Israel's decision to pull 8,000 settlers out of the Gaza Strip has historic implications for the future, not only of Zionism, but also for U.S. domination of the Middle East.
For decades Israel, armed to the teeth by Washington, could be counted on to serve U.S. corporate interests and protect the vast profits extracted from this region. It has been a key part of the Pentagon's strategic architecture that has allowed U.S. imperialism to politically and economically dominate the entire region.
But consider the situation now.
Israel has been forced to evacuate its forces from the Gaza Strip, ending 38 years of military rule in the impoverished territory. Twenty-one Israeli militarized settlements were evacuated.
The Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and its removal of the settlements is seen as a victory for the armed and steadfast resistance of the nearly five-year Intifada, or uprising. Consciously omitted from the U.S. corporate media's celebration of Israel's "disengagement," however, is the reality that all of Gaza's borders, the sea, and even the airspace above the Gaza Strip remain under Israeli occupation, leaving the Palestinian people still under daily siege.
Armed Protest in Gaza
On the Palestinian side, more than 10,000 armed members of Hamas marched in Gaza City on Sept 18 in what amounts to a victory parade. Carrying assault rifles, Qassam rockets and anti-tank missiles, the marchers were cheered by hundreds of thousands of supporters.
This action, one week after Israel completed the evacuation of its forces from the Gaza Strip, was a political challenge to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has demanded that all militias be disarmed and says Israel will not allow elections to happen if Hamas takes part without disarming. Elections for the Palestinian legislature are scheduled for Jan. 25, 2006.
The demonstration was the largest armed Palestinian protest ever held. It was also the first time that commanders of Hamas's armed wing, who have been hunted down by Israeli military assassins for year, have made a public appearance.
The Gaza Strip is desperately poor and densely populated. Over 1.3 million Palestinian people were packed into a thin strip of land 5 miles wide by 25 miles long. More than half the population are refugees of past Israeli expropriations.
Under a policy initiated by Ariel Sharon and supported by every Israeli administration for the past 23 years, militarized settlements were placed on the most desirable land of Gaza. Industries, farms, food-processing facilities, schools and shops were built, along with elaborate homes and gardens. These settlements are financed by billions of dollars of U.S. aid and political support. Although only 8,000 Zionist settlers actually resided in Gaza, more than 30 percent of this densely populated strip of land was seized to build specialized roads, checkpoints, security perimeters, military bases and guard towers. Over a million Palestinians lived in prison lock-down conditions to accommodate the few settlers. An ever-widening swath of land and homes was constantly bulldozed in efforts to break Palestinian resistance.
Nevertheless, the militarized enclaves could not be secured and Israel was finally forced to withdraw.
Since the Israelis' departure the border between southern Gaza and Egypt, much of it a formidable wall, has finally been opened after being under Israeli control for decades. Palestinians celebrated by tearing down sections of the wall. Thousands moved back and forth across the border visiting and shopping. In the confusion, new arms were quickly smuggled in to aid in rearming and further developing the defense capabilities of the Palestinian militias that had organized years of resistance.
Resistance in West Bank
Israel's withdrawal from Gaza is an effort to further intensify its hold on the West Bank, also seized in 1967. About 210,000 Israelis live in settlements on the West Bank; 250,000 live in areas of Jerusalem and environs annexed by Israel in 1967. While the media has focused on Gaza, the construction of the three-story high Apartheid Wall, which makes ghettos of Palestinian towns and villages, will continue.
As in Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank can at any time face the bulldozing of their homes, destruction of olive groves and expropriation of precious water resources. To expand its system of exclusive roads, settlements and security parameters Israel has already stolen 47 percent of the land in the West Bank. The settlements in the West Bank are designed to surround and isolate Palestinian towns and cities and deny any contiguous land area.
Israel's greatest fear is that the Palestinians will take full advantage of the pullout of the military bases and do as much as possible with their new situation. The mood of continuing resistance in Gaza is visible in signs there that read: "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem and the West Bank," and "Resistance wins-let's go on!"
On Aug. 18, Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahhar said, "The Palestinian people are well aware that the aim of the Zionist 'disengagement' is to weaken our resistance and to strengthen their grip over our land. The resistance must move to the West Bank."
Similarly, Jamal Abu Samhadaneh, commander of a cluster of militias in Gaza known as the Popular Resistance Committees, declared, "We will transfer all our fighting methods and capabilities to the West Bank."
Imperialism and Zionism
Historically, Zionism as a political movement has always been tied first to British and then to U.S. imperialist power. Israel as a state was financed and supported as an outpost for protecting imperialist interests in the heart of the Arab world. Israel couldn't have lasted a day, let alone 57 years, without massive infusions of U.S. economic and military aid.
With this funding Israel could be counted on to attack any popular movement that threatened U.S. corporate interests in the region. The U.S. was willing to give billions of dollars to maintain endless war and instability in the region. Since its creation in 1948, the Israeli military has invaded, bombed or occupied Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
The settlements were not just a mobilization of religious fanatics. Every possible financial incentive was used to lure Israeli settlers to Gaza and the West Bank. All of this was financed by billions of dollars of U.S. aid. Ariel Sharon makes no secret of his strategy. "The settlement blocs will continue to exist. I will not negotiate on the subject of Jerusalem. The blocs will remain territorially linked to the state of Israel," he told Israeli television on Aug. 10. "At the same time, there will be no return of Palestinian refugees to Israel."
The right of return and the right of the Palestinians to their own state, with Jerusalem as the capital, are the very demands that the solidarity movement will need to keep in the forefront.
The days ahead are an extremely dangerous time for the Palestinian movement. The Israeli government is determined to tighten and expand its grip on settlements in the West Bank. In order to regain credibility with the ultra-right wing of the Zionist movement and try to dampen the Palestinian mood of victory it may orchestrate some horrendous attack.
This is a vital time to be especially vigilant and to step up the level of solidarity and support for the Palestinian resistance. The links between billions of dollars for war in Iraq and billions of dollars of support for Israel have never been clearer. As support for the U.S. war in Iraq continues to slide, it is essential to show that U.S. aid to Israel is part of the same war.
Solidarity with and support for the demands put forth by the Palestinian movement provides a powerful political perspective for all activists in every struggle against imperialist war and occupation.
Sara Flounders participated in two International Action Center solidarity delegations to Palestine, visiting the West Bank, Gaza and within the '48 borders during the continuing Intifada.