We need more than a cease-fire in Israel

 For the past two months, a rallying cry of the growing Palestinian liberation movement has been “ceasefire now!” Activists and community members long to see an end to the constant, bloody horrors that people are seeing take place in Gaza at the hands of Israeli Occupation Forces. However, while a ceasefire might bring a sense of peace, and a deceleration in death and destruction, it is not a sufficient demand on its own. Israel has been claiming stolen Palestinian land as its own since Israel’s formation in 1948, and Palestinians have since been subject to blockades on food and water, controlled movement, check points, kidnappings, political repression, shootings… the list of human rights violations goes on and on.

 

A ceasefire might stop the current massacre, but it is not enough to end the apartheid system upheld by the Israeli state. If a ceasefire is achieved, the fight cannot stop there. Palestinians deserve to have democratic rights in their own homelands. People need to be fighting for the full liberation of Palestinians, including self-determination and the right of return!

 

Whitney Wildman

East Isles