Palestine: Lasting Solution
The present genocide in Gaza
As the entire world watches with horror; the mass destruction and genocide in Gaza can be best summed up by a Palestinian woman in her middle forties. In an interview with New York Times, she laments, "Those gone are saved, we, who survive are witness to a hell. We await death to escape the unbearable misery and uncertainties hanging in the air". The all engulfing despair preferring death to life encapsulates the absolute hopelessness of some 2.2 million Palestinians residing in the narrow strip of land 40 km long, 10 km wide, known as Gaza strip, less than thearea of greater Kolkata. The 20-month old ordeal of the Palestinians isimpossible to put in words. The reported death toll by Gaza HealthMinistry is around 55,000 is largely underreported, due to absolutebreakdown of communications, physical & digital. Even the UnitedNation?s estimate is more than 1.10Lac. Cases of fatal injuries hoversaround 2.0-2.5 Lac, many of whom will definitely die since medicalinfrastructure has been shattered by Israeli bombs & missiles. TheWorld Health Organisation reports a 94% destruction of hospitals &medical facilities. In an invasion already steeped in brutality, Gazanow teeters on the brink of its deadliest phase. Currently just 40 percent of drinking water production facilities remain functional inGaza.Without fuel, every one of these will stop operating shortly. Sinceall the electricity to Gaza was cut off by Israeli regime after thehorrific attack of 7th Oct 2023, fuel became essential to produce, treatand distribute water. Almost 82 percent of land area is now under theboots of Israeli soldiers & people of Gaza are running like rats forsafe shelter, food & aid. From the month of June 2025, people ofGaza, desperate to receive aid have come under Israeli gunfire leadingto deaths & injuries. Aid is the only hope of survival which is evendenied by Israeli army. The Zionist Israeli regime in the name ofdestructing Hamas is wreaking havoc on the entire people of Gaza. Eventhe UNRWA aid workers are not sparred. An UNRWA report of18th May, 2025 states that more than 300 of their staffs& family members have been killed by Israeli strikes. At presentIsrael has closed down all aid relief works undertaken by UNRWA. Someprivate US farms & Israeli authority conjointly has taken charge ofsome meagre aid distribution work in clear violation even of so calledinternational norms in war zones. However the reader must appreciatethat the above figures are far below the actuals; news finds its way tointernational community after severe surveillance, blockade &elimination of journalists by Israeli authorities.A report ofthe?Committee to Protect Journalists? dated June 16th, 2025brings to light that 185 journalists have succumbed.While the entireglobal community watches in shudder the genocide in Gaza, one of the keyquestion remains, why is Israel going for such intense and wide massdestruction of lives & property of the Gazans who are incapable ofputting up any resistance. Is it to demolish Hamas completely or it hassome surreptitious design up its sleeves.
Why such genocide?
The answer largely lies within a major shift in the domestic polityof Israel. AP news agency reports on November 16, 2022, "Afternearly four years of political deadlock and five elections, Israel onTuesday swore in the most right-wing parliament in its history".Out of 120 seats in the parliament the Likud party won 62 seats underthe leadership of Netanyahu with its five coalition partners. Theseparties are champions of orthodox Jewish religion, ultra nationalism,ultra-right economic policies and anti-gay rights policies. The losers:The Israeli Democracy Institute, Balad (A Palestinian nationalistparty), Meretz, (a left-wing party that supports Palestinian statehood).The Labour Party, which ruled Israel for its first two decades, barelyscraped into parliament with just four seats. This is not out of rhythmin the global march of the far right polity with Islamophobia,anti-terror, anti-woman, anti-gay & most importantly anti-workingclass policies at their heart.
There is no doubt that the foundation of the Israeli state bydisplacing the Palestinian Arabs contained within it the germs of superrace theory, much akin to the Nazi super race theory. It has maintainedstrongly that the Arabs are an inferior race who has no right to existin the ?promised land? of the Jews, in pursuance to their religioustext, the Joshua.
