Palestine Tet – 15 – Loneliness, Hope and Anti-Imperialism in the Middle East. Notes from Remarks of Rob Prince, Representing Front Range (Colorado) Jewish Voice for Peace at the rally and march “Free Palestine” . Denver, Colorado. November 5, 2023.

Yet when one examines the current Israeli war on Gaza from the regional and global perspective, the situation looks quite different.

Despite the horrible pounding the Palestinians are taking in Gaza one notices the following

• Up to the present, despite its lopsided military advantage in manpower, weaponry and intelligence that the Israeli Defense Force has been unable to launch a full scale ground offensive fearing the Palestinian military response
• That this great armada of U.S. naval vessels present and heading for the Eastern Mediterranean is appearing as a more and more obsolete threat to the military and political balance of power
• Given the extent of the targeting of Palestinian civilians that has led to worldwide revulsion and huge demonstrations everywhere in the world, that U.S  and Israel are losing support and “control of the narrative”
• A kind of regional solidarity is gelling that includes-
• a. the increasing political and military coordination of the different fragmented strands of the Palestinian population in Israel itself, the West Bank, Gaza and in the refugee camps in the surrounding countries
• b. the increased coordination and military prowess of the different participants in the Axis of Resistance – a military/security alliance that includes a number of Palestinian groups: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP along with Hezbollah in Lebanon, its sister organization in Iraq – Iraqi Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, Yemen
• Increased global political support from Russia, China, most of the Global South.

We start with a question: Where does hope come from in the face of those suffering from ethnic cleansing and genocide?
Because despite the worst sufferings humanity has gone through, hope never dies.
It comes from many places

• from history, what others have gone through collectively and survived, and not just survived, but after the worst tragedies, people have been able to pick themselves up, not at all naively and continued on this journey which is the human experience.
• It comes from struggle – from people finding each other, knowing that they are not alone, and that in collective controlled thought and action – with thought guiding action – that victories can be won and have been.
• Yes, it comes from love – for lack of a better word – but also controlled, focused rage; Indeed for me and many others all social movements, revolutionary movements are, are essentially experiments in controlled rage
• It comes from experiencing the collective psychic bond that unites use here today, from knowing that however intensely the government and the media tell us that our efforts are futile, in an effort precisely to kill hope, we know that once we leave the borders of this country, that the world is with us, that nothing can suffocate the magnificent resilience of the Palestinian people and that Palestine will win and as it does, so does the whole world, including all of us standing here.

What is the main point here: There is reason for hope, that despite the hurricane of death suffering that Israel is imposing upon Gaza (and the rest of Palestine), that the Palestinians are not alone, and that as the world turns increasingly against the U.S. and Israel for the war crimes they both are committing, that this war cannot be sustained and that its goals of ethnically cleansing and then reannexing Gaza either all or in part have failed. There will be no expulsion of major Gaza Palestinians into Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon or Syria and that the current frenzied goal of “eliminating Hamas” “killing off its leadership” will not happen either.

And finally, along the same lines that the U.S. and Israel are in a pickle, unsure as to how to succeed both militarily and politically, the reputation of both plunging, the support of their leadership be it Biden in the US or Netanyahu in Israel suffering disastrously to the point where one wonders if either administration can last for much longer.

Imperialism, a controversial word

Imperialism – a controversial word – In academia there is a mountain of research arguing that it doesn’t exist … it comes up with new terms of neuter it – “globalization”, “hegemony” – what they really mean is Imperialism

The more the government and academia – and some elements of the left – argue that whatever Imperialism is – that the United States is not that, not an imperialist country, the more you know that it is.

Of course the United States is an imperialist country – of that there can be no doubt..and if you don’t believe it go back to the drawing board..

How is it manifested in the Middle East?

U.S. Imperialism is manifested both economically and strategically

Economically – control of the region’s still enormous oil and gas reserves translated into nothing short of global power. To control the modern sources of energy – before they can be yet again transformed – is a tremendous source of power. Key to this process – preventing the people of the region from controlling how the energy and minerals and the profits that come from their exploitation are used.

Strategic control – through a network of military bases, one goal of which is to limit political change within the region, the other is to encircle and choke be it Iran, Russia and China, those who won’t play by Washington’s rule book.

What is Israel’s relationship to U.S. Imperialism?

The idea of “shared values” has been drummed into our heads. It is more a case of shared interests.

Imperialism has used different mechanisms to strengthen its stranglehold – direct and indirect colonialism, in the modern era what is referred to as neo-colonialism and finally the most reactionary and racist form of colonialism – settler colonialism, both the United States and Israel are examples of settler colonialism – as was South Africa, Algeria for the French, Australia for the British.

In all its forms it is both stupid and cruel – because one cannot have a settler colonialism that is not based upon ethnic cleansing or frankly genocidal.

1. The primary shared interests – opposing Arab Nationalism, Pan Africanism in all its forms – albeit for different reasons.

2. Zionism has always looked for “a protector” – it has found that in the greatest Imperialists of the day – be it British or U.S. Imperialism

And protectors demand their pound of flesh, the “protectee” must serve the protector’s interests..And the Zionist movement has done so faithfully throughout its modern – and I stress this word – modern – history.

Essentially Israel is and always has been, the rhetoric aside, a U.S. proxy, serving its interests faithfully although in recent days, there have been doubts, in the new increasingly multipolar world there are questions in certain circles in Washington DC as to whether it can continue to fulfill that role.

3. The role of both the U.S. and Israel in Middle East – in order to protect its interests – divide and conquer – and when possible divide some more

– the goals of the U.S. led wars in Iraq, Libya – de facto to de jure partition – still trying in Syria, would like to in Iran. Also the goal in Russia and China –

– why partition? – easier to control smaller entities, more difficult to impose its will on larger, centralized states, to exploit its resources.

– opposes all forms of regional integration – economic, political, security – and especially those forms that it cannot control –

4. whole formation of Arab States in the aftermath of the Versailles Treaty ending WW1 – slice the region into manageable sections – then called nations with no input from the indigenous populations, divide the region between Imperialist powers – at the time between Britain and France. Today, break it down even further often in the name of minority rights.

Anti-Imperialism Today

Anti-Imperialism in the Middle East, taking new, more flexible forms.

Goal of anti-imperialism –

just the opposite as those of Imperialism

• moving towards regional integration in all aspects, countering Imperialism’s attempts at destabilization, partition, turning one group against another based upon religion or political ideology – old divide and conquer approach – old as the hills but with new more toxic varieties
  – find new connections, economically, politically, militarily –
  – give priority to using the wealth of the region for the region itself
  – build regional transportation systems,

and as far as security is concerned – there is a new, post Arab Spring formation, hardly ever discussed in the U.S. media called the Axis of Resistance.

Mostly anti-Imperialist (to one degree or another) by necessity, not by choice. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, even Iran – in no way “Marxist”, “Socialist” – many socially conservatize working in alliance with Syria (secular, left-oriented), Russia (essentially social democratic form of capitalism and Socialist China) – a new non-ideologically based kind of “united front” …

Very different from the ideologically based united fronts of the Cold War Period.

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