MARCH 24 LCIP CONFERENCE / GAZA UPDATE

PALESTINE

Netanyahu and Biden Prepare a Bloodbath in Rafah

At the time of writing, Netanyahu is preparing to order the assault on Rafah. This is the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, which – in agreement with Israel – controls a crossing point there. Before October 7, Rafah had a population of 160,000. After four months of bombardment and destruction, one after the other, of the towns of Gaza, Khan Younes and the adjoining refugee camps, almost one and a half million Palestinians have taken refuge there.

In Rafah, tens of thousands of Palestinians are crammed into makeshift tents, their feet in mud from the rain. There’s not enough to eat: an egg now costs one US dollar! Epidemics take their toll. Every man, woman and child is entitled, on average, to 1.5 liters of water a day for drinking, cooking and washing.

But, pushing the logic of Zionism to the limit, Netanyahu and his government have decided: like the cities of Gaza and Khan Younes, Rafah must be wiped off the face of the earth. And those who survive the carnage, the Israeli Prime Minister hopes, will leave for Egypt and the Sinai desert. The bombardment of Rafah has begun. According to the New York Times, “Israeli strikes have terrified refugees in Rafah, many

of whom are living in makeshift tents and have nowhere else to go“. And after the bombardments, Netanyahu promised a ground offensive against Rafah on February 9, which he wants completed by March 10.

On the Egyptian side, Marshal Sissi’s military regime has threatened to “suspend” the peace agreement with Israel (signed in 1979 under the aegis of the United States) if any Palestinians cross the border, reports the Wall Street Journal (February 9). Solidarity with the Palestinian people is clearly not what motivates Sissi’s regime, which is complicit in the blockade of Gaza and whose cargo ships deliver daily to Israeli ports.

 On the other hand, the Egyptian regime is aware that welcoming hundreds of thousands of Palestinians onto its soil would be unmanageable at a time when the country is already on the brink of a social explosion. Reuters reports that dozens of Egyptian tanks and armored vehicles have been stationed on the other side of the Rafah crossing, while a concrete wall (sinking six meters below ground) and sand barricades have been erected to prevent any passage.

For his part, in a long telephone call to Netanyahu on February 12, Biden reportedly asked him not to enter Rafah without a “credible plan for the civilians” there. These statements were intended to reassure his Egyptian vassal. After all, who can believe for a moment that Biden cares about the civilians of Gaza, given that every day he delivers thousands of “made in the USA” bombs to Israel, without which the genocide could not take place?

Against the barbarity and bloodbath in preparation, against the criminal complicity of all the major powers, let us salute the appeal of Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in the daily Haaretz of February 11: “All we can do now is ask, beg, shout: don’t enter Rafah! An Israeli incursion into Rafah would be an attack on the world’s largest camp for displaced persons. It would involve the Israeli army in war crimes of a gravity that even it has not yet committed. It is impossible to invade Rafah today without committing war crimes. If the IDF invades Rafah, the city will become a mass grave.” n

Dominique Ferré

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Why Does Israel Want to “Kill” UNRWA?

Israel wants to liquidate the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), created in 1949. The lives of 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in 58 camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria depend on this organization. Thirty thousand employees run schools, dispensaries and food aid.

The project has a long history. Ten years ago, the Times of Israel (August 1, 2014) reported, “Israel privately considers that UNRWA (…) should not exist.” As this Palestinian schoolteacher from a camp in Jordan puts it, “UNRWA is an international witness to the crimes committed against the Palestinian people. That’s why they want to kill this witness” (Middle East Eye, April 16, 2018).

So, at the end of January, Israel accused twelve UNRWA employees (out of the 13,000 working in Gaza!) of taking part in the October 7 attack. Immediately, the Biden administration blocked its contribution to UNRWA, followed by nineteen governments, including Macron’s. “People are going to die if the agency is not (funded)”, denounces Juliette Touma, head of UNRWA.

But on February 4, the European Union’s head of diplomacy noted that there was “no proof“, referring to an “Israeli attempt to kill” UNRWA. On February 8, the UN’s internal commission of inquiry wrote that “Israel has provided no evidence“. Caught in a lie, the Israeli propaganda machine launched a new accusation: the entrance to a tunnel had been discovered “near” an UNRWA school!

Embarrassed, Macron’s Foreign Minister tried to justify himself on February 7: “France had not planned to send (UNRWA – ed. note) any payments before the second quarter. We have therefore not suspended our payments”.

More than ever, as the Workers’ Party asserted on January 29, it is up to worker and democratic organizations in France “to demand that the Macron government immediately restore its funding to UNRWA and break off all diplomatic, economic, political and military relations with Israel“. n

Jean Alain