Foreign sympathisers must unify their demands with those of the Palestinian resistance.
Two months ago, we were a different world, still living in ignorance. In that hell, it felt reasonable to many to condemn the Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine, and to moderate and sanitise its demands so as to not, ourselves, appear too radical.
The demon Netahyahu has made life much easier for us foreign sympathisers of the Resistance. Our enemy has dropped all pretence that he and his “country” are anything but a maniacal genocidal manifestation of the worst aspects of western hubris. It is no longer appropriate, in my opinion, to sanitise the demands of the Islamic Resistance. They were right, and we were wrong.
As Hamas fights to cleanse humanity of the sin of allowing this fascist occupation to persist as long as it has, we owe it to them to adopt their leadership without reservation, and accept their objectives as our own.
The commencement of the unbelievably successful Al-Aqsa Storm had three objectives, all of which are now beyond argument. They are the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners held in torture camps by the Zionist occupation, the lifting of the blockade against Gaza, and the cessation of aggression.
There will be more objectives in future battles to come, for which the world has never been more ready, even eager. I too want more for the resistance than it is demanding. My heart, my soul, the world for the Palestinian resistance. “Ceasefire now” is a sanitised slogan that arose in a different world, and it is time to allow it to fall to the wayside.
- Everyone-for-everyone
Contrary to the occupation’s claims to “the only democracy in the Middle East”, the occupation runs an apartheid “court system” in which even Palestinian children are considered terrorists. Most of them are imprisoned without charges or even an explanation of for what they were arrested. Therefore, there is no legal process, and it cannot be claimed that this is any sort of legal system, or that there is any pretense to any sort of legal system. Palestinian children are abducted by fascists and tortured in a giant lunatic’s basement. If this is a court system, so was Ted Bundy.
For several days, the internet has heard mostly good news from Gaza; we have seen the tearful reunions between imprisoned women and children and their families. Some of them have emerged with visible deformities from the torture they have undergone. Visibly pale and emaciated, they’ve described the circumstances of their captivity. They are too horrible to be believed.
Fortunately, the occupation has removed any doubt from our minds by openly threatening the released prisoners and their families, raiding their homes, dispersing the families with tear gas so that they don’t celebrate. Every expression of Palestinian humanity is a loss to the occupation; every expression of Palestinian joy, a loss to Netanyahu. Videos from the same sources show Hamas handling its detainees with a gentleness that Zionist settlers don’t even see from their own fathers, and the occupation has demanded that the freed detainees undergo special “training” before talking to the media about their experiences. Because of free speech and democracy.
Genocider Joe Biden has had no difficulty demanding the release of all detainees and prisoners of war held by Hamas. He has also heralded the release of some of the detainees held by Hamas as a victory for himself and his powers of negotiation. Like Netanyahu, he is only trying to salvage himself politically by projecting strength. In reality, the prisoner exchange as-is was proposed as a first step by Hamas weeks ago. This was proposed as a first step towards an “everyone-for-everyone” solution; all prisoners of war and civilian detainees held by Hamas in exchange for all Palestinians held in illegitimate torture camps by the fascist occupation. It is only after weeks of warfare that the occupation was forced to acquiesce to the first step of this demand, in a devastating loss for the occupation from which there genuinely is no coming back. It has lost its illusion of legitimacy, and it has lost its illusion of strength. It will be forced to acquiesce to the rest of the demands of the Resistance as well.
All of progressive humanity should strive to be a part of this, and hasten the process. At this crucial moment, when the occupation mulls over the possibility of the death “penalty” for “terrorists”, thereby threatening to convert its torture camps into death camps, support for the release of Palestinain captives held by the Zionist occupation, each and every one without exception, is obligatory upon everyone on Earth.
2. Lifting the blockade on Gaza
Gaza has been under a brutal blockade by the occupation since 2007. It’s been unable to access basic supplies and the food imports have deliberately been stunted to below the minimum intake requirement for a population the size of Gaza’s. Very obviously, this is an act of war which should end. Gaza has been a death camp for decades. It has also been a beautiful city where people fall in love and children play, home to historic monuments and ancient communities. In light of the incredible destruction which has left the majority of the population homeless, it is more imperitive than ever that Gaza maintain regular trade relations with other countries. And this necessarily entails free movement to and from the Gaza strip.
It has been imperitive this entire time. That this objective has been so overlooked is a sin upon the collective of humanity, for which the Palestinians fight to redeem us. Gaza is a city. Even if it were a city of the worst people on earth, it would not be acceptable to hold them in such conditions. But Gaza is a city of the best people on earth, who have refused to bend or break, and who have presented a clear role model to the entire world.
We can do this now. We can get the siege lifted. We just have to suport the resistance in its clearly righteous objective.
3. An end to aggression.
The Resistance itself hasn’t split many hairs about the difference between a truce, a humanitarian pause, and a ceasefire. The terms have been used interchangeably to refer to the ongoing four-day truce, which is set to end at 7:00 AM Quds time tomorrow morning. At that time, the holocaust will continue in earnest.
There have been numerous breaches of the ceasefire. IOF militants have opened fire on Palestinians returning to their homes in the north on the first day of the truce. Two hours ago, it was reported that the occupation opened fire on Palestinian homes east of the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip. However, these have been exceptional events that are clear breaches of a truce. These have further eroded the credibility and legitimacy of the occupation. They are acts of petty terrorism, not a full-blown holocaust. And that’s better.
As long as it exists, the fascist occupation, based on a Manifest Destiny ideology which sees its sacred mission as the creation of a new Australia all throughout the Arab world, will not cease its acts of aggression against the Palestinian and other Arab peoples, particularly the Lebanese and the Egyptians, which, and this is “despite” — actually because of — the traitorous Egyptian regime, which is bought and paid for by the United States. In a classic American trick, they buy out the “leaders” of the people they wish to conquer in order that they not stand up to them. America destroys and eats its allies when it outgrows its use for them. An alliance with the United States is the sale of a nation’s soul.
In reality, the halt of the aggression, a “ceasefire”, is the least realistic of the Resistance’s demands. It will never happen. Like the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, it is only there to demand that it will not be fulfilled by a fascist aggressor. It is there so that the occupation, again and again, will be forced show the world what it is — an eternal threat to peace. In reality, the only thing that will lead to peace is the complete dissolution of the Zionist occupation, the greatest fascist threat on Earth right now, agains which all resources of progressive humanity must be directed.
To react with indignation that the truce is “only” for four days, or that the occupation has committed numerous violations of it, or that it continues its aggression, including the capture of new captives for its torture camps, is an expression of naivete for which there is no longer any excuse. It is not good to be shocked the second, third, twentieth, fiftieth, hundredth time. It will happen again and again until Palestine is free and the Zionist occupation is completely removed from this Earth. This is the expectation of this demand.
Still, we have to leverage it, because the occupation must be forced to obey it as much as possible. This is to ensure that when the Palestinians do to the occupation what Stalin did to the Nazi regime, there will be no complaint from any quarter. So we must loudly proclaim this demand, but we must do it as dignified adults, and not as irate soccer moms whose order at a restaurant came out wrong. We’re in this one for the long haul. It isn’t going to happen. It’s going to take unions, strikes, blockades, probably another war or two or three. Eventually the Resistance will begin to retake land, reunify Gaza with the west bank, consolidate its leadership, and it will be over for the occupation. Until then, expect them to continue to get your order wrong.
No more “ceasefire now”. Everyone for everyone, end the blockade, and halt all aggression.