By Abayomi Azikiwe
A renewed military campaign by the israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the West Bank resulted in 11 deaths on August 28.
These attacks come amid the ongoing mass killings, property destruction and displacement of communities in the Gaza Strip where over 40,000 Palestinian people have been killed since October 7, 2023.
The zionist military is utilizing the same rationale for their actions in the West Bank as is being said about Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defined the zionist objectives in the war to be the elimination of Hamas and other resistance forces along with the release of the captives being held in the enclave.
However, in real terms, the intensified war in Gaza is resulting in the genocide of the Palestinian people. The majority of people around the world agree with this assessment as the United Nations highest judicial body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has issued orders for the settler-colonial regime to halt its process of eliminating the Palestinians in Gaza and to allow humanitarian assistance into the territory.
Despite the monthslong propaganda by the United States State Department claiming that a ceasefire deal was imminent, the White House has not exerted any significant political, economic or military pressure on the Netanyahu government which could result in the halt to hostilities by Tel Aviv. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made a dozen trips to the region under the guise of seeking a peace deal.
However, the weapons are continuing to flow into the arsenals of the zionist state. Just recently, another $20 billion in pledges of military assistance to the occupation forces has been issued by Washington.
The attacks on several areas of the West Bank will only worsen the already horrendous humanitarian situation facing the Palestinians. Moreover, an escalation in bombing and shelling operations by the IOF into neighboring Lebanon has heightened tensions in the entire West Asia region. Several leaders of the Hamas Resistance Movement and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have been murdered by the IOF in targeted assassinations.
Israeli Radio described the operations in the West Bank as the largest assault since 2002 when many refugee camps and residential communities were destroyed. In the aftermath of the Al-Aqsa Storm on October 7, Palestinian Authority officials say that 640 people have been killed and 5,400 wounded in the West Bank.
Palestine Chronicle said of the situation in the West Bank that:
“The israeli occupation forces ordered on Wednesday the citizens of Nur Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, to leave the camp within four hours, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. According to WAFA, the israeli army ordered the residents to leave the camp and set up a military post in the al-Maslakh neighborhood of the camp to search them before leaving. An israeli army spokesperson denied that evacuation orders were issued, adding that those who wish to leave may do so. The israeli military announced that, starting from early Wednesday morning, it had launched a major operation targeting militants in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas in the northern West Bank. Meanwhile, Palestinian resistance factions said they were repelling the incursions and carrying out counterattacks.” ()
These events in the West Bank makes it clear that Washington and Tel Aviv are committed to the elimination of the Palestinians. In Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinians have no safe havens and therefore no other choice than to resist the attacks by any means necessary.
U.S. Ruling Class Parties Double Down on Genocidal Foreign Policy
During July and August, the Republican National Convention (RNC) and the Democratic National Convention (DNC) were held in Milwaukee and Chicago respectively. At both gatherings no one from the Palestinian American community or their allies were allowed to speak from the podium in opposition to the genocide and for the liberation of the oppressed people.
At the DNC in the city of Chicago where there is a large Palestinian community, the DNC leadership took extreme measures to cover-up the genocidal measures being carried out in Gaza. Inside the Convention itself, some 30 delegates from the “Uncommitted” campaign were present. However, they were not permitted to speak to the more than 5,000 delegates from across the U.S. and its overseas territories. The hoisting of a banner calling for “End Arming Israel” was kept out of the purview of mainstream television and newspaper coverage.
Outside the DNC, thousands marched and rallied in defense of Palestine and other important issues. These demonstrators were kept far away from the Convention site as the police exercised brutal tactics to control the crowds.
The Middle East Eye online journal emphasized in their reporting on the DNC:
“The movement to end U.S. support for israel’s war on Gaza will continue to pressure presidential candidate Kamala Harris to change track on Gaza despite the Democratic Party making it clear there would be no shift in U.S. policy to israel, should she become commander-in-chief. In her speech last week at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Harris offered a mix of platitudes ‘to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done’ while confirming that her priority remained standing up for israel’s right to defend itself. Accompanying Harris’ support for israel came the DNC’s refusal to allow a Palestinian speaker to address the plenary, culminating in a media spectacle and several pro-Palestine Democratic Party insiders in tears. Though the refusal to allow a Palestinian speaker to address the convention drew condemnation from several quarters, including liberal zionists, activists and scholars say the way the DNC sought to bury its role in israel’s war on Gaza underlined the extent to which Palestinian Americans were no more than placeholders in American democracy.”
This phenomenon of suppressing the plight of the Palestinians is reminiscent of the DNC 60 years ago (1964) in Atlantic City when the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was not allowed to be seated in place of the then all-white segregationist delegation. When Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer and MFDP Vice-Chair, Ms. Fannie Lou Hamer, began to address the credentials committee of the DNC, she was taken off the live television broadcast when then President Lyndon B. Johnson held a press conference. Her testimony was later broadcast that same evening to the chagrin of the administration.
Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine at campaign rallies for the Harris-Walz ticket have continued since the announcement of the Democratic candidates. This important question will remain a liability for the Democratic Party absent a shift in its position on unconditional support for Tel Aviv.
University Administrations Warn Students, Staff and Faculty Against Palestine Solidarity Demands
During the Winter and Spring, thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members engaged in militant demonstrations demanding the full disclosure and divestment of higher educational institutions from the settler-colonial regime and entities conducting business with Tel Aviv. These protest actions included building occupations, encampments, teach-ins and other forms of dissent from the policies of the Democratic and Republican ruling elites.
The Palestine solidarity movement was met with severe repression resulting in the denunciation and mischaracterization of its activities as well as the arrests of over 3,000 people. Faculty and staff members were threatened with disciplinary retaliation while many students were expelled from their institutions, evicted from campus housing and suffered the withholdings of scholarships and degrees.
A New York Times article published on August 24 covered comments made by the Chancellor of Vanderbilt University to incoming students for the new academic year. The report says:
“Less than 10 minutes had passed before Daniel Diermeier, Vanderbilt University’s chancellor, told hundreds of new students what the school would not do. The university would not divest from israel. It would not banish provocative speakers. It would not issue statements in support or condemnation of israeli or Palestinian causes. Before the hour was up on Monday, he added that Vanderbilt would not tolerate threats, harassment or protests ‘disrupting the learning environment.’ This month, Vanderbilt required all first-year undergraduate students to attend mandatory meetings about the university’s approach to free speech, with the hope that clear expectations — and explanations for them — would help administrators keep order after protests rocked American campuses toward the end of the last academic year.”
These statements by Chancellor Diermeier provide a clear indication of the policy of U.S. imperialism on maintaining the status-quo in Palestine. Nonetheless, Palestinians and their international allies, including those inside the U.S., will continue their efforts to end the genocide and national oppression.
The growth of the movement in solidarity with Palestinian aspirations has grown exponentially over the last ten months. Even with the threats from higher educational institutions and bourgeois political parties, the struggles of the oppressed will move forward unrelentingly until Palestine is liberated and united.
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