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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/11/02/colonial-west-backs-israels-genocide-but-gaza-has-the-solidarity-of-peoples-movements/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">"Colonial West backs Israel’s genocide, but Gaza has the solidarity of People’s Movements"</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Pavan Kulkarni - November 2, 2023<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img src="cid:ii_lohftvd50" alt="Al-Hijazi-Rafah.jpg" width="435" height="245"><br><p>Members
of the Al-Hijazi family bury the bodies of their relatives who were
killed in an Israeli air strike in Rafah, in southern Gaza. (Photo: Abed
Rahim Khatib/DPA via Zuma Press/APA Images)
</p><div>
<p><span>Israel has killed at least 8,796 Palestinians since it started
bombarding the Gaza Strip on October 7, Gaza’s Ministry of Health </span><a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-s-death-toll-from-israeli-assault-climbs-to-8-796/3040221"><span>said</span></a><span>
on Wednesday, November 1. 2,290 women and 3,648 children are among
those killed. Another 2,030, including over 1,000 children, are still
buried under the rubble of bombed-out buildings.</span></p>
<p><span>Over 450 children have been killed only since Sunday, after </span><i><span>Save the Children</span></i> <a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news/gaza-3195-children-killed-three-weeks-surpasses-annual-number-children-killed-conflict-zones"><span>said</span></a><span>
that the “number of children reported killed in Gaza in just three
weeks” had already “surpassed the annual number of children killed
across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.”</span></p>
<p><span>The number of injured has crossed 22,000. Short of medicines,
antiseptics, and anesthesia, chances of successful treatment of those
with grievous wounds and preventing infections are increasingly slim as
the healthcare system has all but collapsed.</span></p>
<p><span>“Some 58 hospitals and 32 primary care centers have been forced
out of service due to the Israeli assault and fuel shortage,” Ministry
of Health spokesperson Ashraf al-Qudra said, adding that Israeli attacks
have killed 132 medics and destroyed 25 ambulances.</span></p>
<h3><b>‘Colonial West is liable to charges of crimes against humanity and genocide’</b></h3>
<p><span>In an apparent attempt to justify the atrocity by claiming
divine sanction, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu equated Palestinians with
Israel’s Biblical enemy in his </span><a href="https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/statement-by-pm-netanyahu-28-oct-2023"><span>speech on Saturday</span></a><span>, insisting, “You must remember what Amalek has done to you.”</span></p>
<p><span>The Old Testament from which he quoted these words also adds:
“Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and
spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and
sheep, camel and ass.”</span></p>
<p><span>“There’s no way to understand this except as a declaration of
intent to wholly annihilate — aka genocide — Palestinians in Gaza,” </span><a href="https://twitter.com/LaraFriedmanDC/status/1718399338798264348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1718399338798264348%7Ctwgr%5E609426642d0d6167c764990753317cf1a867420b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Felectronicintifada.net%2Fblogs%2Fmaureen-clare-murphy%2Fisrael-inflicts-new-hell-gaza-heaviest-bombing-yet"><span>observed</span></a><span> Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace.</span></p>
<p><span>“The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in
Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction
of the last remnants of Indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine,” Craig
Mokhiber, Director in the New York Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR), wrote in his </span><a href="https://twitter.com/TarekWiliamSaab/status/1719484089319796847/photo/1"><span>resignation letter</span></a><span>.
