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The Volcano of the Middle East:

The Agonising Transformation of the

Palestinian Peasants into Proletarians

The creation and evolution of the Israeli state are depicted by the bourgeoisie as one of

those idyllic epics for which it has a strong predilection. Haven't the insufficiently praised

virtues of this tiny people, its toil, its courage and perseverance, made the deserts bloom?

In reality this fairy tale, spread with an aura of self-righteousness, conceals the drama of

the expropriation of the rural populace. To be sure, all the ones of this planet which have

 been opened one after another to the penetration of capital have witnessed this drama. !ut

in "alestine it attained a degree of cynicism and barbarity heretofore une#ualled.

$verywhere the capitalists attempted to deny the fact of this expropriation outright in

order to preserve the philanthropic%& purity of their deeds. In "alestine they even went so

far as to deny the existence of the expropriated population, a land without people for a people

without a land& Isn't it easier this way? In actual history , wrote (arx, it is notorious that

conquest, enslavement, robbery, murder, briefly force, play the great part.  )or the bourgeoisie,

Right and labour were from all time the sole means of enrichment, the present year of course

always excepted. As a matter of fact, the methods of primitive accumulation are anything butidyllic. *+

The paradise  in the egev desert, the flourishing cultivation of citrus fruits and avocados

on the coastal plain as well as the industrial boom %even on the scale of a very small

country presuppose the complete despoliation of the "alestinian peasants. The history of

their expropriation is similar to that of the $nglish peasants, which (arx said, is written in

the annals of mankind in letters of blood and fire. *

From the Ottoman Code to the Great Revolt of 19 ! 19"

The calvary of primitive accumulation or rather its "alestinian re-enactment, which is only

the most stri/ing act of a drama which has affected the entire region, dates bac/ to the

middle of the last century. It began in the year +010 when the 2ttoman $mpire, to which

"alestine and the other countries of the ear $ast belonged, promulgated its law on

landed property. The only way this archaic and anti#uated empire could compete with the

modern powers of $urope, albeit briefly, was by accentuating its pressure on the peasant

masses. The ob3ect of this law was to replace traditional collective or tribal ownership with

individual land ownership. 4ather than being paid collectively, taxes were henceforth to

 be levied on individuals. In the case of defaulted payment the individual would be held

responsible, thereby wea/ening any resistance to the increased tax burden imposed by the

state.

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The peasants who shared the fruits and the use of the land according to the rules of village

or tribal organisation, reacted in various ways to the new law. 5ome simply refused to

conform to the law and never had their lands registered. 6t the time of the creation of the

Israeli state in +780, they were expelled from their lands on the pretext that they had no

proof of ownership. 2thers included in their declaration to the state only that third which

was cultivated annually, omitting the two-thirds that lay fallow. 5till others registered an

area less than the cultivated part, /nowing well that the 2ttoman state was not able to

exercise effective control over everyone. )inally numerous villages registered their whole

territory in the name of the village chiefs since they paid less tax or were exempt from

taxation. The latter too/ advantage of the customs of the empire, whose immense sie

compelled the central power to buy off the village chiefs in order to dissuade them from

assuming the leadership of peasant revolts.

9onse#uently the enforcement of the 2ttoman 9ode led to a strengthening of the role of

the village chiefs. 2riginally they became landowners :to render a service; to the

peasants, but the day would surely come when their heirs would try to profit from thisdistinction that nobody had wanted. )or its part, the state decided to apply that rule of the

code by virtue of which lands without owners %in fact the fallow lands or any that had not

 been declared should be considered property of the empire %called miri and on the

strength of this legal title began to sell land from vast estates to <ebanese, 5yrian, $gyptian

and Iranian merchants. These attempted to ta/e over effective possession of the lands,

with varied success depending on the degree of resistance by the peasants. Those who

were not successful retained their titles to the land which they sold to =ionist

organisations a few years later at #uite handsome prices.

This process resulted in a growing concentration of landed property although theeconomic structures had not yet undergone any profound transformation, the peasants

generally retaining actual possession of the land even if they had now no more than

partial legal ownership. 5uch was the general situation on the eve of >orld >ar I. !y the

time it was over the 2ttoman $mpire had to give way to reat !ritain. $ngland's interest

in "alestine was twofold@ to control the strategic region around the 5ue 9anal and to

prevent the emergence of a large anti-imperialist national movement by creating a puppet-

state to divide the one where sentiment for national unity was awa/ening. !ritish

imperialism's policy converged with the interests of =ionist capital to culminate in a

common plan for the creation of that state, as both a local policeman and a colonialenterprise.

=ionist capital had already attempted to set up colonies in "alestine before the collapse of

the 2ttoman $mpire. Aet it was only able to implement its plan on a large scale under the

!ritish mandate, in particular with assistance from the 4othschild )oundation *B, this

time thoroughly transforming the relations of production. The purchase of land by the

 Cewish 9olonisation 6ssociation, which was founded for that purpose, could naturally

mean nothing other than the eviction of the "alestinian sharecroppers and farmers. In

reality even though the deeds to this land were held by the large absentee landlords who

willingly sold most of it in the first few years after the war %see Table I, the land whichcarried these deeds remained the indispensable source of the "alestinian peasants'

livelihood.

