IAWM PRESS RELEASE, 12 October 2025
The IAWM welcomes the ceasefire in Gaza and the proposed release of some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons and all remaining Israeli prisoners in Gaza, living and dead.
However, we have serious concerns about the details of the agreement, not least the colonial overtones, and the next phases. The analysis from the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) of the Trump-Netanyahu so-called peace plan, claims it was “primarily designed by Israel’s fascist government to save it from its unprecedented global isolation” – https://www.bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-civil-society-reacts-trump-netanyahu-genocidal-plan
The 20-point plan does nothing to address the root causes of the conflict.
The IAWM believes that this agreement has primarily come about because of the incredible resilience of the Palestinian people and the huge international solidarity movement of people power. Last week alone millions of people protested on the streets of multiple capital cities worldwide – including up to 400,000 in London yesterday – and 450 humanitarian activists attempting to bring vital aid and hope to Gaza were kidnapped from the Sumud Freedom Flotilla, brought to Israel against their will and tortured for days in Israel’s worst prison before being ‘deported from Israel.’ As warned, Italian unions unleashed a national strike.
President Donald Trump, who has stated his egotistical desire to get a Nobel Peace Prize, may also be worried about his MAGA base, as polls show the majority of all Americans want a ceasefire, the end of the genocide, and for the US government to stop sending arms and giving diplomatic cover at the UN to Israel. Trump could have applied pressure on Netanyahu at any time since his inauguration simply by stopping the arms flow to Israel, but he chose not to, and thousands more died.
Former US President Joe Biden, a self-declared Zionist, aided by Anthony Blinken, another Zionist, could have stopped Netanyahu and saved many lives had he cut off arms to Israel. The simple fact is that the US, supported by Germany, Britain, and other Western governments, has both enabled and collaborated in this genocidal war and in a rash and unprovoked bombing of Iran at the behest of Netanyahu. The fact that Israel bombed Evin Prison and killed upwards of 79 prisoners, who would by definition be “dissident” Iranians, including women, hardly got a media mention.
The proposed phased withdrawal by Israel and the continuation of a new western colonial structure for the post-genocide governance of Gaza is completely unacceptable. There must be no ‘Riviera’ for rich foreigners built over the blood and bones of Palestinians crushed and suffocated under the rubble in their own land.
Gaza has been a beacon, and a wakeup call to the people of the whole world. Our world has been shown to be controlled and upside down, where people charged with genocide by the highest world courts go free and those who protest genocide are jailed.
The masks of our capitalist rulers have slipped and once and for all we see the ugly racist faces underneath, prepared to destroy an entire people to steal their land and resources and to profiteer with weapons sales. Nothing will stop us from continuing to advocate and campaign for a free Palestine and an end to the anachronistic colonial occupation.
We call for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the West Bank, for the immediate influx of aid to Gaza, the release of all 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners and for reparations to be paid by Israel, the US and other powers to the people of Palestine to help them reconstruct their lives.
We call on the Irish Government to immediately pass the OTB, to sanction Israel, to stop US military flights landing at Shannon Airport and the overflights of Irish airspace by arms-bearing planes, including Lufthansa.
The Israel state is a colonial project premised on supremacy and racism established for the benefit of western powers and while the ceasefire is welcome, any long-term solution towards peace and justice must not be colonial in nature but instead should prioritise the needs, aspirations and human rights of Palestinians.
Palestinians, not murdering Israeli leaders and their greedy Western backers, must have the right to decide their own future.
ENDS
