Peace at Hand? Protesters Keep up the Pressure

San Francisco (10-10) – A passerby momentarily observing a loud protest outside the Israeli consulate pondered aloud by saying, “Why are people protesting? I thought they signed a peace agreement, so what’s to protest?” As if ending the two- year long war and genocide was so simple and there was no need to protest as a result.

While the first steps of the brokered peace agreement are being undertaken between Israel and Hamas to end the genocide in Gaza, and even before any ink hits the paper, or any of the hostages have been released, protesters today using a variety of noise-making instruments called attention to the ongoing funding and arming of the Israeli military.

Whether a real and lasting peace will result from the agreement or if this will only be a cessation of the war remains to be seen. But activists nonetheless referenced the vital role the US has provided and continues to provide Israel in its “wicked and vile craven murder of humanitarian aid workers, hospital workers, and journalists, along with the destruction of Palestinian homes, hospital businesses, mosques, churches, museums, universities.”

Locally, they pointed out that the Port of Oakland along with Oakland Airport are both complicit in providing embarkation points for military cargo shipments. Through their ongoing “Oakland People’s Arm Embargo” campaign they noted that so far this year there have been 280 such shipments of military cargo sent to Israel. Shipments leave the facilities multiple times each week and among the cargo are “bomb dropping mechanisms, targeting systems, and other key components for Israeli military assaults” in Gaza. The campaign calls for “No killer cargo to Israel” to be shipped from the city to aid the Israeli military.

“We call on Oakland city officials and port authorities to end these shipments immediately” in citing Oakland’s “Legacy of justice to ensure our community infrastructure is never used to enable genocide abroad.”

While the Gaza peace agreement is being lauded internationally, the message has been ignored in the West Bank where today, according to an Al Jazeera report, a group of Palestinians while harvesting olives there were injured along with two journalists, after being attacked by 70 Israeli settlers armed with sticks and stones. The Israeli military on site did nothing to stop the attack but were later involved in firing stun guns and teargas at the residents causing several injuries.

Managing expectations in ending the two-year old genocide will be an overwhelming task for everyone involved in the peace process while the long-term prospects of a lasting peace holding will be be an ongoing delicate balancing act.

Why then keep on protesting? Simply because until there is a permanent time-tested peaceful end to the war and a Palestinian state has been created, activists have promised that they will keep up the pressure.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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