Celebrating the Gaza Cease-Fire and Pledging to Defend It

Veterans For Peace joins the people of Gaza in rejoicing at the cease-fire that has brought a halt to Israel’s bombardment of Palestinian children, women, and men, and their churches, their mosques, their schools, and hospitals. At least 50,000 have been killed in a cold-blooded massacre and over 100,000 injured, many losing their limbs. But the huge smiles on the faces of the children of Gaza and their shouts of joy since the cease-fire went into effect were a deeply profound thing to witness.

But just how real is the Gaza cease-fire? How enduring will it be? Many close observers of Israel are skeptical. In his recent article, “The Cease-fire Charade,” Chris Hedges, renowned war correspondent and VFP Advisory Board member writes:

Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants—in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza—but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation, and abrogates the cease-fire deal to reignite the slaughter. If this latest three-phase cease-fire deal is ratified it will, I expect, be little more than a presidential inauguration bombing pause. Israel has no intention of halting its merry-go-round of death.

While we rejoice at the pause in the U.S.-Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people, we recognize that the following underpinnings of the genocide remain unchanged:

1. U.S. provision of weapons and services for those weapons to Israel in violation of a variety of U.S. laws, including the Leahy Law;
2. U.S. deployment of military personnel in support of the genocide through servicing weapons provided to Israel; flying air attacks against Yemeni and Syrian people; flying MQ-9 Reaper drone surveillance missions to aid Israeli air attacks against Palestinians, Yemenis and, likely, Lebanese;
3. Repression by U.S. colleges and universities against students and faculty who have acted so courageously and effectively to educate the U.S. public about the U.S.-Israeli genocide and have led in calling for divestment from Israel and from U.S. weapons makers who have been making billions in supporting the genocide;
4. The silence of U.S. hospital systems about the genocide and repression of their staff members who are speaking out in solidarity with their sister and brother Palestinian medical workers who have been killed, jailed, humiliated, and whose hospitals have been destroyed and deprived of fuel, medicine, food, and safety. Evidence of this silence is the formation and growing popularity of Doctors Against Genocide;
5. The cooperation of major U.S. press organizations with genocide in failing to report fully on the suffering of the Palestinian people and accepting without significant critique the narrative of the Israeli government; and
6. The constitutionally-protected ability of weapons makers and other corporations to exercise dangerous influence in every segment of society and public opinion by lobbying legislators at every level of government, writing legislation, advertising, plying educational institutions with desperately needed funding, contributing to community events, keeping information hidden from the public, and investing in electoral campaigns.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not rejoicing at the cease-fire agreement. He immediately declared that former U.S. President Joe Biden and current President Donald Trump both told him he will have their support whenever he decides to resume the Gaza onslaught.

Fueling concerns about the durability of the Gaza cease-fire are Israel’s escalating attacks on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, its daily violations of the cease-fire in Lebanon, and its continuing efforts to draw the U.S. into a war against Iran.

Ominously, on his first day in office, President Trump removed the sanctions on West Bank settlers who have attacked Palestinian civilians, and reversed Biden’s “pause” of sending 2,000 pound bombs to Israel. And then there are these recent statements from Trump’s inner circle:

During his confirmation hearing for U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio strongly defended Israel’s conduct in Gaza while sharply condemning the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a senator, Rubio was a strong supporter of the criminal actions of Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

During her confirmation hearing on January 22, 2025, Trump’s nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik said that while Palestinian people deserve human rights, Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank. She would not answer whether the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination.

“I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas,” testified Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, at his Senate confirmation hearing. And Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz declared that he is committed to the complete defeat of Hamas. That sounds very much like the failed logic of the Biden administration and Israel’s war on Gaza. When will they ever learn?

Despite its uncertain fate, the Gaza cease-fire is nonetheless a precious victory for the Palestinian people, and must be defended. Just look again at the joyous faces of the Palestinian children. This is another stage in the Palestinian struggle for liberation from colonial oppression and genocide. Peace-loving people everywhere must therefore remain vigilant. We must push for successful completion of all three phases of the cease-fire agreement. We must remove conditions within the U.S. that have enabled the genocide.

Veterans For Peace has consistently called on the U.S. government to stop sending U.S. bombs and war materials to Israel. We have encouraged legal action against the Biden administration for violating U.S. and international laws when it sends weapons to a country that is committing gross human rights violations. We believe that the quickest, most effective way to stop the genocide in Gaza—and to preserve the cease-fire—is to cut off the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel.

Furthermore, we stand ready to give our full support to U.S. military personnel who choose not to be party to genocide. We will continue to support students, teachers, medical workers, and others who are compelled by their consciences to take stands against genocide and for freedom for the Palestinian people. We call on all reporters and editors to report fully on the experience of the Palestinian people.

We demand that the Trump administration and the Israeli government respect the hard-won Gaza cease-fire, that they permanently end the carnage in Gaza and the West Bank, that they cease the occupation of Palestinian land, and that they end the oppression of the Palestinian people. We call on all peace-loving people to join us in defending the righteous struggle of the Palestinian people for their freedom and sovereignty.