It has been 60 years since the end of the bloody war which led to the UN-backed partition of Palestine and the creation of the new Zionist state of Israel. This period is aptly referred to as al Nakbah ("the catastrophe") by the Arab population of the region. The history of the Palestinians since 1948 has been one of dispossession and oppression. We have seen 60 years of unrelenting attempts by the US and Israel to systematically destroy Palestinian rights and lives. The situation for Palestinians today, particularly those living in the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank is no less catastrophic than it was in 1948.

Dispossession

Despite the myth that the Israeli state was established peacefully, the reality is very different. The Israeli state was built on war and bloodshed. The Zionist colonisers used terror, psychological warfare and massacres to instil fear among the Palestinians and establish their supremacy. In the most well-known massacre of the time, two militias - whose leaders were both future Israeli prime ministers - murdered the entire population of the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. The commandos "lined men, women and children up against walls and shot them" according to a Red Cross description of the scene.

After Deir Yassin, Zionists used the threat of massacre to compel Palestinians to flee. In 1948 alone between 750,000 and 900,000 Palestinians were expelled from their land, while all means were employed to prevent refugees returning to their homes after the fog of war had lifted. In some cases entire Arab villages were destroyed, in others Arab houses were immediately taken over by Zionist settlers, making Palestinian dispossession a fait accompli. These homeless Palestinians were then forced into neighbouring countries where most became second-class citizens, living in poverty and degradation in permanent refugee camps. Many Palestinians refugees still hold onto the keys for their homes in what is now Israel, in the hope of returning some day.

This brutality and dispossession was justified by the Zionists on the basis that the Israeli state represented "progress" and "civilisation" whereas the Palestinian population represented "backwardness" and "stupidity". Racism towards the Palestinians became the order of the day. One Israeli citizen, holocaust survivor Dr Schlomo Shmelzman, described the racism in this way:

"I have suffered fear, hunger and humiliation when I passed from the Warsaw Ghetto, through labour camps, to Buchenwald. Today, as a citizen of Israel, I hear familiar sounds... I hear ‘dirty Arabs' and I remember ‘dirty Jews'. I hear about ‘closed areas' and I remember ghettos and camps. I hear ‘two legged beasts' and I remember ‘Untermenschen' [‘subhumans']... Too many things in Israel remind me of too many things."

Expansion

Since 1948 the expansionist nature of the Israeli state has seen it gobble up more and more Palestinian land and destroy more and more Palestinian lives. In 1967 Israel went to war with Egypt and Syria and annexed more Palestinian land: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were occupied after this war. These areas became known as the Occupied Territories and many Palestinians who were made refugees in 1948 were once again turfed out of their homes.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on earth, with 1.4 million people squeezed into an area just 40 km long and 10 km wide. Here Palestinians are made to suffer the indignity and brutality of military occupation and of daily, ritual humiliation. They suffer racism reminiscent of apartheid South Africa, being forced to carry passes and apply for travel permits to get to work or even to travel to another suburb. Life for Palestinians in these territories since 1967 has been a living hell.

And since 2006 we have seen an escalation in Israeli offensives towards the Occupied Territories, particularly Gaza, whose population has suffered collective punishment for their temerity in exercising their democratic rights and electing a Hamas government. Gaza has become an open air prison, with an economic blockade making access to foodstuffs, medicine and other basic goods immensely difficult. Regular Israeli incursions and bombings have killed hundreds of civilians.

Imperialism

Despite all this brutality and racism, the Israeli state is not a pariah on the world stage. Indeed it never was: the early Zionists appealed to the British state for support and funding, promising to do the bidding of the British Empire in the Middle East in return. After the Second World War, the United States became one of the dominant imperialist forces in the world, and the Zionist ruling class now found its new "special friend" in the American ruling class.

The geo-strategic significance of the Middle East, with its oil and as the crossroads of the region, makes Israel of special significance to the US. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship. Israel has become the US's watchdog in the region. It is a staging post for a variety of American military adventures to protect US economic interests against hostile regimes. And the watchdog can become an attack dog when popular anti-imperialist or working class movements spring up. In return, the Israeli state is backed to the hilt by the United States, both militarily and economically.

For ruling classes like our own, that stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States, support of Israel is a given. So it should have come as no surprise to find the new Australian government celebrating the anniversary of the establishment of Israel in March with cake and candles. The Australian Labor Party, just as much as the Liberals, want to see a stable base of support for Western imperialism in the Middle East and is therefore more than happy to back Israel in this role. If this means the degradation of the Palestinian population, then so be it. It would be fair to say that the blood of the Palestinians stains the hands of Bush, Blair and Rudd just as much as those of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The complicity of Western leaders, including our own, in the destruction of the Occupied Territories and the murder of Palestinians, must add to the sense of urgency that we in Australia should have in opposing such brutality and in standing firmly and steadfastly on the side of the Palestinians in their struggle to right the historic wrongs done to them.