Israel’s political defeat: Its legitimacy as a colonial and racist State is questioned.

“…As the occupation of Palestinian territory has dragged on, sympathy has seeped away. In a poll published in June, before the destruction of Gaza, the citizens of 23 countries put the balance of those who think Israel is a good or bad influence on the world at minus 26%, ranking it below Russia and above only North Korea, Pakistan and Iran. A growing number of Europeans call Israel racist… And even in America, where a solid majority backs Israel, the share that thinks its actions against the Palestinians are unjustified has risen since 2002 by five percentage points, to 39%. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, Israel is backed by just a quarter…” (Winning the battle, losing the war; The Economist, August 2, 2014)

“Gone are the days when Israel, with its kibbutzim, was a darling of idealistic young Europeans; faded, too, the idea of Israel as vulnerable and poor, encircled by mighty armies… as a plucky little David standing up to Goliath… delegitimisation, says Einat Wilf, a former Israeli parliamentarian is becoming “a strategic threat (“Us and them”; The Economist, August 2, 2014).

The Economist, the centenary British magazine, is not only neoliberal to the bone but also unconditionally Zionist and pro-Israeli. That is why the gloom balance it had written before the present truce cannot be considered a sign of antipathy towards Israel.

Likewise, somehow or another, the vital elements of this balance –that revolves around the strategic point of Israel’s loss of legitimacy but that has other expressions- reflect on the different reactions of both parts.

Palestinians are celebrating a victory. This is so despite the thousands of dead and wounded civilians, the appalling destruction, the unspeakable suffering that will prevail in every way: the loss of relatives, the murdered or mutilated children, the hundreds of tens that have lost their homes, the 200 hundred schools that Israel has knowingly bombed, and that need to be rebuilt. And the worst of this all, as we will explain further on, is that the truce agreement does not imply the categorical end of the genocide blockade of the Gaza Strip –which has turned it into a major concentration camp- but only an (unclear) “easing” of the blockade.

On the other hand, the atmosphere in Israel is that of a funeral, despite the fact that the amount of human losses has been insignificant, and they were soldiers killed in action, not civilians. According to polls, more than 60% of the population thinks Israel has lost the war.

Paradoxes and realities.

Both paradoxes –celebrations in Palestine and discouraged in Israel- have their reasons but also their objective limits. To fulfill a proper balance, the full spectrum of the situation must be taken into account.

Israel has indeed suffered a leap in the progressive weakening on its legitimacy at the eyes of the world, especially on its vital point of support, the “public opinion” of the western imperialisms (since at the rest of the world people are aware that Israel is a racist state of apartheid). As we will see, all this has a strategic importance… but it has not got automatic or immediate consequences.

At the same time, we must not ignore that the immediate outcome is not a categorical defeat of the State of Israel, neither military nor geopolitically speaking. Palestinians have not been relieved of the oppression of this racist monster, neither in the Gaza Strip nor in the West Bank, not even in the territory of the Historic Palestine. More in general the brother peoples of the Middle East are still under the threat of this colonial enclave, which was created by western imperialisms after World War II to act as their guardian dog in the region… a threat that –we must not forget- includes a nuclear arsenal.

But, within these frameworks, Israel has suffered a severe set-back that forced him, for example, to negotiate directly with Hamas to emerge from the quagmire of a war that  “it could not lose” (at least not military speaking) but neither win, because of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

The thing is Israel only negotiates with those Palestinians who happen to be its flunkeys. (Or USA’s flunkeys, which is pretty much the same). Everyone else, like Hamas, is considered a “terrorist” so there is no need to sit and negotiate, but most especially so they have a justification for killing their leaders.

Israel not only had to deal with all this –which has a great political value– but also it had to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, put an end to the bombings and most important Israel had to make some concessions regarding the blockage, although the Gaza Strip has not accomplished some basic rights such as having its own harbor.

We must be crystal clear about this fact, not to tarnish the heroic Palestinian resistance but to go further in this struggle.

Israel’s strategic deadlock.

