February 29,
2024
- At least 112 Palestinians waiting for food aid killed and 760 wounded after being shot at by Israeli forces in Gaza.
- “Life draining out of Gaza at terrifying speed,” says UN aid chief Martin Griffiths on aid seeker attack, as death toll in Gaza crosses 30,000-mark.
- Israeli air strikes and shelling have killed at least 30 people in separate attacks in the Nuseirat, Bureij and Khan Younis camps in Gaza.
- Gaza Health Ministry says six children died in north Gaza from dehydration and malnutrition at Kamal Adwan and al-Shifa hospitals, while others are in critical condition.
- At least 30,035 people have been killed and 70,457 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 attacks stands at 1,139.
Biden Says a Ceasefire Is Coming. Even If It Is, Our Fight Is
Far From Over.
With
the death toll in Gaza surpassing 30,000 (12,000 of whom are children), with
tens of thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble, nearly 2
million displaced, record numbers of journalists and aid workers killed,
500,000 facing what the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) called “catastrophic hunger,” a 300 percent increase in
miscarriages, and an ever-building collection of additional atrocities, a
permanent ceasefire to stop this genocide must be our number one priority right
now. Ensuring the safety of the 130 Hamas-held hostages and the thousands of
Palestinian detainees in Israel likewise underscores the urgent necessity of a
permanent ceasefire.
President
Joe Biden recently said that a ceasefire deal is close and he hopes one will be
in place by Monday of next week. There are no indications that this is a
permanent ceasefire, but even if it is, we cannot stop there.
Our
focus needs to be wider. We need to think beyond a ceasefire. Achieving
sustained peace requires that we push beyond the overt destruction to the
systemic oppression and violence that undergirds it: to settler colonialism
itself. A ceasefire is the base camp, not the summit.
In
the Western world, when it comes to Israel and Palestine, the populace at large
tends to view a ceasefire as a return to peace. Of course, there is no peace to
return to; there is only a well-worn brand of oppression and a cycle of
violence that the West is perfectly comfortable ignoring. Once a ceasefire is
achieved, like it was in 2021, the mainstream news coverage recedes, the social
media frenzy fades, the demonstrations slow and the plight of the Palestinian
people once again moves from the center to the edges. Every time that happens,
things continue to get worse. For example, before October 7, the year 2023 was
already the deadliest for Palestinian children since the UN began keeping
records in 2006.
Throughout
the ‘70s and ‘80s there were fewer than 100,000 Israelis living in illegal
settlements in the West Bank. This was before the government became dominated
by the settler movement. There are now more than 427,000, with an estimated
700,000 residing in illegal settlements in the occupied territories in total.
Between January and June of 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu government approved a
record number of 12,855 additional settler housing units. This is
government-approved land theft.
Along
with the rise of settlers came a precipitous rise in settler violence, with
2023 being the most violent on record, according to estimates from Israeli
human rights groups. These settlers are in many ways an extension of the
extremist Israeli government. Israel’s current far right national security
minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir (a man who was previously convicted of eight crimes,
including incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization)
distributed 10,000 assault rifles to settlers just this past November.
The
occupation grows deeper and more oppressive with each cycle because that’s how
settler colonialism progresses — unless the cycle is broken. You cannot oppress
and kill your way to peace and security. While it was important in past
escalations to go beyond a ceasefire, to push for an end to the occupation and
all its attendant human rights abuses, it’s even more vital now.
Life
in Gaza, which was entirely brutal before the siege under a suffocating
blockade, has grown demonstrably worse. All of the universities in Gaza have
been destroyed, with the last being reduced to rubble in what appeared to be a
controlled demolition in January. There are no functional hospitals in the
south and only seven partially functioning in the north. More than half of all
buildings in the Strip have been damaged or destroyed. There have been many
surgeries, including Caesarian sections, done without anesthesia, children’s
amputations performed on kitchen tables, and a new acronym was created: wounded
child, no surviving family (WCNSF). There are an estimated 24,000-25,000
children in Gaza who have lost one or both of their parents. The level of
trauma is incalculable. The Palestinian people cannot afford for the world to
turn away again.
The
momentum behind Palestinian liberation has never been this strong, for the
first time, both young people and registered Democrats sympathize more with
Palestine than Israel. Beyond the numbers, you can feel and see it — on social
media, in civic disruptions, at historic, globe-spanning protests. I can tell
you from personal experience, as a Jewish American, that this has,
historically, been a lonely cause. Not anymore.
The
movement has grown considerably. We’ve all seen too much. The coverage has been
democratized. While the Israeli Supreme Court recently denied a request from
foreign journalists to be allowed into Gaza, the heroic independent journalists
reporting from the front lines have shown the world the horrors unleashed upon
them in real time. And it has made a serious impact. Just look at the
Democratic primary in Michigan, where more than 100,000 people voted
“uncommitted,” thanks in large part to an effort from Arab and Muslim
organizers to send a message to the Biden administration about its role in
Gaza.
Hamas’s
attack on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people and took 253 people
hostage, did not occur out of thin air. It was not a stark interruption to an
otherwise peaceful cohabitation. It is in no way justifying the attack, or
downplaying the loss of innocent life, to simply recognize that fact, to put it
in context, to acknowledge that oppression will always bring resistance. Peace
and freedom generate peace and freedom, and the inverse is also true.
The
heroic anti-apartheid freedom fighters of South Africa knew this well. In 2002,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a key figure in toppling apartheid, wrote,
Israel will never get true security
and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be
built only on justice.… If our madness could end as it did, it must be possible
to do the same everywhere else in the world. If peace could come to South
Africa, surely it can come to the Holy Land?
Surely
it can. Peace is possible. But the pressure to end this cycle of oppression and
violence must withstand. Many have compared Israel’s current segregationist
system to apartheid South Africa, with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International and Israel-based B’Tselem all stating that Israel practices
apartheid. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza do not have freedom of
speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression or freedom of movement.
Their lives, to a large degree, are controlled by the Israeli military, an
occupying force that rules over them without representing them in any way.
Now
Israel wants to exert even greater control over the besieged enclave, pushing
these oppressive tactics into overdrive. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s postwar
plan would exert full control over a demilitarized Gaza, playing a central role
in both security and civilian affairs, as well as ending UNRWA, a lifeline for
Palestinians, for good. Netanyahu and his extreme, right-wing cabinet have no
interest in a one- or two-state solution, in peace or equality — they seek to
dominate and subjugate.
Due
to the ruling parties in Israel and the United States, it may seem like the
prospect of ending the occupation and achieving peace and freedom for
Palestinians is further away than it’s ever been. But this may not be the case.
Movements outlast politicians. The numbers are there. The will is there. It
just hasn’t reached the levers of power as of yet. There was a time when ending
apartheid in South Africa seemed impossible. There’s always the same weak fear
brought up as justification for sustaining oppressive systems. It was used in
South Africa. It was used during chattel slavery and Jim Crow in the United
States. It is predicated on the idea that once those who were oppressed are
freed, they will rise up and kill their former oppressors.
