On January 28, U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unveiled an Israeli/Palestinian “peace” plan. The plan gives Israel significant parts of the West Bank and control of most of Jerusalem. It legalizes illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory, gives Palestinian refugees no right of return and gives Israel security control over some future Palestinian state. None of the capitalists competing for power in the Middle East accept this plan. More chaos and war is in store for the region, with workers dying for the bosses” profits. The Progressive Labor Party (PLP)organizes to turn these imperialist wars into working class wars against all capitalist bosses.
On Dec 22, 2017 a CHALLENGE editorial stated “U.S. President Trump’s recent move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was a holiday gift to the Israeli ruling class, a big-power blessing of the country’s anti-Arab racism and apartheid, and a reflection of the embattled U.S. bosses’ growing isolation in the region and the world. It would also lead to even more instability in the Middle East, collateral damage to U.S. allies, and a rise in mass anger and fight-back against the U.S.”
Trump’s latest “peace” plan is more of the same. This time it is more specifically a gift to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is facing corruption and fraud charges in Israel. It is also a ploy by Trump to appeal to his racist, Zionist and evangelical base as he faces impeachment and a coming election.
Since recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital the U.S. killed the Iranian general Suleimani in Iraq and an Iranian missile strike seriously injured 30 U.S. soldiers, bringing the U.S. and Iran to the brink of war. Then masses of Iranians and Iraqis demonstrated against the U.S. and the Iraqi Parliament voted to kick the U.S. military out of Iraq. The instability and fightback that CHALLENGE predicted continues.
Further weakens U.S. imperialism
Indeed “mass anger and fight-back against the U.S.” is increasing and the imperialist wing of the U.S. ruling class is losing control in the Middle East. Their allies are wavering. The European Union and the United Nations both came out in opposition to Trump’s plan. Then so did the African Union and the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (Al Jazeera, 2/4). The ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan did not attend the unveiling of the “peace” plan (NYT, 1/28).
But Sheldon Adelson and Jared Kushner were there. The Kushner family has major investments in Israeli settlements (Real Clear Politics, 12/6/19). Adelson is a billionaire, Zionist supporter of Israel and Trump. He is aligned with the more domestically oriented U.S. capitalists who want low taxes and less regulation of business.
Israel: birthed by imperialism, raised by apartheid
This imperialist control of and competition over Palestine started in 1948 when the new Israeli state murdered or expelled over 750,000 Palestinians, 85 percent of the population. In 1967 they took over more territory and left only 22 percent of the land in Palestinian hands, albeit occupied, and exerted complete militarily control over 30 percent of the territory and nearly all of its water, its borders, and security. The West Bank (WB) has now been illegally militarily occupied for 53 years. Military incursions into Gaza have killed over 7,000 since 2000, wounded thousands more, and left that area “uninhabitable,” according to the United Nations. The 20 percent of Israeli citizens who are Palestinians have markedly fewer rights than Jewish workers. By declarating itself a “Jewish State” in 2018, Israel has officially adopted apartheid.
Reject the bosses’ nationalism
Thousands of Palestinians have demonstrated against this “peace” plan, but their leaders are corrupt. The Palestinian Authority represents the small, ruling capitalist elite in the West Bank, where inequality is as great as in the U.S. It has a long history of cooperating with Israel to suppress dissent. Hamas is a fundamentalist party that rules Gaza and gains some support by inciting doomed armed actions against Israel.
Need Black-Arab-Jewish working class unity
Workers in Israel also suffer, with shortages of housing, jobs, and good schools. Yet Israelis are blinded by racism against Arab workers, especially Black immigrants. Meanwhile Palestinians are bombarded with nationalism, loyalty to the unity of all Palestinians regardless of their class. Many focus on desiring unity between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and having their own state. As in all capitalist states, workers are misled by nationalism or patriotism- loyalty to local rulers, instead of allegiance to the international working class. The only hope for all workers in the Middle East is to build an international communist movement of Arab and Jewish workers to unite with workers around the world to overthrow imperialist capitalism. Join the Progressive Labor Party as we fight for an egalitarian, communist world.