By Yossi Schwartz, ISL the RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine, 07.08.2022, https://the-isleague.com

 

The new elections to the Zionist parliament will take place in November 2022. Lapid who became the Prime Minister of Israel on 1 July 2022 loves this position and he is ready to do anything to be next Prime Minister including a war on Gaza.

Gaza has two million people living in a territory that is 41 kilometers (25 mi) long, from 6 to 12 kilometers (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide, and has a total area of 365 square kilometers (141 sq mi). They are children of the refugees expelled by the Zionists in 1947-8 in the ethnic cleansing known as the Nakba. Gaza under the siege of the last 15 years is no more than a ghetto.

On Friday 05/8/2022 Israel began the attack on Gaza. The Zionist state claims that it attacks only the fighters of the Islamic Jihad. However, at the beginning of the third day to this criminal attack the death toll from the Israeli assault on Gaza has risen to 29, including six children; more than 250 people have been injured. Buildings were destroyed and the pictures we see bring to mind Russian destruction of buildings in the Ukraine.

It is clear that this is a premeditate plan as the Gaza’s resistance movement did not act against the Zionist monster for more than a year: “GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza launched on Friday a salvo of rockets toward Ashkelon in Israel, targeting small settlements along the border — the first attack since the last round of violence in May 2021″ [1]

So why has the apartheid state decided to attack the Islamic Jihad? It is because the fighters of this organization defend the Palestinians in the refugee camps like in Jenin where the armed forces of the Palestinian authority do not dare to enter to repress the resistance to Israel.

This round of war began on Tuesday when Bassam al-Saadi, the leader of the Islamic Jihad in the Jenin area, was arrested in a raid by the Zionist Border Police. “Footage shared on social media shows 62-year-old Bassam al-Saadi, who has bounced in and out of Israeli prisons for at least two decades, being dragged on the ground by Zionist forces in Jenin” [2]

The government of Lapid was aware that the Islamic Jihad will react to this provocation and on Friday began to attack Gaza. It killed some leaders of the organization like Tayseer al-Jabari, the top Islamic Jihad commander killed in the Zionist bombing of his apartment in the Gaza Strip on Friday. He was in charge of the resistance group and was its primary coordinator with Hamas.

Following the murder of Jabari Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhalah, from Damascus, vowed to avenge Jabari’s killing.

“We are heading to battle, and there is no truce after this airstrike,” Nakhalah said. “The results of this war will be in favor of the Palestinian people. The enemy should expect a battle, not a truce. Jabari replaced Baha Abu Al-Ata, another Islamic Jihad commander, who Israel murdered in a similar airstrike in November 2019” [3]

If the heads of the Zionist government believed that it will be a picnic as the Islamic Jihad is a small organization, they were wrong until this article is written the Islamic Jihad fired more than 600 rockets reaching Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem.

Of course, Israel is much more powerful militarily and can inflict much more pain. However, it cannot break the Islamic Jihad. This by itself is a victory for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Israel is negotiating a ceasefire to end Operation Breaking Dawn, with Egyptian mediation, diplomatic sources confirmed on Sunday. At the same time Palestinian Islamic Jihad continued to launch rockets at Israel on Sunday afternoon, as the ceasefire talks are taking place.

Strategically Israel tries to create a conflict between the Islamic Jihad and Hamas. It is very careful not to attack Hamas’ positions. So far Hamas had not joined the battle and it is weakening among the people of Gaza. We still have to see what will be Hamas reaction to groups of Israeli settlers who stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem under the protection of Israeli forces. If it fails to react it will be accused as traitors. If it will react the Zionist criminals will use it to kill hundreds if not thousands of Palestinians as it did in 2014.

The Zionist crude propaganda is that the PIJ is a proxy of Iran. “On Friday, as he explained the airstrikes on Israeli television, Prime Minister Yair Lapid described the group as “an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy the state of Israel”[4] In the real world the PIJ receive weapons and money from Iran but this does not make the PIJ a proxy of Iran as the American massive support for Israel does not make Israel proxy of the USA or the support for the Ukraine makes Ukraine proxy of the USA or the EU.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is Iran’s closest ally in Gaza. The organization established by Fathi Abdulaziz al-Shiqaqi, in the late 1970s as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which at that time was operating in Egypt. The organization adopted Khamenei’s principles of jihad and the idea that Palestine must be liberated through armed struggle.

 

The reaction to the Zionist attack on Gaza

 

The following is based on Al Jazeera:

Arab League: The Arab League “condemned in the strongest possible terms the ferocious Israeli aggression against Gaza”. Nice words but empty words

Iran: Tehran, a supporter of Gaza’s armed factions, said the territory was “not alone” in its fight. “Today all the anti-Zionist jihadi capabilities are on the scene in a united formation working to liberate Jerusalem and uphold the rights of the Palestinian people,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Major-General Hossein Salami told Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhala during a meeting in Tehran.

