Why Are Supporters of Palestine Deluding Themselves?

Supporters of Palestine and the Palestinians are deluding themselves. Repeatedly, we hear comments such as Netanyahu has failed, because Hamas has not been defeated, that a ceasefire has, now, been agreed, in which large numbers of Palestinian hostages are being released from Zionist gaols, and so on. To see in this any kind of victory for Palestine or for the Palestinian people, let alone for the working class of Palestine, or the broader region, is wilful self-deception.

First, of all, as I set out at the start of the Zionist genocide in Gaza, the aim of Netanyahu was never the defeat of Hamas, or release of hostages. That provided a useful justification for the actual purpose of the Zionist onslaught, which was to flatten Gaza, eviscerate the West Bank, and further extend its annexation, as well as to open up new wars of annexation in Lebanon and Syria. The ludicrous, and reactionary attack carried out by Hamas on October 7th, simply facilitated it. It was to enable the latest phase of the Zionist project to create a Zionist state stretching “from the river to the sea”, or a “Greater Israel”, as it is described using ridiculous biblical foundations. In turn, that project fulfils the strategy of US imperialism to create the geo-strategic conditions for a Middle Eastern politico-economic bloc, as set out in the Abraham Accords, with other US clients, such as the Gulf States, Jordan, and Egypt to counter the growing influence of China.

This is nothing less than a 21st century equivalent of the genocides committed against Native Americans, and aborigines in Australia, in the 19th century, to clear the way for the seizure of their land, and more rapid economic development, which their continued resistance frustrated. Those that justified the project of Zionism, either at the time, or later, including those who did so on the basis of the cover of arguing for the illusory, two-bourgeois states solution, bear responsibility for all of the inevitable wars between that expansionist Zionist state, and its neighbours, all of the death and destruction, the creation of conditions in which all sorts of reactionary, nationalist ideologies, medievalist clerical-fascist ideologies, and divisions between the working-class of the region, could thrive. Its no wonder that some of those that are responsible for that are willing to delude themselves, once more, into believing that a peaceful, progressive solution for Palestinians might, now, open up, with a rebuilding of Gaza, arising out of the ceasefire.

But, on the other side, those that adopted an equally reactionary nationalist stance of supporting Hamas, or likewise, Hezbollah are also responsible for those same divisions and so on. Not for nothing did Lenin and the early Comintern argue that our goal is not national self-determination, but the self-determination of the working-class, as an international class. Not for nothing did they set out in the Theses on The National and Colonial Questions, that communists only give support to bourgeois-national struggles where the revolutionary proletariat plays a leading role, and where, therefore, the possibility of permanent revolution exists. Not for nothing did they specifically warn against the reactionary role played by the khans, clerics and so on, and of Pan-Islamism.

That is true, whether that support for those reactionary nationalists takes the overt and crude form of groups such as the SWP and its various splinters, or the more subtle form of that of the CPGB/Weekly Worker, which continually confuses and conflates the question of support for an abstract right of self-determination of nations, with the support for the concrete struggle being waged by reactionary, nationalist organisations and governments. It is simply a continuation of the Popular Frontist strategy of the Mensheviks and Stalinists, which has repeatedly led the working-class into disaster, as with Stalin's support for Chiang Kai Shek, and the KMT government.

In fact, as Owen Jones has set out, from the start of the Zionist genocide, in his videos, you did not need to look hard for the real agenda of Netanyahu and his government, which makes Jones' own  repeated refusal to face the facts of what is going on even more puzzling, and illustrative of that self-deception. From the start, the Zionist regime, from top to bottom, made open statements about their intention to exterminate the Palestinians in Gaza, men, women, children, babies and their property and livestock, with full biblical rhetoric in citing Amalek. That is what they proceeded to do, with no concern about hostages, or whether, in that process, Hamas managed to protect itself, in large part, or whether, as a consequence of the genocide, other similar organisations would be created to take its place. On the contrary, despite the fact that the majority of hostages were released as result of negotiations, rather than military operations, and despite the continual demonstrations inside Israel, the Zionist regime, repeatedly obstructed negotiations, and continued with its genocide, backed to the hilt by US, UK and EU imperialism.

We have large headlines in western newspapers, on Monday, rightly stating that we should “Never Forget”, the Nazi Holocaust that slaughtered six million Jews, and yet the sickening, gut-wrenching hypocrisy of those headlines, and of those newspapers, and other media organisations, is that they have forgotten, when it comes to standing up against the very genocide happening in front of their eyes, in Gaza, a genocide that they have not only permitted, but actively encouraged and provided cover for.

For the reality is that Netanyahu, and the Zionist regime have not suffered any kind of defeat, or failure. In fact, Netanyahu, who was facing electoral defeat, would probably win an election, tomorrow, and, on that basis, rather like his friend Trump, would also sweep aside the legal challenges he faces, too. And, Netanyahu's friend Trump, also spells out that reality more clearly. Trump is truly a moron, but one benefit of that is that he simply blurts out what his intentions are, as with his desire to seize Greenland, and the Panama Canal, and now his desire to clear Gaza, sending its population to Jordan or Egypt, to make way for its annexation by the Zionist state, and the development of Gaza's “prime beach front”, no doubt including the erection of Trump hotels, casinos, and golf courses! As with the open statements about their intentions, given at the start by the Zionist regime, we should take Trump at his word, a word that has been openly seized upon, by Smotrich, and others.

If we take the other supposed victory of the Palestinians, it is the release of large numbers of them held in Zionist gaols. But, anyone with any sense knows that, having flattened Gaza, much of Lebanon, and having eviscerated any capacity for the Palestinians to fight back, the current ceasefire, is merely a means of the Zionist regime completing its victory. As soon as the remaining hostages are released, the bombing and shelling will resume. Indeed, the shooting, bombing and shelling have never actually stopped, the occupation of Lebanon and of Syria has continued, in defiance of the terms of the deal, and, no sooner than the ceasefire, inevitably collapses, the Zionist regime will simply round up even more Palestinians from the West Bank than it has released! It has given UNWRA until Thursday to cease operations in Gaza.

The willingness of supporters of Palestine to delude themselves that what has happened is anything short of a disaster for Palestine, let alone the idea that it is some kind of defeat for the Zionist state, stems from their own impotence, other than to issue one pious wish after another. It is the result of seeing the world as some kind of morality play, a struggle between good and evil, in which, ultimately good wins out in the end. Unfortunately, its not just bourgeois liberals that have adopted that world view, but the vast majority of “the Left”, including those that proclaim themselves to be Marxists. For actual Marxists, history is not a morality play, but the consequence of class struggle, determined on the basis of material conditions, which unfolds according to objective social laws.

On that basis, its impossible to describe what has happened in Palestine as anything other than a disastrous defeat for the Palestinians, but more importantly for the global working-class, whose political leadership has been found missing in action once more, and in criminal dereliction of its duty.