Demonstrators demand a ceasefire in Gaza, during a protest in the US Congress building. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
By Wisam Rafeedie – Oct, 26, 2023
Can Washington’s rejection of a ceasefire, as stated by its foreign minister, Anthony Blinken, be understood as anything other than approval for and an open declaration of genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip? Certainly not. However, this statement can also be understood in another way: it is a form of “exerting pressure,” aimed at achieving two goals. The first goal is to break the connection between the resistance and our people, especially in the Gaza Strip, which is grieving the massacres and thousands of victims. This has not been achieved, and I believe it will not be, as resilience has become a core value of our people under colonial rule, and history bears witness to that. However, the colonizers’ delusions are well-known in history, and one of those delusions is that they believe it possible to sever the relationship between the resistance and the people.
The second goal is to use bloodshed, massacres, and genocide to blackmail and “pressure” the resistance, under the formula announced by the elderly fascist Biden: a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, meaning prisoners in our terminology. Take note: for the US and its European lackeys in France, Germany, Britain, Italy, and Canada, all forms of violence, including killing over 7,000, including more than 2,000 children, the destruction of nearly 15,000 homes to date, cutting off water, medicine, and food, can be categorized euphemistically as “exerting pressure.” Is there anything more bloodthirsty and fascist than the brutality of these imperialists and their lackeys?
Nevertheless, all estimates, based on the statements of the resistance forces, their spokespersons, and analysts, and based on simple logic, say: do not negotiate for the release of detainees or engage in a prisoner exchange without a cessation of aggression. Who would be foolish enough to think that the resistance will hand over hundreds of its prisoners for nothing, especially since they declared from day one, through the words of Ismail Haniyeh and others, that the battle of Al-Aqsa Flood is for the sake of the prisoners and detainees? Therefore, the resistance will not forfeit what it achieved on October seventh, and it will not turn its back on the sacrifices of our people in the Gaza Strip over 19 days for nothing.
[Freeing] the prisoners, [securing] the Al-Aqsa Mosque, [ending] the siege, and nothing less, are what I believe to be the goals that the resistance seeks to achieve in the foreseeable future. I say the foreseeable future because the developments of the conflict are pushing towards the boundaries of a regional war, which will present the resistance and its allies with more strategic goals. It is not far from the truth to say that the most important of these strategic goals is the goal of return and liberation. The battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, with its achievements and its sacrifices, and the new realities it imposed on regional and international levels, has put the Palestinian issue back on the right track, the track of the national struggle until return and liberation.
Al-Aqsa Flood: Imperialism, Zionism, and Reactionism in the 21st Century
To conclude, it is only logical to consider the imperialist European countries and United States as partners in aggression, not only from the perspective of granting permission, support, and approval of genocide but also from the perspective of direct military support. For Washington, it has gone beyond logistical support and is preparing to participate in the aggression, summoning experts from various fields, as well as special forces for a potential hostage rescue operation. However, Washington should be reminded of the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon and what a coincidence that it happened on a day just like this, on October 23, 1983. The Axis of Resistance is sending a clear message: the Middle East is not a playground for imperialism. And the bombing of US bases in Iraq is clear proof that they will deliver this message in blood.
As for the imperialists spilling the blood of the masses, their history proves their fascism and barbarism. The history of the United States in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq, the French in Algeria and African countries, the British in their colonies in Palestine, India, and elsewhere, their entire history as white people in Africa and the Americas all share a history of annihilating entire populations in the name of trade, exploitation, and capitalist production.
It is not surprising that Biden and Blinken are adamant in rejecting a ceasefire, for in their eyes, we are the Jungle surrounding the European Garden, as explicitly stated by Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs. He failed to clarify his statement when he was universally criticized, which means there is no harm in uprooting the Jungle to provide the Garden’s residents with safety, even if this uprooting means an entire people. This is the pure logic of their racist capitalist civilization.
Translated by Orinoco Tribune
OT/DZ/
Wisam Rafeedie
Wisam Rafeedie is a former Palestinian political prisoner, full-time researcher and lecturer at the Department of Social Sciences at Bethlehem University – Palestine. He previously worked as a part-time lecturer in Sociology and Cultural Studies at Birzeit University. He holds two master’s degrees from Birzeit University, one in sociology for his thesis on the changes in the status of women in contemporary Palestinian literature before and after Oslo, and the other in contemporary Arab studies.
