Unbearable images of bodies emaciated by starvation having made the headlines around the world, the Israeli government has authorized the airdrop of a few tons of food and the passage of some food aid trucks. It has also announced “tactical pauses” in bombing and shooting, for a few hours during the day, and only in certain areas of Gaza.
At a time when dozens of Gazans, mainly children, have already died of hunger, these very limited measures may bring some relief. But above all, it shows that Netanyahu has the power to decide whether two million Palestinians are going to survive or not, the power to provoke or not the slow agony of the most vulnerable people – already deprived of water, food and hygiene. And it also shows that the imperialist powers allow him to do so.
Regarding the famine sweeping across Gaza, the leaders of the major great powers have not been short of indignant statements. They speak of a humanitarian catastrophe as if it were a sudden natural disaster. But this famine was deliberately engineered by the Israeli leaders. It began five months ago when they blocked humanitarian aid, drove out NGOs and established four army-controlled aid distribution sites, where the hungry were more likely to be shot than to collect food.
Netanyahu's policy is very clear: after bombing Gaza and killing more than 60,000 people, he's using hunger as a weapon to force the survivors to leave. The Israeli government is talking about creating what it dares to call a “humanitarian city” in the south of the enclave. In reality, it will be a concentration camp to coop the inhabitants up before forcing them to leave Gaza.
It's this policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing that imperialist leaders have been supporting for months in spite of all their crocodile tears. If the Israeli state can wage this dirty war, it is only because of their material and political support. The most powerful country, the United States, expresses this bluntly: Trump did make a vague promise of humanitarian aid to Gaza, but most importantly, he declared that it's up to Israel to decide for the future.
As for Macron, he's trying to turn things to his advantage and appear less aligned with Netanyahu than Trump is. He proudly announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state… in September! France has supported the oppression of Palestinians for 77 years. What difference will it make if Macron officially recognizes a state of Palestine that will amount to a pile of ruins in Gaza and a territory nibbled away by far-right Jewish settlers in the West Bank?
No solution to the plight of the Palestinians will come from these oppressors who now want to pose as saviors. The imperialist leaders, responsible for the massacre and oppression of peoples all around the world for centuries, have always supported the colonialist policies of Zionist leaders, as pillars of imperialism’s domination over the Middle East.
Netanyahu and his imperialist backers are presenting the war in Gaza as the only way to protect Israelis. But how can you guarantee the prosperity of some over the dead bodies of others! On the one hand, the river of blood created by the state of Israel will give rise to new fighters, probably under reactionary guidance. On the other hand, in Israel itself, the process is strengthening the far-right and aggravating the authoritarian character of the Israeli state.
For the Arab and the Israeli peoples to coexist fraternally, within a federation of peoples with equal rights, colonialism and all forms of oppression must be overthrown. This means putting an end to imperialist domination in the Middle East, where it has fostered crises and wars for over a century, devastating the whole region.
Of course, we have a basic duty of solidarity with the oppressed and the dead in Gaza. But we must also realize that workers, on an international scale, are the only force that can put an end to the imperialist system that rules the world, the only force that can offer a future other than bombs and hunger, not only to Gazans, but to all humanity.