On the Israel-Hamas Deal

 

A Statement of the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 04.09.2018, http://www.the-isleague.com

 

 

 

2 million people live in Gaza. Many of them are or related to refugees removed from their homes in 1948. The people of Gaza are living in a desperate situation due to the blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel since 2007. There is no clean water, shortage of electricity, oil, gas or sufficient food. The unemployment among the youth is around 60%.

 

In March this year, tens of thousands of people, from the largest besieged ghetto in history, began their protest, starting with the demand to live in a one state with the Israelis. They want to return to their homes. Even UN resolution number 194 article 11 states: “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”

 

Israel answered with bullets that killed more than 130 people and injured many thousands. The people of Gaza replied with burning kites that burned thousands of dunams of forests and fields on the Israeli side.

 

Now there are talks of a long cease fire. Israel, among other things, demands the return of two mentally disabled Israelis that entered Gaza and the bodies of two dead soldiers. Hamas demands the release of prisoners, many of whom were released in the previous Shalit's deal and rearrested.

 

According to Israel Times report of August 16, based on al-Mayadeen television channel in Lebanon, Israel and Hamas are to strike a deal. According to this report there will be one year in which there will be a cargo shipping connection between Gaza and Cyprus. Israeli security will control the Cargo boat traffic to Palestinian coastal enclave; Qatar to pay electricity bill for Gaza together with Israel.

 

The head of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Abbas Kamel, visited Tel Aviv to finalize the deal. He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Nadav Argaman, the head of the Shin Bet security agency.

 

Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman pitched the idea of setting up a floating dock for Palestinian sea traffic in Cyprus when he met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades in June, Hadashot TV news reported.

 

The dock would include a system enabling Israeli monitoring to prevent the smuggling of weapons and materials that can be used to produce weapons. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sharply criticized the emerging agreement between Israel and Hamas Saturday, saying that any aid to the Gaza Strip must go through the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. [1]

 

He also said that they would not allow a separate Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip. [2]

 

Ever since 2005 Israel has been trying to bring down Hamas’ government. Why all of a sudden does it strike such a deal? It has to do with the preparation for a war against Iran and Hezbollah and thus it wants to cut the relations between Hamas and Iran and put it in the same camp of Saudi Arabia. It is part of Trump & Netanyahu's plan. Hamas is in a desperate situation, losing its popularity due to its failures to advance the conditions of the people of Gaza.

 

The only one among the Zionist leaders who opposes the deal is Benet, the far right leader of the Jewish Home party. We can expect Hadash and Tibi of the Arab Movement for Change (Ta'al), to oppose it as well due to its support of the PA.

 

The creation of a so called Palestinian state in Gaza is not in contradiction to the one apartheid state from the river to the sea, that the Israeli state has created and the parliament confirmed with the new Nationality Law. It is sufficient to recall the so called black states in South Africa during the Apartheid. It is designed to provide a cheap labor for Israeli capitalists without granting them any political rights over their government regulators.

 

The role of Hamas will be to police the workers and prevent any opposition to Israeli rule. A very similar role to the Palestinian authority.

 

These days when it is clear to any one with eyes in his head that the two state solution is already dead and buried, most Palestinians support the idea of one democratic state. Even the son of Mahmoud Abbas, Tarek Abbas has declared his support for one democratic state. [3]

 

The question for revolutionaries to ask here is: Who can achieve this one democratic state and what will be its class nature?

 

There is a lesson to learn from South Africa. The ANC in 1955 adopted the freedom charter. It called for the expropriation of the lands, the banks and the large corporations. In the deal of the ANC with the white ruling class in 1994 it dropped this program. Thus the ANC became the servant of the same white ruling class. The only force that can achieve the democratic revolution is the working class with its allies and most importantly the Fellaheen and the lower middle class.

 

The only solution is a red democratic one state from the river to the sea. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to build the revolutionary party of the workers. We can only hope that a section of the Jewish workers will join the struggle of the Palestinian exploited and oppressed.

 

 

 

References:

 

[1] https://tinyurl.com/y6wfe62x

 

[2] https://tinyurl.com/y86qdtyo

 

[3] https://tinyurl.com/y7uvzrec