Bulletin No42 Janvier 2024 The results after 100 days of Israeli attack
According to a preliminary assessment, on January 17, the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza since October 7 has left at least 24,285 dead, including more than 70% women and children, 61,154 injured and more than 8,000 people still injured. disappeared under the rubble in addition to the massive destruction of property and infrastructure.
Among the victims are 7,000 women and 10,300 children. Journalists, health professionals, UN staff, students, teachers and administrators have not been spared: more than 100 journalists, 373 health workers, 148 UN employees, 4,257 students and 227 educators lost their lives.
Medical organizations have warned of serious health complications facing chronic patients, as 350,000 chronic patients are without medication in the Gaza Strip.
A large number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulances and civil protection teams are unable to reach them.
A recent report from the British organization Save the Children highlights the dire situation, noting that at least 10 children lose limbs every day in Gaza. Most pediatric surgeries are performed without anesthesia due to lack of essential medical supplies.
Finally, for the sixth consecutive day, the total interruption of communications and internet services in the Gaza Strip continues due to the ongoing aggression. The communications sector suffers from constant targeting, as the scale of destruction has reached more than 80%.
Israel is determined to continue the massacre and the attempted annexation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to end the war on Gaza. Faced with accusations of genocide brought by the International Court of Justice, Netanyahu defiantly declares: " No one will stop us, neither The Hague nor anyone else ."
The occupying forces are pushing to limit the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Thus, between 80 and 120 humanitarian trucks enter Gaza daily, which is far from the 600 trucks needed daily, as confirmed by humanitarian organizations. The United Nations says Israeli authorities are creating obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza, leading to additional loss of life.
Stefan Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said that between January 1 and 10, only 3 out of 21 shipments of humanitarian aid were delivered to northern Gaza.
The West Bank is not spared. For several days, the forces of the Zionist army have surrounded the Tulkarem camp, near Nablus and are attacking it. The occupying forces besieged the camp from all its entrances by deploying their vehicles in the streets and neighborhoods leading to it, and deployed their snipers in the high-rise buildings at the entrance to the camp as well as next to and around it. A number of Israeli vehicles were parked at the entrances to the Al-Isra Specialized Hospital in the Western Quarter and the Thabet Government Hospital near the camp and prevented people from leaving or entering.
Intense clashes between local residents and the Israeli military broke out following this incursion, during which the occupying forces fired live ammunition intensively, while sounds of explosions and live gunfire were heard. were heard inside the city and its camp.
In total, between October 7 and January 17, 6,025 Palestinians were rounded up by the occupying army in the West Bank.
What to expect from South Africa's action at the International Court of Justice?
South Africa has filed a complaint against Israel before the International Court of Justice. She requests, immediately, while awaiting the substantive judgment, that the magistrates set precautionary measures in order to prevent a genocide in Gaza.
South Africa's complaint against the Zionist state does not accuse it of genocide, but of allowing elements of its security forces to practice it. It is based on the intentions stated by certain political and military leaders (six pages of declarations promoting or justifying a genocide or a massacre or ethnic cleansing), on the observation of Israeli practices for 75 years with regard to of the Palestinian people as a whole and finally on the way in which they behave today in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) should not be confused with the International Criminal Court (ICC). The latter is an emanation of the Western imperialists, the USA (which, however, does not recognize it) and the EU, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. She judges men, and not States. In practice, it only tried figures resistant to Western imperialism. One of his prosecutors behaved like a NATO agent, not hesitating to lie to help the Atlantic Alliance in its conquest of Libya.
The ICJ is the court of justice of the United Nations, after having been that of the League of Nations (League of Nations) which preceded the UN. She judges states and not their leaders. It is necessarily influenced by dominant imperialism, but also by the balance of power between rival imperialist powers. And, above all, like all countries affiliated with the UN, Israel recognizes the Court and is therefore obliged to come and defend itself there.
What South Africa is immediately asking for is quite clear:
“ The State of Israel will immediately suspend its military operations within and against Gaza. ”, that’s the first point. And “ The State of Israel will ensure that irregular military units or armies which may be directed, supported or influenced by it, as well as all organizations and persons which may be subject to its control, direction or influence , take no action in the pursuit of the military operations referred to in point 1. ”, this is the second point.
If the International Court of Justice accepted the arguments of the South African leaders, it would have certain weight. Zionist leaders would probably not comply. But the colonizing state, already highly discredited in the world, would see its star fade even further. However, such a result is far from certain. The USA and the EU (¹) are putting enormous pressure on the judges to dismiss the charge. However, a rejection would discredit the Court and with it the UN in the eyes of many workers and peoples of the world.
Conclusion
The Communist Revolutionary Party does not place its hope of victory for the Palestinian people in the decisions of a justice system serving the capitalists, even if it is international. The UN has sufficiently shown, since its existence, its vassalage, or at least its passivity and its impotence in the face of the imperialists, especially since the end of the USSR and the European socialist countries.
Only the national liberation struggle of the Palestinian people supported by the international mobilization of workers and peoples can enable a reversal of the situation. On the spot, in Gaza, Palestinian fighters (from 6 organizations) are resisting and the Yemenis are putting in difficulty the economy of the Zionist colonial state and beyond that of the imperialist powers dependent on passage through the Suez Canal for part of their business. But we must stop the massacre, obtain a permanent ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid. All this can only be done by putting pressure on Western imperialist rulers so that they stop the arm of their Zionist creature. Voices are being heard, including among leaders of EU countries, calling for diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel. Several states have supported the South African approach or made their support public (Bolivia, Malaysia, Algeria, Turkey, Belgium, etc.). A favorable decision by the International Court of Justice could help increase the balance of power.
However, the definitive settlement of this situation of colonization by expulsion and dispossession of the Palestinian population by Jewish immigration, 75 years old, can only consist of a defeat of the colonial power allowing the formation of a Palestinian state for all. the inhabitants of Palestine, a secular state as well as the return of all Palestinian refugees driven from their land since 1948.
(1) : The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, wanted to clarify France's position on the subject: "Accusing the Jewish State of genocide is crossing a moral threshold",France will not accuse Israel of“genocide”like South Africa.