Israeli ruling class has inflicted wanton atrocities on thePalestinians from time to time apart from the Nakba (catastrophe) in1948. Without going into details we should remember that the first Nakbaeliminated 15,000 Palestinians, drove 7.0 million of them, captured 80per cent of the Palestinian land & laid foundation to a settlercolony state of Israel. Since then the Palestinians have been largelyrendered as refugees. According to Barghouti (a Palestinian Democratpolitician), It would be accurate to call what has been going on in Gazasince Oct. 7, 2023 the "second Nakba, but even worse," who emphasizedthat Israel has conducted more than 13 wars against Palestinians andkilled 100,000 people since 1948.This genocide alone has alreadykilled more Palestinians than the 74 years of occupation. Hereinlies the magnitude of the present carnage.
In 2023 Netanyahu while delivering a public address published a mapof greater Israel which incorporates Gaza, West Bank, entire Jerusalem,parts of Jordon. ItmarBen-Gvir of
Role of imperialist forces
Readers are well aware of the planting of the Israeli state withcomplete backing of the imperialist forces, especially Britain, in 1948.There is no need to delve into that history. With the drawing of thecurtain on WW2 the prime imperialist force that emerged was the US. Overthe next seventy-five years it struck deep rootsin Middle East.Established control on the oil fields of Arab states, toppled severalregimes, planted its compradors and buttressed the reign of theocraticmonarchies to serve their imperialist interests. Israel stood out as themost reliable junior partner to maintain its control over Middle East.Inlieu, the ruling class of US (Democrat or Republican) provided amplesupport to Israel to maintain its hegemony in the area. The long historyof imperialist backing, especially the US require a separate essay,hence we will present a very brief glimpse of it.
The financial assistance from the US, is pivotal to the growth ofIsrael's military capabilities. Between 1949 and 2022, Israel was thebeneficiary of more than $158 billion in military aid from the US,largest in the world. This financial support plays a crucial role inIsrael's budget allocations, representing 3% of its total state budgetand20% of its defence budget. The strategic partnership between the USand Israel was initiated upon Israel's establishment in 1948, but it wasthe geopolitical shifts following the 1967 war that significantlyintensified their alliance. The Nixon administration ramped up USsupport, evidenced by the dramatic increase in military aid from $360million in 1968 to about $2.2 billion by 1973, marking an 800% rise onthe threshold of the Arab Israeli war.
All US presidents, whether Republican or Democrat has extendedgenerous support to Israeli ruling class. Even the so called liberalObama elevated US military assistance to a new level. It increased theannual aid package to Israel from $3.1 billion to $3.8 billion for theyears 2019-2028, amounting to $38 billion in total and marking it as themost substantial bilateral military aid commitment in US history.
But it is not the US federal government alone that is financing intothe Israeli state coffers. Two American investment banks - Bank ofAmerica and Goldman Sachs - acted as purchasers for Israel?s firstinternational bond sale post-October 7th, 2023. Workingalongside Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, these financiers managed thelargest bond sale in Israeli history: $8 billion worth ofEurobonds ended up sold on the day of issuance. As intimated by DeutscheBank and BNP Paribas? participation in Israel?s March Eurobond issuance,Europe also has played a significant role on the financial side ofthings. Apart from purchasing Israeli sovereign debt, the largestfinancial supports out of Europe are presently coming from supranationalentities. The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank - jointly ownedby the European Union?s twenty-seven member states - has maintainedplans for putting $900 million into the Israeli economy.
The above discussion amply brings to light the numerous financial andeconomic tentacles of imperialism by virtue of which Israel maintainsits regional domination while serving as a watch dog of theimperialist forces. Trump has not only followed his predecessor but hasstretched the frontier of imperialist aggression to new heights. TheU.S. president has been making a business pitch in favour of genocide,byproposing to depopulate Gaza and develop it into ?the Riviera of theMiddle East?. Trump has been trying to persuade the world?s wealthiestpeople that they can gain from the destruction of the territory. Thoughit cannot be said with full certainty, portents are high enough that theimperialist plan is to depopulate Gaza and drive the Gazans to someother Arab land.
