Ramzy Baroud
Israel’s
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused the Israeli government of
Benjamin Netanyahu of “a complete surrender to Hamas,” calling the Gaza
ceasefire agreement a “surrender deal.”
Hamada
Shaqoura, a Palestinian man who used to be a food blogger, distributes
food to children after cooking a meal for displaced people, in Khan
Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 16, 2025. BASHAR TALEB / AFP via Getty Images
For once,
Ben-Gvir is right.
For over 15
months, the Israeli military has tried every possible strategy to achieve
victory in Gaza, yet it has failed. Analysts will spend years trying to
understand how a country with such advanced killing technologies could fail to
subdue a group of fighters who make their own weapons, or more accurately, how
a group of fighters, relying on improvised weapons, managed to defeat an entire
arsenal provided to Israel by the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, and
many other Western and non-Western countries.
Gaza has been
under a hermetic Israeli siege for nearly two decades, during which Israel has
launched major wars on the region—starting in 2008 and culminating in the
latest onslaught. This recent war, however, was not just another round of
violence. It was genocidal in scope, a campaign of destruction unprecedented in
the region’s history.
Israel will
attempt, with the help of its allies in the media, to frame the Palestinian
victory in Gaza as a defeat. Netanyahu and his allies within his extremist
cabinet – with a few exceptions – will likely downplay the failure or attempt
to distort the narrative.
These so-called
“achievements” by Israel do not even qualify as tactical victories. On the
contrary, Israel’s actions have caused the destruction of Gaza and led to
countless civilian casualties, including women and children.
Israel assumed
that by destroying Gaza, it would eradicate the resistance. However, that
calculation was deeply flawed. The resistance in Gaza is directly tied to the
Palestinian people. It’s not about eliminating a specific number of fighters
but about the enduring bond between the people and the resistance itself.
This bond
remained unbroken; in fact, it became even stronger. Without committing
outright mass genocide—as in killing every Palestinian in Gaza—Israel could not
extinguish the resistance. Some politicians, such as Israel’s Minister of
Heritage Amihai Eliyahu, repeatedly made such a demand, calling for the
dropping of a nuclear bomb on Gaza.
Ultimately,
Israel failed, though it killed and wounded, in the estimation of the Lancet
medical journal, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
This time,
Israel’s failure cannot be dismissed as merely not achieving its objectives.
The Israeli army suffered devastating losses—greater than in any military
confrontation with Arab armies since Israel’s establishment in 1948.
These losses
were inflicted by grassroots resistance groups that do not rely on alliances
with major powers, such as the former Soviet Union, to sustain their fight.
Instead, these groups rely on their own resources, their own people, and their
own strategies.
The significance
of this resistance lies in its introduction of a new model of anti-colonial
struggle in the Arab world, unifying non-state actors—such as the Resistance in
Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Ansarallah in Yemen, and other groups across the
region—that fought with a single strategy. This unified approach succeeded in
weakening Israel’s economy, overwhelming its army, and ultimately defeating it
on the battlefield.
Israel has, in
fact, been defeated. After 15 months of fighting, Israel surrendered to the
Resistance. This surrender reflects Israel’s admission that it could neither
reoccupy Gaza, destroy the resistance, ethnically cleanse Palestinians, counter
regional resistance groups, nor sustain the war any longer.
As a result,
Israel agreed to return to the same ceasefire terms that Hamas had accepted as
early as May and again in July of last year. This marks a historic moment.
This defeat will
have profound repercussions. It highlights the unbreakable and unified nature
of the Palestinian Resistance. It reaffirms the people’s resolve to continue
their struggle, drawing inspiration from the words of the great
African-American leader Malcolm X: “By any means necessary.”
Jonathan
Cook
There
are so many lies, deceptions and misdirections in Sir Keir Starmer’s statement
on the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas yesterday that they need to be
picked apart line by line.
Starmer:
After months of devastating bloodshed and countless lives lost, this is the
long-overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been
waiting for. They have borne the brunt of this conflict – triggered by the
brutal terrorists of Hamas, who committed the deadliest massacre of Jewish
people since the Holocaust on October 7th, 2023.
Under
no reasonable definition can the last 15 months be described as a “conflict”.
The slaughter and maiming of hundreds of thousands of civilians, as well as
Israel’s program to starve the rest of the population, should rightly be
understood as a genocide, one the International Court of Justice began
investigating a year ago, and one that has been attested to by every major
international human rights group, as well as a growing number of Holocaust
scholars.