Of
course, history has shown us time and time again that this is not the case.
When freedom is granted, freedom is accepted and celebrated. A ceasefire in
Gaza, while urgent, will not equate to peace nor freedom. True peace means
ending the occupation as well as the illegal seizure of land in the West Bank
and the government-sponsored settler attacks that accompany it. It means
ensuring equal rights and freedoms to everyone who lives in the region. This
time we have to go beyond a ceasefire.
Suspended UK Labour Politician Slams Starmer’s Gaza Stance
A
Labour politician suspended for backing a ceasefire in Gaza has labelled the
party leadership’s stance on the conflict as “utterly shameful”.
Martin
Abrams was one of four councillors in Lambeth, south London, suspended by the
local Labour group on Monday night after voting for a motion put forward by the
local Green Party.
It
called for “an immediate ceasefire and the end to human rights atrocities in
the Israel/Palestine conflict”.
Speaking
to openDemocracy, Abrams hit out at Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership for
its position on the conflict, which has seen over 50 Labour councillors resign
since Oct. 7.
“It
is truly a moment of great shame for the Labour Party for us to be in this
place,” Abrams said. “I will continue speaking out for what I believe is right
because there is a complete absence of that happening from Keir Starmer and the
Labour Party leadership.”
Abrams
said Starmer’s leadership on Gaza has been “utterly shameful”, adding: “It has
been from the very beginning.”
He
referenced an interview on LBC radio in which Starmer, the U.K.’s former top
prosecutor, appeared to sanction collective punishment of the Palestinian
people by Israel — which is illegal under international law. Starmer has since
denied this is what he meant.
Last
week, chaos ensued in Parliament as Labour refused to back an SNP-tabled motion
on a ceasefire. Although Labour has now supported a ceasefire, the party has
been criticised for doing so through its own parliamentary motion, which was
less critical of Israel than the SNP’s original text.
Abrams,
who is Jewish, said Lambeth Labour’s decision to suspend him had been
“disproportionate” considering it was a vote on “calling an end to the
slaughter of children”. But he said he would not resign from his position as a
councillor and would continue “standing up for the oppressed people”.
End
the Bloodshed
Abrams
told openDemocracy that the crisis had taken a toll on councillors hoping to
represent their ward.
“Many
of us are very emotionally impacted by this because we’re solid members of our
local communities. Some of us are Jewish, some of us are Muslim,” he said. “The
vast majority of us are humanitarians and want to see an end to the bloodshed
and the fighting.”
Lambeth
Labour, which decided to suspend the four members following a disciplinary
hearing on Monday, had said the motion risked “exacerbating the impacts of the
deeply worrying rise in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crime across London
witnessed in recent weeks.”
Sonia
Winifred, another Labour councillor who voted for the motion, resigned as a
councillor after being suspended. Winifred is a veteran Windrush campaigner,
and said on Twitter/X the decision had left her with “no choice” but to resign.
Grassroots
group Momentum said:
“This is an outrageous attack on a
Jewish Labour councillor for having the temerity to stand up for the people of
Gaza. Martin is a principled socialist and internationalist – and it is
shocking that he has been forced out for standing up for a position endorsed by
the majority of voters. This anti-democratic decision should be immediately
reversed.”
Lambeth
is not the first local Labour party to suspended councillors for backing a
ceasefire. Last week four councillors in the east London borough of Hackney
were suspended after backing the Green Party’s motion to discuss a ceasefire.
Lambeth
Labour was contacted for comment.
What Would You Do: This Is What Our Ruling Class Has Decided
Will Be Normal
Declaring
"I will no longer be complicit in genocide," U.S. airman Aaron
Bushnell set himself on fire Sunday to protest Israel's annihilation of
Palestinians in Gaza. His "extreme action born of desperation" has
stirred wildly divergent responses. To the right, he was ill, extremist,
contributing to "political violence" in the name of imaginary crimes;
to the left, his was a brave, dire act of justifiable rage at an ongoing
"stream of horrors in Gaza." Grievously, "Bushnell died so that
Gaza may live."
"My
name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active-duty member of the United States Air
Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide," Bushnell says
tensely on his livestream, breathing fast as he walks in fatigues toward D.C.'s
Israeli Embassy. "I'm about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but
compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of
their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has
decided will be normal. Free Palestine!" At the embassy he sets down his
still-recording phone, dons his cap, walks to the gate, douses himself, tosses
a metal container that loudly rolls away, lights himself ablaze and yells
"Free Palestine!" as flames engulf him. Most recordings blur his body
as he repeats "Free Palestine," then screams in agony and collapses.
Frantic police and Secret Service rush in shouting "Get on the
ground"; one imbecile trains his gun on the burning body as another figure
yells, “I don’t need guns - I need fire extinguishers!” Bushnell died soon
after.
Since
Oct. 7, the Israeli military has killed almost 30,000 Palestinians - now 29,878
- two-thirds women and children; thousands more are dead under rubble, with
over 70,215 wounded, most displaced, and many facing starvation as Israel
blocks aid; in its latest war crime, Israel halted a medical evacuation convoy
in Khan Yunis, detaining a paramedic and making others remove their clothes.
Yet the U.S. fast-tracks billions in weaponry and has vetoedthree UN ceasefire
resolutions supported by the world's international organizations, millions of
protesters and the Hague. Israel and the U.S. now stand alone as what Veterans
For Peace rightly deem "madmen arsonists (abetting) the slaughter of
innocents"; they specifically blast U.S policymakers "swaddled in
privilege" who take their orders from corporate powers - Boeing, Raytheon,
General Dynamics and other "merchants of death" - who "as much
as lit the match for Aaron Bushnell, the collateral damage of the ongoing
conflagration in Palestine."
Bushnell
joined the Air Force in 2020; after graduating from basic training “top of
flight and top of class," he was a cyber-defense operations specialist
stationed at San Antonio-Lackland Air Force base in Texas. He reportedly grew
increasingly disillusioned with the military, especially after George Floyd’s
killing, and became involved in left-leaning groups, including helping the
unhoused in San Antonio. Though he considered leaving the military, he decided
to stay until his time was up in May, after which he was enrolled in computer
science classes at a New Hampshire college. His social media profile featured a
Palestinian flag; friends describe him as "a force of joy," "an
amazingly gentle, kind, compassionate person," principled, "with a
strong sense of justice." He had earlier asked the Atlanta Community Press
Collective to preserve and report on footage of his fiery protest; it was also
posted by a freelance journalist, with the self-immolation blurred, after
Bushnell's family consented to her sharing it online.
