Every cloud…

...has a silver lining. And no more so than in the new parliament. We’ve seen an election that has given Starmer & Co a steam-roller majority in the House of Commons. We’ve also seen the election of independent MPs including Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader hounded out by Starmer and the Blairite gang, and a bigger block of Liberal Democrats and Greens who can be counted on for support on Palestine and social reform issues.
Corbyn, who defeated a Starmer stooge to keep the Islington seat he’s held for over forty years, has already formed a bloc with the four independent MPs who stood on pro-Palestinian platforms. Now he’s reaching out to the seven Labour MPs who voted to alleviate child poverty in Parliament this week. Those seven, all former Corbynistas, have now been suspended by Labour for six months.
 Corbyn told LBC “I’m very happy that the seven of them voted against the continuation of the two-child benefit cap. And obviously I will be working with them, as I have been working with them for many years anyway”. He told the London radio station that “Even one MP can be an awful nuisance in Parliament, multiply that by 12 and you’ve got 12 awful nuisances in Parliament who will continually be reminding the Government of its responsibilities to all citizens in our society”.
This is certainly needed these days. Supporting a Gaza cease-fire and the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Arabs is a must. Taking up the minimum demands of the unions for higher pay, social justice and the restoration of the welfare state go without saying. Being a focus of resistance in parliament and on the street now becomes attainable. Whether the rebel Labour MPs take up Corbyn’s offer remains to be seen but the fight-back has already begun.

Struggling for peace

Imperialism fans the flames of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, blocks the return of Taiwan to its Chinese homeland and prolongs the unhappy partition of many countries including Cyprus, Ireland, Kashmir and Korea.
Imperialist leaders like to talk about “universal human rights” and “rules based order” – but only when it suits them. They talk plenty about Ukraine to justify their proxy war that has shattered the former Soviet republic. But they say nothing when it comes to the Palestinians.
Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said, "Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful. Israel, the ICJ said, “is under an obligation” to end it “as rapidly as possible.”  It also found Israel to be guilty of violating the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid. Palestinian Arabs have long known this to be true, but it nevertheless must mark a turning point in the Palestinian struggle for liberation. 
ICJ decisions are supposed to be binding on all members of the United Nations but they are routinely ignored by Israel. Now things are changing.
Imperialism believed it could call all the shots in the Middle East. They thought that all resistance could be crushed by brute force with the support of their Israeli and Arab lackeys. But imperialist violence always leads to an equally violent resistance. Imperialism’s refusal to recognise this has led to the spiral of violence and terror in the region that began in 1948 as a regional war, to a conflict that now spans the whole world.
The New Communist Party calls for the immediate and unconditional end to the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories and a comprehensive peace treaty to end the conflict in the Middle East based on past United Nations resolutions. These resolutions provide the basis for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.