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Ta#le 1: Origin of $e%ish Pro&ert' Rights According to the T'&e of (eller )19*+ , 19-.

Date of

purchase

E of land bought from

absentee landlords

E of lands ceded by large

resident landlords

E of lands ceded

 by fellahin

+7F-+7 G1.8 F.0 B.0

+7B-+7G 0 +.8 +.

+70-+7B 81.1 B. +0.B

+7BB-+7B +8.7 .G .1

5ource@ 6. ranoti, The <and 5ystem in "alestine. <ondon, +7.

The dispossessed fellah had to become an agricultural labourer on his own land. The fierce

exploitation of local manpower by =ionist capital at the beginning of the century was

further exacerbated by the principle of  Jewish abour designed to preserve the colonial

settlement pro3ect. This principle entitled the immigrants to expel the  fellahin from their

 3obs while the =ionist fund financed the difference in wages in order to facilitate the

employment of $uropean labour power. This situation could not continue, long withoutviolent confrontations because the expelled peasants were left only with the certainty of a

slow death while they watched the colonists occupy their land. )or this reason there have

 been nearly permanent social revolts from +7+, +71, +77, +7BB, +7B to the present.

In +7+, three years after the !ritish arrival, the situation had become so acute that a

serious uprising spread throughout the country. The areas most affected were 5afad in the

north, and Hebron and Cerusalem in the centre. The peasants' wrath was directed

essentially against the =ionists, whose settlements were hard hit. The $nglish army

assumed the tas/ of restoring law and order it has always shown enthusiasm for this /ind

of mission. >ith honourable intent to be sure, it suppressed the irresponsible minority bymeans of summary executions, hangings, etc. The uprisings reached their climax in the

+7B revolts, which lasted three years and were accompanied by a magnificent six month

general stri/e in the towns. The motive force of this uprising was no longer the peasantry

or the bourgeoisie, but for the first time an agricultural proletariat deprived of means of

labour and subsistence, along with an embryo of a wor/ing class concentrated essentially

in the ports and in the oil refinery at HaJfa. It should be noted that this movement was

initiated in the towns and subse#uently spread to the countryside where a guerrilla force

too/ shape, attac/ing "alestinian landowners as well as the $nglish and =ionist colonists.

In fact numerous landlords were attac/ed by the "alestinian revolutionaries because theyhad sold their land to the =ionists. )or the dispossessed peasants it was clear that the land

speculators were getting rich on their impoverishment.

!ecause of the 5talinist counterrevolution and the absence of a revolutionary proletarian

movement in $urope capable of giving assistance, the "alestinian revolt was left to face the

war machine of !ritish imperialism alone. onetheless the !ritish were compelled to

supplement the terror of their weaponry with promises of independence and other similar

manoeuvres in order to put an end to the revolt. $ven the 6rab feudal chiefs and the petty

/ings of the region in their pay had to be called on to help. These made a  fraternal appeal

to the "alestinians to silence their guns and to trust the good intentions of His (a3esty'sgovernment. 6nd in order to help them understand this appeal better, the borders of the

Trans3ordan %where "rince 6bdallah, the grandfather of the present-day butcher of

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6mman reigned he was murdered by a "alestinian in +71 were closed to any insurgents

who tried to ta/e refuge or procure arms and provisions there, as well as to any volunteers

who tried to 3oin the revolt from the Trans3ordan.

The laws on collective responsibility in the 6rab villages and districts, those terrorist

delicacies which semi-barbarian 2riental despotism be#ueathed to the civilisation of

western capitalism, date from this period. Knder these laws the village inhabitants areforced to provide accommodation for police detachments on punitive missions and the

whole population is held responsible for operations carried out by anyone in the region.

Thus the population is sub3ect to martial law and en3oys the right to see houses where

rebels have ta/en refuge destroyed and to undergo imprisonment as a deterrent. Thus,

following an operation that cut telephone lines in alilee, three villages were occupied by

the !ritish army. 6ll the men were lined up. 6s they were counted, those who had the

misfortune of being number +F, F, BF, etc. were shot in front of the whole village.

>ith these methods, 9hristian and democratic $ngland intended to put down the revolt of

the land less, bread less and 3obless peasants. 6 population which did not exceed 0FF,FFFwas placed under the control of BF,FFF soldiers& 6ll the stri/e leaders were imprisoned.

