One of the most vivid examples of capitalism’s disregard for human suffering is the situation in Israel / Palestine. Roadblocks, and the ‘security’ wall under construction, split Palestine into segments, making travel almost impossible. There are regular shootings, euphemistically called ‘targeted killings’, and house demolitions. At the same time lack of decent housing, unemployment and a host of other issues make life a misery for the majority of Palestinians. Meanwhile, ordinary Israelis live in fear of suicide attacks, and suffer neo-liberal attacks on their standard of living from the Sharon government. Anyone looking at this situation would naturally ask the question, what can be done?

Genuine socialists have, since its inception, opposed Zionism (support for a specifically Jewish state) as a form of nationalism. Trotsky, who was himself from a Jewish background, said that Zionism would not provide an answer to the terrible oppression experienced by Jewish people in Europe and elsewhere, but would lead to a ‘bloody trap’ for them in the Middle East. At the same time, to create an explicitly Jewish state on land that was then part of British-run Palestine would be to trample on the rights of the predominantly Arab population already living there.

The Second World War added an extra urgency to the problems facing Jewish people. After the holocaust, socialists understood the desire for a Jewish state, but explained that still this should not take place in Palestine.

The establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, after years of divide-and-rule of Jews and Arabs in the region by British imperialism, proved Trotsky right in every respect. Far from feeling safe, most Israelis found themselves surrounded by hostile Arab states. The war that followed the creation of Israel saw massacres in Arab villages, evacuation and destruction of others, and severe overcrowding in those that remain. To this day, many Palestinian refugees still keep the keys to houses they lost in 1948.

The situation amongst the millions of Palestinians currently living as refugees is desperate. Not only do they lack permanent housing and proper services, but their plight is essentially ignored in all capitalist plans for peace in the Middle East. Those Arabs left in Israel currently comprise a minority within Israeli, and are in many ways treated as second-class citizens.

Israel’s occupation of what remained of Palestine in 1967 was the next major event, and saw an aggressive policy of Israeli ‘settlements’ in the occupied territories, as well as continued, savage reductions in Palestinian rights under occupation. This policy was backed by US imperialism as part of its Cold War strategy in the Middle East, against Arab states often more sympathetic to the USSR.

Socialists demand the immediate end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, and the creation of two states respecting the national aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis, whilst recognising that a just solution along these lines will not be possible under capitalism. Recent negotiations between the capitalist leadership on both sides, most recently the US-backed ‘Roadmap to Peace’, can only offer rotten compromises without a democratic plan for the region’s economy. In particular, it would require a massive redistribution of resources to house and provide for the Palestinians currently in refugee camps, which is simply not on the capitalists’ agenda!

Furthermore, on the basis of capitalism Israel would completely dominate economically, in terms of providing jobs, investment etc. to a Palestinian state. It is also clear that no attempt would be made to open up the Palestinian ‘Bantustans’ – areas in the occupied territories divided from each other by settlements, checkpoints and the wall.

Another possibility often put forward by supporters of the Palestinians is the ‘one state’ solution, with a single state open to both Israelis and Palestinians. Although this might have been possible initially, it ignores the fact that generations have grown up in both Israel and the Occupied Territories, each with their own national consciousness. Two socialist states would be able to work together as part of a socialist confederation of the Middle East, allowing people to live where they want while respecting the desires of Israelis and Palestinians to have their ‘own’ states.

Although Israel is a powerful, imperialist country, like Britain and the US it is also a class society, ruled by the Israeli capitalist class through the Labour and Likud parties. The majority of Israelis are hurt by Sharon’s domestic policies of privatisation and cuts, particularly in some of the recent immigrant communities, which leads to significant struggles. Last year a number of industrial battles took place, including a general strike. During the Israeli dockers’ strike against privatisation of summer 2004, it was especially significant that solidarity strike action was taken by dockers in Jordan and Egypt.

Another example of solidarity comes from the left-wing slate involving both Israeli and Palestinian students for the Students’ Union at Jerusalem University. Maavak Socialisti / Nidal Amali Eshteraki, a group linked to Socialist Students, was involved in organising this slate, which is just a sign of things to come in terms of joint organisation against cuts, privatisation and imperialism.