Bushnell's
death has prompted fierce debate across the political spectrum, with the media
often twisting, diluting or misconstruing his action. Digging for easy or ugly
answers, "smearmeisters" found Bushnell had grown up in a
Massachusetts religious group called the Community of Jesus; in a successful
lawsuit last year, former members alleged abuse in a "charismatic
sect" that "created an environment of control, intimidation and
humiliation (that) inflicted enduring harms." Other coverage omitted all
context with headlines that didn't mention Gaza, hysterically charged "the
Left" is "a death cult," and primly noted U.S. military policy
forbids service members from engaging in "partisan political
activity" or wearing their uniform during "speeches, interviews,
marches, or other activities," presumably including burning yourself to
death to protest genocide. And friggin' Tom 'Red Scare' Cotton huffed about
"this individual," "extremist leanings," and
"compromising national security" by having a functioning moral
compass.
Meanwhile,
hawks and Zionists who for months have been cheerleading a fascist government's
carpet bombing of two million trapped Gazans, over half of them children, were
outraged by what Israeli Consul-General Anat Sultan-Dadon called an act of
"hate and incitement toward Israel." In a head-spinning op-ed, the
Jerusalem Post argued "an act of suicidal political protest is another
step toward more political violence," with "the line between
self-immolation and a suicide bombing" so thin one can easily "extend
that violence onto others." "The far-Left already believes it is
grappling with an evil that justifies violence," it went on.
"Bushnell was deluded into thinking there was a 'genocide'
occurring...Another devil in the radical-left’s pantheon of demons (is) calling
Israelis "colonizers.' Israel is also accused (of) 'apartheid'...and
protesters in New York City have called for 'resistance'...There may be many
more Bushnells waiting in the wings...Those willing to kill themselves for a
cause may have no qualms about killing others."
Their
delirium sharply contrasts with the pained, wrenching, mournful, empathic
responses of those who, like Bushnell, are consumed by helpless rage at the
devastation wrought by Israel on innocents - with US money and complicity - but
who still feel horror at what Bushnell felt he had to do. "I am moved by
his conviction and his anger, but grieved by the loss of his life," one
wrote. "More death will not heal the wounds of war." Still, they
hotly refuted the inevitable mental health trope too often dredged up with,
"Anyone who thinks he was mentally unwell needs to check their
humanity." "Please, stop saying Aaron Bushnell was mentally
ill," wrote Joshua Frank of CounterPunch. "The real mental illness is
witnessing a genocide taking place and not doing a thing to stop it."
Bushnell was "rational and clear about his political reasoning, which
resonates with (the) majority of the world," wrote another of his
"legitimate moral outrage and courage." "May his sacrifice not
be in vain, may his last words on this earth ring true."
At
protests and vigils, many held responsible Joe Biden, "who has ignored
every peaceful form of protest." "In a few minutes," one said,
"Aaron Bushnell exhibited more courage than every member of
Congress." Others hoped he will inspire "more soldiers with a
conscience to raise their voices," and we will "honor the message he
left." Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah: "He gave his life so
people in Gaza might live. There’s no greater love than that." The
Palestinian Youth Movement praised his moral clarity as a ‘shaheed,’ or
witness,’ "whose final moment in life is as a witness to injustice."
Caitlin Johnstone, who watched the uncensored video - "I figured I owe him
that much" - cited a Buddhist monk on self-immolation: "It is done to
wake us up." In this, she echoed Bushnell's wrenching Facebook post the
morning before his death. “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do
if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would
I do if my country was committing genocide?’” he wrote. "The answer is,
you’re doing it. Right now."
Aaron
Bushnell felt he had to do something else. May he rest in peace.
These words are penned in hunger from northern Gaza. I have
little energy to go on
My
life in northern Gaza since October 7 has been one unending nightmare. Fear,
anxiety, hunger, thirst, and cold have become my daily companions. I am unable
to comprehend the gravity of our situation, nor come to terms with the losses.
Our lives here cannot be understood or explained in any rational way.
Nearly
150 days of brutal war have deprived me of everything I had. Literally, I’ve
lost it all — not only my home and belongings, but also my identity, my spirit,
my mind, my dreams, my aspirations. And it has forever changed me. It made me
selfish, only thinking about my own family’s survival. It made me resentful of
the Arab and Muslim world, whose silence seems to signal obliviousness to our
plight.
My
thoughts are consumed by the question of when the war will end. When will
Israel stop committing war crimes, and decide to respect and uphold the most
basic human rights? When will Israel and Hamas reach an agreement to end our
suffering — which is not borne by Hamas’ leaders abroad, but by all of us in
Gaza? And why, I constantly wonder, am I enduring all this pain?
A
few weeks ago, I managed to get in contact with my friend Ahmed, who lives in
Ireland. For months, the internet here was too weak for me to be able to call
him, but this time luck was on my side. “My brother, leave Gaza,” Ahmed told me
straight away. “Try to get out at any cost. Don’t worry about what you might
lose. Once you’re out, you’ll be safe and on the right path.
“And
don’t talk to me about your career; you’ll be able to handle everything outside
Gaza,” he continued. “You are a highly skilled, professional, smart, and
hardworking young man. You stood firm in the face of all the challenges in
Gaza. But everything you built there has been destroyed. I strongly advise you
to explore opportunities outside Gaza for the sake of your family’s safety.”
That
call, which ended in tears, had a profound impact on me. Exhausted by the
hardships surrounding me, I can no longer bear it: I have decided to try to
leave the Gaza Strip. I understood that the only solution is to preserve your
soul and escape this dark injustice. It doesn’t matter how much you may lose or
what you risk by leaving; what truly matters is the preservation of your inner
self. There’s nothing left to forfeit.
The
struggle to survive
Trapped
in Shuja’iya, east of Gaza City, since fleeing my home in Tal el-Hawa, further
west, when Israel launched its ground invasion in late October, I have come to
grasp the essence of Gaza through the lens of this neighborhood. What weighs
most heavily on me is the lack of concern and willingness of others to
sacrifice for those of us in the besieged north. Sometimes, I find myself
wishing I hadn’t stayed here.
I
wish every day that I could go back home, but it’s too dangerous: Israeli tanks
are stationed in the area constantly, and my building was already badly damaged
in a bombing attack. All I want is to grab a memento or retrieve a few personal
items. I want my winter clothes, especially the jacket I bought with my friend
Youssef Dawas, who was tragically killed in an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 14,
just a few days after the war began.
The
biggest indignity is the daily struggle to feed ourselves. It is impossible to
describe our efforts to put food on the table in northern Gaza. I’ve lost 17
kilograms since the war started due to the scarcity of food.
I
experience oppression and humiliation each moment that I have to wait my turn
to get a liter of water at an extortionate price from whoever has their own
supply from a well. I despise myself every time I search for someone selling
flour at a reasonable price and try to barter with deceitful merchants who have
monopolized the supply.
Our
main source of sustenance is dry barley bread, which neither nourishes our
bodies nor satisfies our taste. We are forced to eat animal feed. But, as my
grandfather always says, “Anything that enters the mouth is sustenance” — we
have to eat whatever there is, regardless of our preferences. The paramount
goal is to stay alive.