The feudal and religious leaders who assumed the leadership of the movement gave the

colonists decisive help@ in liaison with "rince 6bdallah of such sinister memory they

continued to stab the struggle in the bac/, participating with the $nglish in the #uest for a

:solution; to the situation. The !ritish launched a ma3or offensive during which the

insurgent villages were bombarded %an example followed by the Israelis today leaving a

total of 1,FFF "alestinians dead and ,1FF imprisoned. *8

The heroic spirit of the "alestinian wor/ers and peasants in those years was bro/en. The

terrible isolation to which the international situation condemned their revolt preventedany broadening of its horion that would have enabled it to converge with the struggle of

all the exploited masses of the region against the colonial yo/e and the old order. It was

also paralysed by the weight of the social bac/wardness in which the country vegetated

and which translated into the half-feudal half-religious leadership of the movement.

The wor/ing class was unable to play a more important role because the party that

claimed to represent it, the "alestinian 9ommunist "arty, was guided by a completely false

orientation, which was further aggravated by an International that had nothing

communist about it except the name. )ar from being able to ma/e its opposition to the

reactionary religious leadership clear, the "9", whose militants included a ma3ority of anti-

=ionist Cewish wor/ers as well as a minority of 6rab wor/ers, was compelled by the

5talinied International to support the mufti of "alestine, Had3 6min Husseini, a sort of

Lhomeini before the fact, if not worse. This disoriented the proletariat completely and

fostered the development of nationalist tendencies on both sides. The 6rab wor/ers,

finding that their party supported the most reactionary wing of the movement, left it to

 3oin less moderate nationalist organisations. )or their part, the Cewish wor/ers could not

support such a position without finding themselves totally disarmed in the face of the

deceitful anti!feudal  propaganda of =ionism. Here as elsewhere, the 5talinist

counterrevolution completely destroyed the class party, with greater ease in "alestineinsofar as the proletariat there was still embryonic and above all terribly divided as a

conse#uence of the colonial situation.

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The revolt of +7BB-+7B, courageous as it was, ended in a complete fiasco. In spite of the

momentary retreat by reat !ritain which was obliged to limit Cewish immigration for a

few years, the =ionist movement became stronger and stronger. The "alestinian movement

itself foundered in such bitterness and deception that it can be said without hesitation that

the painful outcome of the war in +780 had already been partly determined in +7B.

The /irth of 0srael and the ar of E2&ro&riation

6t the end of the 5econd >orld >ar the old $nglish empire began to give way to the

6merican imperialist colossus. The =ionist movement was all the better for it since the

$nglish presence had become uncomfortable and even intolerable, inducing several

=ionist groups in a hurry to establish their own state to initiate an anti-$nglish terrorist

movement, in which !egin earned his spurs. !y this time reat !ritain wished only to

relin#uish its responsibility for "alestine, and it tossed the hot potato to the K.., that new

den of thieyes built on the ashes of the defunct <eague of ations.

The preparations for the formation of a Cewish state led to the Israeli 6rab war of +78G. 2n

(ay +8, +780, while the delegates of the virtuous bourgeois nations lounged in the

sumptuous rooms of the K.. babbling on about whether an 6rab and a Cew were capable

of living together without going for each others' throats %with these 2rientals, my dear,

one never /nows... or whether it might be better to separate them with barbed wire, the

state of Israel was created. This resulted in a race between Truman and 5talin to see which

would recognise the new state first, and in particular, it opened the hunting season on

"alestinians.

Kp to this time history had only given a foretaste of capitalist barbarity. ow the avowedob3ective was to rid the country of as many ruined peasants as possible. This would be the

re-enactment on a grand scale of the calvary of the 5cottish peasants documented by (arx@

the clearance and dispersion of the people is pursued by the proprietors "in this case the #ionists$ as

a settled principle, as an agricultural necessity, %ust as trees and brushwood are cleared from the

wastes of America or Australia& and the operation goes on in a quiet, businesslike way, etc. *1

)or international and local reasons Israel was not able to occupy all of "alestine 3ust then.

In fact, the process of expropriation was less advanced in some areas than others. The

mountainous central region was less interesting to the =ionists, and furthermore the state

of Israel was allowed to establish itself only on part of "alestine within a framewor/ of a

partition advocated by the K.. However the portion actually occupied was larger than

the partition plan provided for, even though the >est !an/ and aa 5trip escaped the

=ionist con#uest for the moment, the former falling to "rince 6bdallah %who on this

occasion was made /ing of Cordan by the $nglish, the latter going to $gypt. 6lmost a

million "alestinian wor/ers and peasants were driven out of their homes. This time the

 bourgeoisie made a complete moc/ery of sacrosanct property rights, legality and other

lies. !rute force, terror, massacre and extermination were raised to supreme law, in order

to serve as a foundation for all subse#uent legislation.

It is hardly necessary to describe the miserable conditions under which the "alestinian

masses were herded together. Their situation was no less enviable than that of the

hundreds of thousands of Cews who had 3ust emerged from concentration camps to be

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shipped off to "alestine where imperialism dangled the vision of $den rediscovered before

their eyes. !ut it is certain that these million "alestinians, uprooted and condemned to

unemployment, would disrupt the fragile regional e#uilibrium for all time and become the

epicentre of social revolt in the (iddle $ast.

