University, police stations, Government buildings, civil defence organisations and some mosques. The Palestinians say that after the fourth day of air strikes there are 370 dead. The UN estimates about 70 of those are women and children.

There are acording to the Palestinians 1600 wounded. The Israeli blockade of Gaza has destroyed or severely weakened the Palestinian hospital system so we can expect some of the injured to die soon.

This action is a crime against humanity. How are students, police, government employees and civil defence personnel legitimate targets? And Israel knows that bombing anywhere in Gaza, because of the population density, will kill innocents.

This action is deliberately aimed at cowering the Palestinian people and Hamas, their legitimate and democratic representative. All it will do is reinforce the cycle of violence and see the futility of Palestinian rockets and suicide bombers re-emerge and grow in number.

Yet the West remains silent in the face of these Israeli crimes. Israel is America’s watchdog in the region and its actions help US imperialism by creating mayhem and confusion among the Arab masses, enabling the US to control the region, in particular oil and its flows.

Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard has condemned Hamas and supported Israel. Such is the logic of Australian imperialism which ties itself to a big power (now the US) to enable it to pursue its own interests in our immediate region and as an insurance policy for the future.

These criminal attacks show the real nature of Israel – an illegitimate state born of and continuing to use terror as its main weapon against the Palestinians. For over sixty years the Palestinians’ crime has been to be Palestinian and to live in Palestine.

This is not about stopping rockets. Hamas stupidly thought that lobbing missiles into open spaces in Israel would see the blockade lifted. But Israel is going to an election in February.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu from the extremist Likud party is ahead in the polls. He supports the attacks.

Tzivi Lipni is Foreign Minister and will be Kadima’s candidate for PM. Ehud Barak heads Labour and is the Defence Minister. So Livni and Barak have been driving the Government to launch this criminal attack on Gaza to boost their election chances in February.

All three have said toppling Hamas, the democratically elected governing party, is a priority.

Of course, if the terror attacks on Gaza and the forthcoming possible invasion don’t work, the election is Netanyahu’s. Even if they do “succeed” in killing more Palestinians and toppling Hamas, Netanyahu can argue that the other two followed his lead and acted too late anyway.

300 dead and more on the way – all for electoral advantage. Such is the moral bankruptcy of Zionism, the racist ideology that excludes or wants to exclude all but Jews from Israel. Some want to create Greater Israel without any Palestinians, ie driving them out again.

The Arab masses are angry. If that anger could be turned as well against their dictatorships and a US puppet like Mubarak fell, that would be a step forward for Palestine.

As I have argued previously the solution cannot be two states. That formalises and legitimises further the genocide. The solution must be one state for two peoples.

No solution will come from Obama or the Europeans or the UN. US imperialism dominates the region and Barack will therefore support his attack dog. The UN is a puppet of the imperialist powers. The Security Council is the classic example, beholden to major imperialist powers. In any event when convenient (eg Iraq) the US acts unilaterally.

The Arab masses hold the key. Revolutions across the region can liberate Palestine. The mass of Arabs overthrowing the criminal dictatorships which rule them will unleash the incredible power of Arab workers and peasants and force Israel to stop its terrorist activities. It might make the US see its policy of support for Israel as a failure since the masses now control the region, not the Americans and Israel.

Until that happens however the logic of imperialism and racism will see the Israeli terror and genocide continue.