“We are with you on this path until the end, and let Palestine and the Palestinians know that they are not alone.”

European Union: As it can be expected the EU did not condemn Israel but called for restraint by all sides. It is like in a case of a stabbing telling the attacked and the victim that both sides must be restrained.

“The EU calls for maximum restraint on all sides… While Israel has the right to protect its civilian population, everything must be done to prevent a broader conflict.”

United Nations: The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, warned the “dangerous” escalation risked creating the need for more aid. “In the past few hours, at least 10 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes. I am deeply saddened by reports that a five-year-old child has been killed in these strikes. There can be no justification for any attacks against civilians,” said Wennesland.

United States: John Kirby, US National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, defended Israel’s attack on Gaza and urged both sides to de-escalate the situation.

“We’re actively engaged with the Israeli-Palestinian regional partners to work towards achieving more calm in the wake of these strikes. And we certainly urge all sides to avoid further escalation. We remain unwavering in our commitment to Israel’s security, and we will continue to work to strengthen all aspects of the US-Israeli partnership.”

“We absolutely fully support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist groups that are taking the lives of innocent civilians in Israel. As for the two-state solution, we remain committed to a two-state solution. That was one of the president’s key messages on this trip, both to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We still want to see that be the outcome, but both sides have to want it too.”

Russia: Russia came more on the side of Gaza It called for “maximum restraint” by all parties in the Gaza Strip. “We are observing with profound worry how events are evolving,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.”

“The new escalation was caused by Israeli army firing into the Gaza Strip on August 5, to which Palestinian groups responded by carrying out massive and indiscriminate bombardments on Israeli territory.”

UK: “The UK stands by Israel and its right to defend itself,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted. “We condemn terrorist groups firing at civilians and violence, which has resulted in casualties on both sides. We call for a swift end to the violence.”

Turkey: Ankara “strongly” condemned the Israeli air raids on Gaza and said it is “unacceptable that civilians, including children, lose their lives in attacks”.

Egypt: Cairo is working to calm the latest escalation in Gaza. “We hope to reach a consensus to return to calm as soon as possible,” an unnamed security source told AFP news agency. Separately, another source said a delegation from Islamic Jihad may head to Cairo later Saturday.

Hamas’ Doha-based leader Ismail Haniyeh has held talks with “Egyptian intelligence” over the violence, a statement from the group said. Egypt, a historic broker between Israel and armed groups in Gaza, negotiated the ceasefire that ended the conflict in May of last year.

Qatar: Qatar – a major financial backer that has spent billions of dollars rebuilding Gaza and supporting its people after Israeli attacks – expressed its “strong condemnation and denunciation” of Friday’s attacks.”.

In a statement Friday, the foreign affairs ministry reiterated, “The State of Qatar’s firm position on the justice of the Palestinian cause, the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, and the establishment of their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Jordan: Amman demanded that Israel “immediately stop its aggression” on the Gaza Strip. Spokesman Haitham Abu al-Ful warned of “dangerous” consequences that “will only increase tension and violence and deepen the environment of despair”.

“The solution to the problem of the Gaza Strip and preventing the escalation of violence lies in finding a real political horizon by returning to the negotiating table to achieve a just peace on the basis of the two-state solution,” he said.

Hamas: Ghazi Hamad, a senior official for Hamas – the group that governs the Strip – said the latest attack is “a brutal crime, a massacre done by the Israeli occupation against our people”. Palestinian factions are exploring the “best option for the Palestinian people”.

Palestinian Authority: The Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, condemned “the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and demanded its immediate cessation”. “The presidency called on the international community to compel Israel to stop this aggression against our people everywhere, particularly in Gaza, and to provide them with international protection,” it said in a statement. [5]

 

The opposition to the war in Israel

 

The Stalinist front Hadash condemns the Israeli aggression as motivated by the coming elections. At the same time, it spreads pacifist illusions and pro Zionist delusions. It said:

“Hadash lawmakers in the Joint List castigated the operation, with its members accusing Israel of war crimes and claiming that Lapid was acting in order to boost his political standing ahead of the elections in November. Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh (Hadash), noting the reported death of a five-year-old girl, Alaa Abdallah Qaddum, in one of the Israeli strikes, said that “the Israeli government is carrying out war crimes to serve narrow political interests, and Gazans are paying the price in blood. The fire must be ceased immediately.”Hadash MK Aida Touma-Suleiman said: “Stop the war of choice in Gaza!! Assassinations and bombings will lead to more suffering and destruction in Gaza and won’t bring security to Israeli citizens, and fellow Joint List MK Ofer Cassif asserted that Lapid ordered the operation to bolster his chances in November’s elections. The IDF action is a case of “blood for votes,” says Cassif” [6]

