Eight months ago, Israel began a genocidal war against Gaza and the further increase of repression in the West Bank including thousands imprisoned, and expansion of the settlements there. Torture is commonplace of Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank and especially of prisoners in Gaza. 90 per cent of the population of Gaza is hungry, famine is occurring. Besides the 15,000 children killed, almost all Palestinian babies and young children are likely to have permanent health problems if they live from Israel’s systematically starving them and destroying the health care and educational system. Over a million Palestinians were forced to move to Rafah in southern Gaza fleeing their homes beginning May 6th. A million Palestinians in Rafah have been forced to flee again, under the threat of immediate murder by Israel, with no safe place to go to, nor to a place that can sustain life.
Not only is the United States government complicit with and participating in Israel’s genocidal war but also many U.S corporations. A major criminal is the Boeing Corporation. Since late May, Israel has used the so-called precision bomb, the GBU-39, made by the Boeing Corporation to kill hundreds of Palestinians. This includes a “safe area” in Rafah that Israel had said it wouldn’t bomb on May 28th, a United Nations School in central Gaza on Thursday, June 6th, and on June 7th near Gaza City. Israel claims they are targeting Hamas fighters but even if this is so, it is a war crime under international law because of the many more times civilians killed, one third are children. Boeing is increasing production and rushing orders of these bombs to Israel. It is an immoral but profitable business for Boeing.
What can we do? Let us organize against Boeing and target them by education of the public, including talking with their workers and labor unions, doing many types of protest including mass direct action, going to their stockholder meetings demanding they stop their contracts with Israel, and deepening campaigns demanding divestment from Boeing and other connections with Israel from institutions such as the University of Washington. Boeing is especially vulnerable to this campaign as a result of its already weakened position because of the continuing major safety defects of its planes. Its stock has fallen by one quarter this year and a campaign focusing on divestment from Boeing can further hurt their image and lower the value of the value of their stock incentivizing them to stop producing murder weapons for the Israeli military.
On May 31st, Biden made a proposal for a cease fire in Gaza. He claimed he was publicizing a three phase Israeli proposal. In Phase One, in addition to a cease fire by Israel and Hamas, Israel would remain in Gaza but withdraw from population centers there, allow the population to return to cities there, and allow up to 600 trucks of aid daily into Gaza. Some of the Israeli hostages would be traded for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners. This Phase One would last at least six weeks while a permanent cease was being negotiated.
In Phase Two which would begin after a permanent cease fire was negotiated, Israel would withdraw from Gaza and all the remaining Israeli hostages, including Israeli soldiers, would be released for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners. It isn’t specified how Gaza would be governed.
In Phase Three, the remains of Israeli hostages who had died would be returned, the rubble would be cleared and there would be a three-to-five-year reconstruction period financed by the U.S., European Union and international institutions.
If this plan were enacted it would be a major step forward although neither the underlying ongoing Nakba nor the Israeli occupation and Zionist domination are being addressed.
This is my interpretation of Biden’s proposal and the current situation as of June 11, 2024. When Biden said he was publicizing an Israeli proposal, he probably was referring to, not the Netanyahu government, but some of the other Zionist parties such as Gantz and his National Unity Party, and former Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, who have fully supported the invasion, including of Rafah. They probably favor for now, a pause in the Israeli war. The Netanyahu led Israeli government is willing to accept Phase One, a temporary cease fire, but is committed to the further destruction of Gaza and Hamas after six weeks. Hamas leaders have said they regarded Biden’s proposal positively although they haven’t yet fully accepted it.
Israel is willing to agree to a temporary, probably six weeks cease fire, while Hamas is demanding a permanent cease fire. This is the key and significant difference. It is another Netanyahu lie that if he accepts this U.S. proposal, his government will fall because fascist members of his cabinet would leave it, and he would no longer have a majority in the parliament. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are publicly committed to continuing a total war against Gaza and for the permanent Israeli settlement and occupation of Gaza. However, even if they resign from the Israeli cabinet, some of the slightly more liberal Zionist parties have stated they would support Netanyahu and not oppose him until the next elections if he accepted this proposal. It is also likely that at the end of the six-week, Phase One period, Lapid, Gantz and their political parties, would support Israeli going back to war claiming Hamas had broken the temporary cease fire.
Peter Bohmer is a faculty member in Political Economy at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. He has been an activist since 1967 in movements for fundamental social change.
Source: CounterPunch
