ISRAEL/PALESTINE, January — We have returned from the winter project to the Middle East, with our minds once more agog at the racism, oppression and absurdity of the actions of the Israeli government. Not only did we see the horrors of the 45-year-old military occupation of Palestine, but also the discrimination against Israeli Arabs and the marked class distinctions among Jews. Those who were new to the area were in a constant state of shock and disbelief at the situations we encountered. We were buoyed, however, by participating in struggles and meeting new friends who were digesting our ideas.

The Israelis are continuing their policy of driving out Palestinians by actually demolishing their houses by the thousands or otherwise making their lives so miserable that they will emigrate. In the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, the weekly demonstrations continued against Jewish takeover of homes Palestinians have lived in for 60 years, having been driven out of West Jerusalem in 1948.

Israeli Attack-Dogs

We sat with a family there, half of whose home has been occupied by young Israeli men and their dogs, who attack members of the family. In two other East Jerusalem areas, we visited villages whose land is being confiscated by Israeli expansion.

To the south, in the Negev (desert), Bedouins who agreed to become citizens in ’48, live in “unrecognized” villages that receive no services. One, El Araqib, has been razed and rebuilt 33 times since July 2010 because the government, with the financial backing of an U.S. fundamentalist Christian organization, wishes to build a forest. We saw how houses for 500 people and 4,500 olive tress had been bulldozed into a sandy wasteland. The remaining residents are living in trucks and trailers in their cemetery.

Every week they, their neighbors and Israeli activists stand nearby at a busy intersection with banners, drums and speeches. They welcomed a talk about fighting racism by one of our young visitors.

In Tel Aviv, the massive tent cities and summer demonstrations for more social services and housing are gone, for they mostly involved middle-class people and lacked any political analysis. However, in a working-class area of Tel Aviv, Hatikvah, and in other places around the country, small encampments remain of those who have lost their homes even though most work. We marched in a militant demonstration of hundreds of workers and activists at which 43 people were arrested.  Our comrades participate regularly in all these actions and have a steady base of readers and friends.

Fascist Military Courts

In the West Bank, conditions continue to be appalling. The representatives of a prisoners’ support group described how Palestinians can be arrested for belonging to any political party, even the ruling Fatah, holding a flag, congregating in a group of more than 10, or making any political statements. They come before military courts and can be held without charge for “investigation” indefinitely, as long as a military officer renews it every three months.

Forty percent of all Palestinian men have been jailed in the last 50 years. Since over 400 prisoners were released in the widely publicized exchange for the sole Israeli prisoner Shalit, an equal number has been arrested. There is widespread use of torture, even on children. The corrupt Palestinian ruling parties, Fatah and Hamas, also arrest and abuse hundreds of Palestinian activists.

Life in the Occupied Territories continues to be constrained by the wall erected by Israeli rulers to fence in the Palestinians and the lack of work, mobility, goods, and health care. In one refugee camp we visited, unemployment is 40%, compared to about 32% in the rest of the West Bank. Activists we talked with were pessimistic about mass resistance erupting soon, since there is a lack of a uniform set of demands or goals.

Our ideas, the need for a secular, multiracial, communist society, were attractive to some, and we renewed this discussion with friends we had met on previous visits. Many Palestinians are held back by nationalism, the desire to build a Palestinian state free of Israeli oppression, and too ready to ally with the local ruling parties, Fatah and Hamas, even as they recognize their corruption and ties to imperialism, the U.S., and Israeli bosses.

Building an International Party

As we left we were excited by the friends and adherents we left behind and saw our chance to influence many Jews and Arabs with our struggle to build an international, anti-nationalist working-class Party. In the U.S., we will educate our friends about the conditions there and work with the many organizations here that oppose the U.S. governments’ massive support to Israel, $3 billion annually, that keeps it afloat. Israel, with its powerful army and nuclear weapons, serves as the U.S. policeman in the region, to protect oil interests and serve as an ally in potential military ventures, such as an invasion of Iran. A fight against imperialism here is an essential part of the fight against fascism in Israel.