Anti-Genocide Popular Movement
While the western imperialist forces (an insignificant minority inthe respective countries) pursue relentlessly one of the most barbariccrimes in Gaza since WW2, the common people across various countriesfrom all walks of life have raised voices against their own governmentsas well as Israeli government. Pro-Palestinian protestors criticized
By December 5, 2023 more than 1 million Americans had participated inprotest over the conflict, across over 2,100 instances in support ofPalestine. An escalation of
Cities and districts across Europe also rose in protest marches,assemblies in front of government institutions. From Helsinki to Rome,from London to Berlin streets reverberated against the genocide andoccupation in Gaza.
We definitely appreciate the spectacular, sustained, heroicpopularanti-war, anti-genocide protests.But as Marxists we certainly can?trepose the final hope on these.Nothing has really changed in the ground.No western government is eager to pay heed to the millions of itscitizen?s voice. All western governments have taken the firm position of?Government of the people, by the people, for the capitalist class?.What then is the solution for ending the genocide in Gaza?
What is the permanent solution?
History is witness to several peace agreements, ceasefires betweenIsrael and Palestine. All were short lived. One agreement was forged tomove onto another. Peace have eluded in the region. While contemplatinglasting peace, we should bear in mind the bitter, ineffectual,incomplete agreements before jumping to any conclusion.
On Nov 10, 2024, some 300 people gathered on Tel Aviv?s Habima Squareto protest the "genocide". The protest is organized by the PeacePartnership, a coalition of left-wing groups that came together afterthe war began. One of the leaders, Daoud urges the Israeli people not towait for the international community to intervene against the war. "Onlywe can save ourselves from the fascist government," she says. "We?rehere, and we?re staying here: Jews, Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians."Such kind of protests and voices are emerging in Israel. The latest wasstaged on 11th July, 2025. There is no doubt that this leftvoice is a minority in domestic Israeli as well as Palestinian domesticpolitics. However, within their limited presence they have brought forththe real voice of a lasting solution.
This must be judged in the overwhelming backdrop of voice to end thegenocide, proceed for a ceasefire and to give peace a chance. While thegravest need of the hour is to stop the genocide immediately with whichevery Marxist would agree. At the same time what is very apparent, suchincomplete truce agreement similar to a ?Oslo Pact? or a derivative ofit can at best deliver a temporary peace. Agreement has to be reachedfrom below; agreement has to be reached between the working class ofboth sides on a true democratic basis. It cannot be a caricature of somelofty ideas smuggled through jugglery of words. Since, it will not bedirected to obliterate the fundamental basis of Zionism.All forms ofhegemony ? Imperialism, Zionism, War are rooted in exploitation of oneclass over the other, the domination of one class over the other. Anydomination of foreign people is deeply connected with the domination ofthe working class in domestic polity. This is not limited by economicexploitation only. The ideological, political hegemony of the rulingclass plays a crucial part in maintaining such domination and helpmasking their narrow class interests. Hence as long as the capitalistclass holds on power in Israel, as long as the nature of struggle of thePalestinians is bounded by the narrow goal of bourgeois liberation,peace will be temporary. The Palestinian and the Israeli working class,marginal peasants must unite under a proletarian party, completelyseparate and independent of all bourgeois influence. The task toliberate the Palestinian people in true sense is inextricably linked tothe task of dethroning the capitalist, imperialist class of Israel. Theabolition of all forms of exploitation and hegemony will entail theabolition of all nonsense superior race theory, the abolition ofZionism. Such a society can create a basis for a true democratic,socialist society. The working class united under its own class partyhave the capability to lead the economic, political andideological struggle to usher in a true democratic society byabolishing all forms of exploitation and domination, domestic andinternational. The working class by virtue of its historical positionhas to uproot the exploitation on itself on the other hand it has topursue the end of exploitation on any other class. Hence it canlogically forge unity to all limited democratic aspirations of varioussections of the society. It is capable of leading the struggle toestablish a true democratic society. A society, capable of guaranteeingequality and rights of people in all spheres of life.
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