Bush gives green light to the Israeli onslaught

[Editor’s note, 6 Aug 2006: Since this article was written, the Israeli military’s air strike
at Qana killed nearly 60, including more than 30 children. Hezbollah struck cities in Israel,
killing around 12 reserve soldiers in Kfar Giladi.

Protests against the war continue around the world. Perhaps 100,000 marched in London Saturday 5 August.]


THERE HAS been rage and revulsion worldwide at the barbaric treatment
by Israeli forces of innocent families in Lebanon fleeing in terror.

Kevin Simpson, CWI London

In the southern Lebanon village of Taire the Israeli army (IDF)
ordered residents to leave their village. Then they fired a US-made
Hellfire missile at the last minibus in the convoy of fleeing refugees,
killing three of its occupants. "Precision bombing" by the IDF? Who are
the Israeli generals trying to fool?

And the Bush administration, with his sidekick Prime Minister Blair
standing by his side, will be forever remembered for cynically
and blatantly giving the Israeli regime the continuing green light for this
slaughter and destruction.

The US agreed last week to bring forward delivery of new and
powerful bombs for the IDF to do the job with even greater destruction,
and has been using the UK as a transit base.

Hezbollah has responded to the IDF invasion by firing more rocket
barrages against the northern cities of Israel. Israeli Jewish and
Palestinian civilians, mainly workers and young people, were killed as a
result, although in smaller numbers than in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is the Islamist organisation now targeted as the new bogey
man in the ‘war on terror’ with the Israeli regime ostensibly charged
with its destruction. But Hezbollah inflicted a severe defeat on the
Israeli military in 2000 when they succeeded in driving the IDF out of
south Lebanon.

It did this on the basis of developing mass support for its guerrilla
struggle mainly amongst the poor Shia Muslim population of south
Lebanon. In the absence of a mass Lebanese workers’ party, with support
in all working-class communities and capable of building workers unity
across the sectarian divide, Hezbollah developed its base through
providing schools, hospitals, water and electricity, social security in
the areas where it organised.

Hezbollah

Hezbollah’s development was a direct result of the Israeli occupation
of Lebanon in the 1980s. Israeli troops were first welcomed there by the
Shia population but this soon turned to bitter hatred as they realised
that the IDF was not there as liberators but occupiers.

Ideologically, the Hezbollah leadership is close to the reactionary
Islamist ideas of the Supreme Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran. However at
different times the Hezbollah leadership has emphasised more nationalist
rhetoric putting itself forward as the saviour of the Lebanese people in
the face of Israeli and imperialist aggression. Despite this, there are
limitations to the degree to which the Hezbollah leadership can unite
the multi-religious Lebanese population behind its banner in a
consistent and lasting manner.

What now seems months, but was little over two weeks ago, Hezbollah
killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two more on the Israeli side
of the border to bolster its political position in Lebanon and regain
popularity.

The Israeli response has meant that this action has faded into the
background. Internationally there are very few people who believe that
the severity of the IDF bombardment has anything to do with forcing the
return of the two captured soldiers. Instead the Israeli ruling class
has imposed a massive collective punishment on millions of the Lebanese
working class, rural poor and the recently impoverished middle classes.

Its intention is to force the Lebanese government and the majority of
the population to oppose Hezbollah and ensure its withdrawal from south
Lebanon and its disarmament.

However, the Israeli ruling class has other aims. They want to
re-establish the idea that the Israeli regime is the strongest military
power in the region and any opposition will simply not be tolerated or
will be met with brutal force.

The new Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has his own reasons to
implement this approach. He wants to develop his reputation as a
military strongman which has not existed up to now and in doing so keep
the new party Kadima which he heads, united and with more public
support.

This policy is doomed to failure. The Israeli bombardment of Lebanon
has achieved the exact opposite. Now many Lebanese Christian, Druze,
Sunnis, as well as Shias while not necessarily agreeing with Hezbollah
political ideas, see them as the only force fighting back against
Israeli aggression and therefore their support has increased.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former US secretary of state recently commented:
"The US is in the process of learning in Iraq that it cannot impose
solutions by force alone. Nor can Israel…"

Military agression

One of the most outrageous aspects of this latest war in the Middle
East has been the role of US imperialism. The Bush administration has
never been more open in its support for the Israeli regime’s aggression.
The Guardian summed it up in the headline: "Bush tells Israelis: You
have one week to bomb Hezbollah". This will result in greater stoking of
the hatred of US imperialism amongst the Arab and Muslim masses.

Bush’s attitude to this latest Israeli invasion shows the change in
the position of US imperialism. His administration will only take action
to defend its own immediate interests. But its ability to act has also
been greatly undermined internationally. This is mainly because of the
disaster that the occupation of Iraq has turned into and the military
overstretch that has resulted.

