South African Jews for a Free Palestine (SAJFP) on Tuesday said it would escalate pressure on the South African government and all parties to impose full sanctions and cut all diplomatic ties with Israel.

The organisation welcomed the news of the ceasefire in Gaza, noting the respite it offers to Palestinians who SAJFP state have endured a genocide compounded by a man-made famine for almost two years, and have been under siege for nearly two decades.

“…while the cessation of hostilities allows us to hope and fight for a better future, the fight for Palestinian freedom is far from over,” the organisation said.

US President Donald Trump has promised lasting peace in the Middle East after signing a Gaza ceasefire deal with the leaders of Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye.

“We recognise that the ceasefire is but one step in the journey towards a free Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The ceasefire, while integral, is flawed, and in no way guarantees an end to the genocide and settler colonialism that have plagued Palestine since the earliest days of Zionism,” explained the SAJFP.

The SAJFP is of the view that Trump’s plan risks escalating “belligerent Zionist violence” and warned of the theft and fragmentation of Palestinian land that has defined the ongoing Nakba.

“It is also important to note that Israel has a long history of violating ceasefire agreements, and we hope that the US and its allies, who have shown themselves only too willing to become implicated in Israeli aggression, will understand the importance of ensuring the Zionist State adheres to the agreement,” it said.

The organisation said it will redouble its efforts to uphold the consumer boycott of Israeli goods in alignment with the demands of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

“Palestinian liberation cannot come on the terms of others, and certainly not those who have armed and funded a genocide but must come from Palestinians.

“There can be no justice without the right of return of all refugees, no freedom without the liberation of all 11 000 prisoners who live and die in Israel’s jails, no Palestinian State without the return of stolen land, and no genuine long-term cessation of genocidal hostilities as long as the charade of a two State solution, that merely facilitates the further fragmentation of Palestinian land, is allowed to continue,” it stated.

The SAJFP pointed to the historical Jewish experience of concentration camps and vowed to ensure the immediate lifting of the blockade and siege on Gaza, an end to the genocide, and accountability for those complicit in it.

“… an end to the aggressive settler expansionism seen both in Gaza and the West Bank, and the total abolition of the scourge of Zionism, which has led to not only the oppression and slaughter of the Palestinian people, but to the subversion of the Jewish religion in service of a fascist political ideology,” it said.