The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 27th October 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 27th October 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Millions of Palestinians are under relentless Israeli fire as the Zionists pound the Gaza Strip in preparation for a direct military assault on the enclave. The Israelis have allowed a trickle of trucks bearing humanitarian aid to enter the Strip from Egypt – but this is only a drop in the ocean compared to what is so desperately needed.
Food, water and power supplies have been cut. The health service has collapsed. The people face starvation. Just two per cent of the usual food supplies to the Strip have been delivered to the enclave since Israel’s “total siege” began soon after the devastating Hamas raid into Israel on 7th October.
Over 6,500 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have been killed in Israeli air-raids and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip. Another 18,000 have been injured. The Israelis put their losses at over 1,400 dead and 5,100 wounded. They say around 250 others are being held captive by the Hamas militia.
Violence has now spread to the West Bank as Israeli troops backed by Zionist settler gangs try to crush nationalist demonstrations with a wave of terror that has left over a hundred Palestinians dead and 1,772 wounded.
The Arab leaders, including the Saudis and the other oil-princes who have long served the American interest, have offered to mediate to end the bloodshed. Hamas, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood that runs the Gaza Strip, says it’s ready to talk. Four of its captives have already been freed as a good-will gesture.
But at the United Nations the imperialists have spurned calls for an end to the fighting from Russia, China and the Global South. Now the Israelis are even calling for the resignation of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, after he said he was deeply concerned about “the clear violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza.
Guterres said the situation in the Middle East was growing more dire by the hour and urged all parties to respect and protect civilians.
“I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts Gaza burns as Americans spurn call for peace of terror by Hamas in Israel. Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.”
He then told the Security Council that it was “important to also recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”, adding: “The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
He described how Palestinians had “seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished”.
This was enough for the Israeli ambassador. Gilad Erdan accused the UN chief of “justifying terrorism” and demanded his immediate resignation. He later said Israel would now withhold visas from UN officials.
At the UN the Americans vetoed Russian and Brazilian calls for a cease-fire to give the Israelis more time to prepare for their ‘war of annihilation’ against Hamas and anyone else who gets in their way.
And in an exclusive interview with the Mail on Sunday, Nir Barkat, Israel’s Minister of Economy, warned that Iran’s Ayatollahs will be “wiped off the face of the earth” should Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia resistance movement that has Iranian support, attack Israel.
Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu, already facing corruption charges in the courts, wants a cheap victory to stave off growing calls for his resignation over his handling of the crisis. At the same time, his faction in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, is moving to stifle all dissenting voices.
Last week a communist MP, Ofer Cassif, was suspended for 45 days for what was deemed as “anti-Israel statements after the war in Gaza broke out”. Cassif called the Knesset’s decision “another nail in the coffin of freedom of political expression”.
“In each of my interviews, I emphasised my complete condemnation and deep disgust for the criminal massacres by Hamas. The political statements against the occupation and the war are not statements against Israel, since peace and justice also serve it and its inhabitants,” he said.