Starmer
does at least hint at the truth in conceding that the ceasefire is “long
overdue”. The genocide in Gaza could have been brought to an end at any point
by US pressure. Indeed, the outlines of the current ceasefire were advanced by
the Biden administration back in May. It was Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu who blocked progress. Israel’s western patrons, including Starmer,
rewarded him with weapons, intelligence and diplomatic cover. If the ceasefire
is “overdue”, Starmer is fully responsible for that delay.
Further,
the “conflict” wasn’t “triggered” by Hamas’ attack of October 7, as Starmer
claims. The “conflict” has been going on for more than three-quarters of a
century, triggered by Israel’s continuous efforts to ethnically cleanse
Palestinians from their homeland, with western backing, in an explicitly
colonial project. Israel wants us to believe the “conflict” clock started
ticking on October 7. Only the ignorant, and contemptible politicians like
Starmer, repeat that lie.
The
killings on October 7 2023 weren’t “the deadliest massacre of Jewish people”
since the Holocaust. That’s another cynical Israeli talking point repeated by
Starmer whose sole purpose is to rationalise Israel’s genocide. The “deadliest
massacre” for Jews since the Holocaust was, in fact, committed by the
Argentinian junta, which disappeared and murdered thousands of Jews in the late
1970s. And unlike Hamas, whose victims were killed not because they were Jews
but because they were Israelis and viewed as members of an oppressor nation,
Argentina’s generals killed Jews specifically for being Jewish. Nonetheless,
that massacre – inconvenient to the West – has been carefully memory-holed,
including by Starmer.
Starmer:
The hostages, who were brutally ripped from their homes on that day and held
captive in unimaginable conditions ever since, can now finally return to their
families. But we should also use this moment to pay tribute to those who won’t
make it home – including the British people who were murdered by Hamas. We will
continue to mourn and remember them.
For
the innocent Palestinians whose homes turned into a warzone overnight and the
many who have lost their lives, this ceasefire must allow for a huge surge in
humanitarian aid, which is so desperately needed to end the suffering in Gaza.
Notice
Starmer’s sleight of hand here. He blames Hamas for everything that has
happened over the past 15 months, including the mass slaughter of Palestinians
carried out by Israel.
First,
he correctly holds Hamas responsible for taking Israelis hostage – though, of
course, like everyone else, Starmer fails to make the important legal
distinction between the civilians who were taken hostage, a war crime, and
occupying Israeli soldiers who were captured, not a war crime. But he then goes
on to hold Hamas, not Israel, responsible for the genocide of the people of
Gaza.
Presumably
for that reason, the Israeli dead need to be “mourned”, “remembered” and paid
“tribute”. But according to Starmer’s statement, the Palestinian dead need to
be neither mourned nor remembered.
Whatever
Starmer claims, Palestinian homes weren’t “turned into a war zone”, with the
implication – again echoing a favorite and mendacious Israeli talking point –
that Hamas has used Palestinians as human shields, leaving Israel with little
choice but to kill them by the tens of thousands. Rather, Palestinian homes
were deliberately leveled in an Israeli campaign of bombing far more intense
than anything inflicted on Dresden or Hamburg. We know from the Israeli media
that the targets of these bombing campaigns were generated automatically by AI
programmes that were given the widest possible licence. In most cases,
buildings were bombed without reference to any Hamas activity in the vicinity.
Next,
Starmer falsely makes a connection between the ceasefire and the ability of
international agencies to bring humanitarian aid into Gaza. But it was not
fighting that stopped humanitarian aid entering Gaza. It was Israel’s decision
to impose a genocidal, Medieval-style aid blockade, with the stated goal of
starving the population. A goal, let us never forget, that Starmer explicitly
endorsed, stating that Israel had the right to deny the people of Gaza food,
water and power. Let us note too that Netanyahu and his former defence
minister, Yoav Gallant, are being sought by the International Criminal Court
for crimes against humanity that relate specifically to the starvation policy
Starmer supported.
Starmer:
And then our attention must turn to how we secure a permanently better future
for the Israeli and Palestinian people – grounded in a two-state solution that
will guarantee security and stability for Israel, alongside a sovereign and
viable Palestine state.
It
is far, far too late, as Starmer knows, to be talking about a “better future”
for Gaza now that its homes have been destroyed, its hospitals are in ruins,
its schools and universities are levelled, it agricultural land devastated.
Estimates are that it will likely take 80 years to rebuild the enclave. How are
a “better future” and a “sovereign and viable Palestinian state” going to
emerge out of Gaza’s ruins.
