Lebanon’s Gas and the Robbery by the Zionist State

Israel, with US and UK support, threatens Iran and its allies with military attacks: defeat the imperialists but no political support for the Mullah regime!

Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 5 August 2021, www.thecommunists.net

1.             Today, in an interview with the news website Ynet, Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz responded to whether Israel was prepared to attack Iran with a blunt “yes.” He said: “We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran. The world needs to take action against Iran now.” At the same time, Israeli aircraft and artillery bombed Lebanese villages – for the first time since 2014. The U.S. and UK – leading powers in the Western imperialist camp – have announced their support for Israel.

2.             This latest escalation of tensions in the Middle East has been triggered by a drone attack on the oil tanker Mercer Street in the Arabian Sea last week. This attack killed two people (including a British mercenary). The tanker is managed by a firm owned by an Israeli billionaire. Israel, the U.S. and Britain have blamed Iran for the attack, albeit without any evidence or intelligence to support their claims. Iran has denied being involved.

3.             As widely known, Israel has launched an ongoing shadow war since 2019 in which it repeatedly attacked Iranian ships on Mideast waterways. Iranian resp. pro-Iranian forces have occasionally responded with similar attacks on Israeli ships. In addition, Israel and the US have waged a number of military and cyberattacks on Iran, including the killing of nuclear scientists and, most prominently, the assassination of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani – one of the most influential leaders of the ruling elite in Teheran – in January 2020.

4.             The general background of this development is the historic decline of U.S. imperialism which has been the hegemonial force in the Middle East for decades. Within this American regional order, Israel has been Washington’s most important regional gendarme with a powerful army (including 200 nuclear weapons). However, with the decline of the U.S., Israel’s position is also increasingly undermined which opens space for new regional powers like Iran.

5.             Israel tries to halt its decline by an escalation of its militaristic and chauvinistic policy. It waged wars in Lebanon (in 2006) as well as against the Palestinian people in Gaza (in 2008/09, 2012, 2014 and 2021). However, it failed to win any of these wars.

6.             The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) and all authentic socialists have always supported the resistance of oppressed people – in Lebanon, Palestine and other countries – against the Zionist aggression. Any defeat for the Zionist Apartheid state is a step forward as it weakens a historic pillar of the imperialist-colonialist order of the region. Marxists characterize Israel as a racist settler state which has become a junior imperialist state. It is an illegitimate entity based on the expulsion of the native Palestinian population. Socialists call for the destruction of this state and the creation of a single Palestinian state from the River to the Sea (in which Jews will to live as a minority population with full religious and cultural rights).

7.             In any military confrontation between Israel, the U.S. or the UK versus Iran resp. its allies, the RCIT stands for the military defeat of the imperialists and for the military defense of Iran. However, such defense of Iran does not imply any political support for the Mullah regime. This is a thoroughly reactionary dictatorship which oppresses the working class and the oppressed people in Iran. As we have repeatedly stated, socialists support the popular uprisings in Iran as well as the right of national self-determination of the Arab, Azeri, Kurdish and other minorities. Likewise, we denounce Iran’s reactionary role in Iraq and Syria where it helps the regimes in suppressing the popular liberation struggles. Our military defense of Iran against the imperialists does not alter our support for popular struggles against the Iranian regime or its regional allies. At the same time, we also continue to support the war of defense of the Yemeni people against the Saudi-UAE invasion.

8.             There is no shortage of people who will accuse Marxists of deploying a contradictory policy. They will say: “How can you defend Iran against Israel but side with the workers and oppressed against the Iranian regime. Either you side with the one or with the other camp.” We reject such accusations. Our policy is as “contradictory” as the reality is. It is not the first and not the last time that a reactionary regime of a capitalist semi-colony is engaged in oppression of its people and – at the same time – faces aggression by foreign imperialist powers (e.g. Iraq under Saddam Hussein 1990-2003, Serbia in 1999). We want the Little Satan to be brought down by the popular masses – not by the Great Satan. To give an analogy of daily life: any decent person will sympathize with a child trashed by a brutal mother. But one will also defend the very same woman against an attempted rape by a male scum. One needs to know who the main enemy in each concrete situation.

International Bureau of the RCIT

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For the RCIT's analysis of Iran and the imperialist aggression we refer readers to our numerous articles and statements that are published on our website at: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/

Israel, con el apoyo de Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido, amenaza a Irán y sus aliados con ataques militares: ¡Frenar a los imperialistas pero sin darle el político al régimen de los mulás!

