The Gaza Strip is a burial ground for thousands of workers massacred in the never-ending Palestine-Israel Conflict, with the self-serving nationalist bosses of Hamas on one side and the apartheid Israeli state, in alliance with U.S. imperialism, on the other. In the latest round of violence over 11 days in May, at least 248 people—including 66 children--were killed in Gaza, while Israeli fatalities stood at 13 (Aljazeera.com, 5/24). The gap in death tolls is nothing new; it reflects a deliberate policy of collective punishment by the Israeli war machine and its openly racist government.
This one-sided war is also a sign of the deepening crisis of U.S. imperialism, as Russia, China, and Iran try to expand their influence in the area. The resulting instability could become the spark that sets off a global war.
Two toxins: Israeli state terror, Palestinian nationalism  
With U.S. President Joe Biden defending Israel’s “right to defend itself,” the murderous Netanyahu regime is unleashing its military might against Gaza’s working class. As they hide behind their façade of “democracy,” the Israeli rulers are committing atrocities to guarantee their profits. In out-and-out war crimes, Israeli planes bombed at least six hospitals and 50 schools, devastated electricity and water plants, and shut down Gaza’s only Covid-19 testing lab (New York Times, 5/18).
As brave Gaza workers and youth rise up in the streets against impossible odds, we should ask: What is our fight in the Gaza Strip? Is it to demand an end to the Israeli occupation, the dismantlement of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, an end to ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, the establishment of a Palestinian state? We submit that none of this is enough. The working class deserves much more.
Progressive Labor Party condemns both the Israeli-U.S. massacre and the dead-end Palestinian nationalism promoted by Arab bosses in Gaza and the West Bank. We call instead for proletarian internationalism and communist revolution. We envision a world without profits or borders, where society will be run by and for the workers of the world. Only through the unity of Arab and Jewish workers can we defeat nationalism and smash the capitalist bosses on both sides.
What is happening in the Gaza Strip?
Since 1948, when the state of Israel was created, the people of Palestine have been violently pushed into only 20 percent of their former territory.  Blockaded by both Israel and Egypt, the densely populated Gaza Strip has little water, sporadic electricity, no jobs, and no freedom of movement.
To understand how Gaza came to its current misery, we must consider the forces of nationalism, racism, and inter-imperialist rivalry in the bosses’ quest for Middle East oil. The Zionist state, backed by billions in U.S. military aid, basically stole the Palestinians’ land and condemned them to life in a de facto concentration camp  while the bosses’ international organizations looked the other way (Amnesty International, 2017).  The Zionist rulers’ racist and nationalist ideology has created a state of desperation among young workers in Palestine.
Capitalism divides us, communism unites us
Throughout history, the capitalists and their governments have used ethnic and racial divisions to divide workers and advance their own political and economic agendas. Workers on both sides of the bosses’ borders suffer the cost of Israel’s occupation. The poison of anti-Arab racism leads workers in Israel to accept cuts in social services to finance the country’s military.
Meanwhile, workers in Palestine are misguided into taking sides in the dispute between the corrupt West Bank bosses of the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic fundamentalists of Hamas. Neither faction has anything to offer workers. Palestine needs a mass anti-racist and revolutionary movement under communist leadership to create a society run by and for the working class.   
As we march in Colombia, Chile, Italy, and all over the world to protest against the occupation of Palestine, we must be clear that both racism and nationalism are tools used by capitalists to protect their profits. Wars between imperialists force workers to fight and kill their class brothers and sisters to protect the capitalists’ interests. History is rich with examples of unity between Arabs and Jews. Under communist leadership, we can rekindle that unity, defeat the exploiters, erase all borders, and smash the murderous capitalist governments.
The latest attacks on the working class in Gaza—and in India, Mexico, and Brazil--are driven by the international crisis of capitalism. We see it clearly in the U.S., where hundreds have died at the hands of the racist police. We see it in Colombia, where thousands have been massacred or disappeared, most recently during a general strike where 41 civilians were killed by the brutal cops.
PLP calls for workers to organize class interests, not the bosses’ rotten profit system. We call for the workers of the world to unite and fight to build a communist society without nationalism or religion, where the only flag will be red. Once workers unite in their struggle to build a communist future, it will spell the capitalist system’s demise.  
Fight for communism, abolish all borders!