What Should we Do During the Israeli Ceasefire?

12.10.2025

Palestinians have the respite of a ceasefire, and we share with them their walking home in their thousands, in a celebratory mood – while we know they walk on empty tummies, and in trepidation for what the future holds now the drones and bombs have gone silent. The rest of the “Peace Plan” is not really a plan. So, this means now is the moment when, we, in the rest of the world, have the duty to act to change the geo-politics enough so as to force Israel and its allies to submit to international law. For this to happen, we, in the rest of the world, have work to do. We must now, in this moment, accentuate our own political mobilization. We must somehow force our own Governments to isolate Israel. We must work now to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, its sieges, its check-points and demolitions, its colonization and its apartheid. These are all the driving forces behind the Israeli State’s genocide. They must be ended for good. Otherwise the ceasefire will be merely a pause in the genocide. Every well-thought-out action we take can change the balance of forces, and this will determine the geo-political outcome. We must act, like the workers of Italy have begun to act. We must also find ways to make our Government act so that it isolates Israel completely. For example, we must stop the entry into Mauritius of any Israeli, who is potentially a war criminal. This means the Government must demand visas accompanied by affidavits about Israeli visitors’ relations, past and present. with the IDF that might make them liable to charges of participating in genocide. Making Israel responsible for its crimes in such ways will help create the conditions for peace in the “Middle East”, or West Asia. We must stop the Israeli State’s further expansion into the land of its neighbours. All those living in historic Palestine, and all Palestinian refugees, must be able to live in peace, equality and justice, from the river to the sea, whether in one state or two. The ICJ judgment on the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, must be respected, just as the illegality of the UK occupation of part of Mauritius, the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia, must be respected. Colonial moves intending to divide a “New Gaza” separate from Palestine, or to divide a “New Chagos” separate from Mauritius, must be exposed for what they are: the filthy, old colonial tactics of “divide and rule”. These moves are simply unlawful. Both ICJ judgments make this clear – the one on UK occupation of Chagos including Diego Garcia, inter alia, and the other on Israeli occupation of Palestine including Gaza, inter alia.

All the neighbours of historic Palestine, too, must be able to live without constant aggression from the “Greater Israel” State.