There has now been a string of statements by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles defending the bombing and deepening of the blockade on Gaza, which have already resulted in over 3,000 people, including children, killed.

They have defended Israel’s actions on the grounds that they constitute self-defence. Israel is thus presented as the side that is under attack and the Gaza authorities – Hamas – as the aggressors.

Positioning Hamas as the aggressor is a total reversal of the facts. It is Israel which expelled Palestinians from their homes to establish the new country of Israel. It is Israel that has expanded its territory to take most of the West Bank, now occupied by armed settlers who are also defended by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). It is Israel that has blockaded Gaza for over a decade. It is Israel that has regularly bombed Gaza and whose snipers shoot Palestinian children.

It is obvious in this war of occupation that the Palestinian armed resistance forces will inevitably counter attack into the territory seized by Israel in whatever way they can. This is an inevitability about which to lament is hypocritical if you are in support of the occupation.

This is the position that those of us far away from the conflict face. Our stance must be based on the outcome we wish to see. But in this case, as we are talking about a war of occupation, the legitimate outcome will be reflected by the consensus among those who are occupied: the Palestinians. The consensus is summed up in the cries: Free Palestine! End the Occupation!

On the question of Free Palestine, there have always been two primary views among Palestinians. These are that both a Palestinian State and an Israeli State could co-exist: the “two state solution”. The other is that all of the original territory of Palestine must be liberated and the establishment of just one state, Palestine. There are, as within all nations with their own class contradictions, different ideas about the nature of such a state and society. Israel has already declared itself a Jewish state, privileging Jewish citizens above others.

The official position of the Australian Government is for a two-state solution, but in practice Australian Governments have supported the Israeli’s war of expansion. Israel is an expansionist state. It has persistently expanded the territory it controls. There are at least 700,000 settlers, many armed, now on Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

The map showing the shrinking size of territory under the actual control of the Palestinian Authority is now known by millions of people around the world. Australian government support for the “Israeli right to self-defence” is support for Israel to military defend its expansionism, its war of occupation.

It’s claim of support for the two-state solution is in effect a fraud. In practice, it supports the one state solution being sought by Israel where any Palestinian entity, if actually allowed, will be no more than a Bantustan.

Global North vs. Global South

The United States is now seeking to massively boost aid to Israel with Biden appealing to Congress for billions more aid for Israel (along with the Ukraine). The US is involved in wars, threats of war and economic sanctions on several fronts now, all aimed at countries outside the imperialist club it dominates.

The US has essentially declared war against the Palestinian resistance, expressing hostility also to Iran, whom it sanctions. It is trying to weaken Russia through a proxy war utilising (and destroying) Ukraine. It is waging an economic war against China and sabre rattling over Taiwan. It has been trying to intervene in West Africa as a series of anti-French coups have taken place there. Actually, the list is very long.

In this context, it appears the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has decided to go the whole hog and join the US in its battles with the Global South. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has announced that the Australian Government is imposing sanctions against Iran. Apart from closing ranks between Australia and the US against Iran, this decision can also be seen as a warning from the Global North that no country should help Palestine.

The 2 million blockaded and devastated Palestinians of the Gaza enclave are being left to confront – by themselves – the 9 million people of Israel, 700,000 on Palestinian territories, armed to the teeth with the latest technology worth billions of dollars. Even with no other countries allowed to help these two million suffering people, the US feels Israel still needs billions of dollars more of arms. And the ALP government stands with the US – shouting loud that it too is a member of the Global North’s Imperialist Club.  Look! Look! Iran too!

Fig-leaf of Two State Solution Being Ripped Away

The unrelenting expansionism of Israel into West Bank territory and the strangling of Gaza before the recent Hamas counter-offensive and now the escalation of the destruction of Gaza has made it clear that Tel Aviv is not interested in a “two state solution”. In effect, the decades of failed negotiations around this have just being buying time for Israel to strengthen and expand. At the most, Tel Aviv may, perhaps, tolerate a pacified Bantustan somewhere.

It is time to recognise that any solution to the contradiction caused by the establishment of Israel and the resultant change in Palestine’s demography, including the forced expulsion of Palestinians, as well as the presence of more than seven million Jewish people can only be resolved within the framework of a single democratic state.

Precisely what solution is possible and that can be just and equitable can only be determined democratically if there is no Israeli military occupation. It will only be on this basis that we can expect future negotiations to lead to any actual just changes.

End the blockade on and attacks on Gaza!

Start Now Massive Humanitarian and Reconstruction Aid for Gaza!

End all military aid to Israel!

Israeli IDF Confined to their Barracks!

End the Occupation!

Free Palestine!