Declaración de la Corriente Comunista Revolucionaria Internacional, CCRI, 5 de agosto de 2021, www.thecommunists.net

1. Hoy, en una entrevista con el sitio web de noticias Ynet, el ministro de Defensa de Israel, Benny Gantz, respondió a la pregunta en cuanto a si Israel estaba preparado para atacar a Irán con un rotundo "sí". “Estamos en un punto en el que necesitamos emprender acciones militares contra Irán. El mundo necesita tomar medidas contra Irán ahora ". Al mismo tiempo, aviones y artillería israelíes bombardearon aldeas libanesas, por primera vez desde 2014. Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido, las principales potencias del campo imperialista occidental, han anunciado su apoyo a Israel. 

2. Esta última escalada de tensiones en el Medio Oriente ha sido provocada por un ataque con drones en el petrolero Mercer Street en el Mar Arábigo la semana pasada. Este ataque mató a dos personas (incluido un mercenario británico). El petrolero es administrado por una empresa propiedad de un multimillonario israelí. Israel, Estados Unidos y Gran Bretaña han culpado a Irán por el ataque, aunque sin ninguna evidencia o inteligencia que respalde sus afirmaciones. Irán ha negado estar involucrado.

4. El trasfondo general de lo que está sucediendo, es el declive histórico del imperialismo estadounidense, que ha sido la fuerza hegemónica en el Medio Oriente durante décadas. Dentro de este orden regional estadounidense, Israel era el gendarme regional más importante de Washington con un ejército poderoso (incluidas 200 armas nucleares). Sin embargo, con la caída a pique de Estados Unidos, la posición de Israel también se ve cada vez más socavada, lo que abre espacio para nuevas potencias regionales, como Irán. 

5. Israel intenta detener su declive mediante una escalada de su política militarista y chovinista. Libró guerras en el Líbano (en 2006) y contra el pueblo palestino en Gaza (en 2008/09, 2012, 2014 y 2021). Sin embargo, no pudo ganar ninguna de estas contiendas.

6. La CCRI y los socialistas auténticos siempre hemos apoyado la resistencia de los pueblos oprimidos - en el Líbano, Palestina y otros países - contra la agresión sionista. Cualquier derrota del estado sionista del apartheid es un paso adelante, ya que debilita un pilar histórico del orden imperialista-colonialista de la región. Los marxistas caracterizamos a Israel como un estado colono racista que se ha convertido en un estado imperialista menor. Es una entidad ilegítima basada en la expulsión de la población palestina nativa. Los socialistas nos manifestamos a favor de la destrucción de este estado y por la creación de un único estado palestino desde el río hasta el mar (en el que los judíos vivirán como una población minoritaria con plenos derechos religiosos y culturales).  

7. En cualquier enfrentamiento militar entre Israel, los Estados Unidos o el Reino Unido contra Irán -que incluye a sus aliados regionales- la CCRI se posiciona a favor de la derrota de los imperialistas y por defensa militar de Irán. Sin embargo, tal defensa no implica ningún apoyo político para el régimen de los ayatolas, que es una dictadura completamente reaccionaria que oprime a la clase trabajadora y al pueblo en Irán. Como hemos dicho repetidamente, los socialistas apoyamos los levantamientos populares en Irán, así como el derecho a la autodeterminación nacional de las minorías árabe, azerí, kurda y otras. Asimismo, denunciamos el papel reaccionario de Irán en Irak y Siria, donde ayuda a los regímenes a reprimir las luchas populares de liberación. Nuestra defensa militar de Irán contra los imperialistas no altera nuestro apoyo a las luchas populares contra el régimen iraní o sus aliados regionales. Al mismo tiempo, también seguimos apoyando la guerra de defensa del pueblo yemení contra la invasión de Arabia Saudita y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos.

8. Nunca falta quien nos acusa por desplegar una política, diciendo: “¿Cómo se puede defender a Irán contra Israel pero del lado de los trabajadores y oprimidos contra el régimen iraní? O se está del lado de uno o se está del otro lado". Rechazamos tales acusaciones, ya que nuestra política es tan "contradictoria" como la realidad. No es la primera ni la última vez que un régimen reaccionario de una semi-colonia capitalista, que oprime a su pueblo, se termina enfrentando a la agresión de potencias imperialistas extranjeras (por ejemplo, Irak bajo Saddam Hussein 1990-2003 o Serbia en 1999). En ese marco, pretendemos que el Pequeño Satanás sea derrotado por las masas populares, no por el Gran Satán Para dar una analogía de la vida diaria: cualquier persona decente simpatizará con un niño destrozado por una madre brutal, aunque también defenderá a esa mujer contra cualquier intento de violación por parte de algún hombre violento. Siempre, absolutamente, siempre, es necesario saber quién es el principal enemigo en cada situación concreta.

