Colonialism was the form that imperialism took in the age of mercantilism. Mercantilism was based upon a symbiotic alliance of the landed aristocracy, and the antediluvian forms of capital, i.e. merchant capital and usurers capital. All of these forms appropriate surplus-value via unequal exchange, as against industrial capital, which acts to produce surplus-value, on an unprecedented scale, via the employment of ever greater masses of wage-labour. It was the dominance of this large-scale industrial capital, by the latter part of the 19th century, which created the conditions for an end to colonialism, and the start of modern imperialism. It went together, with the end of the ownership of private industrial capital, as it was expropriated by large-scale socialised capital, and the evolution of bourgeois-democracy from liberal-democracy, to social-democracy.
But, as conservative social-democracy has collapsed, noticeably in the US and UK, in the last 20 years – often termed the collapse of the centre-ground – at least, in terms of the political regimes, which have, now, been dominated by the forces of petty-bourgeois nationalism, in the form of Trump, Toryism and Starmerism, they have, also, now, reverted to those pre-social-democratic forms of imperialism, characterised by colonialism. The ultimatum given to the Palestinians is emblematic of it.
The ultimatum given to the Palestinians, and that is what it is, rather than any kind of “offer”, or peace plan, is to roll over and be taken over by a colonial state. The only choice they have is whether, in the short-run, that colonial state is administered by Donald Trump and Tony Blair, both of whom have big plans to redevelop Gaza as prime beach front property providing them with large amounts of rent, and commercial profit, no doubt, also, with large amounts of interest from loans that will be foisted on the Palestinians to finance any such reconstruction, or, instead, to continue to be starved, shelled and slaughtered for several more weeks/months, by the Zionist state, which will, in any case, at the end of that, occupy their land, and again drive out the Palestinians.
This is what the farcical two bourgeois states solution was always going to result in. As David Ben-Gurion wrote to his son, in response to its proposal by the Peel Commission,
“partition would be a first step to "possession of the land as a whole".
Not even the pretence of even the two bourgeois states remains in the ultimatum given to the Palestinians. The Palestinians are to accept colonial rule by the US and UK, much as was the case a century ago, under the British Mandate. The first time around that resulted in the violent creation of the Zionist state on Palestinian land, and the killing and driving from the land of 700,000 Palestinians, by the terrorists of the Irgun, and Stern Gang etc. The current ultimatum seeks to repeat that process, and finish the job, as Ben-Gurion foresaw. The Palestinians themselves have been given, and are to be given no role in this process, or in even the discussions around the ultimatum they have been given. It contrasts starkly with all of the moralistic nonsense from European politicians and journalists about demanding that Ukraine had to be a participant in any peace negotiations with Russia.
If you are gullible enough to believe that Netanyahu and the Zionist state will, in any case, abide by the terms of this deal, any more than they have abided by any other, than I have an Eiffel Tower to sell you. Once the Israeli hostages are released, Netanyahu is likely to just unleash even more death and destruction on Gaza, and to step up the occupation and settlement of the West Bank. The ultimatum says that no Gazans need leave Gaza, whilst reconstruction takes place. That says nothing about them leaving in wooden boxes as they continue to starve to death, or die from rampant diseases. But, even if that were not the case, its like saying, you can stay here, in this rat infested, swamped tent, whilst all around you Trump and Blair's property developers erect spanking new, luxury buildings where your homes used to be, and which, of course, you will have not a chance in hell of being able to afford to live in yourselves. You might be able to continue to live in some shack, however, because those living in the new properties will need cleaners and other skivvies. It will be a repeat of the kind of gentrification projects that occurred in the dockland areas of Britain under Blair.
To the extent that the Palestinians continue to exist, as a people, in the area, it will only be in the same way that the Native Americans, in the United States, continue to exist. But, Marxists, in the 19th century, had a duty to argue that there was no point in the Native American tribes continuing to fight against a hugely superior force. We certainly did not agree with the reactionaries who, during the 1980's, proclaimed that it was “better to be dead than red”, as they justified the potential for nuclear war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. It is far better that Palestinians, today, are able to live, even if, all prospect of an independent state is gone, than that they should continue to die in their millions in search of a goal that is beyond their reach anyway.
The other bourgeois Arab states have, of course, welcomed Trump's ultimatum, because their hope has been, ever since the Abraham Accords, to benefit from the investment of US capital in the region, and creation of an economic zone, under the tutelage of US imperialism. Trump's insistence that Netanyahu apologise to Qatar for having bombed it, and infringed its sovereignty is part of that process. Meanwhile, Ben-G'vir and Smotrich appear to be being set up as patsies for Netanyahu, Trump, Biden, and the other war criminals. They are the ones that have already been sanctioned by western governments, even though it is Netanyahu that sits at the top of the genocidal regime, and who could not have implemented the genocide without the support of Biden, Trump, Sunak, Starmer et al.
Ben-G'vir and Smotrich have already condemned Netanyahu's apology to Qatar, and look set to potentially leave the government. But, they are likely to simply be replaced by centre-right politicians, facilitating a continuation of Netanyahu's rule, backed by Trump and other western leaders. Ben-G'vir and Smotrich may well, then, be sacrificed on the altar of the War Crimes tribunal in The Hague, whilst its not at all inconceivable that Trump and Netanyahu could be given that illusive Nobel Peace prize! All morally reprehensible and gut wrenching, but the world does not function on the basis of morals, but on the basis of power.
Moreover, if the lives of millions of Palestinians are saved by such a process, it opens the potential for the only real solution to the problems of the Palestinians, and everyone else in the Middle-East. That is a solution based upon class struggle, and not the illusory and reactionary basis of nationalism.
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