In spite of the determined attempts of the Israeli authorities to expel the greatest possible

number of "alestinians - and their efforts were successful for the most part - a minoritymanaged to stay put. In +780 there were about +GF,FFF and today there are more than

1FF,FFF "alestinians living within the state of Israel. This population has suffered

unspea/able oppression such as perhaps has only been e#ualled in the 6frican colonial

societies. The "alestinian population has had to suffer under the dictatorial yo/e of an

extraordinarily fierce military regime, whose only :legal; foundation is provided by the

famous !ritish decrees from the time of the mandate, among which should be noted the

'mergency (efence Regulations , drawn up in +781 to combat the movements of Cewish

resistance to the $nglish occupation.

Here are two witnesses for the prosecution. )or the first@

the #uestion is as follows@ will we be sub3ect to official terror or will there be

individual freedom? o citien is protected from life imprisonment without

trial %... right to appeal has been abolished %... the powers of the administration

to exile anyone at any time are unlimited %.... It is not necessary to commit any

offence a decision made in some office is enough.

)or the second@

the order established by this legislation is without precedent in civilised

countries. $ven in ai ermany such laws did not exist.

These declarations were made at a meeting of lawyers held at Tel 6viv on )ebruary G, +78

in order to protest against repression... $nglish colonial repression the first by !ernard

%Dov Coseph, later Israeli (inister of Custice, and the second by C. 5hapira who became

"rocurer-eneral of the Israeli republic. * 6 short two years later this na)i barbarity was

employed by the =ionists against the "alestinians.

!ut this barbaric legislation was not enough to satisfy the voracious colonialist appetite of

Israel, this monstrous offspring of the reactionary union between =ionism and western

capitalism. The terrorist arsenal of the Defence 4egulations still had to be perfected, and

this was done through a series of laws which under cover of the state of war, legalised the

plundering of the "alestinians.

2ne of the masterpieces of this legislation was the law on absentee property. 6n absentee was

defined as

anyone who in the period between ovember +7, +78G and (ay +7, +780 was

owner of a plot of land situated in Israel and who during this period was either@

+ a citien of <ebanon, $gypt, 5audi 6rabia, Cordan, Ira# or Aemen in these

countries or anywhere in "alestine outside Israel B a "alestinian citien whohas left his place of residence in "alestine to ta/e up residence in a region held

 by forces which fought against the establishment of the state of Israel. *G

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This period coincides with the movement of large numbers of individuals who had fled

the ones of the most heated confrontations. How many peasants considered absentees

when they had only been displaced a few hundred meters, saw their lands confiscated?

6nother virtue of this law was that it seied the lands of the clergy %more than E. od

himself was an absentee&

6nother legal monument is the famous emergency law , It allows certain regions to bedeclared closed )ones , and a written authorisation from the military government is

necessary to gain access to it. 6ccording to another clause, if a village is declared a security

)one the inhabitants no longer have the right to live there. (ore than a doen villages in

alilee have had to be abandoned for this reason. 5uch is the law& (ore laws of the same

/ind have been enacted. >hile one such law authorises certain regions to be declared

temporary security )ones , which means that the peasants are prevented from cultivating

their land, yet another law authorises the state to confiscate lands not cultivated  for a

certain period of time. othing escapes the law&

The state completed this magnificent legal edifice with the *rdinances on the +tate of 'mergency of +787, intended to supplement the $nglish emergency laws of +781. They give

full power to the military authority to meet  public security need, to search homes and

automobiles, to issue arrest warrants, to conduct in camera summary trials without right of

appeal, to restrict individual freedom of movement, to impose house arrest and to deport

anyone. )or example, article ++7 authorises confiscation of land, while article +F7

empowers the army to bar anyone from designated areas and to dictate restrictions

regarding personal contacts and employment. Here we have the explanation of one of the

secrets of democracy it can afford the luxury of concealing the overt violence of class

oppression - compounded by racial and national oppression - with the hypocritical veil oflegality. *0

These are the methods employed by =ionism to clear the land of its inhabitants on behalf

of capital. The expropriation of the "alestinian peasants is almost complete in the

territories seied in +780. *7 The scarcity of land even extends to the towns and villages

where the population is cramped and land set aside for construction is extremely limited.

>hat became of the population, still essentially peasant in +780, that remained within

Israel? This is shown in Table @

Ta#le *: 3istri#4tion of Ara# Man&o%er among the Princi&al (ectors of Activit'+718 +7 +7G

6griculture 17.7E B7.+E +7.+E

Industry 0.E +8.7E +.1E

9onstruction and public wor/s 0.8E +7.E .E

2ther sectors B.1E .8E 8+.0E

Total +FFE +FFE +FFE

5ource@ 6nnuaire statisti#ue d'IsraMl. +711 to +7GB.

