Bulletin No48 juillet 2024 Genocide in everyday life
Israel continues the genocide in the Gaza Strip, while its head of government parades among his imperialist masters in Washington.
Since the morning of July 22, the occupying forces have returned to attack the governorate (*) of Khan Younes shortly after the Israeli army issued a new order to evacuate the eastern neighborhoods of this city. On July 24, these attacks left 77 dead, including 24 children, and more than 270 injured, according to a report from the Ministry of Health.
“ In front of the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, where the dead and injured were transported, heartbreaking scenes took place under the helpless gaze of caregivers: a man brandished the corpse of a baby while screaming, a woman collapsed under grief hit herself head, we see people covered in blood with haggard eyes. », writes AFP on 07/27.
“We were happy to prepare breakfast, and suddenly the shells fell, then the warning leaflets ,” recounts a survivor, Hassan Qoudayh, to the French agency. “ There were martyrs in the streets. Gaza is over, Gaza is dead. There's nothing left, nothing. Enough ! » he repeats, devastated.
In addition to the offensive on Khan Younes, the day of July 23, which marked the 291st day of the war against Gaza, recorded a series of deadly raids launched on other sectors of the enclave. In Gaza City, 4 people were killed at dawn following a bombing which targeted a civilian home in the Sabra neighborhood, reports the Wafa agency.
In Jabaliya, in the north, 4 people died after an airstrike struck a group of houses. And in Deir El Balah, in the center, Civil Defense recorded 4 deaths and several injured following an attack in the Al Hadba region. Another aerial bombardment targeting the El Bureij camp left 6 dead and 10 injured, indicates the Wafa agency.
According to Gaza health authorities, the Zionist occupier committed 8 massacres in 24 hours, between July 22 and 23, which left 84 dead and 329 injured. The general toll of the war thus rose to 39,090 dead and 90,147 wounded, specifies the same source.
Polio threatens Gaza
In addition to mass crimes, the Gaza Strip is exposed to very serious living conditions, between famine, disease, unsanitary conditions, lack of hygiene, shortage of drinking water, all in torrid heat and an environment conducive to spread of epidemics.
The WHO warned yesterday of the presence of poliovirus in wastewater. “ I am very worried. I am extremely worried [...] and it is not just about polio. There could be other epidemics of communicable diseases that could occur ,” alarmed Dr Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO team leader for health emergencies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, by videoconference, during a press briefing in Geneva.
“ Hepatitis A was confirmed last year and now we could have polio ,” he repeats, adding that there are already “ up to 14,000 people who could need medical evacuation out of Gaza .
The most basic recommendations are difficult to follow: “ Given the current limitations in hygiene and water sanitation in Gaza, it will be very difficult for the population to follow the advice to wash their hands and drink clean water ,” laments Dr. Saparbekov.
Netanyahu, isolated, seeks support
The Prime Minister of the Zionist colonial state, Benjamin Netanyahu, has started a visit to Washington where he is due to meet with Joe Biden. The outgoing President dared to say that he will " continue to work very closely with the Israelis and the Palestinians to try to find a way to end the war in Gaza ." The bigger the lie...
Departing Tel Avis on July 22, Netanyahu made his usual boasts: “ whatever the next president chosen by the American people, Israel will remain America's indispensable and solid ally in the Middle East. […] In this time of war and uncertainty, it is important that Israel's enemies know that America and Israel stand together today, tomorrow and always . ".
The Democratic leadership in the USA is having difficulty convincing a significant part of its electorate, who are very mobilized in favor of Palestine. Moreover, the butcher Netanyahu was greeted by thousands of opponents, telling him that he was not welcome and that his place would rather be before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
To deceive, Biden is clinging to negotiations with Qatar and Egypt, which have regularly failed for months because of the leadership of the colonial state, which cares nothing about the release of captives. So he is doubling down on publicity on this subject. Thus, an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha on July 23 to resume talks.
It is not from this side that peace and satisfaction of the demands of the colonized Palestinians will come. There is nothing to expect from it.
A historic inter-Palestinian agreement signed in Beijing
Content of the agreement and signatories
Fourteen Palestinian organizations signed an agreement on July 22 in Beijing providing for the establishment of an interim government of national unity to govern the entire Palestinian territory including both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, according to a press release. This four-page document was drawn up by these organizations meeting for several days in Beijing as part of a new attempt sponsored by China, with the aim of finding compromises between the different components of the Palestinian political scene. Among the signatories of this agreement are the two main organizations of the Palestinian Resistance, Fatah and Hamas, and also the other organizations present in Gaza; the Marxists of the PFLP (which suspended its participation in the PLO), and the FDLP (still part of the PLO), the social democrats of the PPP (part of the PLO) and the Islamic Jihad. There are also other organizations present in the West Bank and members of the PLO such as the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (FLPP), the Palestine Liberation Front (FLP) and the Palestinian National Initiative (INP). Finally, organizations not affiliated with the PLO, such as the Arab Liberation Front (ALF) and the Palestinian Arab Front (FAP) and above all, a very old organization present in the refugee camps of Syria and Lebanon, the PFLP Command General.
