The Internationalist Socialist League

Statement by the Internationalist Socialist League (Occupied Palestine / Israel)

 

We do not know yet the exact number of people who were murdered in cold blood by the Israeli army. Unofficial reports from outside Israel put the death toll at between 14 and 20, with dozens hurt. The nationalities of the casualties are not known. But there is a strong possibility that Israeli Arab leaders, including Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, are among them.

 

The Zionist state claims that the murder was in self defense. However, when the Israeli soldiers and police are attacked by the right wing settlers, the Israeli army does not use live ammunition. Such treatment is reserved for the Palestinians and their supporters.

 

"When Yamit was evacuated on 23 April 1982, the Israeli army was met with VIOLENCE from right-wing Jews, many of whom were originally followers of the fascist Rabbi Meir Kahane from the United States.

 

"The official evacuation began at 2 p.m. on April 23rd. Soldiers climbed up barricaded houses while protesters inside began to throw down sand and burning tires. The IDF sprayed the resistors with white foam. The right wingers were undeterred and moved their resistance into the attic of the homes. Soldiers were brought down onto roofs in cages, and from there, they were able to bring the resistors out of the houses. The army drilled holes into buildings occupied with militants and sprayed them with high pressures of water.

 

"Both male and female soldiers were used to carry out residents who refused to leave their homes. Female soldiers carried the women and children. During this process the soldiers remained unarmed”.

 

Jerusalem Post, Rabinovich, Abraham. "The Settlers Weren't the Problem" (June 23, 2005), "When Jews Evacuated Jews." (June 28, 2005)

 

Last month, on April 19, Israeli sources reported that a group of settlers of the Yitzhar illegal settlement attacked several soldiers and lightly wounded one soldier on a Thursday evening, and also hurled stones at military jeeps and slashed the tires of an army vehicle. The settlers were on their way to attack a Palestinian village, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and the army arrived at the scene to pretend that it is trying to stop them. The settlers then clashed with the soldiers and attacked them. The army did not react at all.

 

The same is true in cases the ultra Orthodox Jews attack the police in Jerusalem. Thus, the murder of the pro Palestinian activists was a calculated policy.

 

As we wrote many times before, the more isolated the settler colonialist state is, the more violent and oppressive it becomes. We saw the same in South Africa during the rule of the white racists. We saw the same in “French” Algeria during the struggle or independence.

 

Israel would not have dared to act in such a way were it not for the economic and political support it gets from the other imperialist states.

 

The response from the European Union, whose citizens made up a large portion of the convoy's passenger list, was very soft. The imperialist mass media showed footage to prove that activists attacked the Israeli commandos with iron bars and knives.

 

In the next few days we will hear Israeli spokespeople and their friends in the other imperialist states bend over backwards to convince us that the navy had no choice, that the peace activists are to blame.However, the masses are not likely to swallow this poison. The Zionist state that is starving the 1.5 million people in Gaza has a long history of massacres beginning with the mass murder and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians refugees in 1947-8. All Israel is stolen land.

 

Now the Zionist daily Haaretz is warning the government that the massacre can cause a new intifada.  “Monday's events will also have consequences for the government's relationship with the Palestinians, and with the country's own Arab minority. Hamas will try to fan the flames to divert the debate away from the trap into which it has led the citizens of blockaded Gaza. It is not unlikely that there will be an escalation on Israel's Gaza border, as well as violent protests in the West Bank.

 

But the central story here is Israel's Arabs. If Salah is indeed among the casualties, the result could be a wave of riots led by Islamic Movement activists. Targeted provocations by Islamists and left-wing activists will now take on strategic significance. Under certain circumstances, and if both sides fail to take steps to calm the situation, this could even end in a third intifada, or Palestinian uprising”

 

As long as Israel exists, the Israeli state will commit more crimes. The only solution is an armed uprising of the masses, led by the working class, headed by a working class revolutionary party. The power to do it is with the super exploited working class of the region with the support of the working class and the masses around the world. What is missing is the understanding of the workers themselves that they are capable of such a revolution. A socialist revolution will form the socialist federation of the Middle East, which will include a Palestinian workers state from the river to the sea.

 

The Palestinians and their supporters cannot wait until then: they are in the front line of the struggle even now and we are with them. However, by themselves, the Palestinian people, despite their heroism, cannot defeat the Zionist monster.

 

Break the siege on Gaza!

For the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes!

For a Palestinian workers state from the river to the sea!

For a socialist federation of the Middle East!

Down with imperialism and capitalism!

Defeat the monster!  Workers’ Socialist Revolution is the Only Solution!

Recreate the Fourth International!