Writing
through tears and tremors
As
a journalist, I grapple with dueling challenges. On the one hand, there is the
weight of my personal responsibilities: the quest for sustenance and water;
standing steadfast by my family’s side; and striving to provide comfort and
safety for my parents, my 4-year-old niece Sila, and 2-year-old nephew Wadie.
At the same time, I bear the professional duty of reporting.
With
no international reporters allowed into the Strip, our role is crucial in
shedding light on the plight of northern Gaza. We have the duty to share
stories of people’s suffering — the heartbreaking cries of children and women.
We work through our own hunger and thirst to interview children who are unable
to find food, in order that the world might understand our plight.
Doubt
lingers about my future as a journalist. Continuing to write means exposing
myself and my family to peril: trekking vast distances in order to reach the
sites of bombings, or to secure a high enough vantage point — in locations that
are totally exposed to Israeli attacks — to enable internet access via eSIM
cards. In essence, there’s no respite for journalistic endeavors. Even the
Journalists’ Syndicate in Gaza offers no assistance with our work or with
keeping us safe.
Since
that fateful Saturday in October, I have witnessed the collapse of my life and
my aspirations. The feeling of helplessness and oppression is beyond
articulation; no words can adequately capture the emotions I experience as I
write — a process of tears, tremors, and trying to come to terms with my
circumstances. These words are penned in hunger, and the energy to endure
further is dwindling.
Despite
being ambitious and persistent by nature, I find myself in this dark corner of
the earth where the pursuit of a secure future must take a backseat to the
stark reality of life in the besieged Gaza Strip. The effort I went to in order
to graduate from university two years ago and embark on a life worthy of my
endeavors feels like wasted time. Political leaders speak of patience and
endurance, but this war has shattered all of our dreams.
Half
a Million People in Gaza face Starvation, as 1 in 6 Children are Wasting Away
Ann Arbor
(Informed Comment) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
reports that Israel only allowed half as many aid trucks into Gaza in February
as had been in January.
The Gaza
Ministry of Health said that two infants died on Tuesday at the Kamal Adwan
hospital in northern Gaza of dehydration and malnutrition. They were 2 of 6
known child deaths from hunger that day. Those are only the cases we are
hearing about because the deaths happened at barely functioning hospital. About
150,000 Palestinians are still in the north, though most were forced south by
the Israeli army. No aid trucks are going north because the Israelis routinely
fire on aid missions. Those Palestinians trying to survive up there suffer from
lack of food and potable water because the Israeli military strategy has been
to reduce everything to rubble, including bakeries. This policy of bombing
everything in sight is not necessary to fight the Hamas guerrilla movement, and
therefore it must be a deliberate attack on civilian lives.
Israel continues
to bomb Gaza heavily every day, though US television news refuses to report it
or show the footage.
On Tuesday, “76
Palestinians were killed, and 110 Palestinians were injured.” Just to give the
flavor of these deaths, on the day before Monday, “26 February, at about 19:00,
eight Palestinians including three children were reportedly killed, and others were
injured, when a house in the vicinity of Kuwait Hospital, in central Rafah, was
hit.”
Israeli military
personnel have admitted that they use artificial intelligence for targeting and
are trying to hit midlevel Hamas commanders. Presumably the Israelis believed
that house near the (former) Kuwait Hospital in Rafah was the residence of or was
being visited by a Hamas platoon leader, so the AI revved up the attack. Under
normal rules of engagement in normal countries you can’t blow up a house and
kill eight people, including three children, to get at one enemy fighter.
Neither the Israeli leadership, many of them outright fascists, nor Mr. Biden
and his cabinet, however, care.
But denial of
food and potable water are going to kill 4 times as many people as the bombs
have, if the current Israeli policies set by fascist Minister of National
Security Itamar Ben-Gvir and others of his ilk continue.
The director of
OCHA Coordination Division Ramesh Rajasingham, urged “the lifting of
restrictions on fishing activity, access to farmland and the entry of
agricultural products.” He cautioned that in the absence of such actions,
“widespread famine in Gaza is almost inevitable.”
500,000 people
in Gaza (and remember half are children) are “facing catastrophic conditions
characterized by lack of food, starvation and exhaustion of coping capacities.”
UN Officials
accuse Israeli military authorities of deliberately firing on aid trucks, and
of placing bureaucratic obstacles in the way of food and aid deliveries. Israel
won’t issue a list of permitted items for entry, so aid organizations just have
to guess what will be allowed in. If Israeli soldiers inspect a truck at the
Rafah crossing and find even one item they consider prohibited, the whole truck
is sent back to Egypt. (Egypt does not actually control the Rafah crossing,
Israel does).
Rajasingham says
that 1 in 6 children in Gaza are suffering from severe malnutrition and
“wasting.”
Facing unrest
from angry protesters at home, Jordan coordinated a limited air drop of food by
Egyptian, Emirati and French planes on Tuesday. Some of the aid is dropped on
land by parachute. Some apparently is being dropped without parachutes right
into the sea, requiring pilots to fly lower and risk being targeted by the
Israeli air force.
Jordanian
newspaper al-Dustur reported, “Video footage taken on Monday showed a group of
parachutes falling into the sea near the city of Deir al-Bahl in the middle of
the Gaza Strip, and men went out in small boats through the turbulent waters to
retrieve aid, under the watch of a crowd of hundreds who rushed to get the
supplies as soon as they reached the beach.”
Such desperate
measures cannot, however, replace the 500 trucks a day of aid that went into
Gaza before October 7. Moreover, there is a danger of people being shot by
Israeli troops as they rush the supplies, which are falling haphazardly along
the coast.
Inside the historic student protests for Palestine at UC Davis
and Stanfor
Colleges
and universities across the US have turned into battlegrounds for the
Palestinian solidarity movement, as students mobilize against their schools’
financial entanglements with the Israeli occupation. At UC Davis and Stanford,
student-led struggles have made historic achievements. UC Davis activists
recently passed a bill in student government to boycott and divest from all
“corporations complicit in human rights violations against Palestinians.” At
Stanford, students protesting their university’s complicity in the genocide in
Gaza just ended the longest sit-in in the school’s history, camping out for
over 120 days. The Real News speaks with student organizers on their recent
achievements on their respective campuses, and how to keep the student movement
in solidarity with Palestine going.
Studio
Production: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production:
Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The
following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version
will be made available as soon as possible.
Maximillian
Alvarez:
Welcome
everyone to the Real News Network podcast. My name is Maximillian Alvarez. I’m
the Editor in Chief here at The Real News, and it’s so great to have you all
with us. Before we get going today, I want to remind y’all that the Real News
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a difference.
