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John,
Palestinians and Israelis celebrated in the streets after mediators announced a temporary ceasefire deal. But in between the announcement and the beginning of the truce last weekend, Israel’s government killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza. After the start date for the truce, the Israeli military not only killed a young child in Gaza but also killed over a dozen Palestinians in the West Bank.
The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has not stopped, and it won’t stop unless the U.S. stops arming and funding Israel’s apartheid regime. Israel’s genocidal Prime Minister Netanyahu has already expressed skepticism about extending the Gaza ceasefire past this first six-week phase, and it remains to be seen whether even this first phase will be implemented as it should.
Even if a permanent ceasefire were secured in both Gaza and the West Bank, that would still not be enough. Over the past 15 months, the Israeli government has destroyed most of Gaza’s healthcare system, agricultural lands, access to clean water, infrastructure, and other necessary conditions to sustain life. Even if Palestinians in Gaza are allowed to rebuild without being bombed, they cannot go back to the intolerable conditions that were in place before October 2023, including the years of Israel’s inhumane blockade of Gaza’s borders.
At minimum, Israel’s government must abide by last year’s rulings from the world’s top court, which affirmed that Israel is carrying out apartheid and demanded that Israel fulfill its obligations under international law to ensure Palestinians’ right to return and right to self-determination. The International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s government must pay reparations to Palestinians and end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Most countries in the United Nations voted in agreement with these demands, and urged countries to enact arms embargoes and sanctions on Israel in the meantime.
International law is clear, and our movement must also be clear: We won’t stop until Palestine is free.
Please add your name to demand the Israeli government not only implement a permanent ceasefire, but also fulfill the rest of its obligations under international law, including: ensuring unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza and ending its long-standing blockade of Gaza, withdrawing from all occupied Palestinian territories including the West Bank, ending its 76-year-long practice of blocking Palestinian refugees from returning home, and paying reparations to Palestinians.
In the past 15 months, Israel’s military has forcibly displaced 2 million Palestinians, about 95% of Gaza’s population, often multiple times. Israel’s military has killed at least 46,900 Palestinans in Gaza, including at least 18,000 children—and injured at least 100,700 people.1 These are undercounts: According to a peer-reviewed study published this month in the Lancet, at least 70,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed between October 7 2023 and June 30 2024.2 Since June, Israel’s military has continued to relentlessly bomb Gaza and commit clear war crimes by targeting children, medical providers and aid workers, and journalists.
This has been a horrific genocidal escalation after 76 years of continued ethnic cleansing, starting with the Nakba, when the state of Israel was created through the forced removal and murder of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
Now, nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are experiencing “acute food insecurity” at crisis levels.1 Some humanitarian aid is getting through with this temporary Gaza ceasefire, but human rights groups like the World Food Program have said that they can only provide needed aid if Israel continues to allow unhindered access through all border crossings and ensures that aid workers can move freely and safely within Gaza.
As an occupying power, Israel’s government still maintains tight control over Palestinians’ daily lives, including in the West Bank. Even as Israel’s government has begun to release some imprisoned Palestinians as laid out in the ceasefire and hostage exchange deal, thousands still remain under “administrative detention”—indefinitely held without charge or trial while brutally tortured. For the detainees who do get charged, Israel’s illegal apartheid system sends Palestinian civilians (including children) through Israel’s unjust military courts, which have a 99% conviction rate of Palestinians.
We cannot turn away or give up the fight for Palestinians’ liberation and human dignity, including the right to live on their own terms with true self-government.
Until Palestine is free, we must keep demanding countries like the United States stop supporting Israel’s illegal presence in occupied Palestine—as required by international law and demanded last year by the International Court of Justice and the majority of United Nations member states, which have also called for sanctions and arms embargoes to pressure Israel to comply with international law.
We must also keep pushing the U.S. to stop shielding Israel from accountability, especially as one of the few countries that can actually veto UN measures—and has been the sole veto for multiple ceasefire resolutions and steps for Palestinian sovereignty. Instead of sanctioning Israel, most of my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives voted for sanctions against the International Criminal Court after its long-overdue decision to issue arrest warrants to Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Now Republican members of Congress keep threatening to condition aid for the Los Angeles wildfires, despite blocking any conditions on U.S. funding for Israeli war crimes.
Our movement for Palestinian liberation cannot back down now.
Will you sign the petition to demand countries act to ensure not only a permanent ceasefire, but true Palestinian self-determination and liberation?
Thank you for continuing to take action to support equal human rights for Palestinians. When we recognize our shared humanity and truly value all life, we create a safer world for all of us.
In love and solidarity,
Rashida
1 https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/15/the-human-toll-of-israels-war-on-gaza-by-the-numbers and https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/17/live-no-pause-in-israeli-attacks-on-gaza-ahead-of-ceasefire-on-sunday
2 https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)02678-3/fulltext
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