Exactly one year ago, the Zionist state of Israel commenced its ruthless bombing, invasion and occupation of the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave. With the support of US imperialism, Zionist forces have intensified the genocide of the Palestinians, employing tons upon tons of bombs to pound the entire Gaza.
No fewer than 41,000 people, including 27,000 women and children have been killed in the repeated massacre of entire families and communities. Almost the entire 2.1 million population of Gaza has been displaced. The bombings deliberately target commercial and residential buildings, hospitals, schools, energy plants, the water system, roads and others. The people of Gaza are suffering gravely due to hunger and disease, lack of drinking water, destruction of sanitation and collapse of the health system. Israeli forces have not spared even the media and international agencies bringing aid.
The Zionists, the US and its allied imperialist countries, make grossly foolish justification of the war. They insist that the relentless bombing of Gaza are part of “Israel’s right to defend itself,” when its targets are the defenseless population. The bombing of Gaza is a brazen violation of international humanitarian law and constitute heinous war crimes.
The terrorist war of the Zionist Israel in Gaza is a disproportionate response to the armed uprising of October 7, 2023 of various resistance fighters for Palestinian liberation. On that day, they staged an armed offensive against Israel’s military forces and facilities, and took prisoners. This was launched by a broad array of resistance groups in Palestine, including Islamic forces (Hamas), the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as well as other democratic, armed and unarmed revolutionary forces.
The uprising, known as the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, aimed to resist the escalating oppression and political repression by Zionist Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. It now forms another historic chapter in the continuing struggle of the Palestinian people for national liberation and their right to self-determination.
More than 75 years ago, Zionist or Jewish ultra-nationalist forces, supported by US and British imperialism, unleashed massacres and various forms of violence to drive more than 700,000 Palestinian people from their homes and land and pave the way for the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel. The Al Nakba (or The Catastrophe) forced Palestinians to flee to Jordan (West Bank) and the Gaza Strip (in the border with Egypt), or seek refuge in different parts of the world. Since 1967, the Zionist Israel has occupied the West Bank and imprisoned Palestinians in fenced off communities. The Gaza Strip has since been an open air prison, constantly under watch and under siege by Israeli forces.
The ruthlessness and barbarity of 75 years of Zionist and imperialist oppression have been matched only by the ardent and relentless resistance of the Palestinian people. They have manifested their determination to resist through wars and Intifadas, characterized by the heroism and selfless sacrifice of countless martyrs. The armed offensives on October 7, 2023, by the Palestinian resistance fighters marked a new milestone in their historic struggle to free their people from the shackles of oppression.
The Zionist Israeli state is fully supported by the US and its allied imperialists. In addition to annual $3.8 billion military aid, the US Congress extended at least $12.5 billion in military assistance to Israel since October 2023 in the form of more than 10,000 tons of bombs used in the slaughter of Palestinians. It has ignored worldwide condemnation of the genocide in Gaza, as profits of American arms manufacturers have skyrocketed. The Biden government’s call for a ceasefire is hypocritical and merely aims to obscure its role in the genocide. The real aim of US imperialism is continue using Israel as a foothold to maintain and strengthen its hegemony in the Middle East in order to secure its interests in the vast oil reserves and other resources.
With tacit US support, Israel has escalated its war in the Middle East through attacks against Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iran, whose people and resistance fighters have supported the Palestinian people’s resistance to the genocide by Israel. The missile attacks on residential areas in Lebanon killed over 500 civilians, while assassinating key leaders of the Hezbollah movement. As US proxy, the Zionist state of Israel aims to provoke a wider war in the Middle East, targeting countries which have firmly defended their sovereignty, especially Iran, which the US has openly declared hostilities. Provoking a wider conflict and the war obsession of Israel and the US are clear manifestations of the bankruptcy of imperialism.
Across the world, millions have expressed strong indignation against the genocide in Gaza, as well as in the occupied West Bank. Despite attempts to suppress their protests, like in the US and other countries, they are undeterred because they draw inspiration from the boundless determination of the Palestinian people and their revolutionary forces to continue their resistance.
The Filipino people must extend boundless solidarity to the Palestinian people and their indefatigable struggle for national liberation and their right to self-determination. The fight of the Palestinian people is firmly linked to the struggle of the Filipino people and all the oppressed peoples, and countries defending national sovereignty, against imperialist intervention and wars. Victory of the Palestinian people, will be victory of all oppressed peoples of the entire world.