Since the Aqsa Flood Operation in October 2023, the war in the Middle East has lasted for more than a year, with ongoing escalation of hostilities. Initially, the Israeli military brazenly invaded the Gaza Strip, gradually expanding to Lebanon and other nearby countries such as Iran and Yemen, which also became involved. The Palestinian people have gained support from people worldwide, and various imperialist powers have increasingly focused on Palestine—either supporting Israel, condemning the actions, or promoting the so-called “two-state solution,” all attempting to carve out a share in this conflict. However, on January 19, the ceasefire agreement signed by Hamas and Israel came into effect[1].
Regarding the nature of the Aqsa Flood Operation, imperialism and its allies have been frantically attacking and slandering, fabricating shameless lies such as Hamas orchestrating “terrorist attacks,” and wildly exaggerating Hamas’s kidnapping of hostages, blaming this operation as the root cause of the over a year-long war and disaster. However, anyone with even the most superficial understanding of Palestine’s history can see that imperialist aggression against Palestine began long before the establishment of the reactionary Israeli regime. Since the British imperialist rule over Palestine, Zionist colonists, supported by the British Empire, have colonized Palestine under the banner of “returning to the homeland.” The state of Israel, supported by U.S. imperialism and backed by advanced American military technology, has been relentlessly occupying Palestinian territories and resources, oppressing and massacring the local population. Currently, Palestine’s actual control is limited to narrow Gaza and scattered areas in the West Bank, with over 2.3 million people confined within less than 400 square kilometers, and the Palestinian economy entirely controlled by Israeli capital. The ambitions of Israeli gangs are limitless; in September 2023, the warlord Netanyahu brazenly displayed a map of the so-called “New Middle East” expansion (extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip)[2]. Seizing land and resources from other nations, creating hunger and war everywhere, and when the oppressed rise up to reclaim their homeland, they are labeled as “invaders.” What a robber’s logic!
“Is it China organizing the Boxers to rebel, to ‘kill and set fire’ in Western, Japanese imperialist countries? Or are imperialist countries invading China, oppressing and exploiting Chinese people, thus provoking the Chinese masses to rise up against imperialism and its running dogs, corrupt officials, and evil bureaucrats? This is a matter of right and wrong, and must be debated clearly.”[3] Today, the imperialist slander against Hamas and the Palestinian national liberation movement is reminiscent of the past reactionary slanders against the Chinese people’s Boxer Movement. However, heroic Palestinian people, like the Chinese people, will not submit to imperialism. During socialist China, the nationalist-led organization Fatah was the first to stand up and fight. After Fatah’s degeneration into a comprador regime in the 1980s, Hamas was founded by progressive middle and lower-class nationalists like Yasin during the first Palestinian intifada, continuing the struggle for national liberation. Just as Netanyahu became complacent, the Palestinian people’s anti-invasion action—the Aqsa Flood—dealt a heavy blow to the invaders in October. Over the past year, despite Israel deploying advanced fighters, missiles, and drones to bomb Gaza, and sending tens of thousands of armored troops into Gaza, it could not occupy the small Gaza Strip. Israeli invaders suffered heavy casualties in Gaza City, with casualties exceeding 50,000[4], and over 750 tanks destroyed. The wreckage of the “Merkava” tanks, once touted by pre-war bourgeois military experts as the most advanced, can be seen everywhere on Gaza streets—marking the greatest loss for Israel since the five Middle East wars. The Palestinian struggle has further intensified internal class contradictions and economic crises within Israel. After the Aqsa Flood, Israel plunged into a quagmire of war, with a 19.4% economic contraction and a 26.9% decline in personal consumption[5]. The economy relies heavily on U.S. aid, and protests demanding a ceasefire have erupted repeatedly, with masses calling for the overthrow of the Netanyahu government, the war criminal. Meanwhile, Israel’s fascist bombings of hospitals and massacres of civilians have not suppressed resistance but have exposed its predatory nature to the world. Even within the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter, students at many universities defy police blockades and arrests to organize protests in solidarity with Palestine[6].
