ISRAEL-PALESTINE, MAY 12—As we go to press, war in Israel-Palestine is quickly expanding. In the last three days dozens of people have been killed including at least 14 children and hundreds wounded in the apartheid state of Israel-Palestine. The situation for the working class there is dire as our sisters and brothers are caught between the terrorism of the Israeli ruling class and the self-serving nationalist leadership of the Palestinian movement. The situation cries out for the unity of all workers to turn this war between the bosses factions into a movement for communist revolution and liberation of our class from capitalism.
The latest uprising by young workers and the massive attacks by the Israeli ruling class on Palestinian workers was set off by the attempted eviction of Palestinian workers from several neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The situation where Palestinian workers have been kept in extreme oppression has led to many years of rebellion by young workers since the Israeli ruling class was put into power by the British and U.S. bosses. The Palestinian leadership has used the anger of young workers against the racist apartheid condition to build their own power and wealth at the expense of the working class.
The current escalation of the war in Israel-Palestine is caught up in the combination of crisis in the Israeli ruling class which has been fighting among themselves, the needs of Iran which is backing the Hamas wing of the Palestinian ruling class and the bigger inter-imperialist rivalry involving the weakening U.S. bosses. This convergence of the capitalist crisis is threatening to not just escalate war in that part of the world but bring in bosses from other countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
The current overall volatility of the world situation where the U.S. ruling class is weakening and competing imperialists are moving into the U.S. bosses former sphere of influence make the situation in Israel-Palestine a possible start point for a much wider war (see more next issue).