No disarmament of the resistance! Gaza must not become an American–Zionist protectorate! Advance the Arab Revolution! Continue and intensify the global boycott of Israel!

 

Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), jointly issued by the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) and the International Bureau of the RCIT, 10.10.2025, https://the-isleague.com/ and www.thecommunists.net

 

 

 

1.           How should socialists and pro-Palestine activists assess the Gaza Deal? While not all details of the deal are known by now, the information available make clear that the deal reflects the extremely disadvantageous relation of forces between the Palestinian resistance and one of the strongest armies in the world.

 

2.           Clearly, it is highly welcome news for the Palestinian people that the genocide with endless bombings and massacres is ending (for now). Likewise, it is a positive development that the Israeli army withdraws from many (albeit not all) urban areas. Nevertheless, one must not forget that it continues to occupy, at least during the first phase of the deal, 58% of the strip. Furthermore, the resistance will exchange the Israeli prisoners of war with 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, plus 1,700 Gazans arrested since October 7, 2023, including all women and children. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 dead Gazans. What is unclear by now is if the resistance will be able to free Palestinian symbols like Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Sa’adat, Hassan Salameh, or Abbas al-Sayed? Will they be able to free imprisoned members of Al-Nukhba – the brave elite force of the Al-Qassam Brigades?

 

3.           Given the extremely disadvantageous relation of forces, it is all the more remarkable that the Israeli army did not manage to destroy Hamas – despite their massive military superiority and two years of unprecedented mass murder which destroyed most buildings in the small strip. Nevertheless, the deal is a bad deal. The Zionist monster continues to occupy more than half of the strip and history has shown many times that it can break the deal at any time when it feels strong and confident enough.

 

4.           However, the biggest dangers lie ahead. Trump – with the support of other Great Powers – wants to transform Gaza into an American-Zionist protectorate. Likewise, they call for the disarmament of the Palestinian resistance and the deployment of foreign troops, mostly from Arab and Muslim countries (“International Stabilization Force”). The goal of such a plan would be to liquidate the resistance against the Zionist occupation and to transform Gaza into a protectorate which would be led by Trump and Blair and controlled by foreign troops and their Palestinian servants (like the Palestinian Authority of “President” Abbas). In other words, the goal of Trump’s colonial plan is to impose what Israel could not achieve by military force – the subjugation of the Palestinian people. As we said in our statement “Down with Trump's Colonial Plan for Gaza!”, this “plan is the exact opposite of national self-determination! The Palestinians’ future would be determined not by themselves but by a small clique of Western and Zionist figures who want to annihilate all elements of resistance against Israel.” (https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/down-with-trump-s-colonial-plan-for-gaza/)

 

5.           At the moment, is it not clear if Trump’s plan will be implemented and, if yes, to which degree. Naturally, there are various forms of compromise possible, e.g. Hamas gives up some or all offensive weapons but not light weapons or their tunnels. It will be also important so see how many foreign troops will be deployed, from which countries are they (more or less openly hostile to the Palestinian people) and which powers would they have. Will they attack the Palestinian resistance or rather “observe the situation” like the UNIFIL peacekeepers in South Lebanon?

 

6.           We reiterate that we do not criticize Hamas for accepting a ceasefire which is disadvantageous for the resistance. The bravery of the resistance the past two years has written a heroic epic which has inspired and will continue to inspire generations. It will go down in history as one of the greatest battles of the “David against Goliath” type! Even an expert of the Western imperialist think tank International Crisis Group had to admit: “[Hamas] has set an example for the whole Arab world. They fought a war that nobody thought they could fight, even though the cost was very high.” It is clear that the factions and the Palestinian people as a whole need a break to rebuild their forces. However, it would be absolutely illegitimate and an outright betrayal to accept disarmament and to serve as collaborators of the American-Zionist protectorate. It would mean that Hamas would follow in the steps of the PLO after the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s.

 

7.           It is telling that Russia and China – the two main rivals of Western imperialism – publicly expressed their support for Trump’s colonial plan. Russian foreign minister Lavrov called the plan “the best option currently on table” (TASS, 8 October). And likewise did Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo react positively to the plan (“China welcomes and supports all efforts conducive to easing tensions between Palestine and Israel”, Global Times, 30 September). Such support for the plan to transform Gaza into an American-Zionist protectorate shows once more that Russia and China are not “progressive” alternatives to Western imperialism. They are rather reactionary imperialist powers and enemies of the oppressed peoples!