The anti-invasion war waged by the Palestinian people since the Aqsa Flood has extraordinary significance for the global anti-colonial and national liberation movements. With the ceasefire agreement taking effect, Israel’s plan to wipe out Hamas by force has failed. Yet, a strange scene has emerged: Gaza residents took to the streets to celebrate the ceasefire, and some believe that the agreement marks a victory for the Palestinian people’s resistance, heralding an imminent peace. Simultaneously, the source of invasion—imperialist powers like China, Russia, and the European Union—have surprisingly welcomed the agreement[7]. What is going on? Has Hamas truly achieved a final victory? Can this agreement bring lasting peace to Palestine? Only through the weapon of Marxism can we see through the clouds and correctly understand the essence of the Gaza ceasefire. First, let’s examine the content of this agreement. Al Jazeera reprinted the specific terms of the ceasefire[8]. The entire ceasefire is divided into three so-called “stages.” In the first stage, Hamas must hand over 33 captives and hostages, but Israel’s stance on the key ceasefire issues remains vague, only promising to withdraw from the population centers in Gaza, without fully withdrawing from the so-called “Nazarim Corridor” and “Fatah Corridor” (the “Nazarim Corridor” divides Gaza north-south; the “Fatah Corridor” separates Gaza from Egypt, preventing Gaza from receiving external aid and making movement impossible). This aims to end Gaza’s severe isolation and contact blockade. In the second stage, Hamas must surrender all captives and hostages, but Israel only promises to “release more Palestinian prisoners” and vaguely mentions “full withdrawal.” More critically, regarding the post-war government issue in the third stage, there is no mention of Hamas at all, only a naked declaration of imperialist ambitions to intervene in Gaza—“reconstruction under international supervision.” U.S. imperialism has long laid its plans, as if Gaza has become a piece of meat on the chopping block. Secretary of State Blinken stated that Gaza would be governed by the Palestinian Authority controlled mainly by Fatah comprador groups, and “international partners” would be invited to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority, with Arab comprador states stationed troops to “ensure security.” “The fundamental issue of all revolution is the question of state power,” and Israel’s withdrawal plan remains vague. Hamas’s ambiguous stance on this critical issue, tacitly accepting imperialist “international supervision” to infiltrate Gaza, reveals that this ceasefire agreement is fundamentally a capitulation—an unprincipled compromise. Concessions and surrender do not bring genuine peace but only embolden the enemy. Israel shows no sincerity in the ceasefire; on the 19th, Israeli gangs bombed multiple areas in Gaza, killing 8 people and shamelessly accusing Hamas of failing to hand over the list of captives on time, violating the agreement[9]. Netanyahu then continued to boast that “Gaza will never pose a threat to Israel again.”
So why did Hamas, as a national liberation movement resisting thousands of invading mercenaries, sign such a shameful capitulation agreement? The disadvantages faced by Hamas in the war are obvious: a huge military power gap, with the enemy equipped with advanced fighters, missiles, and tanks, while Hamas only has rifles, drones, and homemade rockets; Gaza’s strategic depth is only 365 square kilometers, even smaller than an ordinary city. These external objective conditions are indeed significant, and many attribute Hamas’s capitulation mainly to these factors, believing surrender was inevitable. However, Marxism holds that internal causes are the basis of change; external conditions are ultimately only influencing factors. The correctness of the ideological and political line determines everything. The success or failure of a party ultimately depends on its internal line struggle. For a nascent revolutionary party, its strength is always initially weaker than the reactionary forces of the old order. Only by implementing the correct revolutionary line can it grow and defeat the enemy. Some argue that Gaza cannot resist the Israeli army, but during the Greco-Persian Wars, Greece, despite its small size, defeated the vast Persian invasion army of over 100,000 troops by following the correct line of active resistance. The history of the Chinese revolution also proves this: during the early stages of the Liberation War, the Kuomintang reactionaries had 4.3 million well-equipped troops controlling 300 million people nationwide, while the liberated areas had only 1.27 million revolutionary troops and 100 million people. Yet, by adhering to Mao’s revolutionary military line, continuously destroying enemy forces and preserving their own, they ultimately overthrew Chiang Kai-shek’s regime. Even if temporarily defeated and retreating, as long as they maintained the correct line, they could rise again. During the late Ming peasant uprising, Li Zicheng was defeated at Tongguan, only escaping with 18 cavalry. Despite the worse situation than Hamas, Li Zicheng persisted in fighting and implemented the correct policy of “equal land and exemption from grain,” and the revolution continued. Wherever Li Zicheng’s army went, it gained popular support, repeatedly defeating and annihilating Ming main forces, regaining the initiative.