It is important to note that almost all 6rabs employed in the industrial sector are wage

labourers. 2f the active agricultural population 10 E are proletarians, which means that in

+7G less than +F E of 6rabs in Israel were bound to the land. The services employ a large

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ma3ority of wage labourers, to the point that in +7GF, wor/ers and assimilated represented

G. E of the active 6rab population. *+F The new generation of "alestinians living in

Israel is thus essentially wor/ing class although it continues to live in a rural environment

%G8 E of the population in +7G. The villages where they live are nothing other than

ghettos in which the state of Israel see/s to imprison them. These overexploited and

underpaid wor/ers - in some cases they are paid half as much as a Cewish wor/er for the

same amount of wor/ - are forced to ma/e hour-long trips to and from wor/ in pac/ed

 buses.

These proletarians have lived through a hell of poverty, wars, humiliation and massacres,

the memory of which has been etched in their minds. * ++ The state of emergency was

lifted in +7, but this could not mean the repeal of the laws that typified it. The

prerogatives of the military authority were simply transferred to the civil administration,

in particular to the police. In reality,

no matter what rights and liberties might be accorded by law or by custom to

the inhabitants of Israel, considerations of security can always call them into#uestion without any formal departure from legal procedure. *+

4ecently the few remaining peasants have again been victims of the arbitrary application

of terrorist legislation. Thus in +7G, under the banners of a land consolidation operation ,

8,GFF acres of land were snatched from the 6rab population. This attac/ on the meagre

niche remaining to them led to mass demonstrations, stri/es and confrontations with the

police and the army. The latter decreed a curfew and invaded numerous villages. 5ix

6rabs were /illed and doens in3ured. The episode was baptised day of the land. In

particular, this legislation is used today against any challenge to the state. 6nd who hasthe most to challenge if not the wor/ing class?

The wor/ing class, since +7G in contact with the new wave of "alestinian wor/ers living

under a regime of occupation on the aa 5trip and on the >est !an/, has awa/ened to

the struggle with a boldness that compensates for the length of time it has been containing

its anger. *+B

The 5e% ave of E2&ro&riation 34ring the 19"6 ar

"alestine is altogether a very small territory. >ith G,FFF s#uare /ilometres it is about thesie of !elgium. 6 third of it is desert, cultivation is very difficult and particularly costly. In

+780 Israel occupied nearly +,FFF s#uare /ilometres. 2bviously such a diminutive

framewor/ could not satisfy the voracious appetite of =ionist capital. In such a context,

expansion is a necessity, and expansionism the state religion.

9onse#uently in +7G, Israel occupied the >est !an/ and the aa 5trip, and the scenario

of +780 was repeated. In +7G the aa 5trip was inhabited by 81F,FFF "alestinians. Two-

thirds of these %BG,GG1 in Canuary +7G were refugees who had come from the fertile

plains around Caffa after their expulsion in +780. (ore than +FF,FFF inhabitants of the aa

5trip, many of whom were forced to emigrate for the second time, had to ta/e refuge in

neighbouring countries. The >est !an/, which before the +7G occupation was inhabited

 by about 01F,FFF people, contained only 1F,FF persons three years later this means that

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more than FF,FFF "alestinians from the region had to abandon everything and to settle in

the concentration camps euphemistically called refugee camps. )or one reason or another

more than BFF,FFF human beings were forced to give up their homes and thus lost their

right of return under Israeli legislation, designed solely to clear the land.

The infamous law on absentees has done its share-it has affected more than 0F,FFF acres.

2f the lands belonging to the state or to collectives, + E passed into the hands of thoseoccupying them. Israel also re#uisitioned more than +F,FFF houses from the so-called

:absentees; who had been transformed into refugees in the camps. This is the usual

procedure. 2ther more refined plans have been imagined. In the town of 6/raba on the

>est !an/ for example, the =ionists destroyed the crops by spraying them with chemicals.

It need not be added that the Israeli state deployed its whole well-/nown terrorist arsenal.

6ccording to the declaration made personally by the defence minister at the time, 5himon

"NrMs, to the Lnesset, several thousand "alestinians were expelled. !etween +7G and +7GB,

B,FFF "alestinians were incarcerated and between +7G and +7G+, as a result of the highly

!iblical principle of collective responsibility, +,B+ houses were destroyed. 5everal towns -<atrun, 6mwas, Ailo and !eit uba and many others - were simply wiped off the map.

In 2ctober +7G, colonisation was begun on the lands which had been confiscated through

state-organied gangsterism. In +7G+ there were already 1 settlements on the recently

occupied territories. *+8 5ince then new settlements and new pro3ects have continued

uninterrupted, and they periodically crop up in the news. *+1

It goes without saying that the 6rab population in this area, even more than in Israel, is

denied any possibility of expression, of trade union or independent political association.