 

8.           A judgement of the current situation must take into account not only the situation in Gaza itself but also the regional and international situation. As we did repeatedly point out, the 7 October has provoked globally the largest anti-imperialist movement since the Vietnam War half a century ago with millions marching on the streets on all continents. Dockers in various ports are refusing to handle Israeli shipment. And in Italy militant trade unions, and even the reformist CGIL, recently organised three general strikes in solidarity with Palestine. The bold activists of the Global Sumud flotilla trying to break the Israeli hunger blockade inspired millions of people all over the world. Most Western governments, loyal allies of the Zionist settler state, have been forced under popular pressure to officially recognise the Palestinian state. Even among American Jews, four in 10 believe Israel is committing genocide, while more than 60% say Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza. As a result, Israel has become an international pariah – hated and despised by the popular masses all around the world.

 

9.           We therefore reiterate that the war has resulted in an extraordinary uneven situation. While the Zionist monster was able to destroy Gaza, kill and injure at least 1/10 of the Palestinian population and weaken Hamas militarily, it suffered a devastating political defeat in the global arena. For every single Palestinian killed, hundreds and thousands of people around the world have become politicised and mobilised for the cause of liberation struggle.

 

10.         For all these reasons, it is not surprising that reactions in Israeli public opinion are mixed. Naturally, many cheer to get the Israeli prisoners back while the extreme right denounces the deal as “capitulation” because Hamas remains undefeated. But some of those Zionist analysts who can think recognise the radical change in global political relation of forces. Ben-Dror Yemini, a well-known Israeli journalist who writes for the mainstream daily Yedioth Ahronoth, published an article titled “Israel has won the battle but lost the war” in which he concluded: “After all, Hamas’ weapons did not win in Jabaliya or in Rafah. Hamas won on the international stage. On campuses, on social media, in newspapers, in labor unions.” Nadav Shragai, another Israeli analyst and writer for the right-wing daily newspaper Israel Hayom, argues that the deal “can never be described as a complete victory” and that those who do so “capitulate to Hamas."

 

11.         Tellingly all polls in the past two years show that hardly any Israeli Jew characterises or opposes the horrific war in Gaza as genocide – in contrast to many American and European Jews. This confirms once more our thesis that the Israeli Jews are a privileged and reactionary settler population. Only under extreme pressure – by the Arab Revolution or a serious military defeat – will a sector of Israeli workers be prepared to break with Zionism and become an ally of the Palestinian and Arab masses.

 

12.         What will be the perspectives for the Palestinian liberation struggle? First, it is important to emphasise that the situation remains highly volatile. It is quite possible that Netanyahu will break the deal again and resume the war – as he did in March. Second, if the poplar uprisings expand from Morocco to other Arab countries – most importantly Egypt – this could shake the coward regimes and weaken their resolve to support the Zionist state. Third, if the global pro-Palestine movement can maintain its mobilising power and put massive pressure on Western governments, it could create huge difficulties for them to implement Trump’s colonial plan. Fourth, Israel continues to strive for hegemony in the Middle East and could start another war against Iran at any moment. (And at a later point a military conflict with Türkiye is looming.)

 

13.         In this context it is important to bear in mind that the global situation today is fundamentally different from that in the 1990s. At that time, the world situation was much more favourable for U.S. imperialism and the capitalist system in general. Today, the capitalist world economy is in deep crisis and global relations are characterised by the accelerating inter-imperialist rivalry between Western and Eastern Great Powers as well as a wave of popular uprisings. In such a context, a long-term stabilisation of the situation in Palestine and the Middle East is impossible. Hence, even if the Israel and its allies would manage to impose another Oslo Accords, it would take less than a few years until another Intifada would sweep it away.