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Para el análisis de las posiciones de la CCRI sobre Irán y la agresión imperialista, remitimos a los lectores a nuestros numerosos artículos y declaraciones que se publican en nuestro sitio web en: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/ También se pueden encontrar las posiciones de Convergencia Socialista en www.convergenciadecombate.blogspot.com.ar en la sección internacional.

미·영을 등에 업은 이스라엘이 이란과 그 동맹들을 군사적 공격으로 위협하다:

제국주의자들에게 패배를! 이란에 대한 군사적 방어를! 그러나 물라 정권에 어떠한 정치적 지지도 보내선 안 된다!

혁명적 공산주의인터내셔널 동맹 (RCIT) 성명, 2021년 8월 5일, www.thecommunists.net

1. 오늘 이스라엘 국방장관 베니 간츠는 뉴스 웹사이트 Y넷과의 인터뷰에서 이스라엘이 이란을 공격할 준비가 되어 있느냐는 질문에 에두르지 않고 "그렇다"고 답변했다. "우리는 이란에 대해 군사적 조치를 취해야 할 시점에 와 있다. 세계는 지금 이란에 대한 조치를 취해야 한다." 같은 시간 이스라엘 항공기와 포병대가 레바논 마을을 폭격했다. 이는 2014년 이후 처음 있는 사태다. 서방 제국주의 진영을 주도하는 미국과 영국이 이스라엘에 대한 지지를 선언했다.

2. 이번 중동 긴장고조 사태는 지난주 아라비아 해에서 있은 유조선 ‘머서 스트리트’ 호에 대한 드론 공격이 도화선이 됐다. 이 공격으로 영국 용병 1명을 포함한 2명이 사망했다. 이 유조선은 이스라엘 억만장자 소유 회사가 관리하는 유조선이다. 이스라엘과 미국, 영국은 자신들의 주장을 뒷받침할 아무런 증거나 정보도 없으면서 이번 공격을 이란의 소행으로 돌렸다. 이란은 관련 사실을 부인했다.

3. 널리 알려졌듯이, 이스라엘은 2019년부터 현재까지 그림자 전쟁을 벌이며 중동 해로를 운항하는 이란 선박을 반복적으로 공격하고 있다. 이란을 비롯한 친 이란 세력들도 틈틈이 이스라엘 선박에 대한 비슷한 공격으로 대응해왔다. 또 이스라엘과 미국은 이란 핵 과학자 살해와 특히 2020년 1월 이란 장군 카셈 솔레이마니 ㅡ 이란 지배 엘리트의 가장 영향력 있는 지도자 중 한 명 ㅡ 암살 등 이란에 대한 수많은 군사 공격 및 사이버 공격을 가했다.

4. 이러한 사태발전의 총체적 배경에는 수십 년 동안 중동에서 패권 세력이었던 미 제국주의의 역사적인 쇠퇴가 있다. 이 미국 패권의 역내 질서 안에서 이스라엘은 강력한 군대를 (핵무기 200기를 포함하여) 보유하며 워싱턴이 부리는 가장 중요한 지역 헌병으로 역할해 왔다. 그러나 미국의 쇠퇴와 함께 이스라엘의 입지도 점점 더 약화되고 있고, 이로써 이란과 같은 새로운 지역 강국을 위한 공간이 열리고 있다.

5. 이스라엘은 전래의 군사주의·배외주의 정책을 더욱 확대 고조시켜 자신의 쇠퇴를 막으려 하고 있다. 이스라엘은 대 레바논 전쟁 (2006년)과 가자지구 팔레스타인 인민을 상대로 한 전쟁 (2008/09년, 2012년, 2014년, 2021년)을 벌였지만, 그러나 어느 전쟁도 이기지 못했다.

6. 혁명적 공산주의인터내셔널 동맹 (RCIT)과 모든 진정한 사회주의자들은 언제나 시온주의 이스라엘의 침략에 대항하여 피억압 인민의 저항 ㅡ 레바논과 팔레스타인을 비롯한 그 밖의 나라들에서 ㅡ 을 지지해 왔다. 시온주의 아파르트헤이트 국가의 패배는, 그 어느 패배든 이 지역의 제국주의-식민주의 질서의 역사적인 기둥을 약화시킨다는 점에서 한 걸음 전진이다. 맑스주의자들은 이스라엘을 하위의 제국주의 국가가 된 인종주의 정주자 국가로 성격규정 한다. 이스라엘은 원주 팔레스타인 주민을 추방하고 들어선 불법단체다. 사회주의자들은 이 국가의 파괴와 요르단 강에서 지중해까지 (from the River to the Sea) 단일 팔레스타인 국가의 창설을 요구한다.

