Gaza

An election is coming. Universal peace is declared and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry. T. S Eliot

I have been unable to write anything about the situation in Gaza while the Israelis were caring out their wanton slaughter, too numb and horrified by what was unfolding before my eyes to respond coherently. Now that, for the Israelis at least, Operation Cast Lead is now over, people have begun to seek answers and analyse the motives and objectives of the Israeli military and government in entering into this bloody operation.

The quote above I think captures a lot of people’s reasoning for the timing of operation cast lead - a vicious military assault slipped into the dying days of a lame duck president and timed to maximise the seeming humanitarian impact of Barack Obama. But I'm not sure I buy that. Sure, the timing suited Israel, it suited Bush, and it suited Obama. But I think that's just by the by.

Whilst others will claim it is related to the Israeli's mentality of victimhood, seeing the abused become the abuser, and others will claim it is the clear and single minded desire to 'solve' the Palestinian problem once and for all, I am not so sure. I certainly don’t buy the Israeli argument that it is all the fault of Hamas. And for a number of reasons. Yes, there are some on the Israeli side (especially amongst the ultra orthodox and ultra zionist) who see it is a question of military might combined with god given right to obliterate the Palestinians, and others who worry that if not tightly controlled the 'Palestinian question' could, in time, lead to a resumption of blatant anti-semitism and attacks on a country that sees itself as surrounded by enemies. But I am no psychologist and do not want to fall into the trap of using cod-psychology and wild generalisations to explain the actions of a government and its army. Indeed, actions such as Operation Cast Lead are far too clinical, too meticulously planned, to be the result simply of some psychological driver. Indeed the operation must have been planned months in advance, and the sudden increase in shipments of weaponry, notably ‘bunker busting’ bombs, by the US military in the months leading up to this operation suggest that it was not only the Israelis who had been planning this for months.

Far more interesting I think to assess Operation Cast Lead in terms of an action located within the nexus of standard capitalist-imperialist territorial expansionism. Removing the religio-ethnic strata from any analysis (which is not to say these are not factors, for both sides) is also helpful if one wishes to look at the situation without getting dragged into 100 years of recent history, and indeed the entire history of a people and their god.

But first, let us start by assessing the stated aims of operation cast lead, as laid out by the IDF:
1. To halt the fire of rockets by Hamas from Gaza into Israel
2. To prevent the smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza via a network of underground tunnels.
3. To teach Hamas, and by extension Gazans, a valuable lesson about the consequences of breaching an Israeli ceasefire (indeed one Israeli politician talked of visiting a holocaust on the Gazans – not, one would imagine, an accidental choice of words).

Well, objective one is easily dismissed - throughout the operation Hamas rocket fire into Israel continued unabated and there is no question that Hamas still retain the capability to begin the barrages if they so choose. Secondly, news has emerged today that the smuggling tunnels are already back in use and providing valuable and vital diesel into Rafah and the rest of Gaza. Finally, it is essential to note that it was actually Israel who broke the Hamas declared ceasefire and precipitated this entire crisis.

So, it is clear that the objectives above do not ring true (and indeed many Israeli military analysts have lined up to question the sense of these stated objectives as militarily unachievable). I very much wonder whether the actions in Gaza don't in fact mask a rather more mundane (in one sense of the word) set of motives. I consider Israel to be a prime example of the development of a capitalist nation state - one which exists almost perfectly as a microcosm of the different stages of capitalism, and its inherent logics and rules. From a country that did not exist 100 years ago, the state of Israel has developed perhaps more rapidly than any other nation state. First it experienced rapid industrialisation and economic development, as the deserts were greened, and an economy developed (initially predominantly agricultural, but now encompassing manufacturing, military-industrial development, and financial and service industries). In part this was driven by the massive influx of immigration from across Europe and the wider world. Next was a phase of blatant and aggressive imperialist expansionism, as the state militarily and unilaterally re-defined its borders by occupying parts of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza.

Coupled with this imperialism came the standard othering of subservient populations (in this case the Arabs - both Israeli Arabs and Palestinians) to create a pool of affordable and readily available cheap labour. In this way the state of Israel has grown in a little under one hundred years to a position as a dominant developed nation state, a noted military force and an economic powerhouse, both within its region, and also vis-à-vis Europe and the US.

