There is only a vague allusion to the phrase "From the Nile to the Euphrates" in the Hebrew Bible. Therefore, there is no real religious justification for everything happening in the Middle East: the confinement of two million Gazans in an ever-shrinking area, the colonial steamroller in the West Bank, the subjugation of most Arab countries, and the massive attack against Iran and Lebanon, including the assassination of their leaders.
Trump embodies the new phase of globalized capitalism. Oligarchs, billionaires, and tech giants have moved on to the boundless plundering of all the planet's resources. Trump has no preferred playground: Greenland, Nigeria, Cuba, Iran-anything goes, as long as there's something to steal. It means that the United States possesses both the most sophisticated weapons and the currency in which the main economic transactions are conducted.The war with Iran is, of course, a trap set by Netanyahu, into which he has fallen. But the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz doesn't really affect the United States. Trump's only problem is saving face while the Islamic Republic emerges strengthened from this war.
The European bourgeoisies pretend to be worried about the methodical destruction of all the rules of the game that had been in place until now and about a crisis that is impacting their profits. They will not oppose Trump. The European Union has launched a massive rearmament plan. Everywhere, military budgets are exploding. The official enemy is Russia. These bourgeoisies are multiplying repressive laws against migrants and the proletariat. They are preparing for a widespread rise to power of the far right. The European Union is more than complicit with the Israeli genocidaires.
The forced destruction of Palestine
Netanyahu has his own interests: an endless war to maintain his grip on power. Beyond Netanyahu, there is Zionism. For over a century, this settler colonialism has massacred or expelled the local population, then waged war against those who want to return home.
Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, the slogan "Israel has the right to defend itself" no longer even tries to convince. Israeli leaders are "peeing off the diving board," in the words of Sylvain Capel: they openly claim responsibility for their actions. Taking advantage of undeniable military superiority thanks to the unwavering support of the United States, they have launched an all-out war.
First, there is the war against Palestine. In 1947, at the time of the Partition Plan vote, Ben-Gurion believed that a Jewish state was only viable with at least 80% Jewish population. What followed was the Nakba. Today, despite the genocide, despite the expulsions, despite the fragmentation of Palestine, there are roughly as many Israeli Jews as Palestinians between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
The method used in Gaza after the murder of 10% of the population resembles that used in 1948: installing a virtually unlivable "temporary" situation that becomes permanent. In 1948, it was the deportation of Palestinians to camps without any infrastructure. Today in Gaza, Trump's "Peace Plan" and his "Peace Council" are proving to be mere scraps of paper. No reconstruction is planned, and the $17 billion is just empty words. Another reality is taking hold: humanitarian aid trickling in, a hermetic blockade, the transformation of the territory into an ever-shrinking concentration camp. The ceasefire is being implemented in the Israeli style. The occupier kills whomever it wants, whenever it wants. And any retaliation is considered a violation of the ceasefire.
In the West Bank, 60% of the territory is now off-limits to Palestinians. There is no concealment in the cooperation between the settlers and the army. They support each other in the destruction of infrastructure, the theft of land, and the establishment of new settlements. The occupier tortures and kills in the prisons. The goal is to concentrate the three million Palestinians in increasingly smaller areas: the major cities and a small number of neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Everything is being done to provoke a new exodus.
The Neutralization of the Region
The greatest success of the Trump-Netanyahu tandem is the Abraham Accords. There was, of course, no reason why the feudal, slave-owning, and patriarchal monarchies of the Gulf, which belong to the same imperialist world as Israel and share the same values, should not ally themselves with Netanyahu. This alliance enabled the genocide. These Arab countries are also afraid of the violence of their new ally, first and foremost Egypt, which is cooperating in the strangulation of Gaza.
The Emirates are the most committed to this alliance. Netanyahu visited Dubai, and the Israeli army is helping the country arm itself against Iran. Israel and the Emirates are intervening together in Libya to support Marshal Haftar, and also in Somaliland.
Netanyahu played a significant role in the fall of the Syrian dictatorship. The new regime, which emerged from Al-Qaeda, is entirely dependent on the West. It will prevent any hostile act against Israel. Since then, well beyond the occupied Golan Heights, Israeli troops are just a few kilometers from Damascus, and bombings of Syrian villages are frequent. Regarding the flotillas, Israeli leaders had received assurances from Europe that they could do whatever they wanted. The European Union had refused to repeal the association agreement that allows Israeli products to arrive duty-free on our plates. And that disgraceful Eurovision took place despite the boycott by several countries. Previous flotillas had been intercepted 150 or 200 kilometers off the coast of Gaza. This time, the acts of piracy were extremely violent and took place very close to the Greek coast. Ben Gvir went so far as to send videos showing the humiliation inflicted on these Westerners, considered enemies. The acts of torture to which some were subjected give an idea of what Palestinians endure daily.
The Iranian Bone
At the beginning of this year, the theocratic dictatorship was on its deathbed. Despite ruthless repression and dozens of hangings, the Iranian people, from all social classes, took to the streets. Women openly defied the imposed moral order.
