The fragile ceasefire has given the world a glimpse of Israel’s cruelty towards Gazans, as parents of badly wounded children fight for them to be taken to hospitals in Eqypt and emaciated Palestinian prisoners tell of their treatment in Israeli jails.
Israel, meanwhile, has been bombarding the Jenin refugee camp in the Occupied West Bank for two weeks, killing at least 50 people, including an elderly man and a baby having dinner inside her home. Israel has also killed people in the south of the West Bank.
The Israeli military are claiming that Operation Iron Wall is about preventing “terrorist infrastructure” being established, Al Jazeera reported on February 2.
A lifelong Jenin resident told Al Jazeera that houses in the Jenin camp “are not really livable any more”. “The Israeli army does not need any excuse to destroy our houses and displace us,” they said. “This is a very long, old plan by the Israeli army, especially for the [refugee] camps, because they want to kill and make the Palestinian case die.”
However, that strategy in Gaza has clearly failed.
The United Nations said the ceasefire in Gaza could be endangered by Israel’s attacks on the West Bank.
It criticised Israel’s new laws banning the UN Relief and Works Agency as a “blatant move that will exacerbate Palestinian suffering”. It pointed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s advisory Opinion last July that “Israel, due to its status as an occupying Power, has no sovereignty in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, where the UNRWA headquarters is located”.
“The UNRWA ban is as unlawful as the Israeli occupation itself, which must end, as determined by the ICJ and consecutive General Assembly resolution ES-10/24 of September 2024.”
Rallies around Australia over February 2–3 expressed a determination to keep fighting for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine, which can only be bought about with justice.
After an incredible 69 consecutive weekend marches in solidarity with Palestine through the centre of Gadigal Country/Sydney, organisers announced at the February 2 rally that the frequency will shift from weekly to once every four weeks. The next march will be on Sunday March 2.
Peter Boyle reports that it was an emotional gathering of people of conscience, who have demonstrated week after week despite being falsely branded “antisemitic” by powerful supporters of Israel’s bloody genocide in Gaza.
“Among the stalwarts were not just many Palestinian families but also the Jewish anti-Zionist activists who condemned Israel’s war crimes.”
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Darren Saffin reports that thousands braved uncomfortable heat and wind to join the weekly rally in solidarity with Palestine in Naarm/Melbourne on February 2.
Contingents from various organisations were present, including Rising Tide, Teachers for Palestine, several unions, First Nations groups and the medical community.
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Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni, who MC’d the rally, reminded the crowd that everything Israel declared it wanted to achieve through the war had come to nothing.
“The war was never about destroying Hamas, but about destroying Gaza and making it uninhabitable…
“But, as we witnessed, thousands of Palestinians are marching back to homes that aren’t there to rebuild and to stay.
“Connection to land is greater than military might and Palestinians are unbroken and unconquered, even after a military payload equivalent to six or seven times that of Hiroshima has been dropped on their homeland,” Mashni said.
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Sue Bolton, Socialist Alliance Councillor for Merri-bek and candidate for Wills in the federal election said the temporary ceasefire is a victory for the global solidarity movement for Palestine.
But, Bolton said, “There is no time to relax”. She said the Merri-bek Council administrators were making arbitrary decisions to remove the Palestinian flag from above their offices, even though she initiated a motion, which passed in November 2023, which agreed to flying the flag until there was a permanent ceasefire.
Sofia Sabbagh, Palestinian writer, illustrator and environmental educator, highlighted the Israel military action against the West Bank as evidence that the regime is still actively pursuing ethnic cleansing. She said that while there is a temporary ceasefire in Gaza now, Israel is still at war with Palestine.
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Rosa, from Boycott Caltex, spoke about the importance of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and its call for a global boycott of Chevron and its brands, which include Caltex.
She said Israel is guilty of energy apartheid by prohibiting Palestine access to natural resources that lie off its coast. Meanwhile, it is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from Chevron-operated gas fields.
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A national Boycott Caltex week of action was held from January 31 to February 1, with protests held at Caltex petrol stations at 10 sites across the country, including in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide, Komumberri/Gold Coast, Djilang/Geelong, Gadigal Country and four sites in Naarm.
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Palestinians Don’t Need Sidewalks, the new film from Dare to Struggle Films, the team behind Palestine Under Siege, is being screened across the country. Find more details here.
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