Palestine: Ceasefire only first step in winning justice

Socialist Alliance welcomes the ceasefire agreement, declared on January 16, between Hamas and Israel.

Whether the ceasefire agreement will hold up until its final phase will, to a large extent, depend on whether the global pro-Palestine movement maintains its pressure on governments to force Israel to comply.

Israel has already reneged on parts of the early phase, including bombing raids on the West Bank in which a two-year-old was among those killed in Balata refugee camp.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared he is prepared to continue the war in Gaza depending on how he deems talks on the second phrase proceed.

The newly-inaugurated Donald Trump administration’s pressure on Israel to agree to the ceasefire reflects the pressure on the ruling class and its changing priorities — Israel’s genocide and bombardments of Gaza are racking up a political cost.

Given this ceasefire agreement was proposed last year, the Joe Biden administration’s complicity in Israel’s genocide is clear: the Democrats could have put an end to the bombing earlier.

Trump is committed to continuing the US ruling class’ iron-clad support for Israel’s military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and its policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

Already, he has halted sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank and lifted the US military’s ban on supplying 2000-pound bombs to Israel.

Trump wants Gaza to be “cleaned out”, saying hundreds and thousands of Palestinians should move to neighbouring countries.

While Jordan has rejected Trump’s call for more ethnic cleansing, which breaks international law, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has welcomed it.

The ceasefire agreement is a testament to the continued resilience and resistance of Palestinians, who have faced untold horrors for the past 15 months. It shows Israel has failed in its goal of “eliminating Hamas” and reveals that international pressure against Israel’s ethnic cleansing was — and remains — important.

Stage one of the ceasefire agreement involves releasing more than 1900 Palestinian prisoners, in exchange for 33 Israeli captives, including prominent Palestinian resistance fighters, including Khalida Jarrar, an elected MP to the Palestinian Authority from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Many prisoners have been held in abhorrent conditions, and tortured and sexually abused.

While Western leaders have tried to claim credit for securing the ceasefire agreement, most did little to oppose Israel’s genocidal war.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claims his government has “consistently been part of the international call for a ceasefire”. But, for 15 months, it has refused to take any real pressure on Israel by imposing sanctions or banning all bilateral military ties.

Moreover, the Albanese government’s decision to send Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to Israel in early January reflects Labor’s alignment with Israel. It claims to be committed to opposing antisemitism while pledging support to the Trump administration, with its ties to the far-right which promotes antisemitsm.

Its ongoing attempt to smear the pro-Palestine movement as “antisemitic” and its collaboration with state governments to repress the movement underscore this hypocrisy.

Victorian Labor is using the ceasefire to pressure the movement to call off its weekly protests. It is also attempting to link the abhorrent antisemitic attacks to the pro-Palestine movement — despite there being no evidence for this.

The ceasefire in Gaza is only the beginning of a long struggle for justice for Palestine, which includes an end to apartheid Israel.

Those Western powers backing Israel’s 15-months of genocide, including Australia, must be brought to account. They must also pay war reparations to help rebuild Gaza from the ground up. The United Nations estimates that if the economic blockades remain, it could take more than 250 years.

The pro-Israel establishment wants the Palestinian solidarity movement to disappear. They must be countered.

Socialist Alliance is therefore committed to campaigning for:

• A permanent ceasefire, which would mean Israel withdraws all its military from Gaza and the Occupied Territories, including the West Bank;
• The blockade on Gaza to be lifted;
• A comprehensive arms embargo on Israel;
• Sanctions on the Israeli state, which includes the supply of weapons’ components and intelligence.
• Australia’s government be forced to invest millions in rebuilding Gaza;
• The expulsion of Israel’s ambassador and the recall of Australia’s ambassador from Tel Aviv;
• Australia to commit to uphold the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant of Netanyahu;  and
• The right of Palestinian refugees to resettle in their traditional homelands, with full rights.

We will continue to protest until Palestine is free.

[Jacob Andrewartha is a co-convener of the Socialist Alliance.]