After the split in Palestine: the Palestinians needs working class leadership in the struggle against Israeli occupation

//WORLD REVOLUTION //International Coordination Comittee //2007-07-31

In Palestine the US, Israel and the leading faction of PLO/Fatah has provoked an armed settlement with Hamas. It is a cynical joke to claim that the current split between Gaza and the West Bank is the result of a coup from Hamas. The act of Hamas was a reply to the declaration of war that Abbas politics has meant. Pressures from Israel and the US in the form of economic starvation and political boycott in combination with repeated military violence, the imprisoning of Hamas ministers, the arming of militias loyal to Abbas to the tune of millions of US dollars etc has all meant that the realisation of the democratic will of the Palestinian people has been made impossible. The so-called coup from Hamas has only been the logical continuation of the organisation's defence of its democratic mandate against the on-going military armament from Abbas and his, US, and Israeli plans for a coup d'etat to get rid of Hamas.

It is really a shame that the PLO/Fatah leadership has become the direct tool for Israel and the US in the struggle against the Palestinian people's totally justified demands for liberation from occupation and national oppression. But it is also logical if one takes into account the fact that the leadership of the PLO/Fatah has accepted the Israeli and US ”two-state solution” since way back, acctually since 1993 when Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo accord. This ”solution” was never meant to mean more than a limited form of autonomy for the Palestinian enclaves in the form of total subordination under Israel. It was never meant to confront Israel's military controll, its seizure of the most of the water and the best soil or its carving up of Palestinian land for the expansion of settlements. The reason to this earlier capitulation lies in the bancrupcy of PLO:s/Fatahs bourgeois nationalist project, basing itself on a political strategy that has failed completly over the years after leaving the working class masses as passive bystanders in the struggle against occupation.

The split between a Gaza strip controlled by Hamas and a West Bank controlled by Abbas is in the final analysis is the consequence of this solution's unability to win support from the majority of Palestinians. Capitulations are never easy to either hide or sell, and this also explains why Abbas now stands very weak politically before the grassroot ranks of the PLO/Fatah. Israeli politicians and strategists are even thinking about an eventual release of the more popular Marwan Barghouti in order to increase the base of support for the reactionary government installed on the West Bank.

If Abbas shamefully have stood on the same side as Israel in the struggle against Hamas, the later organisation, which is the biggest party in Gaza, has been far from consistent in its resistance. Even though Hamas has refused to recognise Israel as a legitimate state in words, it did offer Abbas a leading position in what would have been a pro-collaborationist government with Abbas earlier this year, and thereby doing so in opposition to the democratic will of the Palestinians (the election result last year gave Hamas a majority). But this has not been enough for Israel who refuse to negotiate with anyone that doesn't totally accept Israel's right to oppress the Palestinians.

Hamas is a part of the resistance, and as such, we defend it against every sionist or imperialist attack. The working class movement, the solidarity movement and the left must resist every attempt to attack Gaza militarily in the coming period. The clear danger of this scenario expresses itself in the form of calls from the right wing in Israel for a final armed settlement with Hamas. We must also resist the continuing economic blockade of Gaza and give our support to every act of resistance against the Israeli army in its preparations for an attack. Abbas and the ruling faction of Fatah/PLO in the West Bank should be isolated and condemned for its collaboration with Israel and the US by all Pro-Palestinian forces.

Hamas on the other hand does not offer a road forward in the struggle. Its reactionary anti-working class and islamist character has been clearly prooven only shortly after its victory in Gaza. Its militia has since then been attacking the Palestinian trade unions headquarter in Gaza and replaced its name at the front of the building with a sign stating that it will from now on be used as a ”Charity organisation for issues concerning prisoners”. Hamas militia men have also plundered and destroyed a radio station belonging to PFLP, a left faction in the PLO that has been condemning the role of Abbas (and also critisised Hamas). Such attacks must be fought back and be consistenly condemned.

The situation clearly express the need of mass struggle on behalf of the Palstine and Arab working class against Israel's occupation. It is more and more evident that only a secular and revolutionary mass movement will offer the resistance that the Palestinians deserves and needs in its struggle. Only a revolutionary working class party based on the masses would have the power to challenge the current balance of forces through resisting the occupation with militant mass action and at the same time use agitation in order to win over the support from the working class in Israel and by doing so start to break down the sionist state from the inside. With such a strategy, the struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian people could be a the start of a struggle against imperialism and capitalism in the whole region.

REVOLUTION