“Politics, therefore, will play a part on war’s total action, and they will constantly exert influence upon it… War is merely the continuation of politics by other means… War is not merely an act of policy but a true political instrument, a continuation of political intercourse carried on with other means”. (Karl von Clausewitz, “On War”)

We now need to go back to where we had begun: Israel’s worldwide  delegitimisation. This affects and acts as a limit to any of Israel’s policies and their scopes. This manifests itself as well when its policy is carried on “by other means”… in this case by the use of weapons.

In concrete terms, as we have already pointed out in a previous article [See: “Israel in the Gaza Strip- Is the Feiglin plan of “the final solution” being implemented?” Socialism or Barbarism N298, July, 31^st, 2014], Israel is a racist State of apartheid.

However, unlike other racist states that preceded it in history –such as old South Africa- nowadays Israel does not have the crucial need to exploit the Palestinian population, like it used to do in the past. Zionists have been replacing the natives with African (or from other nationalities) workers in those low skilled sectors in which they are subject to a discrimination regime and unbearable control. In terms of capitalist exploitation, “Palestinians are not necessary”.

Likewise, Palestinians represent, in the medium- term, the danger for Israel of what it has been called “the demographic bomb”. The number of Palestinians increases faster than the number of Israelis. Keeping a sector of the population as a slave is possible in a unique state. But if the number of oppressed increases proportionately sooner or later everything ends up exploding.

But the Zionists have ended with the possibility of the “Two State Solution”, that could have been possible two or three decades ago, before the deceiving “Oslo agreements” of 1993. In other words, divide the territories of the Historic Palestine into two states, an Israeli one and a Palestinian one. Instead of doing so, Israel fostered its aggressive settlements policy and the consequent, gradual yet increasing, expulsion of the Palestinians. Nowadays, taking a glance at the map and seeing how the Palestinian ghettos and the Zionist settlements overlap, is enough to prove that only a single State is possible. That single state can only be a Palestinian state: democratic, socialist and non-racist, where every ethnic groups and religious believes could live in peace.

 But if finally that single state happens to be the current racist state of Israel, the ultimate “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian people is not only its essential condition but also its inevitable consequence.

This means implementing the Lieberman plan (current Minister for Foreign Affairs), which has been proposing over the years to wipe the Gaza Strip off the map by nuking it, and to deport all the Palestinians out of the West Bank into Jordan. Or executing the Feiglin plan (current Vice President of the Parliament): to carry on with the “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza but doing so by slaughtering and expelling the Palestinians (not using nuclear weapons), so they can settle on the territory later.

Today though, due to international, local and even Gaza’s own conditions, such “final solutions” became unworkable, even if we insist on the fact that they are consistent with the relentless logic of the racist state.

Netanyahu unleashed a war which has had, even if it has responded to that dynamic, a really short reach. Asa Zionistcritic pointed out, Netanyahu started a war “with no plan”. This means that, unlike Clausewitz, Netanyahu launched himself to war without taking politics into account. His logic was the same that prevails in the racist state of Israel: trying to move forward with the ethnic cleansing. But such intentions came across the Palestinian resistance on one side, and the decisive international “delegitimisation” of Israel on the other.

The concern showed by the former congressman quoted by The Economist is correct: “The loss of legitimacy has become a strategic threat”. The government of Israel thought, evidently, that the severe defeats, distortions and setbacks suffered by the Arab Spring   gave it “carte blanche” to do as it pleased. But Israel is goes out this “unplanned war” worse than it entered it, with its legitimacy even more deteriorated. This is why within the Zionist State,  a broad sector –sadly- of the population is feeling defeated.

Finally, all this leads us to a most important conclusion: the continuation of the heroic Palestinian resistance is essential. Nevertheless, in order to accomplish Israel strategic defeat, international struggle is equally necessary, not only in the Middle East but also all over the world, and especially in those imperialist countries that support the Zionist state of Israel. Stripping Israel of its legitimacy as a racist state of apartheid is a must!