[[link removed]]

VETERANS FOR PEACE CELEBRATES THE GAZA CEASEFIRE  
[[link removed]]


 

Gerry Condon
January 24, 2025
Veterans for Peace
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ But just how real is the Gaza ceasefire? How enduring will it be?
Many close observers of Israel are skeptical. _

People walk along Gaza's coastal al-Rashid Street to cross the
Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip into the north, on
Monday., Credit: AFP/Omar Al-Qattaa

 

Veterans For Peace [[link removed]] joins the
people of Gaza in rejoicing at the Ceasefire that has brought a halt
to Israel’s bombardment of Palestinian children, women and men, and
their churches, their mosques, their schools and hospitals. At least
50,000 have been killed in a cold-blooded massacre and over 100,000
injured, many losing their limbs. But the huge smiles on the faces of
the children of Gaza and their shouts of joy since the ceasefire went
into effect were a deeply profound thing to witness.

But just how real is the Gaza ceasefire?  How enduring will it be? 
Many close observers of Israel are skeptical.  In his recent
article, The Ceasefire Charade
[[link removed]], Chris
Hedges, renowned war correspondent and VFP Advisory Board member
writes:

_“Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game.
It signs
[[link removed]] a
deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The
first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of
the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel habitually fails
[[link removed]] to
implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable
peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate
armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a
provocation and abrogates the ceasefire deal to reignite the
slaughter. If this latest three-phase ceasefire deal is ratified it
will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration
bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round
of death.”_

WHILE WE REJOICE AT THE PAUSE IN THE US/ISRAELI GENOCIDE AGAINST THE
PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, WE RECOGNIZE THAT THE FOLLOWING UNDERPINNINGS OF
THE GENOCIDE REMAIN UNCHANGED:

1. U.S. provision of weapons and services for those weapons to Israel
in violation of a variety of U.S. laws, including the Leahy Law;

2. U.S. deployment of military personnel in support of the genocide
through servicing weapons provided to Israel, flying air attacks
against Yemeni and Syrian people; flying MQ-9 Reaper drone
surveillance missions to aid Israeli air attacks against Palestinians,
Yemenis and, likely, Lebanese;

3. Repression by US colleges and universities against students and
faculty who have acted so courageously and effectively to educate the
US public about the US/Israeli genocide and have led in calling for
divestment from Israel and from US weapons makers who have been making
billions in supporting the genocide;

4. The silence of US hospital systems about the genocide and
repression of their staff members who are speaking out in solidarity
with their sister and brother Palestinian medical workers who have
been killed, jailed, humiliated and whose hospitals have been
destroyed and deprived of fuel, medicine, food and safety. Evidence of
this silence is the formation and growing popularity of Doctors
Against Genocide [[link removed]]; and

5. The cooperation of major US press organizations with genocide in
failing to report fully on the suffering of the Palestinian people and
accepting without significant critique the narrative of the Israeli
government.

6. The constitutionally-protected ability of weapons makers and other
corporations to exercise dangerous influence in every segment of
society and public opinion by lobbying legislators at every level of
government, writing legislation, advertising, plying educational
institutions with desperately needed funding, contributing to
community events, keeping information hidden from the public and
investing in electoral campaigns.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is not rejoicing at the ceasefire
agreement.  He immediately declared that Biden and Trump both told
him he will have their support whenever he decides to resume the Gaza
onslaught
[[link removed]].

Fueling concerns about the durability of the Gaza ceasefire
are Israel’s escalating attacks on the Jenin refugee camp
[[link removed]] in the West Bank,
its daily violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon, and its continuing
efforts to draw the US into a war against Iran.

OMINOUSLY, ON HIS FIRST DAY IN OFFICE, PRESIDENT TRUMP REMOVED THE
SANCTIONS ON WEST BANK SETTLERS who have attacked Palestinian
civilians, and reversed Biden’s “pause” of sending 2,000 lb.
bombs to Israel. And then there are these recent statements from
Trump’s inner circle:

During his confirmation hearing for U.S. Secretary of State, Marco
Rubio strongly defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza while sharply
condemning the International Criminal Court
[[link removed]] (ICC).
As a Senator, Rubio was a strong supporter of the criminal actions of
Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

During her confirmation hearing on January 22, 2025, Trump’s nominee
for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik that while
Palestinian people deserve human rights, Israel has a biblical right
to the West Bank
[[link removed]].
She would not answer whether the Palestinian people have the right to
self-determination.

“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of
Hamas,” testified Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of
Defense, at his Senate confirmation hearing.  And Trump’s National
Security Advisor Mike Waltz declared that he is committed to the
complete defeat of Hamas. That sounds very much like the failed logic
of the Biden Administration and Israel’s war on Gaza. When will they
ever learn? 

Despite its uncertain fate, the Gaza ceasefire is nonetheless a
precious victory for the Palestinian people, and must be defended.
Just look again at the joyous faces of the Palestinian children. This
is another stage in the Palestinian struggle for liberation from
colonial oppression and genocide. Peace-loving people everywhere must
therefore remain vigilant. We must push for successful completion of
all three phases of the ceasefire agreement. We must remove conditions
within the U.S. that have enabled the genocide.

Veterans For Peace has consistently called on the US government
to stop sending US bombs and war materials to Israel.
[[link removed]] We
have encouraged legal action against the Biden administration for
violating US and international laws when it sends weapons to a country
that is committing gross human rights violations. We believe that the
quickest, most effective way to stop the genocide in Gaza – and to
preserve the ceasefire -- is to cut off the flow of US weapons to
Israel.

Furthermore, we stand ready to give our full support to U.S. military
personnel [[link removed]] who choose not
to be party to genocide. We will continue to support students
[[link removed]],
teachers, medical workers and others who are compelled by their
consciences to take stands against genocide and for freedom for the
Palestinian people. We call on all reporters and editors to report
fully on the experience of the Palestinian people.

We demand that the Trump administration and the Israeli government
respect the hard-won Gaza ceasefire, that they permanently end the
carnage in Gaza and the West Bank, that they cease the occupation of
Palestinian land, and that they end the oppression of the Palestinian
people. We call on all peace-loving people to join us
[[link removed]] in defending the righteous
struggle of the Palestinian people for their freedom and
sovereignty. 

_GERRY CONDON is a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister, and the
recent past president of Veterans For Peace. _               
                                             
                        
[[link removed]]

* Gaza ceasefire
[[link removed]]
* Veterans For Peace
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]