The governments of the US, UK, and much of Europe “are wholly
complicit,” he added, describing Israeli atrocities as “a text-book case
of genocide.”</span></p>
<p><span>Netanyahu has also bragged that Israel is not alone. “Since the
start of the war, we have succeeded in securing broad international
support” of “leaders from the US and Europe, led by President Biden,
together with the French President, the British Prime Minister, the
Italian Prime Minister, the German Chancellor,” among others. “They came
to us in wartime and brought one clear message: We not only support you
– we hope for your victory. We welcome this.”</span></p>
<p><span>“The colonial West is involved in the genocide Apartheid Israel
is committing,” and its leaders are “liable to charges of Crimes
against Humanity and Genocide,” Haider Eid, Professor of Cultural
Studies at the Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, told </span><i><span>Peoples Dispatch</span></i><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>Eid and his family have been displaced twice since the
bombardment started, and are now staying with relatives in southern
Gaza, sharing a single house with multiple families. Israeli strikes
have hit his residential tower in Rimal. This relatively affluent
district with Gaza’s administrative buildings has been “flattened down,”
he said.</span></p>
<h3><b>‘I don’t know how Gaza can be rebuilt any time in the near future’</b></h3>
<p><span>Thousands rendered homeless in the previous Israeli
bombardments in 2009, 2014 and 2021 had still not been rehabilitated as
the earlier initiatives to rebuild their houses were yet to be completed
when Israel started bombarding on October 7 again.</span></p>
<p><span>The destruction unleashed this time is on such a vast scale
that “I don’t know how Gaza can be rebuilt any time in the near future,”
even if the Israeli bombardment stopped right now, Eid said. And
Netanyahu has made it clear that Gaza’s destruction will not stop
anytime soon, but will rather intensify with expanding ground operations
by Israeli troops.</span></p>
<p><span>“The war inside the Gaza Strip” — which he has fashioned as the
continuation of a Biblical war that “has continued for over 3,000
years” — “will be long and difficult,” Netanyahu said, adding, “and we
are ready for it.”</span></p>
<p><span>“This will be a victory… of light over darkness,” he declared,
illuminating with bombs the darkness he has imposed on Gaza by
blockading power and fuel supply.</span></p>
<p><span>With the last liters of stocked fuel used to power generators
nearing exhaustion, most bakeries have shut down. “We have no bread
whatsoever. We were trying to bake at home, but have run out of flour
now,” Eid said.</span></p>
<p><span>Thousands of desperate people, mostly displaced refugees, broke
into the warehouses of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine
Refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday, “taking wheat flour and other basic
survival items like hygiene supplies,” the UN agency said.</span></p>
<p><span>Warning that this is “a worrying sign that civil order is
starting to break down,” Thomas White, director of UNRWA Affairs in the
Gaza Strip, </span><a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/news-releases/gaza-strip-thousands-break-unrwa-warehouses-gaza-taking-wheat-flour-and-basic"><span>said</span></a><span>
“Supplies on the market are running out while the humanitarian aid
coming into the Gaza Strip on trucks from Egypt is insufficient. The
needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while
the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent.”</span></p>
<h3><b>From “incremental genocide” to a “full-fledged genocide”</b></h3>
<p><span>Even before October 7, shortages of water, food, electricity,
medicine etc were common in the 365 sq. km Gaza Strip where Israel has
held 2.3 million Palestinians under a “deadly medieval siege” for 17
years, Eid said. Israeli historian Ilan Pape has described this siege as
an “</span><a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/using-the-right-language-the-incremental-genocide-of-the-palestinians-continues/"><span>incremental genocide</span></a>.<span>“</span></p>
<p><span>The besieged Palestinians were dependent for their survival on
an average of 500 aid trucks that used to enter Gaza daily. After Israel
unleashed what Eid calls a “full-fledged genocide” on October 7, the
quantity of aid required by the population has more than doubled.
However, after imposing a total blockade till October 21, Israel had
permitted only 117 aid trucks to enter as of October 29, </span><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/140deece-ad29-4e7f-8077-a7648e28e077"><span>at an average of only 13 a day</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>These “crumbs,” as UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma described
the aid’s quantity, do not include fuel, without which people are unable
to power the desalination plants and pump water, whose piped supply has
also been stopped by Israel. Water production has reduced to 5% of the
usual output, </span><a href="https://www.unicef.org/sop/press-releases/child-casualties-gaza-growing-stain-our-collective-conscience"><span>according to UNICEF</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>“Since Oct 7, we have managed to wash our bodies only twice. We
had to borrow water from mosques,” Eid said. Vulnerable populations,
including </span><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2023-10-29/ty-article/.premium/internal-u-s-state-dept-document-urges-pressure-on-israel-to-renew-gaza-water-supply/0000018b-77ea-d1da-a1bb-7ffaf09e0000"><span>52,000 pregnant women and over 30,000 babies,</span></a><span> have been resorting to drinking brackish or contaminated water, according to an internal document of the US State Department.</span></p>
