The fragile ceasefire has given the world a glimpse of Israel鈥檚 cruelty towards Gazans, as parents of badly wounded children fight for them to be taken to hospitals in Eqypt and emaciated Palestinian prisoners tell of their treatment in Israeli jails.
Israel, meanwhile, has been bombarding the Jenin refugee camp in the Occupied West Bank for two weeks, killing at least 50 people, including an elderly man and a baby having dinner inside their home. Israel has also killed people in the south of the West Bank.
The Israeli military are claiming that Operation Iron Wall is about preventing 鈥渢errorist infrastructure鈥 being established, Al Jazeera reported on February 2.
A lifelong Jenin resident told that houses in the Jenin camp 鈥渁re not really livable any more鈥. 鈥淭he Israeli army does not need any excuse to destroy our houses and displace us,鈥 they said. 鈥淭his is a very long, old plan by the Israeli army, especially for the [refugee] camps, because they want to kill and make the Palestinian case die.鈥
However, that strategy in Gaza has clearly failed.
The said the ceasefire in Gaza could be endangered by Israel鈥檚 attacks on the West Bank.
It criticised Israel鈥檚 new laws banning the UN Relief and Works Agency as a 鈥渂latant move that will exacerbate Palestinian suffering鈥. It pointed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)鈥檚 advisory Opinion last July that 鈥淚srael, due to its status as an occupying Power, has no sovereignty in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, where the UNRWA headquarters is located鈥.
鈥淭he UNRWA ban is as unlawful as the Israeli occupation itself, which must end, as determined by the ICJ and consecutive General Assembly resolution of September 2024.鈥
Rallies around Australia over February 2鈥3 expressed a determination to keep fighting for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine, which can only be bought about with justice.
After an incredible 69 consecutive weekend marches in solidarity with through the centre of Gadigal Country/Sydney, organisers announced at the February 2 rally that the frequency will shift from weekly to once every four weeks. The next march will be on March 2.
Peter Boyle reports that it was an emotional gathering of people of conscience, who have demonstrated week after week despite being falsely branded 鈥渁ntisemitic鈥 by powerful supporters of Israel鈥檚 bloody genocide in Gaza.
鈥淎mong the stalwarts were not just many Palestinian families but also the Jewish anti-Zionist activists who condemned Israel鈥檚 war crimes.鈥
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Hundreds marched in Boorloo/Perth on February 1 against Israel鈥檚 occupation of Palestine and attacks on the Occupied West Bank, reports Riley Breen.
The rally was chaired by Erin Russel and Hala Shanbleh from Friends of Palestine WA.
Speakers included Mike Cushman, from the Britain-based , Irish activist Coilin Devlin and Carol Caplanian, who spoke about her family's history as refugees from Jerusalem in the 1948 Nakba.听
Cushman spoke about the weaponisation of antisemitism against progressive voices.听
Devlin read a Palestine solidarity statement from the Bloody Sunday March Committee.
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Darren Saffin reports that thousands braved uncomfortable heat and wind to join the weekly rally in solidarity with Palestine in Naarm/Melbourne on February 2.
Contingents from various organisations were present, including Rising Tide, Teachers for Palestine, several unions, First Nations groups and the medical community.
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Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni, who MC鈥檇 the rally, reminded the crowd that everything Israel declared it wanted to achieve through the war had come to nothing.
鈥淭he war was never about destroying Hamas, but about destroying Gaza and making it uninhabitable鈥
鈥淏ut, as we witnessed, thousands of Palestinians are marching back to homes that aren鈥檛 there to rebuild and to stay.
鈥淐onnection to land is greater than military might and Palestinians are unbroken and unconquered, even after a military payload equivalent to six or seven times that of Hiroshima has been dropped on their homeland,鈥 Mashni said.听
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Sue Bolton, Socialist Alliance councillor for Merri-bek and candidate for Wills in the federal election, said the temporary ceasefire is a victory for the global solidarity movement for Palestine.
But, Bolton said, 鈥淭here is no time to relax鈥. She said the Merri-bek Council administrators were making arbitrary decisions to remove the Palestinian flag from above their offices, even though she initiated a motion, which passed in November 2023, which agreed to flying the flag until there was a permanent ceasefire.听
Sofia Sabbagh, Palestinian writer, illustrator and environmental educator, highlighted the Israel military action against the West Bank as evidence that the regime is still actively pursuing ethnic cleansing. She said that while there is a temporary ceasefire in Gaza now, Israel is still at war with Palestine.
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Rosa, from Boycott Caltex, spoke about the importance of the international boycott, divestment and sanctions movement and its call for a global boycott of Chevron and its brands, which include Caltex.
She said Israel is guilty of energy apartheid by prohibiting Palestine access to natural resources that lie off its coast. Meanwhile, it is collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from Chevron-operated gas fields.
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A national Boycott Caltex week of action was held from January 31 to February 1, with protests held at Caltex petrol stations at 10 sites across the country, including in Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide, Komumberri/Gold Coast, Djilang/Geelong, Gadigal Country and four sites in Naarm.听
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Palestinians Don鈥檛 Need Sidewalks, the new film from Dare to Struggle Films, the team behind Palestine Under Siege, is being screened across the country. Find more details here.
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