Every
day, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza continues to erase whole families,
communities, and neighborhoods off the face of the earth. We are recording this
on Thursday, February 22nd, and just three days ago, Gaza’s Health Ministry
reported that Israel has killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since October
7th, around two thirds of them, women and children. More than 69,000
Palestinians have been wounded in that time. As a full scale ethnic cleansing
unfolds before our eyes, as the slaughter continues, as Israel’s government
vows to continue the slaughter until quote, “total victory is achieved,” and as
the US continues to be the number one supporter of this humanitarian calamity,
people of conscience around the world continue to take direct action, with
increased urgency. As we have covered, here at the Real News Network, college
campuses have become a critical flashpoint of struggle and confrontation in
this regard. Today we are returning to California, where students at Stanford
University and UC Davis are continuing their fights for a ceasefire in Gaza,
and for institutional divestment from Israel.
As
Megan Fan Munce reported at the San Francisco Chronicle on February 14th,
quote, “Pro-Palestinian students at Stanford University have camped out on
campus for 120 days, to pressure the university to call for a ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas, and to divest from Israel, among other demands. But the
students will end their protests this week in exchange for meetings with
university leadership to discuss their demands. On Tuesday, sit-in leaders
announced on social media they had agreed to end the demonstration by Friday
night, after university administrators pledged in a letter not to pursue legal
or disciplinary action against any demonstrators, and to meet with
representatives about their demands. For more than 100 days, dozens of Stanford
students, at any one time, studied and slept in outdoor tents in White Plaza,
even weathering a recent barrage of strong storms, by using sandbags, and
physically holding down their tents.”
“Last
Thursday, the university ordered the protestors to stop camping overnight,
citing concerns about safety, and confrontations between pro-Palestine and
pro-Israel groups. When students didn’t comply, the university issued a new
deadline to clear out by Monday night, but the demonstration continued instead.
Sit-in representatives offered to disband in exchange for amnesty, and the
opportunity to discuss their demands with university leadership,” end quote.
As
Rivers Stout reports, at the UC Davis student paper the Aggie, quote, “On
February 16th, the ASUCD Senate passed Senate Bill 52, which implements an
ASUCD boycott of, and divestment from, quote, ‘corporations complicit in human
rights violations against Palestinians,’ end quote, According to the bill’s
language. This boycott is in accordance with the boycott divestment in
sanctions, or BDS movement, a nonviolent global campaign promoting boycotts
against Israel, and organizations that they have deemed, quote, ‘complicit in
Israel’s actions over the past few months, including Intel, Disney, Starbucks,
and many more.’ Prior to the Senate meeting, where the bill was considered, UC
Davis Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, encouraged students to attend
and speak during public comment in support of the bill, through an Instagram
post, which had more than 1400 likes at the time of publication,” end quote.
To
talk about all of this and more, I’m honored to be joined today on the Real
News Network podcast, by a group of students at Stanford and UC Davis, and
we’re going to introduce you to them right now. I’m so grateful to you all for
being here, and I want to just start by going around the table and asking if
y’all could first introduce yourselves, and tell us a little more about who you
are, how you got involved in this fight, why it’s important, and tell us more
about what the political scene looks like on your campuses right now, in this
moment, when Israel’s war on Gaza is intensifying, and those tensions are
really boiling over into the political realm, here in the United States. What
does that look like for you all, as students at these campuses?
Malik:
Hi,
my name is Malik, and I’m the treasurer of SJP. I joined SJP, because I wanted
to create a real change on campus, as a Palestinian myself. In terms of the
climate on campus, we have a very Zionist administration. Our own chancellor
sits on the board of Leidos, which provides surveillance weaponry to Israel. We
don’t feel supported on campus because of this, and we have a pretty good
Zionist student groups on campus and presence. We’ve been surveilled, we’ve
been stalked, we’ve been verbally harassed because of this, but there is an
overwhelming majority of Palestinian students that do support us. We saw this
when we passed BDS, how many people showed up to support us, and there was
hundreds giving public comment. It shows that even though administration might
be Zionists, the overwhelming majority of students do support Palestine.
Batul:
Hi
everyone, my name is Batul and I’m the Vice President of SJP here, at UC Davis.
The reason that I got involved with SJP, and just student organizing in
general, is because I’m Palestinian. I’ve lived my entire life within this
struggle, and this liberation movement. I felt that when I came to this campus,
I was able to join a group that made actual change, and that was something that
I had been wanting to do. I just never really knew how to directly get involved
in that, and SJP was my way of doing that when I transferred over here. The
political climate on this campus, in terms of the student body, is
predominantly Palestinian allies. I mean, we’ve seen that with this new phase
of the most recent genocide in Gaza. I mean, post October 7th, we’ve had an
overwhelming amount of support from the student body, in ways that through my
experience last year on SJP, I never saw anything like this.
It’s
really clear that people are pushing for change. The narrative, in terms of the
Palestinian occupation, in general is shifting. People are a lot more educated,
they’re a lot more aware of what’s going on. I think that with the urgency, and
how dire the situation is in Gaza, people are fed up with hearing the same
things, whether that be from our Zionist institution here on this campus, or
our Zionist government living in America, and people are sick of just receiving
the same. They’re sick of hearing the same things over and over again, and
they’re more inclined to do what’s in their power to make change, in any way
that they can.
We
do have a Zionist student body who is really intense in what they do. Like was
mentioned earlier, we are constantly harassed. We’ve received death threats
numerous times, from Zionist students on this campus. They know who we are and
they directly target us, in numerous different ways. But despite that, we are
not going to fall victim to Zionist tactics. We’ve seen this before. We see it
on the ground in Palestine. These tactics of intimidation do not slow us in our
movement. They do not stop us in our movement, and we just are always reminding
ourselves to remain steadfast, and confident in what we do. Because at the end
of the day, we’re fully aware that while our university, and our
administration, might not back us up, we’re not doing this for them, we’re
doing this for the people in Palestine. That is what keeps us steadfast in our
movement.
Cena:
Hi,
my name is Cena. I’m the president of SJP here at UC Davis. I got started in
this movement on UC Davis campus three years ago, in my second year, here at
Davis. But I’ve been a part of the Palestinian liberation movement ever since I
could remember, being Palestinian myself. I watched my own father be detained
in front of me, when I was eight, and then a year later I had to experience the
martyrdom of my cousin Milad. Ever since that moment, I had become radicalized
in my politics, in the ones of wanting to see a liberated Palestine, and to
ensure human rights, for not only my family, but every single Palestinian
living there, as well in the diaspora with the right to return home. As for the
political climate on this campus, I will say it is overwhelmingly
Palestinian-based allyship in our student body.
Although
we have an explicitly Zionist administration, as well as fully moving up the
ranks of the UC region to the governor overseas, I mean, myself as well as 12
other students have been arrested at a UC Regents meeting. Our administration
is wholeheartedly not only complicit, but actively committing these acts of
genocide with their wallets. At the end of the day, we’re here on campus to
provide a space where people can come and get educated, and learn about the
proper history of Palestine. I think that’s super vital, especially since a lot
of our curriculums do not properly teach what’s happening in Palestine, and the
history of what it’s been. SJP provides a space for people on campus to come
learn, get educated, and spread awareness, on everything going on back home.
