On Wednesday, November 14th, Israel assassinated Mohammad Jabari, a Hamas military chief, sparking the latest round of bloodshed only one day after a tentative cease-fire was reached. Although Israel murdered 6 Palestinians (3 of whom were civilians) in the week leading up to Jabari's assassination, Egypt had been able to reach a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Palestine on Nov. 13th. Ahmed Jabari honored this cease-fire, only to be murdered the following day.
For background on the history of Zionism and Left Anti-Zionism, this article posted by Ran Greenstein on the Israeli Occupation Archive is much recommended
The Israeli attack on Gaza also comes only hours after Jabari was handed the draft of a permanent truce agreement between Israel and Palestine. To Israel, the greatest threat of all is a Palestinian formulating a legitimate plan for peace.
Since Wednesday, the death toll in this conflict has reached 40.
-Alternative Information Center: Israeli Premeditated Offensive Against Gaza
-Israeli Occupation Archive: Hamas Leader Jabari Killed Amid Talks on Long-Term Truce
-Israeli Occupation Archive: Hamas Leader Jabari Killed Amid Talks on Long-Term Truce
The Meaning of Israel's Attack on Gaza
"The incursion and bombardment of Gaza is not about destroying Hamas. It is not about stopping rocket fire into Israel, it is not about achieving peace.
The Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians.
Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army… and calls it a war. It is not a war, it is murder.
“When Israelis in the occupied territories now claim that they have to defend themselves, they are defending themselves in the sense that any military occupier has to defend itself against the population they are crushing. You can't defend yourself when you're militarily occupying someone else's land. That's not defense. Call it what you like, it's not defense.”
Palestinian Solidarity in Poughkeepsie
Long before Israel's latest attack on Gaza, the End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN) planned two film screenings of "Hip Hop is Bigger than the Occupation," a film documenting the experiences of black American hip-hop artists performing in Palestine and standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. On Thursday, over 80 people turned out for a screening at Vassar College, while Friday saw a more modestly attended screening at the Family Partnership Center in Poughkeepsie.
The film exposed the inhumane conditions under which Palestinians are forced to live. One populous refugee camp fit every house, business, street, and even the cemetery within one square kilometer. The conditions of occupied Palestine recall both the horrors of Native American reservations and police-occupied inner-cities. These connections were lost to nobody watching the film. All were also acutely aware that Israel would not last for one day without the complete and unwavering support of the United States.
The Palestinian Struggle is Our Struggle
As socialists, we must remember that Israel is nothing more than a puppet state of the U.S. We must remember that Zionism was never intended to empower Jews but was instead intended to give imperialists a stronghold in the Arab world. Finally, we must remember that a free Palestine is essential for the creation of a world free of imperialism. Every day that Palestine is occupied is another victory for capitalism, and another defeat for humanity.
Just as white workers will never rise while their black sisters and brothers are oppressed, American (or Israeli) workers will never establish a successful workers' state while Palestinian land remains stolen.
The liberation of one is essential to the liberation of all.
No Occupation!
No Exploitation!
FREE PALESTINE!
For background on the history of Zionism and Left Anti-Zionism, this article posted by Ran Greenstein on the Israeli Occupation Archive is much recommended
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