<p><span>Nevertheless, “We do not support a ceasefire at this time,”
reiterated US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby at a </span><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/10/31/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-nsc-coordinator-for-strategic-communications-john-kirby-24/"><span>press briefing</span></a><span>
on October 30. “We believe that a ceasefire right now benefits Hamas…
as Israel continues to… prosecute their operations against Hamas
leadership,” he explained.</span></p>
<p><span>Jordan’s original draft of the Resolution placed before the UN
General Assembly for voting on October 27 had called for an immediate
ceasefire. However, in order to gain more support and minimize
opposition, it was watered down to call “for an immediate, durable and
sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities.”</span></p>
<p><span>Even this diluted resolution was </span><a href="https://usun.usmission.gov/remarks-by-ambassador-linda-thomas-greenfield-at-a-un-general-assembly-emergency-special-session-before-the-vote-on-the-situation-in-the-middle-east/"><span>deemed “outrageous”</span></a><span>
by ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US envoy to the UN. The
amendment proposed by Canada and co-sponsored by the US, calling for a
condemnation of Hamas, was not passed by the Assembly.</span></p>
<p><span>The resolution tabled by Jordan, and co-sponsored by 40 other
countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia’s West, South, and
Southeast, was adopted with 120 votes in favor. Only 14 countries —
including the US, Australia and other tiny states whose foreign policies
are known to be controlled by Washington — voted against the
resolution. 45 countries, including the US allies in Europe supporting
Israel, abstained.</span></p>
<p><span>With the exception of India which also abstained, all the major
countries in the Global South voted in favor of the resolution, which
prefixes all references to “Palestinian Territory” with the term
“Occupied,” and refers to Israel as “the occupying Power.”</span></p>
<p><span>“While most countries outside the West condemn the atrocities
in Gaza, they continue maintaining their diplomatic and economic
relations with Apartheid Israel,” complained Eid. Among the </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/oct/31/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-latest-news-today-hamas-clashes-idf-gaza-aid-plan-failure"><span>exceptions</span></a><span>
are the left-wing governments of Bolivia, which severed diplomatic ties
on October 31, and Chile and Colombia which recalled their ambassadors
to Israel.</span></p>
<h3><b>‘Do not forget us. Do not leave us alone. Or, you will not hear our voice tomorrow’</b></h3>
<p><span>However, mass protests condemning their governments’
normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel have been raging across the
Arabic-speaking world in the countries of West Asia and North Africa.
Under the pressure of people’s movements, the ruling African National
Congress (ANC) itself has picketed the Israeli embassy in South Africa,
calling for the expulsion of its ambassador. Left parties in India are
leading protests in various parts of the country, condemning their
far-right government’s refusal to back Palestine.</span></p>
<p><span>Mass protests also oppose the US government, which has been propping up the Israeli occupation and apartheid with an </span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-gop-bill-israel-aid-irs-budget-cuts/"><span>annual military aid of nearly $3.8 billion</span></a><span>
— the largest amount of aid it gives to any country. The amount does
not include the extra arms and ammunition it has supplied since October
7. An </span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-gop-bill-israel-aid-irs-budget-cuts/"><span>additional aid of $14 billion</span></a><span> is being deliberated by its parliament to help Israel prosecute this war.</span></p>
<p><span>Police arrested 400 protesters on October 30 from the Grand Central Station which was shut down by “</span><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/30/grand_central_protest"><span>one of New York’s largest acts of civil disobedience in 20 years</span></a>,<span>” organized by the Jewish Voice for Peace against the US-funded “genocide” Israel is committing in the name of their religion.</span></p>
<p><span>Despite major European countries banning pro-Palestinian
rallies and slogans and the UK criminalizing the Palestinian flag
itself, their governments are unable to stop the mass rallies in
solidarity with Palestine which only continue to grow in size.</span></p>
<p><span>“We have reached the conclusion that we can only rely on
people’s movements across the world. Their solidarity is all we have
right now,” Eid said.</span></p>
<p><span>“Do not forget us. Do not leave us alone. Or, you will not hear
our voice tomorrow. It is only your support that is keeping us alive,”
he added in a message to all protesters taking to the streets across the
world in solidarity with Palestine despite the risks of facing arrests
and charges.</span></p>
<p><span>“In this time of tremendous suffering, the Palestinians in Gaza
are banking on the freedom-loving people across the world to pressurize
their governments to boycott Apartheid Israel and put an end to this
ongoing genocide,” he said.</span></p>
<p><span>He went on to reassure the global Palestine solidarity
movement, “We remain steadfast on the ground here in Gaza and will
continue our popular resistance. With your support, we will get rid of
Apartheid and throw it in the dustbin of history.”</span></p>
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