)or thousands of "alestinians, suspicion of membership in a subversive organisation has

already earned them a total of several centuries in =ionist 3ails. 2f a total population on the>est !an/ and the aa 5trip, estimated in +7GF at almost a million inhabitants %and

probably much more today in spite of the massive emigration to the petroleum producing

countries apparently more than +FF,FFF "alestinians go to wor/ in Israel every day. In

+7GB one in every three wor/ers and one in every two wage-labourers living in these ones

crossed the border daily. 9onsidering the fact that the process of proletarianiation has

continued in these ones while the local labour mar/et has stagnated - if not shrun/ - the

proportion is undoubtedly higher today.

These proletarians are sub3ect to the most savage exploitation exacerbated by the

impossibility of living in Israel, by the wor/ and travel limitations they are liable to, by the

lac/ of any rights in Israel and by the state of martial law in the occupied territories, Thus

the "alestinian wor/er on the >est !an/ and aa 5trip who is already employed in the

worst paid sectors %in +7GB, 1 E wor/ed in construction and +7 E in agricultural receives

a wage e#ual to half that earned by the Israeli wor/er, This does not ta/e into account the

difference between the Cewish-Israeli and the 6rab-Israeli, which is #uite substantial. %5ee

table B

Ta#le : Average 3ail' age of Palestinians on the est /an7 and Ga8a (tri&

Com&ared to 0sraeli ages )in 0sraeli Po4nds."alestinian

6

Israeli

6

"alestinian

6

Israeli

6

"alestinian

I

Israeli

I

"alestinian

92

Israeli

92

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+7G +G. B8.8 +1.8 . +1. BB.+ +7.+ B+.+

+7GB .7 8.0 F. 1.G +. 8F.G 1.+ B0.+

5ource@ Camil Hilal, es alestiniens de -is%ordanie et de a)a , Lhamsin no , +7G1, p. 1+. Israelis@ Cews and

6rabs combined. 6 O general average P 6 O agriculture P I O industry P 92 O construction

This discrimination is compounded by the open theft practised by the Israeli state. The

"alestinian wor/er has practically 8F E deducted from his wages in the form of varioustaxes, a rate much higher than the deductions made from the wages of the Israeli wor/er,

who in addition is eligible for certain benefits , such as social security, unemployment

insurance, paid vacations, retirement pension, etc., whereas the "alestinian wor/er in the

occupied territories is not. These taxes are a veritable tribute that the wor/er is obliged to

pay to the state while he wor/s in conditions of total insecurity.

The 6rab nationalist newspapers may often fill their columns with disapproving remar/s

about Israel@ /hey are stealing our workers. The "alestinians wor/ers endure the double

oppression and the double exploitation existing in Israel for the simple reason that the

wages paid by the 6rab bosses are even more miserable than those paid by their =ionist

masters. It is all but impossible for a "alestinian bourgeoisie, lac/ing any bac/bone and

mettle, to compete with =ionist capital. In the best of times it acts as the latter's lieutenant,

grumbling all the while. 9onse#uently the Israeli bourgeoisie, attracted by the cheap

labour power on the aa 5trip and the >est !an/, often concludes agreements for

subcontracted labour. !oth bourgeoisies ra/e off the fat. The Israeli bourgeoisie profits

from the low wages that the 6rab employers succeed in imposing on the wor/ers, and it

can defuse the lame fits of opposition by the "alestinian bourgeoisie, which :flourishes;

on the steady business.

6t the time of the war in +780 the "alestinian struggle had not yet recovered from the

shoc/ suffered in the defeat of the revolts of +7BB to +7B, and therefore the resistance was

rather wea/. The unleashing of the six days war by Israel as well as the anger provo/ed by

the cowardice of the 6rab governments led to massive revolts and the arming of the

"alestinian population. 6nd it was precisely the al )atah which assumed the tas/ of

fettering this movement in a programme that preserved the existing 6rab states. The wave

was sufficiently strong to permit a certain radicalisation, which led to the formation of

organisations that employed a more :proletarian; vocabulary and to a fusion of the

interests of the "alestinian-Cordanian masses on the one hand and the "alestinian-<ebanese

masses on the other hand.

The intent of this article is not to s/etch a history of this revolutionary wave, unfortunately

deprived once again of the support of the proletariat in the large imperialist centres,

openly combated by all the 6rab states, delivered to its executioners by the very

orientation and principles of the various parties in its leadership, which along with the

6rab states finally prostrated themselves before the international and local established

order. The important thing to understand is that the next revolutionary explosions will

come forth in social - and political, too, we hope - conditions vastly different from those of

+780, and even those of +7G.

