New Worker Banner

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Israel and the Americans defy the call for peace!

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

Fierce fighting continues throughout the Gaza Strip as the resistance hits back at a brutal Zionist enemy that has now killed over 33,000 Palestinian Arabs – most of them women and children. It has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the Palestinian enclave into a humanitarian crisis. Despite the vetoes of the Americans People’s China and Russia, as well as other members on the UN Security Council, are continuing to push for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza. And while the world cries out for an end to the fighting Israel launches new waves of rocket attacks on the defenceless Palestinian civilian population of Gaza.

Even the American president paid lip-service to the call for peace in a rambling speech that directly criticised Israel for the deaths of seven Western aid workers last week. Joe Biden said “I think it’s outrageous that those four – or, three vehicles were hit by drones and taken out on a highway, where it wasn’t like it was along the shore. It wasn’t like it was a convoy moving there, etc. So, what I’m calling for is for the Israelis to just call for a cease-fire, allow for the next six, eight weeks a total access to all food and medicine going into the country”.

But this was clearly a cosmetic propaganda stunt. A few days later the American imperialist warlord again pledged his “ironclad” support for the Zionist entity amid fears that Tehran could launch reprisals for the attack on the Islamic Republic’s consulate in Damascus that killed two top Iranian generals and a number of other military advisers.

This week UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said his heart was “broken” as Muslims in Gaza Strip and many others elsewhere could not properly celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the conclusion of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

“Every year, I express my best wishes for Eid al-Fitr to the Muslim community around the world,” the UN chief said. “My heart is broken knowing that in Gaza, Sudan and many other places – because of conflict and hunger – so many Muslims will not be able to celebrate properly”. But the Israelis marked the Muslim festival in their own way with a deadly air-raid on northern Gaza that killed three sons and four grand-children of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Haniyeh confirmed the killing of his children along with a number of his grandchildren, on Wednesday. “Through the blood of the martyrs and the pain of the injured, we create hope, we create the future, we create independence and freedom for our people and our nation,” Haniyeh said. The Hamas political leader, who is based in Qatar, said “there is no doubt that this criminal enemy is driven by the spirit of revenge and the spirit of murder and bloodshed, and it does not observe any standards or laws”.

Israeli bombs and missiles continue to rain down on the Gaza Strip as the Netanyahu government carries on in defiance of the United Nations and world public opinion. Rifts are appearing in Netanyahu’s emergency coalition with those closer to the White House wanting an American-brokered cease-fire that will lead to release of the remaining Israelis held by Hamas. And in Tel Aviv over a 100,000 people took to the streets to demand Netanyahu’s resignation, early elections and a prisoner swap deal with Hamas. Many believe that the Israeli leader is deliberately prolonging the conflict to stay in power and avoid the corruption charges he will face once he loses his legislative immunity.

Meanwhile Palestinians are returning to what’s left of Khan Younis following the Israeli pullout in southern Gaza last week. Nearly 400,000 people lived in Khan Younis and its environs before the Israeli invasion. Now most of the city is in ruins after months of Israeli bombardment and heavy fighting.