7. 이스라엘, 미국·영국 대 이란 및 그 동맹들 간의 그 어느 군사적 대결에서도 RCIT는 제국주의자들의 군사적 패배와 이란의 군사적 방어를 내건다. 그러나 이러한 이란 방어는 물라 (이슬람 율법가) 정권에 대한 어떠한 정치적 지지도 포함하지 않는다. 물라 정권은 이란의 노동자계급과 피억압 인민을 억압하는 철두철미 반동 독재다. 우리가 거듭 밝혔듯이, 사회주의자들은 이란의 민중봉기를 지지하며, 또한 아랍인, 아제르인, 쿠르드족 등 민족 소수자의 민족자결권을 지지한다. 마찬가지로, 우리는 이라크와 시리아에서 정권을 도와 민중해방투쟁을 탄압하는 이란의 반동적 역할을 규탄한다. 제국주의자들에 대항하여 이란을 군사적으로 방어하는 우리의 입장이, 이란 정권 또는 이란 정권의 지역 동맹들에 대항하는 민중투쟁에 대한 우리의 지지 입장을 변경시키지 않는다. 동시에 우리는 사우디-UAE 침공에 대항하는 예멘 인민의 방어 전쟁도 계속해서 지지한다.

8. 맑스주의자들이 모순적인 정책을 펴고 있다는 혐의를 걸 사람들이 많이 있다. 그들은 말할 것이다. "어떻게 이스라엘에 맞서 이란을 방어하면서 동시에 이란 정권에 맞서 노동자·피억압자를 편 드는 것이 가능한가. 이 쪽 진영이든 저 쪽 진영이든 어느 한쪽 편을 들어야지." 우리는 이런 혐의 제기를 거부한다. 우리의 정책은 현실이 모순적인 만큼 “모순적”이다. 자본주의 반(半)식민지의 반동 정권이 자기 인민에 대한 억압에 힘을 쏟는 중에 동시에 외국 제국주의 열강의 공격에 직면하는 것은 이것이 처음도 아니고 마지막도 아니다. (예들 들어, 1990-2003년 사담 후세인 하에서의 이라크, 1999년 세르비아). 우리는 리틀 사탄이 그레이트 사탄에 의해서가 아니라 인민대중에 의해 끌어내려지기를 원한다. 우리는 물라 정권이 미제와 그 동맹들에 의해서가 아니라 노동자·피억압자에 의해 타도되기를 원한다. 그렇게 타도되게 하기 위해, 제국주의자들에 대항하여 이란을 군사적으로 방어한다. 일상사로 비유하자면, 온당한 사람이라면 누구나 잔인한 엄마에게 학대당한 아이를 동정할 것이다. 하지만 동시에 남성 쓰레기 인간에 의한 강간 시도에 대항하여 같은 그 엄마 여성을 방어할 것이다. 각개의 구체적인 상황에서 주적이 누구인지 아는 것이 필요하다.

RCIT 국제사무국

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이란 및 제국주의 공격에 대한 평가 분석으로 RCIT가 발표한 많은 성명과 기사, 논설을 다음 링크로 들어가서 볼 수 있다. https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/

Article by Yossi Schwartz, Internationalist Socialist League (section of the RCIT in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 9 October 2022, https://the-isleague.com and www.thecommunists.net

On 5 October 2022, Zionist PM Yair Lapid rejected the Lebanese proposals stating they reverse Israeli security and economic gains from the former US-mediated agreement. The war minister of Israel (or to be more precise the pirate chief) Benny Gantz, instructed the defense establishment “to prepare for any scenario in which tensions increase in the northern arena – including defense and offense readiness,” his office said…” If Hezbollah tries to harm [Israeli infrastructure or sovereignty], the military cost to Lebanon and Hezbollah will be very high,” he said.” (1)

In such a war, the interest of the international working class is the revolutionary defeat of the imperialist settler, the colonialist Zionist state of Israel.

According to a report from the news agency France 24 which was published on 7th June 2022, it is clear that at least 55% of the Karish gas field belongs to Lebanon. However, Zionist Israel’s holy principle is to take from the Arab people and to claim it as part of god’s promise to the Jewish people’s new property.