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Ca&italism Creates 0ts O%n Gravediggers

The net social result of the bloody primitive accumulation of capital in "alestine is

approximately as follows. The "alestinian refugee population which is not sub3ect to

Israeli rule amounts to over .B million persons %F E of all "alestinians. It is naturally

without any ties to the land. 2f this mass of refugees only 8F E of those of wor/ing age

have 3obs, and the large ma3ority of those employed are wage labourers %in +7GF, GB. E of"alestinians wor/ing in <ebanon, G7.B E in 5yria, 07. E in Luwait, a significant portion

of them blue-collar wor/ers. Thus the population is largely proletarianied. *+

6mong the million and a half "alestinians %that is, 8F E of all "alestinians living under the

=ionist heel, only a minority still possesses land. The number of employers and self-

employed wor/ers in the agricultural sector fell from BG,FFF in +77 to ,+FF in +7GB on

the >est !an/ and from ,FF in +7GF to 8,FF in +7GB on the aa 5trip. The figures have

fallen even further in recent years. *+G  The expropriation process continues and

conse#uently may still provo/e agrarian unrest and revolts,  particularly in a period of 

economic crisis , given that in the whole region the 6rab wor/ing class population is notsignificantly urbanised and still lives in villages transformed into dormitories. *+0

2n the >est !an/ the wor/ers formed 8G.1 E of the active "alestinian population in +7GB

11. E on the aa 5trip. In Israel the proportion is probably about the same since G. E

of the 6rabs are wage labourers. !ut all these "alestinian proletarians are more often

agricultural and construction wor/ers than industrial wor/ers.

In spite of the hypocritical excuses and fallacious 3ustifications of the Israeli and $uropean

and 6merican imperialist bourgeoisies, it is not difficult to imagine the degree of

oppression suffered by the half million "alestinians dwelling in a state where there isalready social discrimination between Cews of occidental and oriental origin, where

nationality is based on Jewish nationality , itself based on religion, a state which is moreover

permanently at war with the neighbouring 6rab states. !ut these "alestinians whom the

state differentiates further according to religion into 9hristians, Druses, or (uslims, are at

least theoretically entitled to the same economic and social rights as the Cews of Israel. 6s for

the "alestinians on the >est !an/ and the aa 5trip, their plight is even more frightful

since they are openly in a state of siege. *+7

The broad "alestinian masses, than/s to whose labour the orchards of Israel blossom today

and to a growing extent the factories of Tel 6viv and ablus hum, cannot continue to liveand defend themselves without fighting capitalism, on the terrain shaped by capitalism itself .

Their struggle immediately comes up against the political and racial discrimination

connected with Jewish privilege , in short against the colonial nature of the state of Israel,

which more and more uses against the wor/ers' struggles the very laws it utilised

yesterday and continues to utilise today in the occupied territories to transform the

peasants into proletarians. )or the modern proletarians, these discriminations and this

servitude based on race and religion are even more intolerable than in any other society,

and they amplify the immense potential of social revolt fed by capitalist exploitation and

the political oppression that flows from it.In the ground below the slave democracy of Israel there are already accumulating the

white-hot substances of an eruption much more violent than those caused up to now by

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the powerful shoc/s of expropriation of the "alestinian peasants. These are the substances

of proletarian class struggle which the emigrated "alestinian wor/ers will help extend

through the whole region and which, in con3unction with the wor/ing class of the large

imperialist centres, will succeed in brea/ing the social front of Cewish solidarity in Israel,

drawing the Cewish proletarians into its impetuous course and ta/ing the lead of the poor

peasant masses in revolt. 6nd this struggle is a fight to the death against the local and

international established order, which can only be bro/en definitively by the victory of the

world communist revolution.

-ommunist rogram, no.0, 1231, p. 12!45

5otes:

1. (arx, 9apital Qol. I, ch. RRQI, :The 5ecret of "rimitive 6ccumulation;, (oscow,

+718, p. 0.

2. (arx, 9apital Qol. I, ch. RRQI, :The 5ecret of "rimitive 6ccumulation;, (oscow,

+718, p. 7.

3. 5ee particularly <orand aspard, :Histoire de la "alestine;, "aris, +7G0, p. +8F.

4. 5ee athan >einstoc/, :<e 5ionisme contre IsraSl;, "aris, +77, pp. +G7-0F.

5. 4obert 5omers, :<etters from the Highlands or The )amine of +08G;, <ondon, +080,

#uoted in (arx, 9apital Qol. I, ch. RRQI, :The 5ecret of "rimitive 6ccumulation;,

(oscow, +718, p. 08.

6. athan >einstoc/, :<e 5ionisme contre IsraSl;, "aris, +77, p. B7.7. 5efer Ha-Lhu//im %"rincipal <aws BG, +71F, p. 0.

8. )or a complete picture of this legislation we refer the reader to the following wor/s@

athan >einstoc/, :<e 5ionisme contre IsraSl;, "aris, +77, pp. BG8-B77 <orand

aspard, :Histoire de la "alestine;, "aris, +7G0, pp. +0G-+07 and 5abri Ciryis, :The

6rabs in Israel;, .A., +7G, pp. 07-+F. 5ee also :"roblMmes Nonomi#ues et

sociaux;, no. +77, "aris, ov. , +7GB.

9. 2f the 8G1 6rab villages that existed in Israeli-occupied "alestine in +780, today

only 7F remain. The other B01 have been wiped off the map by dynamite and

 bulldoers.

10. 5ee the articles by <aare 4oenstroch and Cac#ueline )arhoud Iraissaty in the

review Lhamsin, no. , +7G1.