Farrah:
Hi,
my name is Farrah. I’m a second year student at Stanford. I am Co-President Of
SJP. The main reason, I guess why I got involved in this type of work, I’m
Egyptian. This cause is something that I was introduced to as soon as I knew
about politics, or the political climate. Palestinian liberation was something
that was never questioned in my mind, and was more at the forefront. I think
part of the reason why I personally got involved in SJP, Stanford’s activism
climate was completely dead, prior to the start of this year. Our SJP actually
did not exist until October 8th. We really had nothing going on, on campus.
After October 7th, there was a need for the student body to be informed,
because we were living on a completely Zionist campus, run by Zionists with
their money, and also their beliefs. Our curriculum is completely centered
around Zionism. My involvement in SJP, while it does mean that I have personal
connections, because I’m not even Muslim. At my core, the reason why I’m
involved in this type of work, is because it is the right thing to do.
I
believe, especially being at a university like Stanford, which is not only
complicit, but active in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and active in
this occupation, it is my responsibility to amplify the voices of Palestinians.
There’re only 10 Palestinians, and Palestinian Americans combined, living on
Stanford’s campus, who attend this university. There may be less than 10. The
need for an organizing space was very present, and the need for education was
very present. I believe it is my responsibility, as a Stanford student, and
also just as a human being, to make sure that this work gets done.
Hanna:
Hi,
I’m Hanna. I’m one of the organizers with the Student to Stop Genocide. I got
involved with the sit-in on the first day or second night, I guess, on October
21st. I think that the value, greatest value that the sit-in has provided is,
as Farrah mentioned, Stanford was politically dead. Stanford is a campus where
the vast majority of students are STEM majors, and they’re quite disinterested
and disconnected from any global struggles for human rights, for liberation, or
at the very least, they were, prior to Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
What
we have been able to do, through our work as a sit-in, and also by
collaborating with various other student groups like SJP and JVP, is really
transformed the political conversation on this campus. The sit-in was on White
Plaza, which is a very central space on Stanford’s campus, and hundreds of
people pass by every single day. Through that we were able to provide a
physical reminder of the ongoing atrocities, and we were able to really educate
Stanford student body, and pull them into this cause. The sit-in’s petition
eventually amassed around 3,500 signatures. When Stanford’s administration
threatened to take the sit-in down, which they did not once, but twice,
Stanford’s community rallied behind us, in order to keep the fight going.
Maximillian
Alvarez:
Hell,
yeah. Well, let’s talk about the sit-in and the divestment bill. Let’s really
unpack for folks listening, what’s going on here, right? Let’s talk about how
these movements got started, how they evolved on your respective campuses, and
yeah, just take us there to the heart of the action. Over 120 days camping out
on campus can’t be easy, or marshaling this mobilization of students to come
and vote, to basically demand that the student government fully divest any
financial ties whatsoever to Israel. Tell us more about that, unpack that for
folks who maybe just be hearing about these struggles now, or who maybe heard
about them a little while ago, but haven’t gotten a chance to hear directly
from folks like y’all, who have been there on the front lines.
Farrah:
Yeah,
I can hop in. I think, at least on Stanford’s campus, given that the organizing
scene just was so non-existent prior to October 8th, the way that it evolved
was it began with a really, really big push for education. It was really
obvious that there were students on this campus, and still to this day,
there’re most definitely students on this campus, who were completely unaware
of the genocide of Palestinians going on, and the occupation, which has been
going on for 75 years. That level of ignorance is something that we really put
an effort into, to try and get rid of. After that initial push for education, I
think one of the biggest signs that we knew we were doing work that was meant
to be done, and one of the biggest indicators that we were getting our message
across in the way that we intended, was the amount of anger that we saw from
folks who were Zionists, and pro-Israel, and very evidently were not on the
side of Palestinian liberation.
We
had been harassed, and assaulted, and verbally assaulted, and physically
assaulted, almost every single day for the first three weeks of the sit-in.
Then I would say since then there has not one day of those 120 days has gone
by, to where we have not had some incident, or some hate speech directed at us.
This is not just directed at Arabs and Muslims or Palestinians, it’s also very
much directed at our allied supporters, as well. We have a lot of antisemitism
that goes on. A lot of our anti-Zionist Jewish friends, who are lead organizers
of the sit-in, have received some of the most vile comments that I have ever
heard, as it relates to the way that this movement progressed. There’s a lot of
work that we tried to do, with especially just trying to teach people what not
to believe in, and what not to read, and that the Western media was very
evidently trying to teach them something that was completely untrue.
The
university also has just been very, very transparent about the way that they
responded to the ongoing genocide on Gaza, saying that they are very aware that
their response has been absolutely asymmetric towards Zionists, and Israelis,
on campus. Now where we’re at, is making sure that all the energy that we’ve
built up, and making people angry, and making people remember what is going on,
is just one very small step forward. Now we are trying to do, and actually are
very inspired by our friends over at UCD, for this push for divestment. It’s
something that we are fully launched into, especially through our coalition
called Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine, which I’m sure Hannah can talk
about more, but yeah.
Maximillian
Alvarez:
Yeah.
Hanna, why don’t you hop in and round out the Stanford side, and then we’ll
throw it to the UCD gang.
Hanna:
As
Farrah mentioned, administration has said explicitly that they’re aware that
their response has been asymmetric, that they have completely abandoned the
Palestinian community on campus. When administration wanted to shut down the
sit-in, they shrouded this action in language of concern for student safety.
But that excuse falls completely flat when we’re faced with the fact that
students were there continuously for 120 days, through New Year’s Eve, through
Christmas, and through storms, during which it was not the Sit-in to Stop
Genocide tents or canopies that collapsed, and posed a threat to other
students. It was in fact the very AstroTurf-ed camp that was blue and white
tent, that was set up by pro-Israel groups on campus, right across from us. The
fact of the matter is that the university is much more interested in promoting
this both sides narrative, in which we can all just have rigorous academic
intellectual debate about this, and then not making any meaningful
institutional changes.
This
is not to say that the pressure on Stanford’s campus hasn’t led to any tangible
changes. The sit-in has been able to secure some accommodations for Palestinian
students, and also the creation of the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Students
Communities’ Committee, which is meant to investigate the experiences and
challenges that these communities are facing, and recommend ways in which
Stanford can improve. But unfortunately, these recommendations are not binding,
and so administration is not under any obligation to follow those
recommendations.
Obviously,
the fight is not over, and as Farrah also mentioned, we are now transitioning
into a fully fledged divestment campaign, under the umbrella Stanford Against
Apartheid in Palestine. As we know, every major human rights organization in
the world, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Special Rapporteur
for the occupied Palestinian territories in the United Nations, they have all
come to the conclusion that Israel is committing apartheid. This is a crime
against humanity in international law. Stanford, by its own document of
investment responsibility, is bound to divesting from entities that are
complicit in crimes such as genocide, and apartheid. We see this as a student
movement that is going to have longevity, because even when this assault on
Gaza ends, Israel’s apartheid will continue, just as it has in the past 75
years.