In abeyance for more than a decade, the dispute between Israel and Lebanon over maritime borders resurfaced in June this year. At that time, the Lebanese presidency warned the Israeli government against any “aggressive actions” in the disputed maritime area. The problem is obvious: Israel has never drawn its borders so that they can claim more and more to be theirs.

“In refusing to specify the territory of the nascent state or to address the issue of its borders in the declaration of independence, Ben-Gurion wanted “a license,” as Kramer writes, “[to] incorporate any strategically vital territory seized in war with an Arab(state).”

The Karish gas field where Israel is exploring, is located in a disputed area of 860 km², in the middle of the Eastern Mediterranean where huge gas reserves have been found in recent years. The Lebanese government invited the US envoy Amos Hochstein – charged by President Joe Biden with mediating between the two countries. However, Hochstein was born in Israel. His parents are American Jewish Zionists immigrants. And he served in the Zionist army from 1992 to 1995. How could such a person mediate impartially? How could anybody truly believe that a Zionist should be in charge of any form of mediation anyways?

Any exploration, drilling or extraction work Israel carries out in the disputed areas would constitute a “provocation and act of aggression”, said a joint statement by Lebanese President Michel Aoun and outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati. However, the Israeli government claims the Karish gas field as part of its exclusive economic zone and therefore says, that the position of Lebanon is not relevant to its maritime dispute.

While Lebanon has been aware that the gas project was on the horizon since last year, its problem has been that its fractious ruling class lacks a unified position on the maritime border issue, meaning talks have been unable to proceed.

This explains why the government of Lebanon agreed that a Zionist nominated by U.S imperialism will “settle” the dispute when the outcome was obvious.

Resolving this dispute is crucial for Lebanon – mired in an intractable economic crisis since 2019 – to be able to carry out its own exploration for hydrocarbons in the disputed area, where Block 9 of the Lebanese Exclusive Economic Zone is located. Found just off the shore of Southern Lebanon, this area is considered one of the most promising in terms of natural gas resources.

See above a map created by the Lebanese army and shown by several local media outlets shows the various different lines proposed and claimed in the Israel-Lebanon maritime border dispute.

US diplomat and mediator Frederic Hof, Washington’s point man on the issue from 2010 to 2012, divided the area into two parts. The “Hof line” attributed 55 percent of the area to Lebanon and 45 percent to Israel. The Lebanese side has not accepted this demarcation.

Beirut has nevertheless not made this claim official at the UN, because while President Michel Aoun initially supported his country’s bid for the additional maritime territory, he feared it could “end” negotiations with Israel – whose government said in October 2021 it was ready to resolve its dispute with Lebanon while refusing to let Beirut dictate the terms of the talks.

In February 2022, Aoun said that the more limited Line 23 was indeed the Lebanese maritime border, backtracking from his original position as a proponent of the Line 29. “This presidential reversal was a gesture of goodwill the American negotiator expected as a means of allowing the negotiations to restart. “The Lebanese political class isn’t thinking about the interests of the people or the country’s financial well-being; they’re thinking about their own survival,…” (3)

The war of imperialist Russia against Ukraine has not only mobilized true revolutionaries to defend the Ukrainian people. The war itself has a dual character and has accelerated the inter-imperialist rivalry between the Eastern and the Western imperialists and has deepen the crisis of the capitalist economy. Facing the Great Depression, regional conflicts on oil and gas will accelerate as well. The current conflict between Lebanon and Israel on the Karish gas field could become explosive very fast up to a militant conflict. True revolutionaries take side with Lebanon against the Apartheid imperialist state Israel, while fighting also against any interference by other imperialist powers, be it Western imperialism like USA, EU or Eastern imperialism like Russia or China.

Footnotes

(1)   Ben-Gurion's Pragmatic Approach to Borders, by Avi Shilon, Mosaic Magazine, April 23, 2018, https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/israel-zionism/2018/04/ben-gurions-pragmatic-approach-to-borders/

(2) Arrival of Israeli gas installation reignites Lebanon maritime border dispute, by Marc Daou, France24, June 7, 2022, https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20220607-arrival-of-israeli-gas-installation-reignites-lebanon-maritime-border-dispute

(3) Ben-Gurion's Pragmatic Approach to Borders, by Avi Shilon, Mosaic Magazine, April 23, 2018, https://mosaicmagazine.com/response/israel-zionism/2018/04/ben-gurions-pragmatic-approach-to-borders/