 

14.         The highest criterion of judgement of the outcome of the war is what are the consequences of these developments for the liberation struggle – locally, regionally and internationally. It is clear that the Palestinian people have made huge sacrifices and its resistance suffered a military setback. In case the ceasefire holds, it would be not surprising if the next period would be characterised by a focus on rebuilding lives in Gaza and if there would be even some opposition to armed struggle amongst sectors of the population. The situation would become more difficult if an “International Stabilization Force” is deployed or if Hamas agrees to disarmament. It is also likely that the global pro-Palestine movement will not keep the extreme high level of mobilisation if the ceasefire holds. But such temporary retrogressions do not remove the historic achievements of the past two years. The 7 October War and the global pro-Palestine movement have advanced the cause of liberation struggle in the consciousness of large sectors of the masses both in the Arab and Muslim world as well as globally. Likewise, Zionism and its imperialist supporters have never been so discredited.

 

15.         In order to advance the struggle for freedom, it is crucial to draw the correct lessons of the past two years. Among these are that it has become crystal clear who are the real friends and who are false friends. The Arab regimes are puppets of imperialist powers which don’t dare to stand up against Israel. When the Palestinian people needed their help, these regimes refused to join the boycott of Israel, to break the blockade (Egypt at the Rafah border!) or to wage war against the Zionist monster. They are prepared to send troops … only in order to guard the Palestinians in Gaza and to protect Israel against the resistance! Let’s be clear: foreign troops in Gaza are welcome under one condition only: that they put themselves under Palestinian command to fight against the Zionist occupation.

 

16.         Likewise, the reformist leadership of the international workers movement has betrayed the Palestinian people. Many bureaucrats have refused to stand up against the Zionist state and those who opposed the genocide usually refused to organise effective strike and boycott actions. Only in the last weeks – after two years of genocide live in internet – did some trade unions leaderships move forward to limited strike activities.

 

17.         We have also seen the limits of narrow nationalism. The RCIT and the ISL have always supported the heroic armed struggle of the Palestinian resistance and will continue to do so. However, one can not ignore that the nationalist policy of focusing on Palestine only has failed to mobilise the Arab masses. Hamas, Islami Jihad and other factions combine the military struggle with building alliances with bourgeois Arab regimes (e.g. Türkiye, Qatar, Iran) instead of building an international front of the oppressed masses. However, while the masses have chanted in the streets that they want “to go to Palestine to fight the Zionists”, the Arab and Muslim regimes continued to protect Israel. Today, these regimes even put massive pressure on Hamas to accept Trump’s colonial deal. The Arab masses can only come to aid if they overthrow the tyrants and open the gates for the march to Jerusalem!

 

18.         The task now is to build a new leadership for the struggles ahead – a leadership which is anti-imperialist, internationalist and revolutionary. Such a leadership must be committed to fight for the destruction of the Zionist terror state and its replacement by a free and red Palestine from the River to the Sea. This would be a secular and democratic Palestinian state would enable all refugees to return to their homes. At the same time, it would guarantee equal cultural and religious rights for all citizens (including the Jewish minority). It should be a workers and fellahin republic as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East. Such a state will be the result of the combination of the Palestinians’ resistance struggle with the Arab Revolution overthrowing the tyrants and/or a severe military defeat of the Zionist state.

 

19.         A new leadership would support the youth uprising in Morocco and fight for the overthrow of the reactionary and pro-Zionist monarchy. It would strive to expand the struggle and to revive the Arab revolution so that the tyrants would be replaced with workers and fellahin governments which would strive to expropriate the greedy super-rich and foreign monopolies and to expel the Zionist state and the military bases of Great Powers from the region.

 

20.         A new leadership would fight to kick out the corrupt and pro-Zionist leaders from the trade unions and workers parties. They would organize an effective boycott and strike campaign against all Zionist corporations and institutions and strive to expel them from their countries.

 

21.         The RCIT and the ISL call all those who share our perspective of such an internationalist and anti-imperialist struggle to join forces in order to build such a new leadership. What we need is a new revolutionary party – nationally and internationally. As immediate demands in the current situation, we propose the following slogans for activists in Palestine, Israel and internationally:

 

* Full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza!

 

* “All for all”, i.e. an exchange of all Israeli for all Palestinian prisoners!

 

* No disarming of the Palestinian resistance!

 

* No American-Zionist protectorate in Gaza! Only Palestinians will decide about their government!

 

* Continue the boycott campaign against Israel!

 

* Revive the Arab Revolution!