Therefore, the root cause of Hamas’s shameful capitulation ultimately lies in the internal adoption of a capitulation and surrender line that dominates. But how did it override the original revolutionary line? The immediate superficial reason is the successive sacrifices of Hamas revolutionary leaders in recent months, from the despicable assassination of Haniya by Israeli agents to the frontline fighting of Sinwar until the last moment. Their sacrifices are undoubtedly a heavy loss for the revolution, making the implementation of the correct line more difficult. However, this is only an incidental factor. Over ten years ago, Hamas leaders Yasin and Rantisi were assassinated by reactionaries, yet Hamas continued to grow and develop, defeating the comprador regime Fatah in 2007 and expelling it from Gaza. The fundamental reason is that Hamas, as a national bourgeois organization, as an exploiting class, cannot truly represent the interests of the working people and has close ties with imperialism. Its revolutionary character is incomplete. In the 1988 Hamas Charter, Hamas did not clearly propose solutions to the land question or guarantee workers’ rights, thus failing to mobilize the working masses fully. However, regarding imperialism—especially the anti-Israel stance of China and Russia—Hamas harbored illusions and joined the so-called “Resistance Arc” supported by Iran, Hezbollah, and other reactionary regimes, even visiting Russia[10]. When revolutionary circumstances turn unfavorable, the upper right wing of the national bourgeoisie immediately reveals reactionary tendencies, begins to betray the revolution. After Sinwar’s sacrifice, a so-called “Five-Person Committee” was established, with members closely linked to imperialism. Khalil Haya immediately flattered and courted major powers like Russia and Spain after the ceasefire, claiming they stood with the Palestinian people[11]. Mashal also frequently moved among the Chinese and Russian imperialist groups. The rise of this five-person committee signifies the rise of capitulationism. Furthermore, after the collapse of the socialist camp, imperialism has continuously strengthened its influence over the national bourgeoisie. The so-called “Middle East Peace Plan” sold out Palestinian interests, and later, China and Russia provided aid and signed agreements supporting Hamas and Fatah[12][13][14]. They have always sought to extend their black hand into Palestine.
Although internal right-wing factions within Hamas have come to power, hoping to sell out to U.S. imperialism for temporary peace and signing shameful treaties, the Palestinian people, who have always dared to revolution, continue their struggle. The revolutionary factions in Gaza have not been deceived by a mere treaty and have not laid down their arms. They are demanding to follow the revolutionary leader Sinwar’s brother—Muhammad Sinwar—and continue resistance, breaking away from the remote-controlled Five-Person Committee in Qatar[15]. The Palestinian people’s struggle will one day ignite a blazing fire under the leadership of the proletarian vanguard and unite with revolutionary people worldwide, burning away the decayed imperialist colonial order. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be liberated!
https://hamasinfo.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/chinese.pdf ↩︎
Excerpt from Chairman Mao’s article “Patriotism or Treason?” ↩︎
Number of Israelis injured since Oct. 7 exceeded 50,000 | Al Mayadeen English ↩︎
哥大“停课”，哈佛“闭校”，耶鲁47人被捕……美国大学史上最大危机爆发_澎湃号·湃客_澎湃新闻-The Paper ↩︎