The Israeli-American attack served two purposes. For Trump, it was predation: after seizing Venezuelan oil, he was going to seize Iranian oil. After establishing US bases in almost every country in the region, he was going to set his sights on Iran and exact his revenge, half a century after the 1979 Revolution that had expelled the Americans.
For Netanyahu, the calculation was simple: "Israelis are afraid of no longer being afraid." Intense propaganda convinced Israelis that Iran represented an existential threat that would "throw them into the sea" (while history is stubborn: it was the Palestinians who were thrown into the sea in 1948).
For both leaders, everything started well: on February 28, Ali Khamenei and the entire Iranian leadership were assassinated, just as the leadership of Hezbollah had been. Intense propaganda, amplified by Western media, claimed that the Iranian people eagerly awaited those who would restore democracy and were preparing to welcome the son of the former Shah, since he was the one Trump had installed.
And it didn't work. Residential neighborhoods and vital infrastructure were razed. Trump boasted of destroying Iranian civilization. What happened is somewhat reminiscent of what the USSR experienced in 1941 during the German invasion. Initially, some of the population accepted the new occupiers who were ridding them of Stalinist terror. Some collaborated in Ukraine or the Baltic states. But very quickly, the horrors committed by the Nazis turned the entire population against them. The Iranian people ceased to demonstrate against the regime. We have anonymous accounts from people who did this at the beginning of the year and who now intend to oppose the United States. Moreover, Trump is no longer talking about overthrowing the regime. All the neighboring countries that accepted the establishment of American bases are paying a very high price. And the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with the threat that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea will suffer the same fate, affects the entire world.
Lebanon: Lessons from the Past
In 1948, many Palestinians living in the north of what would become Israel fled under fire and found refuge in Lebanon. After Black September (1970), Lebanon became the center of the Palestinian resistance. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978. In 1982, another invasion was particularly deadly, but it failed to install the Phalangists in power. The Israeli army supported its allies in the Sabra and Shatila massacre. This invasion will cause tens of thousands of deaths. Southern Lebanon will be occupied for twenty years. The region's water will be plundered. The population will be transformed into immigrants commuting daily to work in Israel. Israel will have its collaborators, the SLA (South Lebanon Army), who will systematically exploit southern Lebanon.
The media are promoting the idea that Iranian intelligence services created Hezbollah. This is a misconception. The Shiite community (30% of the population, living primarily in the south and the Bekaa Valley) was represented by the Amal militia, corrupt like other militias and with Palestinian blood on its hands. Since this militia was unable to resist the occupier, the resistance fighters created Hezbollah and sought aid and weapons from Iran. The entire population of the region, including Christians, participated in this resistance. The Israeli occupier established a torture center in Khiam prison and perpetrated numerous massacres, such as the Qana massacre in 1996. After twenty years of occupation, the Israeli army was forced to withdraw. The SLA fighters were granted amnesty, except for their leaders, who were resettled in Jaffa in former Palestinian homes. Hezbollah gained enormous prestige from this. It became the only militia in Lebanon that had not been disarmed. It allied itself with the Assad dictatorship, and its weapons, sourced from Iran, transited through Syria.
In 2006, Israel attempted another invasion of Lebanon. In thirty-three days, 1,200 Lebanese were killed. The southern suburbs of Beirut suffered terrible destruction. But the resistance on the ground was fierce. Michel Warschawski, a prominent Israeli anti-colonialist, told me that, for the first time, Israeli officers disobeyed orders, explaining that they were being led to their deaths. This offensive was a failure.
I had asked Georges Abdallah what he thought of Hezbollah: "Hezbollah, which expelled the Israelis, we support. Hezbollah, which co-governs Lebanon with the Phalangists, we oppose." Twenty years after that defeat, the Israeli army is once again trying to force Lebanon to capitulate. The methods have changed: emptying the entire region of its population (there are over a million refugees), resorting to massive bombing campaigns throughout the country (nearly 4,000 deaths since the start of the attack), and provoking a rupture in Lebanese society that will force Hezbollah to surrender. Ceasefires are a sham. Israel kills whomever it wants, whenever it wants.
In Lebanon, Israel is repeating what it is doing in Gaza: targeted assassinations of medical personnel, journalists, and members of political parties, and a yellow line prohibiting access to entire areas.
As these lines are being written, this strategy has failed. Netanyahu knows that for Trump to stop in Iran, Israel will have to stop in Lebanon. By destroying villages and attacking Christian buildings and symbols, the Israelis have alienated the entire population, including those who disapproved of Hezbollah's entry into the war. The daily newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour, headed by former Macronist minister Rima Abdul-Malak, has indeed blamed Hezbollah for the war. However, this newspaper, like President Joseph Aoun, observes that Israel is demanding Lebanon's surrender and that negotiations cannot lead to the recovery of the occupied territories. The Lebanese army lacks the resources to pay its soldiers, many of whom are Shiite. The idea that it will replace Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is illusory. Israel, in fact, wants a lasting annexation of the region. This will require deploying a large number of ground troops. This occupation is provoking the rejection of the occupation by many reservists in Israel. Generals are also expressing their disagreement. Everything suggests that, as in 1978, 1982, 2000, and 2006, this invasion will fail.
Pierre Stambul
https://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4746
_________________________________________
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten