Palestine: 60 years of Nakba, the refugees will return

On behalf of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and our La Riva/Puryear presidential campaign, we extend our full solidarity with the heroic and long-suffering Palestinian people on this 60th year of al-Nakba.

The Palestinian people are the victims of one of most terrible crimes in modern times. Forcibly expelled from 80 percent of their homeland to make way for the racist state of Israel in 1948, the Palestinians did not fade quietly into the pages of history. They have waged a courageous struggle against overwhelming odds, facing not only the U.S.-backed Israeli state, but also U.S. imperialism and its client regimes in the Arab world.

Israel remains a racist, apartheid-style state with vastly different rights accorded to Jewish and Palestinian Arab residents. The terrible anti-Semitic atrocities committed against Jewish people by fascist-led capitalist governments in Europe during the mid-20th century have been cynically used since the end of World War II as a pretext by western powers to establish a dependent colonial settler outpost in the strategic and oil-rich Middle East.

On May 15, the day that Palestinians worldwide marked al-Nakba, George Bush, the resident of imperialism addressed the Israeli parliament. He feted the Zionist state as “a homeland for the chosen people.” It would be hard to imagine a more hostile and insulting diplomatic action. Bush’s Republican would-be successor, John McCain, expressed his “heartfelt congratulations” to the government of the highly militarized Israeli state, and called upon “all free people to stand by Israel in her defense of our common values and ideals.”

The leading Democrats also expressed their undying support for a country that has repeatedly attacked and occupied neighboring states. Turning reality upside down, both Clinton and Obama—like Bush and McCain-painted Israel as the victim, ignoring al-Nakba and turning a blind eye to its long history of military aggression against surrounding Arab states and people.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton expressed her “heartfelt congratulations to the people of Israel. … In every generation, Israel faces serious challenges to its security and threats to its existence.” The leading Democratic candidate for president, Barack Obama, also heaped unqualified praise on the Zionist state: “So let us honor the independence of this great nation … and the solemn promise to seek lasting peace and security for the people of Israel,” he said on May 8.

The La Riva/Puryear PSL campaign calls for real justice for the Palestinian and all the Arab people. Real justice means the right of self-determination for Palestinians, including the inalienable right of return for all of the millions of Palestinian refugees. Real justice means an end to U.S. aid to Israel and reactionary Arab regimes. Real justice means an end to the colonial occupation of all Palestinian land. Real justice means an end to U.S. intervention and occupation in the Middle East–against Iraq, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and elsewhere. The slogan, “The road to peace-U.S. out of the Middle East” is truer today than ever.