Written by Richard Becker
Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241

Chapter 13 - Lebanon: Civil war and occupation (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Chapter 12 - The Palestinian struggle takes center stage (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Chapter 10 - Watchdog for the West (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Chapter 8 - Illegal U.N. partition (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Suffused with anti-Semitism themselves, many in the U.S. ruling class in the 1930s viewed Nazi Germany as a weapon against their main enemy of the time—the Soviet Union.

A number of U.S. capitalists regarded Nazi Germany as having an ideal business climate. The Nazis had smashed the powerful German labor unions and had fused German corporations closely with the state.

Among those who shared Nazi sympathies and business connections were Henry Ford, Joseph Kennedy Sr. (father of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy), and Prescott Bush (father and grandfather of U.S. presidents).

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 7 - World War II: Anti-Semitism and genocide (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

The aim of the Zionists to dispossess Palestinians of their land and rights was no mystery to the Palestinian population. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were numerous uprisings against British colonialism and Zionist settlements, the most famous and protracted of which was the 1936-1939 revolt.

In 1936, Palestinians launched a general strike that lasted six months—the longest general strike in history. The strike was followed by a guerrilla war that lasted nearly three and a half years. It was mainly based in the countryside among poor peasants. The war tied down a large part of the British army. It was not until September 1939—the same month that World War II began in Europe—that the British finally succeeded in crushing the rebellion by brute force. 

Both the justice of the Palestinian resistance and colonial nature of Zionism had been admitted in the midst of the revolt by none other than the central Zionist leader, Ben-Gurion: 

"In our political argument abroad we minimize Arab opposition to us. But let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. … A people which fights against the usurpation of its land will not tire so easily."

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 6 - The Palestinian revolt of 1936-1939 (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Though it had its own distinct roots, Zionism shared some of the characteristics of the reactionary European movements. It fiercely opposed the anti-colonial and genuine national liberation movements.

The Zionists, while aiming to create a Jewish nation-state, did not seek to acquire territory in Eastern Europe where most of the European Jewish population was concentrated and most violently repressed. Instead, the Zionists offered to make themselves available to be transported as settlers to any number of places in the colonized continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America, before settling on Palestine.

Political Zionism was thus a unique form of narrow nationalism. Lacking its own indigenous land base, it could only hope to succeed as an extension of European colonialism. Unlike any genuine national liberation movement, Zionism was always completely dependent on imperialist sponsorship.

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 5 - Building a settler state American-style (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zionism represented a small minority among Jewish people. It was mainly a movement of the middle class, with support from a few wealthy sponsors, particularly the Rothschild oil and banking interests. 

Jewish workers and intellectuals of that time played a vital role in the socialist, communist and other progressive movements in Europe and the United States. They fought for equality rather than separation. Prior to World War II, political Zionism was widely regarded as a reactionary nationalist and dangerous ideology in progressive circles, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 4 - Zionism: A colonial project (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

While Palestine was still nominally under Ottoman rule, Britain’s foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a member of the British House of Lords and one of the world’s richest men.

The infamous Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917, reads:
    Dear Lord Rothschild:

    I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:
    “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

    I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

    Yours sincerely
    Arthur James Balfour 

Underlining the colonialist character of the note is the phrase: “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

The “existing non-Jewish communities”—the Palestinian Arabs—went unnamed, despite comprising 92 percent of the population at the time.

While national rights were emphasized for the tiny settler minority, no mention was made of the same rights for the indigenous majority. 

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 3 - Dividing the Middle East (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

But does the pro-Israel lobby—or Israel itself through the lobby—control and direct U.S. policy in the Middle East?

To put it another way, does the tail wag the dog?

Is it really conceivable that a small, dependent country could call the shots for the most powerful empire in the history of the world? 

The answer to all of these questions is no.

Israel is part of the U.S. global empire, not the other way around. 

"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker.
E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 2 - Does the Israel lobby control U.S. policy? (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

There is, in fact, an irreconcilable conflict in the Middle East, but it is not one between different peoples or faiths. It is instead the struggle between imperialism, Israel and the dependent Arab regimes on the one hand and the oppressed peoples of this oil-rich and strategic region fighting for liberation and progress on the other. 

At the very heart of this conflict is Palestine. The Palestinian struggle is a struggle against Western colonialism. It has been this way from the beginning, more than a century ago.

As is the case with all conflicts and world events, what is going on today in Palestine and the Middle East can only be understood in its historical context. 


"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker
E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G

Ch. 1 - 'A struggle against Western colonialism' (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

Socialist news and analysis from the front lines of struggle. Project of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Ch. 1 - 'A struggle against Western colonialism' (Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire)

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