> _Why Palestine Must Be Free_. Directed by Our Changing Climate, 2024. _YouTube_, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg4zPo6HbpQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg4zPo6HbpQ). # The Palestinian genocide demands climate justice and anti-imperialism - November 3rd, 1840: Akka was bombarded into oblivion by British ships - Objective: open trade routes for the UK's surplus of cotton - How is the Palestinian genocide linked with fossil capitalism? - **==Not only moral justice, but also climate justice and anti-imperialism==** ## 1. This Is Genocide - 40,000+ Palestinians killed since October 2023 - Genocide driven by zionism and settler colonialism - Settler colonialism is about access not to resources, but to the territory itself - Zionism states the need to create a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine - **==It stands or falls by the question of armed force==** - 1948: the Nakba. 800,000 Palestinians were uprooted. - Villages set aflame, blowed up, mines planted in the rubble - Land acquisition law: seizure of 740,000 acres of land, 73,000 houses and 7,800 workshops - Since then, slow occupation of the entire region of Palestine by Israel - ==**Israeli settlements are illegal under international law**==[^1] - Bloody Palestinian strike of resistance on October 7th, 2023 ## 2. Why the Imperial Core Needs Israel - **==Israel is now the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid in the world==**[^2] - This is partly due to the influence of Israeli lobby groups… - But also mostly to the geopolitical advantages of having a Western outpost in the Middle East - **==Crucial for the US to secure a constant influx of fossil fuels from West Asia==** - In 1977, OPEC oil was the source of 85% of US crude oil imports - Since 1946, the US has poured $310bn into the Israeli occupation of Palestine - Settler colonies must continually fortify structures of racial oppression, class exploitation, and dispossession - **They therefore tend to be highly militarized and reliant on external support, making them perfect partners for US imperialism** ## 3. The Fossil Fuel War Machine - **==Ecocide is a tool of settler colonialism==** - 800,000+ olive trees destroyed by Israel between 1967-2012 - Settler colonialism argues that no one lived on the land they now occupy - If needed, all evidence of previous civilization is destroyed - **Total carbon emissions due to direct war activities in Gaza from October 2023 to Februry 2024 are estimated to be ==between 420m and 652m tCO2e==**[^3] - Israel's annual emissions in 2022 were 56m tCO2e, and France 297m[^4] ## 4. What Does the Future Hold? - How do we bring justice and reparations into all this? - **==An immediate ceasefire must be drawn up==** - A two-state solution is not viable, since Israel will continue to conduct its expansionist policy - Secular one state with a right to return? Perhaps. - **==In all cases, a free Palestine must be the future.==** - **We can all take action through protests, joining anti-war groups or the BDS movement (Boycott, Divest, Sanction), and donating** ## 🔍 Further Reading and Resources - <https://ourchangingclimate.notion.site/Palestine-Resources-55eeb63a6d85431dba5bf83e7e4ff838> --- [^1]: <https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1152296> [^2]: <https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts> [^3]: <https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/94585> [^4]: <https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=ISR~FRA>