While the bloodbath continues in Gaza, Western leaders claim to be working for peace. Biden even says he has “a plan”. “We have never been closer to an agreement,” he declared after negotiations for a supposed truce in Gaza started back up again on August 15. What outrageous hypocrisy!

For months now, so-called negotiations have been taking place, but the war has continued unabated. The Israeli army has continued its bombings, decimating entire families and forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee amidst the rubble without knowing where to go. For weeks, UN schools sheltering thousands of refugees have been systematically targeted. The population is trying to survive, threatened by famine, with no access to clean drinking water or medical care. For the first time in 25 years, polio has reemerged. In the West Bank, too, the Israeli army has caused hundreds of deaths and continues to protect far-right settlers who attack Palestinians to terrorize them, kill them, and seize their land.

The leaders of the major world powers, U.S. leaders above all, know very well what should be done if they really wanted to put an end to the conflict. First of all, they could stop supplying weapons to the Israeli government. Instead, the United States has just decided to sell it over $20 billion worth of arms, thereby giving it additional means to massacre Palestinians.

Biden has no intention of giving up support for the Israeli state, his most reliable military ally in the Middle East. With the unwavering protection of the U.S. and increasing pressure from Israel’s far-right, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is able to wage a never-ending war in Gaza and multiply provocations. The assassination of the Hamas leader and that of a Hezbollah leader at the end of July were carried out in order to provoke a reaction from Iran and force the United States to rally behind Israel. This is what Biden is doing, even though it is clear that the Iranian regime does not want to see a military escalation.

Do American leaders really want to impose an agreement on their Israeli ally? We will see what happens over the next few days. A ceasefire would provide some respite for the Palestinians of Gaza, but it would certainly not be the end of the oppression they suffer. American, Israeli and Iranian leaders along with those of Hamas may very well reach a compromise that would merely turn Gaza back into what it was for its inhabitants before the war: an open-air prison where living conditions would be even worse due to all the destruction caused by the Israeli army. But it would be nothing more than a truce before further clashes start up again.

The imperialist states are incapable of putting out the fire that is engulfing the Middle East because they are the ones who are fueling it! For decades, colonial powers have been drawn to the region for its oil. First it was the British then the French and more recently the United States. They have all deliberately pitted the peoples of this region against each other in order to better dominate them. And the rivalry between great world powers for control over the markets, natural resources and zones of influence pits different populations against each other and causes barbaric wars all around the world.

It can be seen in Eastern Europe where, with the lives of Ukrainians, Biden and NATO leaders are waging war against Putin, the head of a dictatorial regime that represents the upper crust of Russian society. Thus, peoples are led to fight each other despite bonds forged through a long-shared history.

Here in France, workers and the laboring classes are not yet dying under bombs, but for how long? They are already suffering the consequences of the worsening economic crisis and trade war between different states to defend the interests of the privileged classes that dominate society. This crisis along with the policies of the great world powers could indeed lead the world to a generalized war.

In the Middle East, Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the different populations could live perfectly well side by side if they did not suffer from the divisive policies of the ruling classes. Against the division of the working class, we must fight to unite all the oppressed and all the workers around the world. Their united struggle to overthrow capitalism is the only thing that can offer a positive future for humanity.

Nathalie Arthaud