The four main elements of the agreement are the establishment of an interim national unity government, the formation of a unified Palestinian leadership before the next elections, the free election of a new Palestinian National Council and a general declaration of unity in the face of ongoing Israeli attacks.
Some Palestinian reactions
INP Secretary-General Mustafa Barghouti explained to Al Jazeera that this agreement goes “ much further: it is more important than any other program in recent years ”. The move toward a unity government is particularly important, he said, because it " blocks Israeli efforts to create some sort of collaborative structure against Palestinian interests ."
From Beirut where he is based, Hossam Badran, a leading figure in Hamas, also enthusiastically welcomed the Beijing agreement, which he described as “ a positive step forward on the path to national unity ”. In a statement taken up by Anadolu, he insisted on “ the need for the Palestinians to face the unilateral policy pursued by the United States concerning the Palestinian question ”, castigating “ the position of the American administration hostile to any Palestinian national consensus ".
For him, “ It is the most appropriate national solution for the Palestinian situation after the war, which raises an insurmountable barrier to all regional and international interference which seeks to impose facts contrary to the interests of our people in the management of affairs Palestinians after the war .
China's role
On Tuesday July 23, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed the agreement reached by the fourteen Palestinian movements. “ The most significant development is the agreement to form an interim government of national reconciliation for the post-war governance of Gaza ,” Wang said after the signing.
“ Reconciliation is an internal issue of the Palestinian movements, but it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community ,” further declared the head of Chinese diplomacy. China, he added, wishes to “ play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East .”
By insisting on the fact that Chinese leaders promote solutions with all those concerned, unlike the USA, by obtaining a declaration at the very moment when Netanyahu the genocidal is in Washington, China scores points compared to the USA on the international chessboard.
A hope rises
Whatever the strategic goals of the Chinese, this agreement is going in the right direction. The merit of the representatives of the 14 Palestinian organizations meeting in Beijing is to have given substance to a Palestinian consensus.
The reaction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the colonial state, full of arrogance and colonial contempt, repeating over and over the lying discourse of Zionist propaganda, shows the fear that the Zionists have of a Palestinian people finally united. Israel Katz said: “ Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in China for joint control of Gaza after the war. Instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face .”
For the Communist Revolutionary Party, and we have written this many times, the unification of the Palestinian Resistance is an essential prerequisite for the liberation of Palestine. We welcome this agreement and welcome it.
In Conclusion
Despite all the means deployed to silence solidarity with the Palestinians, despite blocked “information”, no one, neither media nor Western government, can prevent workers, youth, people from knowing that the population of Gaza is undergoing genocide. and to understand that the colonial nature of the Zionist state explains this genocide and implies that it cannot be part of any real peace, it is the main obstacle. No one can take away the thin fiber of hope that Beijing's declaration arouses.
If the path to decolonization is long, the only one to take for anyone who truly wants peace in Palestine is the one that involves the unity of Palestinian Resistance organizations.
We continue, tirelessly, to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as well as free access for humanitarian workers throughout the Gaza Strip, or the total withdrawal of the occupying forces from the enclave. But this cannot be enough.
A just peace means the dismantling of settlements, the return of refugees and a truly independent Palestinian state. What prevents such peace is the existence of a colonial state. The workers of Israel cannot be free if they do not break with Zionism, if they continue to find themselves objectively in the camp of the colonizers. Solidarity with Palestine cannot be satisfied with general phrases about peace. We need a state where all inhabitants enjoy the same rights and can live together, whatever their origin and religion in this case, a democratic Palestinian state. And the unity of the Palestinian Resistance is a step on this path.
This is why the Communist Revolutionary Party intends, despite the obstacles, to continue to bring together all those who want an immediate ceasefire so that the massacre of the Palestinians stops and to speak out for peace. For us, this involves supporting the fundamental demands of the Palestinian national liberation movement, especially in the process of unity: immediate end to Zionist military aggression, right of return of refugees and formation of a Palestinian state on the territory of Mandatory Palestine.
(*) A governorate is a territorial subdivision in which the authority of a governor is exercised, particularly in certain Arab countries.