Foto: FEPAL

Via FEPAL

What is a “temporary cease-fire”? A pause in the genocide carried out by “israel” in Palestine? A pause to recharge the batteries and continue the extermination of at least 5,800 children – another 3,500 missing – and 3,200 women? More than 12,700 Palestinians killed; another 4,500 missing. More than 30,000 wounded. Perhaps it was a respite before thousands more were wounded and maimed? Or perhaps it was the interlude of ethnic cleansing before turning the rest of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians back into refugees, as 73% of them have been since 1948?

We cannot continue to see and experience the crimes of “israel” against Palestine over and over again, the destruction over and over again, the corpses and rubble over and over again and accept that everything is “solved” with another ceasefire. There is nothing to celebrate if the killing of Palestinians is almost as seasonal as the seasons. If apartheid and occupation are perennial for 76 years.

Are we going to celebrate the pause in an ongoing genocide? Whether it is four days from now or a year from now, do we need to call again for a “temporary ceasefire,” pending the next round of extermination, which will necessarily come, and then another ceasefire, and thus renew a vicious cycle that normalizes continued genocide in Palestine and methodical ethnic cleansing?

No. There must be an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and all the war crimes and crimes against humanity it entails. Without this, Palestinian life will continue the endless routine of destruction which, once consummated, will be interrupted by a new ceasefire.

“israel” gets the Palestinian blood it seeks, even to solve its internal political problems, and a ceasefire that guarantees its impunity is praised and applauded. It is “israel’s” crimes that must stop, not simply its momentary genocidal rampage until the next one comes along.

This vicious cycle must be stopped. New aggressions and new useless ceasefires will only come to an end on the Palestinian stage when “israel” suffers the consequences of its actions. The international community must assume its responsibilities and impose on Israel full compliance with UN resolutions and international law, as well as ensure international protection for the Palestinian people.

May this “temporary ceasefire” serve to alleviate the urgent needs of the Palestinian people in yet another chapter of “israel’s” planned genocide and ethnic cleansing. But may it also be the first step for the international community to really start looking at the Palestinian people. Let it begin to see what Zionism is and what Zionism does.

There is no place for a racist, supremacist, colonial, violent ideology in the 21st century. There is no place for genocide in 2023. It is no longer possible to live with apartheid and occupation in our time.

Free Palestine, from Brazil, November 22, 2023, 76th year of the Nakba.

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