Cena:
Then
transitioning into what’s been going on at UC Davis, with SB52, having been
passed this past Thursday, which is now a week ago today, the whole process of
the creation of this bill, and the idea, was something planted by not only
myself, but the rest of my Board. It was a goal we had since the beginning of
the year. We were able to bring it into fruition, when there was one day where
we finally sat down, and we thought it was time to basically accumulate all of
the ideas, and the basis that we wanted for this bill, and create it into a
final doc. Working alongside many other students, who also are not part of the
SJP Board, they’re just allies and community members, as well as other
senators, we were able to create this bill.
Myself
being the author, and another board member having been the co-author, as well
as a senator, at our student government, we worked intensely in having
meetings, and understanding all of the logistical ins and outs of how our
student government worked, and how this would look like if implemented, since
we were going to be the first university to institutionally boycott over 30
plus companies on the BDS list. Moving forward from that initial phase, it took
about a month or more of planning out how we were going to make it as quote,
unquote, “Bulletproof as possible.” Because at the end of the day, when we
brought it up to all of our student government, we didn’t want it to be shot
down due to a logistical reason. We took advantage of the current climate phase
we are in, of the genocide happening in Gaza, and there’s no time left. There’s
no time left to waste, and sit around, and just allow for words of resolution
to be accumulating. We had to just turn our words of resolution into actions,
of an institutional boycott.
We
had passed a BDS resolution here at UC Davis in 2021. There’s also alumni who
were working on trying to pass BDS here at Davis from 20 years ago. We were
just the Board that were finally able to compile it, and put it together, and
bring it to our student government, to have a vote. We were met with such a
beautiful picture of community, and we were overwhelmed by the support. Not
only did the bill pass, but it passed overwhelmingly with a 12 out of 14 Senate
vote, voted yes. That’s as good as it could have gone for us, and we couldn’t
be more grateful that we got it to pass. Now we’re in the works of working
alongside the committees, and seeing how we’re going to finally get into the
phases of taking things like Sabra or Starbucks drinks off the shelves of our
marketplace.
Batul:
I
think just to touch a bit more on what it actually meant for us to pass this
BDS bill on our campus, speaking from my personal experience, we are constantly
asked and expected to put our trauma on display, for people to understand what
we’re going through. That is not something that should be the standard.
Palestinians are the only oppressed people who are constantly expected to worry
about the feelings of their oppressor, and make them comfortable. When we do
things such as relive our trauma in public spaces, that’s showing that we don’t
care if this makes people uncomfortable. Because at the end of the day, if it
makes you uncomfortable to hear this, imagine how uncomfortable it was to live
it, and experience it. You should also be asking yourself, why are you
uncomfortable listening to these stories that people have experienced?
It’s
because you don’t want to take accountability and acknowledgement in your
ignorance, and you are trying to avoid and divert from the fact that you, let’s
say for example, student senators on our campus, or our chancellor, you’re
trying to look away and turn away from the fact that you have the power to
institutionally do something on UC Davis’s campus that actually means
something. Because when we were able to thankfully pass this bill, we had an
overwhelming number of people from other campuses, across the country, reaching
out to us and asking how we were able to do so. When one university or one
individual does something, that sets the precedent for other people to follow
suit, and do the same thing. Now all these other universities and students who
are pushing for divestment, or boycotting from their campus, are able to say,
“You can no longer tell me that this is not something that’s possible, because
it is possible, because we saw UC Davis do it.”
That’s
why I think it’s so important to acknowledge the historic-ness of what
happened. Thankfully it happened on our campus, but if it were not to be us, it
would’ve been someone else. The fact that it happened sooner rather than later,
just pushes for other people, to push for the same thing on their campuses,
because it has officially happened with us.
Malik:
To
add, the bill was a huge material victory for our liberation movement, here at
Davis. During public comment, something we saw was that a lot of Zionists were
making arguments that this bill would cause a rise in antisemitism. But one
week later, we’ve already seen five explicit acts of anti-Palestinian racism to
not only Palestinians, but to our allies who are being recognized in public by
Zionists, and being verbally harassed, because they were seen at this public
comment.
Batul:
If
I could really quickly add something on top of her point. Speaking just a
little bit more on the increase in anti-Palestinian racism, post October 7th,
there was a rise in it, in general. But post the passing of this BDS bill, we
have seen such explicit acts of anti-Palestinian racism. Five incidences in
seven days is not normal, and we have not seen any acknowledgement from our
administration for the past four months, and we don’t expect to see any
acknowledgement from our institution moving forward, with what’s been happening
for the past week. That’s why it’s so important for us to expose these
incidences, because our administration is not going to do that for us. Zionists
need to be held accountable, and they need to be called out on what they’re doing
to Palestinians, because when they make claims that we do the same things to
them, which we do not, we receive consequences from our administration. That
same standard should be applied to them, especially when the acts that they
engage in are number one, true, they’re things they actually do, and number
two, they are explicit forms of harassment.
Maximillian
Alvarez:
Well,
I could talk to you all for days, and I know that this is not the end of the
story, and we can and will do more follow-ups with y’all, with more student
activists on campuses around the country, as well as the different labor
groups, the different advocacy groups, different folks from across higher ed,
who are coming together to fight this fight. To everyone listening, we will be
following up on this. But since I only have y’all for just a couple more
minutes here, I want to do a final turn around the table and just ask what
happens next? What can folks, listening to this… this is going to come out on
Thursday, February 29th. What can folks, on your campuses, alumni, faculty,
students, staff, but also folks listening to this around the country, what can
they do to get involved? What can they do to help, and where can they find
y’all?
Cena:
As
for what the future looks like for UC Davis, when it comes to organizing, and
what we want to do with this historic passing of the BDS bill, we’re working
alongside national SJP to try and make this a national movement and call to
action, to encourage other student governments to start institutionally
boycotting these companies complicit in the ongoing genocide happening in
Palestine. As for us here at Davis, we have a lot of events planned, especially
revolving education, and we’re really just hoping to keep having these
conversations, keep putting our administration in uncomfortable positions,
until they have to listen, and they have to do something with our demands. They
hopefully will eventually, institutionally, divest as a whole, because the UC’s
as a whole, is directly complicit in so much weapons manufacturing that it
makes me absolutely sick to my stomach, knowing that I’ve lost family in Gaza,
and I’m still here attending an institution that is directly funding the
weapons being dropped on them.
But
at the end of the day, moving forward, all we can do is not only enjoy this
victory, because being part of a liberation movement, a lot of times we don’t
see these material victories. It takes a long time for us to see material
victory. As of right now, we’re enjoying it. We’re trying to spread awareness,
and spread the word to other chapters, and we’re really looking forward to
spreading more education, and events throughout campus.