Faced with a daily onslaught against them by the Israeli state, the Palestinians need to defend themselves, and socialists fully support their right to do so. We call, however, for resistance to be under the democratic control of the Palestinian masses, not by undemocratic, unaccountable groups. The current Palestinian leadership is a corrupt pro-capitalist elite, interested in getting a compromise with imperialism that allows them to set themselves up as a local capitalist class.

Desperate for means to fight back, support is growing for groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are among the organisations that carry out suicide bombings in Israel. These attacks kill predominantly working-class Israelis indiscriminately, and undercut the possibility of united action between the Israelis and Palestinians. The siege mentality created by suicide bombings of civilians actually aids the Sharon government, which can then appeal to ‘national unity’ whilst carrying out repressive measures against both the Israeli workers and the Palestinians.

Only a mass movement of the Palestinian working class, capable of reaching out to Israeli workers, will be able to defeat imperialism, and so the primary aim of socialists has to be to help the development of such a movement.

Last year, the lecturers’ union AUT voted to start an academic boycott of two Israeli higher education institutions, a decision that was later reversed at a special conference. The idea of a boycott of all Israeli produce, academic institutions and academics has recently been put forward by organisations such as the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and some of those involved in the European Social Forum.

Socialists do not encourage the tactic of a boycott, and counterpoise the united action of workers and youth from both Israel and Palestine to boycotts imposed from outside that may divide the working class. We therefore did not build the AUT’s boycott of Israeli universities, not least because such a strategy is so easily misrepresented.

Of course, we completely reject the vilification of many of those who instigated and supported the boycott as somehow ‘anti-Semitic’. We support the right of individuals to make a personal protest through a boycott, without victimisation or accusations of anti-Semitism. We would also not ‘scab’ by refusing to implement action agreed on through a trade union’s democratic structures, even though we would argue that the action is not effective.

The AUT’s boycott was of two Israeli universities – Haifa and Bar-Ilan. Socialists in Maavak Socialisti / Nidal Amali Eshteraki are active in the first of these, fighting for a united movement of Palestinians and Israelis against imperialism and capitalism. A boycott of Haifa would make it harder to launch a united campaign at what is one of the very few universities in Israel with a significant number of Arab students.

The situation at Bar-Ilan is different, since it is partly built on land taken from the Palestinians in 1968. At some point, it is likely to be necessary for workers to boycott this university as part of wider action against the Israeli occupation of land taken since 1967, particularly if called for by the Palestinian masses. At present, however, an isolated academic boycott will only be used by the establishment to strengthen support for Bar-Ilan, and is not the correct tactic at this stage.

What can we do now?

Despite the arguments outlined here, the issue of a boycott is not something to spend too much time arguing about. Far more important is building links between British, Israeli and Palestinian workers’ and student organisations, which could seriously undermine imperialism and capitalism in the Middle East and Britain.

We need to build solidarity with the workers in Israel and Palestine. Workers’ organisations around the world should send messages of support, link up with their sister unions, send financial assistance and arrange tours of the region.

It is also important to win the trade unions to a more general, coherent anti-imperialist position, offering solidarity to workers throughout the world. The AUT itself shows a good example of this in its active support for Colombian trade unionists, having organised meetings and produced material in support of their resistance to murderous multinationals (see Toby Osmond’s article ‘Coke Kills’).

We also need to use every opportunity to enter into a dialogue with workers, young people, students, progressive minded academics etc. to argue for a socialist solution to the conflict. Capitalism has, over 50 years, led to the continued deterioration of the national conflict in the region. The only ‘solutions’ acceptable to the imperialist leaders would lead to completely unacceptable conditions for ordinary people in the region, and so always come to nothing.

The capitalist leaders on both sides, together with imperialism, will never resolve this conflict. We need to fight for a democratic socialist solution carried out from below.

For weeks our club at Kennedy High School, ‘Youth against War and Racism’, had planned to set up an anti-war information table at lunch on Wednesday, 23 February 2005. This was the day military recruiters were scheduled to visit the school.

