January 22nd, 2009

On December 27, 2008, the government of Israel opened a new era of the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza. The bloodshed and destruction in Gaza conducted by the Israeli army resulted in the killing of hundreds, the injuring of thousands, and the destruction of thousands of homes, schools, roads and mosques, as well as UN centers where thousands of civilians, including mothers and children, were sheltered. It has now been established all around the world that decades of the indiscriminate, racist killing of innocent Palestinians by the Israeli and United States’ ruling elites have caused the Palestinian Holocaust.

Israel has established in Gaza an astonishing and crushing defeat. The simple proof of this is that NONE of the declared goals of Israel’s Olmert-Barak-Livni government have been achieved. The Israeli army reached the Mediterranean shore of Gaza only to destroy everything in its path. While the Israeli Zionist regime was busy slaughtering Palestinians, the whole world strongly condemned Israel for this savage aggression. The Israeli government was criticized or condemned by dozens of countries for its cruelty and lack of humanity. The governments of Venezuela and Bolivia expelled the Israeli ambassadors from their countries. The Turkish foreign minister announced before the ceasefire that Israel’s foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, was not welcomed in Turkey. Israel has never been so isolated and so abhorrent in the minds of the people of the world as it is today. This is a huge defeat for Israel, which suffered a blow in turning public opinion to its disadvantage, not to mention their political and military defeat.

But the recent ceasefire in Gaza did not bring a favourable situation for Palestinians. Israel still holds part of their army in Gaza, the border crossings are just partially open and only a few goods are permitted through. The Israeli government is continuing the complete blockade of Gaza and is refusing entry to independent shipments of aid to Gaza from sea, air and land. Israeli gunboats and artillery are still shelling Gaza randomly, and since the so-called ceasefire they have killed people and damaged dozens of homes. They even refuse to allow medical teams and medicine to regularly get in to Gaza. Enough is enough! The world must take action and demand that the blockade of Gaza be lifted completely and immediately. This blockade, this crime against humanity, will not defeat Palestinians.

Israel attacked Gaza not because Hamas sent rockets to Israel. In fact, Hamas did not renew the six-month ceasefire, which started at the beginning of summer 2008, because from Hamas’ point of view, it never existed. The government of Israel did not act upon their commitment to the agreement between themselves and Hamas during the six-month ceasefire. During this time, the Israeli army repeatedly broke the so-called ceasefire by shelling Palestinian homes and infrastructure, killing 17 people and continuing the blockade, even reinforcing it in Gaza. Hamas started sending low-range rockets to Israel and refusing to renew the ceasefire only after the Israeli army killed a family of four Palestinians.

Israel did not have to kill 1,330 people, half of whom are children and their mothers. They did not have to wound more than 5,000 and destroy 5,000 homes, schools and mosques. They did not have to poison the living conditions of Palestinians with depleted uranium (DU) and white phosphorus bombs to stop Hamas rockets. Israel did this after they found that all their measures of intimidation and repression against Hamas and the Palestinians could not affect the Palestinian will of resistance and struggle. In fact, 22 days of ongoing killings and the demolition of Gaza was basically a collective punishment of Palestinians. All the atrocities that the Israeli army committed Gaza were under the leadership of Israeli leaders such as Ehut Olmert, Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni. They certainly undermined the Geneva Human Rights Convention and committed crimes against humanity.

We need to tell the truth about the so-called ceasefire currently in Gaza, because practically there is no real ceasefire. The Israeli army is still shelling Gaza, the border crossings are still closed, combat airplanes are still flying close to earth to create panic and fear, and the blockade of Gaza is still strongly maintained. There are severe shortages of everything: bread, sugar, basic foods, medicine. There is truly a human crisis in Gaza. These are all acts of war. The Israeli government never truly abandoned war on the Gazan population; they are just continuing it in different ways and forms. It is a huge responsibility for the antiwar movement to address this issue by educating, organizing and mobilizing all people against this injustice. Our response must not be just reactive to the events in Gaza or in all of Palestine; rather it must be an ongoing campaign against the Zionist, apartheid regime of Israel. It is easy to here and there pass resolutions to condemn Israel, but the point is to create a mechanism in which millions of people can participate actively to isolate the racist Israeli government. Since the Israeli government has advanced itself to an apartheid-holocaust regime, it must be boycotted. The labour movement and labour unions must refuse to do any service related to Israel. People of the world have a human obligation to stop Israel’s madness against the innocent people of Palestine. This holocaust must be ended. This moral cancer must be cured. Long live Palestine!

SELF-DETERMINATION FOR PALESTINE!
RIGHT OF RETURN FOR PALESTINIANS!
STOP GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE!
LIFT THE BLOCKADE ON GAZA!

Mobilization Against War & Occupation (MAWO)
www.mawovancouver.org