PSC shares the immense relief expressed by Palestinians at the ceasefire agreement that promises to stop the immediate catastrophic loss of life caused by Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. The violence must end now. On Wednesday – the very day that the ceasefire was announced – Israel killed more than 80 Palestinians, 30 of them after the announcement. Many more could be killed in the coming days.
We must also see an immediate and complete lifting of Israel’s siege on Gaza to allow the unhindered access of humanitarian aid, including food and medical supplies. This agreement must not be a pause, in which Palestinians in Gaza are afforded only a few moments respite before the genocide resumes. It must lead to a total withdrawal of all occupying Israeli forces and a complete end to all Israeli attacks. All those illegally detained, including the over 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli detention, whether in prison or the torture camps in Gaza, and the Israeli hostages held in Gaza should be freed.
Israel’s 15 month long genocide has killed many tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Palestinians. Armed and backed by Britain, Israel’s assault has caused an almost incalculable level of devastation and loss. It has displaced almost all of Gaza’s residents, most multiple times, annihilated much of Gaza’s infrastructure and left the entire population facing famine.
So extreme is the destruction that, according to UN estimates, if the Israeli occupation continues it will take 350 years to rebuild Gaza. As such, recovery and rebuilding are inextricably linked to the ongoing Palestinian struggle for accountability and liberation.
This genocide did not emerge from nowhere. It is the extension of Israel’s 76 year project of colonisation, military occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people. It is the direct outcome of a system in which Palestinians, simply because they are Palestinian, are treated as less than human. There will be no ceasefire in the occupied West Bank, where Israel’s military invasions and ethnic cleansing will continue. In this moment of hope, we demand an end to the system of oppression which gave rise to this genocide.
This will not happen without ongoing international pressure. For more than 15 months, alongside millions around the world, we have demanded a ceasefire and an end to Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. We must now redouble our efforts to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle by isolating and weakening the apartheid regime through ending the British state and corporate complicity that upholds and enables it. We will remain steadfast in our solidarity until, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestinians can rebuild their lives in freedom on their land.