Instead, the Bush administration is attempting to use its status as
the world’s super-power to pressure its regional allies to achieve its
aims in the Middle East. This means crushing all opposition to US
imperialism and if necessary installing new regimes in the Arab
countries which are more openly allied to its interests.

Condolezza Rice summed up this approach when she said prior to her
visit to the region "What we are seeing is the birth pangs of a new
Middle East. This is a different Middle East. It’s a new Middle East.
It’s hard. We are going through a very violent time".

In essence this means supporting brutal Israeli military aggression
against the Palestinian and Lebanese population in an attempt to crush
Hamas and Hezbollah. It also means supporting, for the moment, the
corrupt theocratic Sunni elite in Saudi Arabia and the unstable Shia
government in Iraq which is presiding over a descent into bloody civil
war.

Rice made it quite clear that the Bush administration will not
support a cease-fire if it means a "return to the status quo". However,
this does not rule out periodic cessations of violence during US imposed
negotiations as a concession to the international outrage which is
developing against the Israeli regime’s campaign.

US imperialism will give continued diplomatic protection for Israel’s
bombardment of Lebanon, until all the regimes (in particular the
Lebanese government and Syria) and Hezbollah agree to their conditions!

Conditions

These conditions involve the release of the captive Israeli soldiers,
the withdrawal of Hezbollah to beyond the Litani river (12 miles from
the Israeli-Lebanon border), the disarmament of Hezbollah’s armed wing,
and the deployment of an international force to oversee and enforce
these conditions.

The Israeli regime clearly wants an imperialist backed force to carry
out the task it has not been able to complete so far.

Despite its overwhelming military fire power, the IDF campaign has
already suffered problems. The generals promised that an air war would
be sufficient to destroy Hezbollah and stop the rockets raining down on
northern Israel. This has failed completely. The mobilisation of three
divisions of army troops to go to the Lebanese border signifies this
failure. It has also raised extremely painful memories of the unpopular
Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and begun to cause frictions within
the Israeli ruling class.

Barring a complete military defeat for Hezbollah, which is unlikely,
its leadership will not accept the Israeli regime’s conditions. This is
why an international force is being demanded to, if necessary, forcibly
disarm Hezbollah. If this was attempted such a force would be seen as an
aggressor and occupier. This would lead to a Hezbollah campaign with
mass support amongst at least the Shias for the driving out of what
would be seen as a proxy army for Israeli and US interests.

If the Lebanese government is forced by US imperialism to sign such
an agreement without Hezbollah’s consent, it could mean the end of this
weak administration and an eventual descent into chaos with the possible
return of Syrian troops under the guise of "maintaining stability"

The US’s plans may never get off the ground. There have been very few
offers of help from different regimes to provide armed forces for such
an international force.

But other events may cut across such an agreement. An atrocity on
either side could lead to an immediate escalation of military attacks
leading directly to a full Israeli land invasion and occupation. This
makes a regional war more likely.

Undoubtedly Hezbollah fighters are seen as heroes amongst the Arab
masses of the Middle East. Given Israel’s aggression, Hezbollah’s right
to armed self-defence is clear. However, what are the best tactics for
defeating the Israeli ruling class both military and politically?

The Hezbollah tactic of rocket attacks against civilian populations
has led to the deaths of Israeli Jewish and Palestinian workers. Rather
than weakening the support for the Israeli regime’s military campaign
amongst the Israeli population, it has climbed to over 90%.

This is at a time when there is growing disquiet at the sacrifice
that Israeli workers and young people have had to make. Firefighters
called to put out fires caused by Hezbollah rockets are still not being
paid by their bankrupt local councils. Workers are being told to go back
to work or lose wages and their jobs. But social polarisation is
undermined each time a rocket lands on the home of an Israeli
working-class family.

Israeli generals have commented that Hezbollah has extremely "good
fighters". This is not just a question of military training but
indicates that Hezbollah has big reservoirs of social support in south
Lebanon.

But Hezbollah’s political ideas means it cannot solve the fundamental
social, economic and political problems of Lebanon and the wider Middle
East.

These problems are a direct consequence of capitalism and
imperialism’s role in the region and require a struggle for a socialist
Middle East which is the only way forward for the region.

This means overthrowing the Israeli capitalist regime and the
neighbouring Arab elites. It would guarantee the democratic rights of
all national, ethnic and religious minorities as well as the use of the
huge resources in the region to begin to solve the huge economic and
social problems, which have become particularly acute more recently.
Ultimately this is the only means by which the carnage can be stopped.

A first step in this direction would be building a mass opposition to
the war in Israel and the struggle for independent working-class unity
in countries like Lebanon.