But Tuesday morning our Principal, Ron Simmons, was visited by representatives from the American Legion. They threatened to withdraw financial support from our school unless we were forbidden from tabling Wednesday. District Superintendent Gary Prest, also pressured by the American Legion, called Principal Simmons and told him to shut us down.

However, we were not about to accept this flagrant violation of our right to free speech or allow the American Legion to blackmail our school.

This was not the first time Kennedy students had to battle the administration. In fact, this repression followed months of negotiations to get the right to set up a table. A school district lawyer finally confirmed that we had equal tabling rights as the recruiters.

On 8 December, the recruiters came and we set up our first counter-recruitment table next to them. The recruiters’ table was abandoned. Meanwhile, our table was mobbed by hundreds of interested students who asked questions, signed petitions, took flyers and pamphlets, and discussed politics. By the end of the day we collected 120 signatures for the petition against recruiters being allowed to invade our school. Over 100 more signed in the following days.

Our previous organization and victory meant that everyone in the group was confident enough to fight back against this new, more serious repression.

We organized an emergency meeting on Tuesday evening, and plotted our next moves. Fourteen active members showed up and decided to table in violation of the administration’s decree. If they demanded that we take down our table, we would refuse, regardless of the consequences.

We drafted a flier and petition to hand out to students, asking them to support our free speech rights. We sent a solidarity appeal to progressive groups across the country asking them to call the Superintendent and Principal in protest, and we called a press conference after school in our cafeteria. We intended to show the administration that if they were going to violate the constitution so flagrantly, they would have to do it in the face of our resistance, and they would have to do it publicly.

When lunch period began we assembled the tables and began to sell buttons, hand-out informational leaflets, and play guitar, eliciting a very positive response.

But the Principal demanded that we remove our table. When we refused, the administrators began to physically remove our materials themselves. They told us that our after-school meeting / press-conference was cancelled, and threatened us with three days’ suspension. We decided it was better to accept their offer to meet with the Superintendent, rather than stick around with no materials to pass out.

Meanwhile, the solidarity appeal was making its way around the globe via e-mail. Members of Socialist Alternative*, with whom we have been working closely, compiled the press list and helped to distribute the solidarity appeal. Within hours, the appeal reached tens of thousands of inboxes, resulting in the Principal and Superintendent being swamped with calls. As Principal Simmons later let slip: "It’s been overwhelming."

Due to all of the calls and the threat of press coverage, combined with our active resistance, our meeting with the Superintendent was of a decidedly different character from the earlier confrontation with the Principal. He presented himself as all smiles, and quickly gave in to all our demands, trying to play it off as a big misunderstanding.

Our teach-in after school was highly successful, with 30-40 students and a number of parents and community supporters attending. We received press coverage in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minnesota Public Radio, as well as several other publications and radio stations. Even Michael Moore put our story and a picture of our teach-in on his website! At the end of the day, the students left feeling elated, organized, and strong.

Even before our most recent success, Kennedy students and Socialist Alternative were working to launch ‘Youth Against War and Racism’ as a network for students to come together and fight to end the occupation of Iraq, to cut the bloated military budget and fund education, to end military recruitment in schools, and to oppose the government’s racist attacks on civil liberties.

It is essential that we stand up and take action against military recruiters. The US war machine relies on bribing young people to join the military and carry out the imperialist policies ordered by corrupt politicians. If we build a mass movement of young people against the war that exposes the lies of Bush and the military recruiters, the military will no longer have a steady supply of youth to use as cannon fodder.

Just like in the Vietnam War, the spread of mass dissent within the US armed forces will be the key to forcing US imperialism to end the brutal occupation of Iraq.

We can’t count on the government or our school administrators to stop military recruiters from spreading their lies. We must take it upon ourselves to educate and organize our fellow students, and to make our schools off-limits to recruiters. If every time they show up we provide an overwhelmingly unwelcome environment, they will simply stop coming. Already at Kennedy, in stark contrast to the six to ten recruiters who usually show up, only one came this time.

We need to spread this campaign to schools across our area and across the country.

(*Socialist Alternative is a group in the USA linked to the Socialist Party in Britain.)