Had
Starmer been serious about “a two-state solution”, he could have done many
things to facilitate it as soon as he entered office. He could have imposed a
real arms embargo on Israel, one that would have deprived it of the components
it needs to keep its F-35s flying over Gaza, dropping bombs. He could have
backed South Africa’s genocide case at the ICJ. He could have recognised a
Palestinian state, as several European countries have done but Britain hasn’t.
He could have refused to transport weapons to Israel and provide it with aerial
intelligence from the UK’s air base in Cyprus. He could have promised to arrest
Netanyahu and Gallant should they land in the UK. He could have refused to
shelter the Israeli military’s chief of staff, General Herzi Halevi, in London
in November by issuing him with special immunity from arrest and prosecution by
the ICC. And Starmer’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, could have rejected an
invitation to Israel this week to “deepen the partnership” between the UK and
Israel in the midst of a genocide.
Starmer:
The UK and its allies will continue to be at the forefront of these crucial
efforts to break the cycle of violence and secure long-term peace in the Middle
East.
All
that the UK under Starmer will be at the forefront of doing is continuing to
shill for Israel, perpetuating “the cycle of violence” – a colonial cycle of
violence that the British initiated in Palestine with the Balfour Declaration
in 1917 – and ensuring peace remains unachievable as instability spreads across
the Middle East.
Seraj Assi
January 16, 2025
Mediators
announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire agreement
in Gaza, which consists of a six-week initial phase, and includes the gradual
withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and release of hostages held by Hamas in
exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The final
details of the deal are still undergoing negotiation, and the Israeli
government must still ratify the agreement. If the agreement holds, it would be
a welcome respite. “A ceasefire is long overdue,” said UNICEF Executive
Director Catherine Russell. “Too many children have been killed or lost loved
ones in a tragic start to the new year.” But while it’s tempting to succumb to
euphoria after 15 months of endless bloodshed and heartless brutality, we must
maintain a sense of sobriety and admit that a ceasefire alone does nothing to
remedy Israel’s gross violations of human rights and international law, which
will continue to perpetuate genocide through starvation and public health
crisis, even if the bombs are no longer falling.
With the brutal
blockade of Gaza still in place, the ceasefire deal will not bring an end to
the genocide — the blockade in itself constitutes an act of genocide, to cite
former International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. Ocampo
was referring to Israeli forces impeding access to food, water, fuel, medical
supplies, and other essentials in Gaza for nearly two decades, which is
considered an act of genocide under Article II of the Genocide Convention:
“Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
Israel’s
genocidal tactics in Gaza stretch back well before October 2023. Starting in
2006, in what amounted to a collective punishment of a civilian population,
Israel imposed a stringent blockade on Gaza, during which it regulated food
imports into the besieged strip in accordance with calories consumed per
person, to limit the transfers of food and medicine to a “humanitarian
minimum,” or “to put the Palestinians on a diet,” as Israeli officials mused
then. To tighten the siege, Israel set up a wide buffer zone inside Gaza, which
impeded the flow of goods, imposed stifling restrictions on the movements of
people, and led to forced displacements and separation of families. As a
result, thousands of Palestinians perished under siege. For example, between 2008
and 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded that at least 839
Palestinians had died while waiting for medical permits to leave Gaza for
urgent medical treatment.
From the
international justice perspective, these deprivations are considered genocidal.
Reviewing the Srebrenica case, the International Court of Justice ruled that
“deprivation of food, medical care, shelter or clothing” constitute a genocide.
Or as Ocampo sums it up: “Starvation is the invisible Genocide weapon.”
Imposing this state of deprivation also constitutes an act of aggression.
According to international law, imposing a blockade is an act of war.
Even before
2023, the siege had rendered Gaza a living hell. In 2018, five years before
Israel’s genocidal war, the UN concluded that Gaza was “unlivable.” Come
October 2023, Gaza was already looking into the abyss. That means no ceasefire
can hold without lifting the suffocating siege and ending Israel’s yearslong
blockade of Gaza, which is both inhumane and unlawful. The United Nations still
considers Israel an occupying power in Gaza, because Israel still controls Gaza
by land, air and sea. And this will continue to be the case even once the
recently announced ceasefire deal takes effect. Gaza itself is a colossal
refugee camp created by Israel in the wake of the Nakba.
