>Stop the Genocide – Victory to the Palestinian Struggle
>Stop the bombing and slaughter in Rafah
>Open the Egyptian border by any means necessary
>All possible & necessary supplies for the survival of Palestinians in Gaza
>Mass action throughout the Arab world to get aid directly to the Palestinian people to protect & advance their struggle for freedom
>The enemies of the Palestinians are our enemies
We have achieved a lot in four and a half months. The Palestinians have maintained their struggle, in many different forms. In Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and in Israel itself Palestinians are continuing their resistance, knowing they have inspired a mass anti-war, anti-imperialist movement on a global scale. They know there are huge pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other actions here in the USA and in Britain – the same imperialist powers that established and maintained the Israeli state as their agent to divide and dominate the Middle East.
Our movement is young, highly integrated and active, with women and the Muslim communities in the forefront. We have won the support of a growing majority for the rights and freedom of the Palestinian people.
As the struggle becomes more intense there is more to accomplish. Netanyahu’s fascist government is still in place, its army is still in Gaza, and its fascist supporters are killing Palestinians in the West Bank and blocking aid convoys from entering Gaza.
Biden & Blinken in the USA, along with Sunak & David Cameron and Labour’s Keir Starmer in Britain, have asked the Israeli government not to slaughter so many people in Gaza. These miserable little pleas are chiefly for their domestic audiences. Netanyahu knows that while the US, Germany and Britain are sending weapons and war planes to Israel he can continue the slaughter, and that while they are refusing to fund UNWRA (the most important aid organization) he can leave many more Palestinians to die.
Those western powers are responsible for the current crisis point. Their policy has allowed the Israeli army to push around 1.5 million Palestinians (more than half of Gaza’s population) into Rafah, which is the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, right up against the border with Egypt, with nowhere to go. The Rafah Crossing is the only entry & exit point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Israel has been bombing Rafah day after day with heavier casualties. It is planning a full-scale military operation that would inevitably be an even bigger massacre.
The Rafah Crossing to Egypt must be opened as a matter of urgency for the Palestinians in Rafah and in Gaza as a whole, so they can get the supplies they so urgently need to stay alive and protect their community in the face of Israel’s genocidal military campaign, with adequate means to clothe and shelter themselves, safeguard their health, and defend their lives and their families.
That can’t be left to interminable negotiations between governments. Opening the border will only be achieved by the power of mass action by the oppressed people of Gaza, probably initiated by the Palestinian youth in Rafah, and they will have to call for mass action in Egypt.
The Egyptian government of former General Sisi is a brutal, corrupt and unpopular dictatorship. It depends on American support and is a partner in crime with Israel against the Palestinians. Direct action by Palestinians to open the border would be sure to wake a response in Egyptian society, including in the army. If that leads to new demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square (where there was a pro-Palestine demonstration in October) or at the border itself, it would increase the confidence of Egyptian soldiers that they have public support to co-operate with Gaza’s Palestinians in defiance of their government.
Such a huge blow to the authority of the Netanyahu government and western imperialists would transform the situation and encourage the anti-war and pro-Palestinian forces in Israeli Jewish society.
There are already young Palestinians in Rafah challenging Egyptian soldiers at the border. There are many people in the movement in the U.S. who can talk about this perspective with family and friends in Gaza. Everyone who shares this view should join BAMN. And when the border is opened by Palestinian youth or Egyptian soldiers, or if there is even an attempt to open it, the whole anti-war movement must support it and organize material assistance to achieve its aims.
Saturday 17th February 2024
