بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
A Ceasefire Will Not Stop the Palestine Genocide
News:
On the 6th of June, 17 countries released a joint statement to support the latest Gaza ceasefire deal announced by Biden on the 31st of May. The US is also urging UN Security Council members to back the 3-phase ceasefire for Gaza. According to the deal, there would be a 6 week pause in fighting during which Zionist forces would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza and some Jewish captives would be exchanged in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners; there would also be a step up in aid delivery to the Strip. This would be followed by two more phases during which a ‘permanent end to hostilities’ would be negotiated between the two parties which the US claims would enable the reconstruction of the enclave that has been utterly demolished by the murderous Zionist onslaught.
Comment:
Surely it is clear for every thinking person of conscience who understands the nature and history of the criminal Zionist entity, that there will be no end to the Gaza genocide nor the annihilation of Palestinians generally while one inch of this occupation remains in place. This entity was established upon violence and terror, spread its tentacles across Palestine using violence and terror, and continues to exist based upon violence and terror. A ceasefire will therefore not end its brutality and butchering of the Palestinian Muslims or enable them to live dignified lives. This Zionist entity is bereft of any humanity or morality; respects no agreement or international norm or law; and approaches the Palestinians only through the lens of humiliation, slaughter, destruction and extermination. A ceasefire will not end any of this! Even in the midst of these so-called ceasefire negotiations, the Zionist entity has intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, including executing the massacre in the Nuseirat refugee camp where over 270 people were killed, mostly women and children, and around 700 injured. Netanyahu himself declared a day after Biden announced the deal, that any permanent ceasefire was a “non-starter” and that “the war would not end”.
In this genocide, so-called ‘ceasefire talks’ have only served to buy the murderous occupation and its US supporter more time to execute this campaign of annihilation while trying to present themselves on the world stage as the ‘peace-makers’. They are the embodiment of the words of Allah (swt),
[وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لاَ تُفْسِدُواْ فِي الأَرْضِ قَالُواْ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ * أَلا إِنَّهُمْ هُمُ الْمُفْسِدُونَ وَلَـكِن لاَّ يَشْعُرُونَ]
“When they are told, ‘Do not spread corruption in the land,” they reply, ‘We are only peace-makers! Indeed, it is they who are the corrupters, but they fail to perceive it.” [Al-Baqarah:11-12]. Furthermore, Biden’s attempts to accelerate a ceasefire is not derived from an ounce of compassion or concern for the lives of the people of Gaza, but is simply an electioneering tool to garner support from key battlegrounds in the US elections and to try and silence voices critical of his funding, arming and standing by this genocide. It’s reflective of the cynical nature of Machiavellian secular politics. It is also a result of the US recognizing the Zionist entity’s increasing international isolation and the fact that the continued existence of this occupation has become untenable and unacceptable in the eyes of the public in nations across the world, including in the West. According to a recent YouGov survey, a mere 16% of the British public expressed solidarity with ‘Israel’, while another poll conducted by UnHerd revealed that a majority of Britain’s young people do not believe ‘Israel’ should exist; 54% of respondents aged 18-24 had this opinion, while only 21% disagreed.
The slaughter must stop, but it will not end, nor will the Palestinians enjoy a single day of security or a dignified life or witness an end to the continuing Nakba except with the liberation of the entire Blessed Land of Palestine from this cancerous bloodthirsty occupation, every single inch of it. Without this, the Muslims of Palestine are doomed to lives of humiliation and fear under the shadow of this criminal entity, waiting for the next onslaught to start. Furthermore, Allah (swt) does not accept anything less than the complete liberation of Palestine, for this is sanctified land, the land of Masra (the night journey of the Prophet (saw)), the land of Al Aqsa, and the land that came under the rule of Islam and therefore belongs to the Muslim Ummah till the Day of Judgement! Allah (swt) says:
[سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلاً مِّنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى الَّذِي بَارَكْنَا حَوْلَهُ لِنُرِيَهُ مِنْ آيَاتِنَا]
“Exalted is He who took His servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs.” [Al-Isra: 1]. This is why the 19th century Khalifah, Sultan Abdul Hamid II told the Zionists who were trying to ‘buy’ Palestine through offering to pay the debts of the Caliphate in exchange for the Sultan’s support of the establishment of their ‘Jewish homeland’: “I cannot sell even an inch of the land because it does not belong to me but to the Ummah, and the Ummah have shed blood to defend this Land….so let the Jews keep their millions.”
Therefore, the call to stop the slaughter in Gaza and across Palestine should go hand in hand with the call for the complete liberation of this Blessed Land, which cannot be achieved by peace agreements or ceasefires but only by the mobilization of the armies of the Muslim lands. And this will never be realized under the current treacherous and cowardly rulers and regimes of the Muslim lands who have served as the frontline guards of the Zionist entity, with their peace agreements, normalization and economic cooperation with the criminal occupation, while simultaneously shackling their armies to their barracks and preventing them from defending and liberating their Ummah. This 7 decade and more long genocide against the Palestinians can only be brought to an end through calling for the urgent establishment of the Islamic leadership and system of Allah (swt), the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood which our Prophet (saw) described as the guardian and shield of the Muslims. It is this state alone which will mobilize its soldiers to fight in the way of Allah (swt), responding to His (swt)’s Words:
[وَإِنِ اسْتَنْصَرُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ فَعَلَيْكُمُ النَّصْرُ]
“And if they seek help of you for the religion, then you must help” [Al-Anfal:72]. Until this state is established, Muslims will continue to be the victims of genocide – with no one coming to their aid - not just in Palestine but in lands across the world.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Asma Siddiq
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir