Blog for Palestine By Anonymous
Standing with Gaza
Standing with Palestine
When the latest onslaught on Palestinians was launched, by Israel’s military in October 2023, how many of us expected the scale and duration of the genocide which unfolded. We had already seen regular murderous attacks on Gaza by Israel’s occupation forces leading to thousands of deaths. Would this latest attack fit the previous pattern of brutal bombings targeting the whole population of Gaza, shrouded behind a smokescreen of lies but coming to some kind of end after a time.
Take Israel’s December 2008 operation “Cast Lead”, described by Amnesty International as 22 Days of Death and Destruction. Norman Finkelstein’s book, “This Time we Went too far”, quotes one Israeli soldier,
“‘there was a point where D-9s were razing areas. It was amazing. At first you go in and see lots of houses. A week later, after razing, you see the horizon further away, almost to the sea.”
The 22 days resulted in 1417 dead, including 313 children. Cast Lead ended a period of ceasefire under the terms of an agreement which Israel repeatedly breached.
This was Cast Lead. Sickening of course, and many of us came out to protest, but it came to an end of some kind in 2009.
Then came the operation labelled Pillar of Defence, in November 2012, launched with the killing of four teenagers playing football in a sports stadium. 175 Palestinians were killed and 1000 injured in the 8 day assault.
Operation Protective Edge came in 2014 and this time lasted 7 weeks.. B’Tselem reported, “Israel killed 2,202 Palestinians, hundreds of them in their homes. Sixty-three percent, or 1,391, did not take part in the fighting, including 526 minors. It is estimated that 18,000 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and that more than 100,000 Palestinians were rendered homeless.”
The nature of Israel’s investigation is illuminating. The Military Advocate General’s Corps is in charge of military investigations. They are also responsible for working with the military before operations, giving advice and signing off operations. So, they investigate themselves. This is a long Israeli tradition which fits like a glove another important Israeli tradition: feel free to avoid reality when describing or explaining anything.
Now though we have been faced with over a year of horror with no apparent end in sight.
For reasons that we’ll try to understand in future notes here, the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians has been done with continuing diplomatic and material support from the USA, UK and EU countries. This is true even when these Governments have recognised the illegality of Israel’s actions. According to the influential medical journal, The Lancet,
“ it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza.”
We have become accustomed to criticism of some of Israel’s crimes from these politicians alongside assurances that the aid and military support will keep flowing. Talk is cheep.
What we are witnessing is the playing out of the logic rooted in the project of Israel from the very start. When the British foreign secretary Sir Arthur Balfour, a notorious racist and anti-Semite, signed off the infamous declaration, Britain was aware as were wider Zionist forces that the foundation of Israel as a Jewish state entailed the removal of the Palestinians who already lived there. This despite the promise at the time not to disadvantage Palestinians. Remember, the British also promised Arabs independence if they fought the Turks in WW1. Another broken promise.
Displacement of Palestinians was talked about, written about, and planned from the start.
Gaza is occupied. It has accurately been described, not least by Giora Eiland, a retired head of Israel’s National Security Council and Israeli government advisor, as a concentration camp.
Israel grasped the opportunity of October 7th to take a massive step in the long planned ethnic cleansing of Gaza. They also stepped up their brutal violence in the West Bank. When Keir Starmer and David Lammy deny genocide, they again green light genocide. When we look at those previous attacks on Gaza, from land sea and air, we should see the periods of “ceasefire” between attacks really constituted Israeli preparation for the next assault. In fact Israel’s siege continued relentlessly.
Our movement for solidarity with the Palestinian people has never been more crucial. We need numbers on the demonstrations, local and national. Hundreds of thousands have marched in London, despite attempts by sundry extreme right wing politicians and media outlets to stop them. We need people carrying the arguments for Palestine at workplaces and in trade unions. Promote discussions by, for instance, using a petition or collection for Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Passively watching in horror isn’t enough. Join us.