Gaza: More Pressure Is Needed

The atrocious massacre that took place in Gaza City on Feb. 29, when Israeli Defense Forces opened live fire on starving Palestinians desperately trying to get food from a convoy of relief trucks, leaving at least 115 people dead and over 700 injured, jarred the conscience of even the most cynical observers of the ongoing genocide. But it was apparently not enough to convince Washington to support a resolution in the UN Security Council, calling on all parties to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. In countless cities around the world, millions of protesters took to the streets on Saturday, March 2 to express their horror. The Biden Administration, too, is feeling the pressure (cf. above).

Nonetheless, the negotiations on some sort of temporary ceasefire to allow the release of the hostages and of Palestinian prisoners are still ongoing in Cairo, with delegations of Hamas, Qatar and the United States. Israel has refused to participate so far.

Moreover, Moscow has sponsored talks between Fatah and Hamas to discuss the possibility of forming a unity government for the Palestinian territories. This is key as the conflict between the two groups is used as an excuse to prevent a settlement with Israel. According to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, speaking at a meeting in Türkiye, progress was made and Hamas had agreed to “respect the platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization”. Mustafa Barghouti, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, said that unity was closer than ever “to alleviate this terrible suffering in Gaza” and prevent the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

The Arab League has welcomed the initiative for the talks taken by the Russian government and the results achieved so far. The Israeli government has not. In fact, it announced last week that, in a complete reversal of its policy up to now, it would begin supplying military equipment to Ukraine to contribute to defeating Moscow. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, for his part, compared Russia to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Iran.

The Schiller Institute has launched a renewed campaign to gather support for Lyndon LaRouche’s “Oasis Plan” for Israel and Palestine, which would lay the basis for a lasting peace through mutual development of both.