Devastation: Individuals search the rubble of the Bureij camp for refugees in Gaza destroyed by an Israeli assault. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
Information of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was greeted with tears of pleasure in Gaza and elsewhere. The braveness of the individuals of Gaza beneath Israel’s genocidal terror has denied Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu his “whole victory”. The Palestinians’ steadfastness is an astonishing instance of collective braveness.
As our hopes soar in reduction we should be conscious that stopping the slaughter doesn’t resolve the query of justice for the individuals of Palestine, or assure a everlasting peace. Our ethical obligation to work in direction of justice, and a simply and everlasting peace, is as pressing as ever.
On this second of reduction we should recall the dimensions of the phobia unleashed on Gaza by Israel. A report printed final week in The Lancet estimated that from 7 October 2023 to 30 June 2024, between 55 298 and 78 525 Palestinians died from traumatic accidents. It additionally discovered that 59% of the individuals killed had been youngsters, girls and older individuals. Final yr specialists estimated that there are about 10 000 our bodies nonetheless buried beneath rubble, and that when deaths from illness and hunger are taken under consideration, the dying toll may exceed 186 000 individuals.
When Israel started its indiscriminate assault on the individuals of Gaza, in addition to social infrastructure corresponding to hospitals, colleges, universities, church buildings and mosques, it was firmly backed by the USA and different Western governments corresponding to Germany and the UK. A lot of the Western media took the identical place. The colonial assumption of a proper to deal with a colonised individuals as a complete because the enemy and to kill with impunity was in full evil bloom.
Internationally, thousands and thousands of individuals had been appalled by the brutality of the Israeli state and its backers within the West. There have been many courageous actions in solidarity with the Palestinian individuals, however the slaughter continued.
South Africa acted with braveness when it initiated authorized proceedings towards Israel on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ) on 29 December 2023, intending to indicate that Israel’s actions in Gaza constituted genocide towards the Palestinian individuals. When the preliminary hearings on the ICJ had been held on 11 and 12 January the next yr, there was a unprecedented sense in a lot of the world that the wheel of historical past was starting to show.
The West has at all times justified its domination within the title of freedom whereas denying freedom to the colonised. It by no means supposed the ICJ to carry all governments accountable. In Might 2024, Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC), revealed that he had been advised by a senior chief, little doubt a senior determine within the Western institution, that the courtroom was “constructed for Africa and for thugs like Putin”.
Towards this colonial logic, South Africa was insisting that every one states be held to the identical requirements of conduct, and that the lives of all individuals be given the identical worth. However South Africa was remoted and the Western backlash was swift.
South Africa was condemned and threatened, and the slavishly pro-Western media at residence rallied, as they at all times do, behind the West. Ray Hartley and Greg Mills, embedded in each the circuits of white capital at residence and a set of worldwide networks driving the Western agenda, contemptuously declared that the motion on the ICJ had “uncovered the African Nationwide Congress” as being “no good friend of liberal values”.
This adopted an previous colonial script. For the reason that US and France moved to comprise the rebel black authorities fashioned after the revolution towards slavery in Haiti in 1804, the West has usually been extremely efficient at co-opting, intimidating, dividing, isolating, sanctioning and overthrowing governments that query its domination over a lot of the world. It takes braveness to face as much as the West within the title of humanity.
However within the months that adopted South Africa’s strategy to the ICJ increasingly more governments, some clearly emboldened by South Africa’s braveness, started to take principled positions towards the genocide. These included Eire, Cuba, Spain, Jamaica, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Namibia. Extra just lately, the brand new progressive authorities in Senegal has taken a robust place in help of the Palestinian individuals. International locations corresponding to Belize, Honduras and Malaysia have additionally acted with integrity.
When, on 21 November 2024, the ICC introduced it had issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the previous defence minister, right-wing governments world wide rushed to assault the courtroom and categorical their help for the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán each assured Netanyahu that he was free to go to their nations. Different right-wing leaders corresponding to Javier Milei in Argentina issued strident statements of help for Israel. The UK authorities additionally expressed its help for Israel. The Austrian authorities declared the ICC’s choice “absurd” and “incomprehensible”. The US’s president, Joe Biden, declared the arrest warrants “outrageous”.
However a variety of different governments, together with Algeria, Belgium, Bangladesh, Chile, Iceland, Eire, Cuba, Malaysia, Tunisia, Turkey, Denmark and Indonesia, both welcomed the issuing of the arrest warrants or expressed a dedication to honour the warrants.
On 9 January 2025, the US Home of Representatives handed the “Illegitimate Court docket Counteraction Act” that goals to impose sanctions on people related to the ICC who pursue investigations or prosecutions towards US residents or these of allied nations, corresponding to Israel.
However the US and the Western governments that observe it are beneath strain. The solidarity with Palestine from individuals world wide has been magnificent. This has included courageous actions in Germany, the place solidarity with Palestine is criminalised, and the splendidly brave actions of scholars throughout the US. All over the world, massive numbers of Jewish individuals have joined solidarity actions.
This strain has put the Israel and its backers within the West on the backfoot. Israel’s place has been additional weakened by developments within the US. Biden was prepared to be manipulated by Netanyahu at the price of the destruction of his fame and legacy. Donald Trump needs a ceasefire for causes of his personal.
This second requires all attainable actions to escalate the strain towards Israel and its backers. Together with in style actions we additionally want mixed motion among the many many governments which have stood as much as the West to declare their solidarity with the Palestinian individuals. Governments possess a definite form of energy in comparison with road protests, encampments and boycotts, enabling them to help each other in ways in which in style actions can’t.
It’s time for the governments which have had the braveness to face as much as the US and its allies, together with their native proxies in varied nations, to organise themselves as a bloc. This can allow them to supply one another mutual safety and to undertake mixed and efficient actions in help of Palestine.
There are a selection of potentialities for collective motion. For instance, there may very well be a shared dedication to implementing the rulings of the ICC. There is also an settlement that taking part nations would help the No Harbour for Genocide marketing campaign that goals to dam the supply of military-grade jet gasoline to Israel by denying ships carrying this gasoline the proper to dock in harbours.
It is also attainable for taking part states to implement a full arms embargo towards Israel.
The South African authorities enjoys the help of the huge bulk of our individuals for its brave stance in help of the Palestinian individuals. This contains the help of the mass-based organisations which can be normally vital of the ANC, corresponding to Abahlali baseMjondolo, the Nationwide Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and the South African Federation of Commerce Unions.
Within the absence of organised collective motion by different governments, the South African authorities stays weak — as do different states performing in help of the Palestinian individuals.
There may be an pressing want for collective motion by governments which have taken a principled place towards the brutal oppression of the individuals of Gaza and others.
World solidarity with the Palestinian individuals, and the individuals of the broader Center East, shall be crucial. That solidarity might want to come from governments in addition to civil society.
Ronnie Kasrils is a liberation wrestle veteran and South Africa’s former minister of intelligence providers.