THE murderous, cowardly missile attack by Israel on Gaza, which killed Ahmed al-Jaabari along with 10 other Palestinians including two children, was a long-planned attack aimed at driving back the revolutionary forces in the area.
This is the first step in a carefully laid strategy to invade Gaza and attempt to smash the resistance of the Palestinians through a sustained campaign of terror.
This was made clear by the Israeli Defence Forces which stated that this missile attack on Gaza City was ‘the start of a broader operation’.
With Israeli troops massed on the border of Gaza, the missile strike was the opening shot in an all-out invasion.
As such, it has been likened to the invasion of Gaza in 2008, a three week-long orgy of murder and terrorism by the Zionist state against Palestinians that left over 1,000 men, women and children dead – the Gaza Massacre.
But this is not just a re-run of the 2008 invasion.
The Israeli attack cannot be separated from the imperialist war being carried out against the Assad regime in Syria.
This war, which has in public been carried out by the agents of imperialism masquerading as the ‘Free Syrian Army’, armed by the western powers through their client states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, is now set to escalate into an open attack by the military forces of US and Britain.
This is the meaning of David Cameron’s recent jaunt round the reactionary feudal monarchies of the region, flogging weapons and gearing up support for a military intervention to overthrow Assad and impose a regime directly controlled by the imperialist nations.
Having failed to secure regime change along the lines of the Libyan model, the imperialists are now planning a full-scale invasion of Syria as they did in Iraq.
Just as invading Syria will be a prelude to a full-scale war against Iran, so the Israeli invasion of Gaza places Lebanon and Hezbollah firmly on imperialism’s agenda for a war aimed at physically liquidating the liberation movement.
When Hamas said after the missile strike that the Zionists had ‘opened the gates of hell’ they were speaking the truth.
Imperialism and its attack dog, Israel, are preparing to unleash Armageddon on the entire Middle East, with no thought of the hundreds of thousands of lives at risk.
The reason for this massive war crime being prepared against the Arab people lies in the huge crisis that is overwhelming capitalism internationally.
This crisis is driving imperialism into increasingly desperate measures to physically dominate the mineral wealth of the region under conditions where the crisis is driving the Arab workers and masses along the road of revolution.
With the downfall of their most loyal supporter, Egyptian president Mubarak, at the hands of the revolutionary youth and workers the imperialists are acutely aware of the precarious nature of their domination.
In their weakness they are being forced to strike out and attempt to crush the revolution by force of arms.
For the working class at home the situation couldn’t be clearer – the enemy of the Syrian and Palestinian people is the same ruling class that is attempting to impose austerity measures that will pauperise them. The enemy definitely is at home!
Cameron, who is travelling the world whipping up war against Syria and giving full support to the Zionists, is the same man who is privatising the NHS, slashing wages and benefits and condemning an entire generation to unemployment, all in the name of keeping the banks in profit.
This common enemy must be defeated – workers must demand that the TUC organise massive demonstrations of support for the Palestinian people and immediately implement a total economic and cultural boycott of all Israeli goods and services.
Simultaneously, they must call a general strike to bring down this government and replace it with a workers government and socialism. This is the way to aid the masses of Palestine.
