Stop the Israeli massacres in Gaza

The youth organization FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) sent Workers World the following statement on the Israeli assault on Gaza.

The massacre of at least 225 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by the Zionist military, using U.S.-supplied F-16s and Apache attack helicopters, is the latest in a long line of crimes against humanity committed by Israel.

After having committed this atrocious, genocidal act, the government in Israel continues to posture, saying they are resolved to continue. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, “Israel is now seeking to wipe out the terrorism which is trying to undermine the whole area. We will not hesitate to strike anywhere where we are attacked.” For good measure, Olmert claims, “The instructions that we have given to our forces are to refrain from inflicting injury and harm on the innocent.”

Any person with a mere inkling of what has transpired in Palestine, and specifically the Gaza Strip, this past year would find Olmert’s statements to be at the least contradictory and/or cynical. These are cold words from a pathological bigot, whose government would like nothing more than to forcibly remove or completely wipe out the Palestinian people.

The creation of the Gaza Strip is no different than the ghettos created by Nazi Germany, the Bantustans in South Africa or the forced removal and relocation of Indigenous people in North America.

Gaza has been made a virtual prison, with no freedom of movement and where the Israeli government cuts off access to vital resources, including food, fuel and medical supplies.

The raining down of 100 tons of bombs exacerbates the inherent problems of the Gaza Strip, created by the conditions imposed by Israel upon the people, leaving rampant destruction, death and injuries.

The daily conditions of life in Palestine for the Palestinian are those of poverty, degradation and physical violence—from the degrading checkpoints that Palestinians have to pass through, where they are humiliated, beaten and denied emergency access to medicine, to the incursions by Israeli military and police into Palestinian areas. The situation is one of severe oppression and repression designed to crush the spirit of a people demanding freedom.

The movement in the U.S. has to raise the struggle of the Palestinian people to the level of importance that it demands, to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to support them in their fight for freedom and one secular Palestine.

The anti-war movement must immediately mobilize and demand that these attacks stop, that the blockade of the Gaza Strip be lifted and that the U.S. cease giving military and monetary aid to the terrorist government of Israel.