While a
ceasefire would stop the most immediate forms of bloodshed and offer a fleeting
relief, it would not end Gaza’s miseries. It would lay bare the total
destruction that Israel has wrought on the besieged strip. According to a UN
report, it could take 350 years for Gaza to rebuild if it remains under a
blockade. Just cleaning Gaza’s rubble could take 15 years, according to the
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA), not to mention thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance that remains
scattered across the Strip. It will take Gaza generations to heal, with over
50,000 dead, 100,000 maimed, 2 million displaced, over 20,000 children lost or
missing under rubble and thousands more orphaned.
More appalling
still is Israel’s ongoing assault on UNRWA, which “amounts to criminalization
of humanitarian aid,” according to Amnesty International. In October 2024,
Israeli legislators passed two bills that ban UNRWA from operating in Gaza and
the West Bank. The ban is set to take effect in two weeks. If implemented as
planned, the UNRWA ban will impede immediate relief efforts and food
distribution in the besieged strip.
UNRWA has been
the backbone of humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza during the yearlong
genocide, providing two-thirds of all primary health care, food to half the
population, one-third of the polio vaccinators operating there, education and
psychosocial support to nearly 1 million people (including over half a million
children), and emergency shelter to nearly 2 million displaced people. UN
officials have warned that Israel’s expulsion of UNRWA will hasten the collapse
of social order in the ravaged enclave, where Israeli lawmakers have seemed
intent to “purge northern Gaza of residents by use of sieges, infrastructure
destruction, and the destruction of the last sources of water, food, and energy
in northern Gaza,” as Haaretz reported.
Gaza as we know
it no longer exists, and when Israeli leaders and generals boast of having
bombed Gaza “back to the Stone Age,” they are not speaking in metaphorical
terms. Israel has destroyed Gaza for generations to come and rendered it
“totally and completely uninhabitable.” Many displaced Palestinians do not know
if their homes are still standing or buried under rubble.
And yet, the
deal does not mention reparations for Palestinians who have lost their homes,
schools, hospitals, shelters, mosques, universities, libraries and museums. It
does not mention reparations for those whose water wells, grain mills and
agricultural land have been destroyed and poisoned, or for those whose entire
urban infrastructure has been wiped out. (In a year’s span, Israel has dropped
well over 85,000 metric tons of mostly U.S.-made bombs on Gaza, the equivalent
of multiple nuclear bombs.) The ceasefire deal is really more of a hostage
deal. In exchange for nearly 100 Israeli hostages, 3,000 Palestinian prisoners
will be released in stages — only a fraction of the over 10,000 prisoners held
in Israeli torture camps in deplorable conditions, most of whom have been
forcibly kidnapped from Gaza since October 2023, according to the Commission of
Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society.
This is a
fragile deal, elusive and negotiated in bad faith. Calling it a “ceasefire” is
greatly misleading. It’s nothing but a pause in genocide to allow the release
of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. It’s by no means permanent, merely a
temporary “pause in fighting,” with no guarantees that Israel will even adhere
to it, especially since Israeli negotiators have insisted on keeping troops in
Gaza, while Israeli forces have continually violated a ceasefire agreement in
Lebanon over 100 times. Israel’s long history of violating ceasefire agreements
in Gaza is well-documented, generating justifiable concern over whether Israel
will soon resume its ethnic cleansing of Gaza after the hostages are released.
Netanyahu’s last-minute attempt to delay the ceasefire vote and sabotage the
deal has spurred fears of potential genocidal concessions to his extremist
government. Israel has massacred at least 87 Palestinians in Gaza since the
deal was announced.
Displaced
Palestinians wishing to return to their homes in the north may also face the
deadly prospect of trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. In late November 2023, two
months into the Gaza genocide, Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire
agreement; on its first day, the Israeli military opened fire on hundreds of
Palestinians attempting to return to their homes in northern Gaza.
A ceasefire does
not absolve Israeli leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The war
criminals who have committed this genocide must be brought to justice. Nor does
it absolve Joe Biden, whose administration has funded and armed Israel’s genocidal
machine to the hilt for over a year, while refusing to rein in Israel’s
atrocities or force it to stop the bloodshed.
The grim reality
of Israeli occupation has been a constant in Gaza, regardless of headlines
about ceasefires signed and breached. When you imprison 2 million people in 140
square miles, placing them under a merciless siege with no end in sight, with
no way in or out, with drones and rockets buzzing overhead night and day, with
constant surveillance and harassment, with scant control over their day-to-day
lives and an all-around sense of living in hell, a peace deal that glosses over
these injustices will not hold.
The Gaza
genocide is far from over.
We must keep
talking about Gaza, keep alive our solidarity, and not allow the ceasefire to
divert our attention from the ongoing struggle to end the occupation — an
injustice that runs deeper than the recent military onslaught.
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