The Massacre in Palestine and the Threat of a Wider War

by Shamus Cooke

Yet another Israeli-led and U.S.-backed massacre is taking place as the world watches in horror. The western media, desperately trying to peddle the puny rockets of Hamas as bullying, does journalistic back flips in avoiding the utter carnage brought down by the much more powerful –- U.S. made and paid for — Israeli missiles.

End the Massacre in Gaza – No Solution Through Violence

http://socialistparty-usa.org/
natsec@socialistparty-usa.org

A Statement of the National Action Committee of the Socialist Party USA

For International Working-Class Action Against the Israeli Militarists, U.S. Imperialism and Its Arab Pawns!

Zionist Mass Murder: Break the Siege, Defend Gaza!

A victim of a strike on the Buriej refugee camp in Gaza. (Yasser Saymeh/Agence France-Presse)

Defend the Palestinian People – For an Arab/Hebrew Workers State in a Socialist Federation of the Near East

Bush and Obama Back Zionist Butchers – Drive U.S. Imperialism Out of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Near East! For an Internationalist Workers Party!

Just before noon local time on Saturday, December 27, Israeli warplanes launched a massive bomb attack on the densely populated Gaza Strip. More than 270 Palestinians were killed as wave after wave of U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets and Apache helicopters dropped more than 100 bombs. Another 15 were killed by renewed air strikes on Sunday as Israeli infantry and tanks massed on the border for a possible ground invasion reoccupying the area where 1.5 million people are jammed into 140 square miles, barely twice the size of Washington, D.C.

The attack on Gaza sparked demonstrations in West Bank cities including several thousand in Nazareth, while hundreds of Jewish and Arab leftists marched in Tel Aviv to protest the Israeli assault. Police attacked the demo and arrested a number of protesters.

The Israeli military said they were targeting Hamas installations, and the bombs hit numerous government offices in Gaza City and the southern town of Rafah. The Islamic fundamentalist movement Hamas won Palestinian elections in January 2006 and has ruled Gaza as its elected government for the last year and a half. Many of the dead were police officers, although numerous civilians were killed, including a number of children, as schools had just let out for lunch. The Zionists’ attack on downtown areas was deliberate mass murder.

Today is the third day of an intense Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip. In addition to destroying bulidings of the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli army has bombed schools, mosques, universities and other targets, with the death toll being overwhelmingly civilian. By midday Monday (Twin Cities time), the Palestine News Network was reporting a death toll of 345 with at least 1,450 injured, many still in overflowing Gaza hospitals that are lacking supplies due to the Israeli blockade. The prolonged attack has prompted protests and renewed calls for an Israeli boycott worldwide; the U.S. and U.K. stand alone in the world in their support for Israel.

Locally, the progressive Jewish community is mobilizing in opposition to the siege. A joint demonstration has been called for Tuesday outside Amy Klobuchar's office on Washington Avenue near downtown Minneapolis. In a press release (copied below), organizers say they expect hundreds to attend, adding, "As Jews in the Twin Cities, we stand with the world majority in the call to immediately end Israel's current and devastating aggression in Gaza, for Israel to be held accountable for it's actions, and for our fellow Minnesotans and specifically Jews to join us."

News: IMC-US coverage of protests | Electronic Intifada coverage | A Massacre in Palestine - Responses and Developments by Cyprus Indymedia | Israel Indymedia | Palestinian News Network | Intl. Middle East Media Center

TCIMC received this letter to St. Thomas University President Dennis Dease. Dease caused an international uproar earlier this year when he disinvited Desmond Tutu from a speaking engagement on campus, on the basis of his alleged anti-Israel statements. Earlier this month, St. Thomas hosted a forum on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a make-up gesture for cancelling Tutu's appearance. But consciously or not, the event caved in to the same pro-Israel pressure as before.

Here is the letter:

Dear President Father Dennis Dease:

What Will It Take to Defeat the War?

Not Another Popular-Front “Peace Movement,”
Mobilize the Working Class to Fight for Power!

Break with All the Capitalist Parties – For a Revolutionary Workers Party!

For Workers Strikes Against the War
Defeat U.S. Imperialism – Defend the Iraqi and Afghan Peoples

Obama Lays Out Plans for Continued War

By Steven Argue

In a July 14, 2008 New York Times Op Ed, Barack Obama says: