End Israeli state terror – build a mass working-class alternative

Matt Dobson

Nethanyu’s Israeli government of death ended the ceasefire in Gaza with a relentless bombardment that killed hundreds in one night. Even when the war was supposed to have paused, the killing and repression of the Palestinians never abated including in the West Bank. 

This onslaught since October 2024 has killed over 50,000 in Gaza. The strip has been pulverised into rubble. Malnourishment abounds as aid and food is blocked by Israel. 

The ceasefire agreement saw some hostages released but the second stage that would see the IDF leave Gaza never got close to being implemented. Netanyahu’s regime now actually wants to remove Palestinians from parts of the territory and step up a military presence. 

Not only does his regime want to maintain military control but also keep the far-right elements of the coalition keeping him in government together. This also means the stepping up of air strikes on Lebanon and attacks in Syria. 

US president Trump, after ceaselessly claiming credit for the ceasefire and raising his crazed plan for turning Gaza into the “Riveria of the Middle East”, fully supports this latest onslaught. Trump, after claiming his administration wouldn’t be involved in conflicts abroad, authorised air strikes on the Houthis in Yeman, who disrupted sea trade against the interests of the US and Israel. 

Netanyahu claims Hamas must be removed entirely from Gaza. Many Hamas commanders in Gaza have been killed, but this military aim will not be achieved. As Biden’s secretary of state Blinken remarked before the ceasefire, despite losses, Hamas has recruited more fighters and its fighting capacity is still intact. This shows the major powers and Israel will not be able to bring about an end to the conflict. 

At the same time Hamas cannot with its methods defeat the Israeli state machine. Palestinians in Gaza face a existential struggle to survive. The corrupt regimes of Egypt, Jordan and other states have turned their backs on them. They refused Trump’s demands to take in Gazans for fear of bringing instability to their own corrupt rule. A mood of solidarity, in contrast, exists in their poor oppressed populations. 

Trump is pivoting to try and reach a nuclear deal with the weakened Iranian regime. US imperialism desires a “normalisation” across the region including Israel and Saudi Arabia for its own interests. But that will be a pipe dream. 

Netanyahu faces growing opposition in Isreal. Tens of thousands have marched demanding a return to a ceasefire and the sacking of the head of the secret service. 

How can not only a ceasefire be achieved but also an end to war in the region entirely? How can the ending of the occupation and siege and Palestinian liberation be won? 

Certainly, no trust can be placed in Nethaynu, Trump or the likes of Starmer and Macron and the Iranian regime. Pressure from the working class organised in trade unions internationally, including against the export of arms to Israel must be stepped up.

Backed by workers’ solidarity internationally, Palestinians in the occupied territories need to build their own democratically run organisations, unaligned with any of the Palestinian pro-capitalist parties, including Hamas and Fatah, for resistance and mass struggle against the occupation and to fight for national liberation. During the ceasefire the Palestinian Authority attacked youth and the poor demonstrating against poverty and repression. 

The Palestinians in Gaza have the right to determine their own future. So too across the entire region, including in Israel, the building of mass workers’ organisations is the way forward to counter and challenge capitalist parties and interests. 

In Israel, a general strike took place on 2 September 2024 demanding that the government implement a ceasefire in Gaza to obtain the release of Israeli hostages. Anger has erupted again in Israel over the ending of the ceasefire. 

For future movements to be able to bring peace and security for people on both sides of the national divide, adopting socialist ideas will be crucial, as only those ideas offer an alternative to the capitalist system that is the underlying cause of oppression, conflict and war. 

The building of workers’ mass political parties armed with socialist programmes – to take wealth and control out of the hands of the ruling elites and to develop socialist economic planning to raise living standards for all – is the route towards achieving workers’ collaboration across the region and an end to the cycles of conflict.

Socialist Party Scotland fights for:

• End the siege of Gaza and the occupation of all the Palestinian territories. For the permanent withdrawal of the Israeli military from those areas
• For a mass struggle of the Palestinians, under their own democratic control, to fight for liberation
• For the building of independent workers’ parties in Palestine and Israel and links between them
• For an independent, socialist Palestinian state, alongside a socialist Israel, with guaranteed democratic rights for all minorities, as part of the struggle for a socialist Middle East
• No trust in capitalist politicians internationally. Fight to build workers’ parties that stand for socialism and internationalism