11. 2n 2ctober 7, +71, Israeli soldiers entered the village of Lfar Lassem to decree a

curfew. They announced to the villagers that anyone still found outside his house in

a half-hour would be executed. 5everal villagers still wor/ing in the fields and on

Israeli 3obs outside the village at that hour could not be warned, when they

returned the Israeli soldiers stopped them, lined them up and shot them@ forty-

seven villagers were assassinated. The state of Israel opened an in#uiry and passed

sentence on those responsible. In +7F the second ran/ing officer found responsible

for the massacre was placed :in charge of 6rab affairs; in the region of 4amleh, not

far from Lfar Lassem.

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12. This is how :"roblMmes Nonomi#ues et sociaux;, no. +77, "aris, ov. , +7GB,

summarises the meaning of commentaries by 5abri Ciryis in his boo/ on the sub3ect.

13. :2rders of forced residence, of house arrest, of expulsion or detention by decree are

given by the doen, but these measures affect only 6rabs %... The same

discrimination is to be found in the attitude of the authorities with respect to the

freedom of the press and freedom of association. Kntil now no Hebrew newspaperhas been suspended and no Cewish political association has been prohibited, no

matter how extremist they may be and no matter how distant they may be from the

attitude of the regime. 2n the other hand, no 6rab 3ournal can be published in

Israel unless the authorities can count on the support or at least the complicity of

those responsible for it. o 6rab organisation has been authorised to participate in

any activity without the consent and total approval of the authorities.; 5abri Ciryis,

:Democratic )reedoms in Israel;,:"roblMmes Nonomi#ues et sociaux;, no. +77,

"aris, ov. +7GB. This passage illustrates the oppression suffered by the

"alestinians, but it is certain that the same laws will be applied with the same

severity to any Cews who go so far as to brea/ the social front of Cewish solidarity on

which the hypocrisy of Israeli democracy rests.

14. <orand aspard, :Histoire de la "alestine;, "aris, +7G0, p. +81.

15. The last colony was established in Cune +7G7, not without resistance. 6ccording to

<e (onde of Cune 0, +7G7, the settlement called $ilon (oreh was officially founded

on Cune G. This new colony is situated on top of a hill :south of the town of ablus,

and covers +70 acres of land, property of the 6rab residents of the sector who were

expropriated by the Israeli government following a decision of the supreme court

 3ustifying the act for :defence; reasons. The bulldoers began to open up accessroads. The few doen future inhabitants, of the village arrived on board army

vehicles;. 2n 5unday Cune +G, a ma3or demonstration against the establishment of

this colony too/ place at ablus, provo/ing the intervention of the Israeli army

which was greeted by a shower of stones.

16. 5ee Cac#ueline )arhoud Iraissaty in the review Lhamsin, no. , +7G1.

17. 5ee Camil Halil, :<es "alestiniens de 9is3ordanie et de aa;, in Lhamsin, no. ,

+7G5, pp. 8-0.

18. In its number of (ay 7, +7G7, the daily :6shar# 6l-6wsat; appearing in <ondon,

reported that the inhabitants of a Cewish colony in the 5inai called 2fera, afterhaving been dislodged from the 5inai by virtue of the Israeli-$gyptian treaty, tried

to occupy the 6rab village called (aalia in alilee. The colonists appeared at the

village with their furniture, their tools and their tractors and their banners read

:alilee in exchange for the 5inai; and :2fera promises not to let a single 6rab live

in Israel;. The "alestinian population tried to hold discussions but the colonists

replied by showing that they had been officially mandated by the Cewish 6gency to

ta/e over the village. 6 lively argument ensued one colonist shot several times over

the heads of the 6rab delegates in order to intimidate the villagers. Immediately

doens of inhabitants of the village ran up. The ensuing brawl lasted more than hours and afterwards the colonists were forced to pic/ up their belongings and ta/e

flight, leaving their huts in flames. >hen the police arrived they as/ed@ :Did al

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)atah give you the order to shoot at the Cews?; The villagers answered the police

interrogation with a general stri/e. The government, surprised at encountering

spontaneous resistance, retreated and declared over the airwaves that the state had

not been implicated in the operation, responsibility resting with the colonists alone,

and that it had not even been informed of their intentions& 2nce again, force must

 be opposed by force alone.

19. If an illustration of this fact is necessary, <e (onde of Cune , +7G7 reports that on

(onday Cune 8, in the middle of the night the houses in which four "alestinian

lived who were suspected of belonging to the resistance were encircled by the

army :the families received the order to leave the premises immediately. The

furniture was ta/en to the garden of $l Cenieh, the house of the parents of (ell 6taf

Aussef was raed by a bulldoer, 6t 4amalleh and $l !irch, three apartments were

walled in after their occupants had been evacuated. The doors and windows were

 bloc/ed by a partition of bric/s and cement,; The entire arsenal of terrorist laws is

thus #uite alive and in particular the laws on collective responsibility.