At a protest in Haifa, Joint List chairman Ayman Odeh said: “A round [of fighting] brings another round, more killing and more resistance. The circle of horror needs to stop. We came out to protest together for the only way that will benefit both nations – real negotiations to end the occupation, founding a Palestinian state alongside Israel and a just peace.” [7]

The left Zionist Meretz expressed also pacifist illusions very similar to the Stalinists.

Regional Cooperation Minister Esawi Frej of Meretz wrote on Twitter:

“There are no winners in wars, but mainly scared citizens and children. Fear does not depend on nationality or religion, but is common to all of us and we are all obliged to do everything to bring calm as soon as possible,” he wrote. “In the end, the fighting will end, but without a political [peace] initiative there will not be quiet for long. Don’t be afraid to speak, it’s the only way to stop fear.”

Finally, Zehava Galon, candidate to lead Meretz, wrote on Twitter: “It’s time to stop the fighting before more innocent people get hurt, before the story gets complicated. The rounds of fighting in recent years did not remove the threat of rockets and mortars, and did not bring security and peace to the South. Blood continued to be shed in Gaza and the surrounding settlements, and the fear and hatred only increased” she wrote. [8]

We on the other hand as revolutionary Marxists say that the interest of the international working class is to see the military victory of the PIJ without giving it political support as well as the defeat of the Zionist settlers imperialist apartheid state.

 

Footnotes

[1] https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/08/islamic-jihad-retaliates-against-israeli-strike-gaza-support-palestinian-factions

[2] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-08-02/ty-article/.premium/with-islamic-jihad-chiefs-arrest-israel-stops-west-bank-threat-but-risks-another-in-gaza/00000182-600f-dc23-a586-e07f52570000

[3] https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-714035

[4] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-islamic-jihad-group-targeted-by-israel-gaza-2022-08-06/

[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/5/restraint-and-common-sense-reaction-to-israels-gaza-attack

[6] https://maki.org.il/en/?p=30495

[7] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-714087

[8] Ibid

 

 

Article by Yossi Schwartz. Internationalist Socialist League (Section of the RCIT in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 04 October 2022, https://the-isleague.com/ and www.thecommunists.net

 

If anyone had doubts whether a new Intifada is taking place in the West-Bank, the statistic of the Zionist Shin Bet confirms our position: A new Intifada against the Zionist oppression is occurring. According to the Jerusalem post report from 3rd October, close to 50% rise in shooting attacks in West Bank on the Zionist army.

 

“According to the Shin Bet, there were a total of 212 attacks compared to 172 in August, a rise of 23 percent. Meanwhile, July saw 113 and June had a total of 147 attacks"…"There has been a significant rise in shooting attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past month, an increase of around 47 percent according to new data released by the Shin Bet internal security agency…The numbers released by the agency showed that in the month of September there were a total of 34 shooting attacks. That’s more than once per day.   The data marked an increase from the 23 shooting attacks in August and a significant increase from 15 in July- 126%...According to the Shin Bet, there were a total of 212 attacks compared to 172 in August, a rise of 23 percent. Meanwhile, July saw 113 and June had a total of 147 attacks. The majority of attacks were Molotov Cocktails-a total of 139 compared to 135 in August and only 75 in July. In addition, there were also 53 pipe bombs compared to 39 in August .27 in the previous month. September also saw four stabbing attacks compared to only one in September… There were also four assaults and four vehicular ramming attacks. September was also a deadly month, with 14 Israelis injured and two were killed. ..."15 Israelis were injured during the attacks in August, both civilians (settlers from 1967), and troops. ..."Over 100 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,500 have been arrested and security forces have focused on the northern part and cities like Jenin and Nablus.  But despite the high number of arrests, the increase in shooting attacks has become a major source of concern for the Israeli army.”[i]

 

The Palestinian freedom fighters are called terrorists by the Zionists and their allies. The American imperialists and the Zionist state terror, on the other side, is called "self -defense". This is mockery even of the bourgeois law known as International Law.

