By Tommy Johnson
An activist asked The Worker to comment on the demand issued by pro-Palestine solidarity activists in the US regarding “permanent cease fire.” First, this demand is presented by a diversity of activists who hold very different politics. Second, the US imperialist ruling class is opposed to imposing any real cease fire on Israel. The slogan amounts to the same thing as a call to end the war against Gaza. Wars however are never ended by slogans and demands placed upon imperialist aggressors and their vicious lackeys, but by the conditions imposed upon them by the armed resistance of the oppressed nations and the masses. As a way to condemn the war itself and to call for its end, the slogan is issued from a place of progress, but one which has not advanced to the revolutionary consciousness required to fully, consistently, and unreservedly call for the right of Palestinians to self determination and to support their righteous victory in the national liberation struggle.
The current war in Gaza is one of many. It will not be the last one, and when this phase of the struggle concludes, the overall struggle will continue with new wars and series of wars until Palestine is free. This much has been proven by the Palestinians over more than 75 years. It is also proven that Israel will never grant peace to the Palestinians and that it will never honor its agreements. Israel must always be exposed on this point.
According to Izzat al-Rashq of Hamas’ Political Bureau: “The Hamas leadership is aiming with all its might for a complete, not temporary, end to the aggression and massacres of our people.” The end which he speaks of is not only an end to the current war but in reality nothing less than the realization of the right to self determination, freedom, and independence. There is the minimum program of fighting off the invasion and ending the war, and there is the maximum program of the liberation of Palestine.
The US imperialists oppose ending the war, they oppose any and all efforts at decreasing the flow of arms to Israel, and they especially oppose immediate cease fire. This month, for the third time since October 2023, the US vetoed the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease fire on humanitarian grounds. Later, the US issued its own statement calling for a “temporary cease fire as soon as practicable,” meaning when it is advantageous and convenient for Israel to issue it. They are saying stop carrying out genocide, whenever you feel like you’re done. This is the slimy manner in which the imperialists issue their blessing.
The US imperialist position reflects a contradiction between the Biden administration which seeks to strike a socially progressive pose in the coming elections while simultaneously exposing itself as the most aggressive servants of imperialism. At the same time, the US government knows full well that Israel is suffering the cost of the unjust war, that they are taking on much higher casualties than is being reported, and that right now a cease fire is not practicable for them because it would be a sweeping defeat, adding measurably to the humiliation they are dealt on the battlefield. They know, and we all must know, that the resistance has not been crushed or cowed and that it has sparked fire in the heart of the world’s people.
Egypt has proposed a surrender of political power by Hamas and its allies in return for a “permanent cease fire.” This is a condition completely unacceptable to those who fight for the liberation of Palestine. According to Hamas, negotiations cannot take place until the aggression has stopped. In a separate instance, an official of Islamic Jihad remarked to bourgeois monopoly media outlet Reuters that “The movement reaffirmed its position that the aggression against the Palestinian people must be ended and that it was not in favor of temporary truces.”
The Palestinian resistance has been clear: the aggression must end, and not temporarily. Without falling into pedantic arguments, surrendering the resistance, or accepting the occupation. The activists with a firm commitment to the revolutionary transformation of our world must be as loud as the Palestinian rifles in proclaiming that when we support cease fire, we support it being imposed on Israel right this instant and always in the name of the right of the oppressed Palestinian nation for self determination. We demand that Israel be stopped from carrying out its butchery. We struggle with the world’s people for the end of the horrors of imperialism and the liberation of all people.
photo: Still from a video of Al Quds Brigades fighters preparing for an ambush of Israeli troops in Gaza, January 2024
