the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jan 20, 2025
On January 15, a ceasefire agreement was reached for the war in Gaza. But the announcement of an imminent ceasefire did not stop the Israeli military from continuing its slaughter of the Palestinians.
In the four days before the ceasefire was supposed to take effect, Israeli warplanes continued to drop bombs and Israeli tanks continued to shell buildings in Gaza, killing well over 120 people, including many children. This was just a continuation of the massacre that the Zionist regime in Israel has waged against the Palestinian people.
The Gaza health ministry has identified over 47,000 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli attacks in the 15 months of this war. Most of them were women and children, not Hamas fighters. But the number of 47,000 is far from the total number of those killed. The 47,000 does not include all those dead still buried under the rubble of bombed buildings. It does not include those who died from the lack of medical care after the Israeli military deliberately destroyed the hospitals in Gaza. It does not include those, mainly children, who have died from starvation as the Israeli government stopped food and aid trucks from entering Gaza. It does not include those who have died from the cold, after the Israeli military destroyed or damaged about 70% of the housing in Gaza.
The death and devastation in Gaza was inflicted by Israeli military forces, but they were carrying out the policies of the U.S. government. For decades, the U.S government has armed Israel to the teeth and used it as its policeman in the Middle East to protect the financial interests of oil companies and other U.S. corporations. The U.S. government continued to send more weapons to Israel as it bombed Gaza, and did nothing to stop the massacre because Israel was carrying out what the U.S. wanted.
Today the U.S. political leaders, the outgoing Biden and the incoming Trump, want to debate over which one will get credit for the ceasefire. They are both disgusting hypocrites because both of them voiced their full support for the Israeli government’s war in Gaza. Both are responsible for the massacres in Gaza. The blood of the Palestinian people is on their hands, too.
What about the future for the Palestinians in Gaza? Even if the war in Gaza does stop for the time being, the oppression of the Palestinian people does not cease.
Over 75 years ago, Palestinian people, who lived side by side with Jewish people, were killed and thrown off their land by Zionist armed bands. With the support of imperialism, the Zionists set up a state that excluded the Palestinian population. Palestinian people were forced into ghetto-like conditions in Gaza, the West Bank and in refugee camps. They are victims, not just of the Zionist government, but also of imperialism, especially U.S. imperialism.
Today, displaced Palestinians are refugees in Gaza and Israel, but also throughout the Middle East, mingled among other populations, who are also oppressed by imperialism and by their own regimes. The Palestinian presence among them can be important because the Palestinians bring with them a history of resistance to oppression. For the millions of poor and working people in the region, the only way forward is to resist the exploitation of imperialism and the nationalist regimes on a working-class basis.