 

The US State department, in its official definition of terrorism states: “The term terrorism means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.”[ii]

 

Thus, Palestinian shootings of Zionist soldiers or armed settlers are not terrorism. Further- more, the Palestinian right of self- defense includes military acts of self-defense (i.e., the right to resist an aggressor, defend one’s territorial integrity, etc.) as well as UN Security Council sanctioned Chapter VII actions (the war making powers of the UNSC, as employed in South Korea or in Bosnia-Herzegovina). However, among these legal forms of violence there is also the right to use force in the struggle for “liberation from colonial and foreign domination”. To quote United Nations General Assembly Resolution A/RES/33/24 of 29 November 1978:

 

“2. Reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, particularly armed struggle;”[iii]

Clearly the Palestinians by themself with their poor weapons cannot defeat the monstrous Zionist apartheid state. However, as part of the Arab and Iranian revolutionary armed struggle it is possible to defeat the Zionists and all the reactionary Arab and Iranian local ruling classes who serve either the Western imperialists, like the USA and NATO - or the Eastern imperialists, like Russia and China.

 

Down with the Zionist Settlers, the Colonialist Apartheid State!

Down with the Reactionary Regime in Iran!

All the Imperialists are our Enemies!

For Palestine - Red and Free from the River to the Sea!

 

 

By Yossi Schwartz, Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 19.6.2023, https://the-isleague.com/ and www.thecommunists.net

 

The Zionist war criminals have raided the Jenin refugee camp, killing five Palestinians and wounding at least 91. One of the Palestinians killed is Ahmed Saqr, 15 years old. The others are Khaled Darwish, 21, Qassam Sariya, 19, and Qassam Faisal Abu Sariya, 29. The fifth victim has yet to be identified.

Nibal Farsakh, media and information officer at the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), says four ambulances have been directly targeted by Israeli forces in Jenin. Medical teams were denied access at first, they eventually arrived but very late. At the same time, journalists who wanted to report about the cruel Zinoist attack were violently attacked by the Israeli army too. "Journalists on the ground told Al Jazeera that several colleagues were shot at by Israeli forces during the raid, which took place close to the location where veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper in May 2022”.[1]

 

The severe condition of many of the wounded meant that urgent medical assistance was strongly needed but the medical team could only take care of 43 injuries, 27 of them being gunshot wounds and 8 shrapnel wounds. It is by no surprise that the Israeli forces place the few injuries of their oppressive soldiers on the same level with the Palestinian victims.

"The Israeli military confirmed seven of its soldiers were wounded during the attack, with the army saying on its radio channel that one soldier’s condition has deteriorated but is stable". The Israeli military said the raid was to arrest two suspects and that Israeli soldiers came under fire which resulted in a “massive exchange of fire”. As the Israeli military vehicles were exiting the camp, the army’s statement said, “a military vehicle was hit by an explosive device, damaging the vehicle”, after which military helicopters shot towards the gunmen to help the forces exit". [2]

 

This is not the first massacre of Jenin's refugees. In July 2002, in the wake of Israel’s Operation "Defensive Shield" a massacre was committed by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp. The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies held a conference entitled “Jenin: A Case Study in Israel’s Communications Strategy.” Thus, for the Zionists massacres is a question of disinformation. This strategy brings to mind other character in history.

As Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, correctly stated, the brutal attack on Jenin is not an equal “gunfight between two sides. It is a criminal war that the Israeli, very well-equipped army is conducting against Palestinian civilians in Jenin,” he said. “You are talking about an army that is using Apache helicopters, F-16 jet fighters, armored vehicles, unlimited amount of gunpowder against the civilian population, basically in Jenin camp and Jenin city itself.”[3]

 

Spontaneous protests spread in the besieged Gaza Strip, demonstrating against the Jenin raid in solidarity with the refugees in the camp. The leading force of the protests was Hamas and even members of their political bureau participated in it. In contradiction to the close ties between the Palestinian masses and forces like Hamas, the rulers and political bureaucrats of various Arab countries only offer empty phrases to our Palestinian brothers and sisters.

A telling example is Jordan’s foreign ministry which condemned Israel’s attack on Jenin by using the nonsensical characterization of a “cycle of violence”. Ministry spokesman Sinan Majali continued with the feeble condemnation in words suitable even for Western liberals, saying that the attack is a “violation of international humanitarian law and Israel’s obligations as an occupying power”. Iran’s foreign ministry used at least sharper characterization, stating: “Mass murder of Palestinians, including children, women and seniors, in addition to destroying their properties, is a clear example of organized crime and state terrorism.”[4]

 

These condemnations do nothing to truly stop Apartheid state Israel. It will continue with the massacre of Palestinians as long as it exists. Only two events can put an end to the Zionist crimes. Either a massive military defeat or a victorious Arab revolution that the ruling local classes are terrified from.

 

Down with the Zionist criminal state!

 

For Palestine red and free from the river to the sea!