Daily Times

As this Friday’s sun sets on the horizon of the Gaza Strip, the ordinary people brace themselves not just for iftar but also for the harrowing air strikes by Israeli jets, with the Israeli intransigent regime continuing its murderous campaign of aerial and land bombardment of the besieged population of Gaza under the name Operation Protective Edge. The death toll in Gaza (the largest open air prison in the world) since the beginning of the present onslaught has reached 103, including 24 children and 14 women among the dead. At least 400 Palestinians have been injured, including 123 children. This toll is rising, resulting in an emergency Security Council meeting on Thursday. The Palestinian masses suffering from severe deprivation with 50 percent unemployed and more than 85 percent living in biblical poverty are outraged against the Arab rulers and the so-called international community. Apparently, Barack Obama and Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary general of the impotent UN, Vladimir Putin and others have offered to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The viciously reactionary Netanyahu has rejected halting the brutal and tyrannical assault.

Imperialist proxy wars in the name of various religious fundamentalists and false nationalisms are already tearing the region apart with bloodshed and turbulence. The tragic peoples of the Middle East have been in the throes of an orgy of wars, occupations, partitions, mass migrations and turmoil for almost a century now. The oil wealth of the region has become a curse for these beleaguered peoples. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, the 1916 Sykes-Picot Treaty and 1918 Balfour Agreement, this whole region was carved up by French and British imperialism with straight lines drawn in the sand to create artificial states with the single objective of subjugating the region, particularly after the discovery of oil. The creation of Israel in 1948 was another manoeuvre of western imperialism to control the region’s resources and wealth; there have been three major wars and the military occupation of Palestinian territories.

During the revolutionary upheavals of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, various left leaning regimes that came to power, particularly in Egypt, Syria and Yemen, moved to nationalise the commanding heights and opted for a planned economy to improve the lot of the masses but they also attempted to undo the injustices of imperialism by overcoming artificial boundaries and overthrowing western puppet monarchical and dictatorial regimes. However, the nationalistic overtones of these parties and leaders led to their isolation and, ultimately, they began to crumble due to their fallacious policies in the 1980s and 1990s. This instability continued for almost two decades but was cut across by revolutionary upheavals that started with the Tunisian revolution and then swept from the shores of the Atlantic to the coast of the Arabian Sea. There was wave after wave of mass movements yearning to change the existing socio-economic system that was coercing their lives. Even in Israel, 10 percent of its population was on the streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and other cities striving for ‘socialism and justice’.

The crisis of mankind in modern history is the crisis of leadership; in other words, a Leninist party with a Marxist programme. The ebbing of these movements became inevitable, leading to imperialist interventions albeit through their proxies, fomenting a mild reaction in these societies. Now the world, regional imperialist powers and the reactionary monarchies and despots have brought in Islamic, Jewish and other religious bigotry with wars and bloodshed in Libya, Syria, Iraq and other countries. The barbaric acts of the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria have raised the question of the total annihilation of these ancient and great civilisations.

The Hamas rockets have only provided provocation, giving an excuse for this cruelty to the reactionary Benjamin Netanyahu who, in spite of the mounting death toll, said, “I am not speaking with anyone about a ceasefire. That is not under consideration.” The Israeli cabinet has authorised the army to call up 40,000 reservists, with the danger of a ground assault looming. The last time this specious argument was used was in 2008 and November 2012 when Israel invaded Gaza and killed at least 1,100 Palestinians, including 353 children.

The deadliest Israeli strikes are massacring mercilessly without any remorse or serious hindrance from the leaders of the ‘free world’. The weakness of the US and other imperialist powers due to the economic catastrophes of capitalism and military defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan has ended up with Netanyahu and other Zionist leaders being more and more arrogant and defiant of these imperialist leaders, calling the bluff of their impotent rage. The most tragic victims are again the children, women and the elderly. Umm Fadi, who lives in Tal al-Sultan with her husband and children, said to Al Jazeera: “It is hard to explain politics to children — they hear from other neighbourhood children that it is Israel bombing Gaza again but still I cannot give them an answer as to why.”

In a statement released on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied allegations that Israel is targeting Palestinian civilians: “Israel targets Hamas terrorists and not innocent civilians…Hamas, therefore, bears full responsibility for any harm that comes to Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike.” Palestinian children in Gaza suffer from extreme stress as a result of the violence, and often need a lot of support to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.

From continued occupation and blockades in the Palestinian territories through to the severe discrimination in all spheres of life suffered by the Arab community in Israel, this regime’s policies have created a volcano of anger, some of which has exploded during the current events in Israeli cities. Palestinian youths, their future crudely trampled on by this right-wing Israeli government, have taken to the streets to demonstrate feelings of alienation, frustration and rage.

How long will this orgy of blood and terror traumatise these innocent, unfortunate people, a majority of whom live in poverty, squalor and deprivation perpetuated by terror and war? The tragedy of such periods of mild reaction is that generally human thinking is pushed back and is desperate for the slightest respite. But there is no respite possible within the present sick capitalist system. The local capitalists, imperialist bosses and religious fundamentalism’s barons need these conflicts and their resolution within the confines of the existing system, which is neither possible nor desirous for all those who are in power. When peace talks for 66 years have been an abject failure and wars and armed struggle have only wreaked havoc upon the working masses, the only way out of this harrowing plight is for the masses to shun the prejudices of religion, race and sect, to unite on a class basis, organise and revolt against all those who exploit, brutalise, divide and coerce them for their profits and power.

The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and international secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com