The importance of the Israeli economy to other developed economics can not be underestimated. To the UK, French, and US in particular, Israel is a vital source of economic fluidity - both as an investment opportunity for surplus capital, and as a key purchaser of military technologies (and recipient of military aid - a financial deal which benefits both the western arms manufacturers and the Israeli economy). So perhaps operation cast lead should be looked at not in relation to its timing regarding the US presidency, but rather its timing in relation to the world economy. The world economy is currently in crisis, predominantly due to the inherent crisis tendencies that are the central logic of the system itself. These crises - always painted as being unforeseeable and unique, are in fact as predictable as night following day, or the Met undercounting demonstrators on marches in London. This time, there is a failure in monetary circulation - the cyclical process of creative destruction has slowed, and there is seemingly no available capital to grease the wheels of greed. However, it is the case that there is no actual shortage of money, just a shortage of investment opportunities seen as risk-free enough to entice the big investors of the global capitalist market who are recovering form having their fingers burnt by Enron, Lehman Brothers, Northern Rock, sub prime securities, and the like.

Those who until recently would have gambled on hedge funds and short selling need another outlet for their surplus capital, and quick, before the economic 'downturn' begins to affect them, and not just the ordinary schmuck on the street. Seen in that light, the bombardment of Gaza takes on a new complexion. Witness the clamour to talk about aid and reconstruction, witness the huge sums of money being promised. Even better than a normal investment opportunity, with its attendant risk, this situation is like manna from heaven to the global capitalist class. Huge redevelopment grants, with contracts underpinned by governments and international aid agencies. You simply can't loose. And the picture gets rosier and rosier for these purveyors of destruction in the name of development - the absolute crisis of leadership in government in Gaza (and indeed in the West Bank - one led by an Israeli stooge and supported tacitly by billions of dollars of Israeli money, the other ruled by a democratically elected organisation who the world has made clear will not be allowed to rule much longer) presents an excellent opportunity for the capitalist class to operate without checks or balances, exactly as they see fit, making partnerships and soliciting support with the simple persuasive power of hard currency. It is no coincidence that large reserves of gas have been found off the shores of the Gaza strip, in Palestinian waters. These resources want exploiting (apparently, at least according to British Gas who are eager to get their hands on it) and you can bet your last dollar that Hamas and the mass of the Palestinian populous will not be allowed to profit from this.

And don't think this war on Gaza is only about Gaza: while the Israelis continue to crow about their unilateral withdrawal from Gaza (in actual fact a forced retreat under the pressure of legitimate resistance by Gazans) more settlers have settled on the West Bank than were pulled out of Gaza in the intervening years. The West Bank remains the critical objective for Israeli expansionism. Whether you believe that to be religiously driven expansionism to occupy and own biblical greater Israel, or economic expansionism based on the material wealth to be found on the West Bank (aquifers, fertile land, habitable space for an expanding population), Gaza is a mere smoke screen. The creation of 'facts on the ground' remains Israel’s objective - to occupy and retain the areas of the West Bank so vital to their long-term economic security.

And finally, in closing, let us remember that, macro and micro objectives, analysis and reasons aside, some very stark facts were hammered home in Gaza these past few weeks. The Israelis committed war crimes (targeting of civilian areas, populations and infrastructure; the use of white phosphorous in civilian areas; disproportionate response to violence; collective punishment of an entire population), the West sat by and cheered them on, and the civilians of Gaza paid the price. The media were central too, continuing the uneven discourse that seeks to portray every Israeli action as an equal and measured response to a Palestinian provocation. For the record then:

• Israel broke the ceasefire
• Over the last 7 years – 22 Israeli deaths have resulted from Palestinian violence
• In the same time period Palestinian deaths through Israeli violence have numbered over 5000
• During Operation Cast Lead more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed and 5,000+ wounded, half of them women and children
• In the same period 13 Israelis were killed – 4 by IDF ‘Friendly Fire’, a further 6 IDF soldiers killed within Gaza
• Thus the ratio of death in this asymmetric warfare is 1300 Palestinian to 9 Israelis
• More than 4,000 buildings have been destroyed in Gaza, and more than 20,000 severely damaged
• 50,000 Gazans are now homeless and 400,000 without running water