Malik:
Then
to add on, we are focusing on helping other campuses with their divestment, and
how they can go about [inaudible 00:30:26] of their campuses, and letting this
be a domino effect for other campuses, across the nation. In regards to events,
we’re going to be having an anti-Zionism week, in March, in collaboration with
National SJP, where we’ll be having a lot of informational events, and
teachings with speakers.
Batul:
Then
to discuss, moving forward, what we’re going to push for not only on our
campus, but just in general. I think the number one thing is that we need to
keep going, because over the past four months, while we did see a rise in
mobilization and turnout for SJP at UC Davis’s campus, the most recent couple
of months, I want to say, we have seen a decline from that original
mobilization and turnout. That’s because people, whether that be, they don’t
care as much as they originally did, whether it be the fact that they moved
Palestine low on their list of priorities, people simply do not care as much as
they did post… directly when October 7th happened. That’s horrible, because
people in Palestine are begging us daily to continue talking about what is
happening to them.
At
the end of the day, when there are people in Gaza, and Palestine as a whole,
being genocide-ed thousands being genocide-ed every week, we do not have the
room to stop, and slow down, and be fatigued, because we owe it to them to do
everything in our power to advocate for their liberation, to advocate for a
permanent ceasefire, to advocate for a free Palestine, from the river to the
sea, because that’s what they’re asking us to do. We need to listen to them,
and do what they need us to do, as people in the diaspora.
Hanna:
I
think that here at Stanford, just as everywhere else, we were very inspired by
the UC Davis success, of passing the institutional boycott. I think that we’re
very interested in also replicating that success. Even though the sit-ins tents
are no longer standing, our movement will continue to push for Stanford to
divest from corporations that are complicit in Israel’s crimes. Our ultimate
commitment was never to the physical space of the sit-in, but always to the
fight for Palestinian liberation. I encourage all Stanford students, alums,
parents of Stanford students to follow up with us on our social media, either
on Stanford SJP, or the Sit-in to Stop Genocide, because we will be posting
about our future actions. Also, to join the coalition Stanford Against
Apartheid in Palestine, because we will be trying to make that movement as
broad, and as all encompassing as possible, in order to affect the most change.
Maximillian
Alvarez:
All
right, gang, that’s going to wrap things up for us on this installment of The
Real News Network Podcast. I want to thank our guest, Batul, Malik, Cena,
Hanna, and Farrah. I want to thank you all for listening, and thank you for
caring. One last time, before you go, please head on over to
therealnews.com/donate and become a supporter of our work, so we can keep
bringing y’all important coverage, and conversations just like this. This is
Maximilian Alvarez for The Real News Network. Take care of yourselves, take
care of each other, solidarity forever-
Netanyahu’s
Last Battle Promises No Victory, Just Slaughter in Rafah
The Palestinian
city of Rafah is not only older than Israel, it is also as old as civilisation
itself. Rafah has existed for thousands of years. The Canaanites referred to it
as Rafia, and Rafia has been almost always there, guarding the southern frontiers
of Palestine, ancient and modern.
As the gateway
between two continents and two worlds, Rafah has been at the forefront of many
wars and foreign invasions, from ancient Egyptians to the Romans, to Napoleon
and his eventually vanquished army. Now, it is Benjamin Netanyahu’s turn.
The Israeli
prime minister has made Rafah the jewel in his crown of shame, the battle that
will determine the fate of his genocidal war in Gaza; in fact, the very future
of his country. “Those who want to prevent us from operating in Rafah are
essentially telling us: ‘Lose the war’,” he said at a press conference on 17
February.
There are now
anywhere between 1.3 to 1.5 million Palestinians in Rafah, an area that had a
population of 200,000 people before the war started. Even then, it was
considered to be crowded. We can only imagine what the situation is right now,
with hundreds of thousands of people scattered in muddy refugee camps,
subsisting in makeshift tents that are unable to withstand the elements of a
harsh winter. The Mayor of Rafah says that only 10 per cent of the needed food
and water is reaching the people in the camps, where they suffer from extreme
hunger, if not outright starvation.
They have lost
loved ones and homes, and have no access to any medical care. They are trapped
between high walls, the sea and a murderous army.
An Israeli
invasion of Rafah will not alter the battlefield in favour of the occupation
army, but it will be horrific for the displaced Palestinians. The slaughter
will go beyond anything and everything we have seen so far anywhere in Gaza.
Where will up to
1.5 million people go when Israel’s tanks arrive? The closest so-called safe
area is Al-Mawasi, which is already overcrowded. The displaced refugees there
are also starving due to Israel’s blocking of aid and constant bombing of
humanitarian convoys.
Then there is
northern Gaza, which is mostly in ruins. It has no food to the extent that, in
some areas, even animal feed, which is now being consumed by human beings, is
no longer accessible.
If the
international community does not finally develop the will to stop Israel, this
horrific crime will prove to be worse by far than all the crimes that have
already been committed by the occupation forces. It is expected that more than
100,000 Palestinians will be killed or wounded in Rafah alone.
However, an
invasion of Rafah promises neither military nor strategic victory for Israel,
just slaughter. Netanyahu simply wants to satisfy the bloodlust across the
occupation state. Even though their armed forces have killed 30,000
Palestinians so far, and wounded 70,000, Israelis still want more revenge. “I
am personally proud of the ruins of Gaza,” said Israel’s Minister of Social
Equality May Golan during a Knesset session on 21 February.
At the start of
the war, Israel claimed that Hamas was concentrated mostly in the north of
Gaza. The north was duly destroyed, but the Resistance carried on unabated.
Then Israel claimed that the Resistance headquarters was under Shifa Hospital,
which was bombed, raided and destroyed. Then it claimed that Bureij, Maghazi
and central Gaza were the main prizes of the war. Then, Khan Younis was
declared the “capital of Hamas”. And so it has gone on and on…
The Resistance
has not been defeated, and the alleged “Hamas capital” has shifted conveniently
from one city to another, even from one neighbourhood to another.
Now, the same
ridiculous claims and unsubstantiated allegations are being made about Rafah,
where most of Gaza’s population was ordered to go by Israel, in total despair,
if they wanted to survive the onslaught.
Israel had hoped
that the Palestinians would rush to leave Gaza in their hundreds of thousands
and go to the Sinai Desert. They didn’t. Then Israeli leaders, like far-right
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, spoke of “voluntary migration” as the “right
humanitarian solution”. Still, the Palestinians stayed put. Now, the Israelis
have agreed on the invasion of Rafah; it’s just a matter of time, in a
last-ditch effort to orchestrate another Palestinian Nakba.
But another
Nakba will not happen. Palestinians will not allow it to happen.
Ultimately,
Netanyahu’s and Israel’s political madness must come to an end. Moreover, the
world cannot persist in its cowardly inaction. The lives of millions of
Palestinians are dependent on our collective push to stop this genocide
immediately.
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