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Organizers of the Palestinian liberation movement welcomed news of a tenuous in January 2025, but it did not signal the end of their ongoing campaigns. The ceasefire came after 16 months of U.S.-backed, Israeli-led genocide in Gaza, just as Donald Trump was about to start his second term.听聽

鈥淲e saw, finally, after about a year and a half of genocide, a ceasefire was reached, which was a relief in many respects and a reflection of the might of the movement,鈥� says Sumaya Awad, director of strategy at the (础闯笔).听

鈥淪till,鈥� adds Awad, 鈥渋t鈥檚 not a sigh-of-relief-and-sit-down situation. This is when the work really begins, because what existed pre-ceasefire was oppression, occupation, and violence, and that鈥檚 not what we want to go back to. And certainly, we owe the people of Gaza so much more than that.鈥�

Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire arrangement before President Joe Biden left office. The first of three phases of that agreement mandated a temporary ceasefire, which took effect on Jan. 19, 2025, and concluded on Mar. 1, 2025. As part of the second phase, Israel was supposed to accept a permanent ceasefire, but that did not take effect as the Israeli government sought to .听

Rather than abiding by the terms of the three-phase arrangement, Israel has and supplies into Gaza since Mar. 2, 2025, worsening the humanitarian crisis and and the in .听

Gaza鈥檚 population is in desperate need of food, , and other vital supplies. At least have been displaced since Israel invaded in October 2023. More than was at crisis level of acute food insecurity or worse in December 2024, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Even after aid increased following the ceasefire agreement in late January 2025, the United Nations Children鈥檚 Fund found in mid-February that 90 percent of children under the age of 2 and 95 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding people in Gaza continued to face 鈥�.鈥澛�

Since the ceasefire agreement, Israel has also on Palestinians in the West Bank. Israeli forces have and expelled an estimated from their homes in the West Bank since late January 2025, as Israeli lawmakers more territories in the area .

Meanwhile, since his inauguration, Trump has continued the U.S.鈥檚 long-standing policy of cozying up to Israel and funding its occupation and attacks on Palestinians. The new administration has already approved about $12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel, including an emergency authorization that . This support adds to the more than 100 to Israel, amounting to tens of billions of dollars since October 2023.听

Trump has also set out to capitalize on the genocide in Gaza, aiming to extract profits from cleanup and reconstruction efforts, which are expected to cost over the next decade. At a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb. 4, 2025, Trump to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the enclave, assume U.S. ownership of the territory, and redevelop it as the 鈥�.鈥澛�

While Trump and his allies attempt to shift the conversation about colonization and genocide in Gaza toward one about a profitable redevelopment, organizers in the U.S. remain committed to demands for Palestinian liberation and sovereignty. 鈥淧alestinians should be rebuilding Gaza and no one else鈥攏ot outside contractors, certainly not the U.S., not foreign NGOs with their own agendas, and obviously not Israel,鈥� says Awad.

For Stefanie Fox, executive director of , efforts by those in power to build a narrative obscuring violence against Palestinians are nothing new. Since Israel invaded Gaza in October 2023, American lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and much of the mainstream media have weaponized a dangerous conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism to obscure Israel鈥檚 atrocities and condemn anti-war protestors. JVP has been at the forefront of battling claims that criticism of Israel is antisemitic, including through organized campaigns to stop policymakers, news agencies, and schools from working with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a U.S.-based Zionist nonprofit organization.听

鈥淭he ADL uses this banner of so-called Jewish safety to protect Israeli apartheid and genocide and even right-wing antisemites in [the U.S.],鈥� explains Fox. 鈥淸The organization] spent the last year lambasting students, including Jewish students, who are protesting genocide as antisemites, yet it has nothing to say about the coming from the inaugural stage or MAGA forces that are the source of actual antisemitism endangering Jewish safety right now.鈥�

JVP also organizes against the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance鈥檚 (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which conflates criticisms of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism, in legislation and at public institutions, . This work includes a campaign against to use the IHRA definition to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws. Fox says these ongoing fights are crucial 鈥渢o ensure that false accusations of antisemitism can鈥檛 be used to pit our communities against each other and defend war crimes.鈥�

Referencing the narrative of ethnic cleansing as redevelopment coming from the Oval Office now, Fox says, 鈥淲e will keep fighting, and we won鈥檛 be confused that just because the genocide is being rebranded, that it has stopped.鈥�

The Trump administration also presents to those organizing in the U.S. against attacks on Palestine. On Jan. 29, 2025, Trump issued that the White House would use 鈥� to marshall all Federal resources to combat the explosion of anti-Semitism on our campuses and in our streets since Oct. 7, 2023.鈥�

Chris Harding, a graduate student worker at City University of New York (CUNY) and an organizer with CUNY for Palestine, says those in the student movement remain resolute. Student-led , including one on , helped bring attention to the genocide in Gaza last year, put significant pressure on lawmakers to take action on the issue, and won some concessions from the universities. Now, Harding says, 鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a fear of the kind of chilling effect of Trump,鈥� who has on the pro-Palestine movement and student protestors. Following the and , a Palestinian lawful permanent resident of the U.S., on Mar. 8, 2025, Trump took to social media to promise that Khalil鈥檚 eventual deportation would be 鈥�.鈥� Khalil was unlawfully targeted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement because he helped lead negotiations between the Columbia University student encampment and administrators last year.听

鈥淭hese kinds of threats have been hung over Palestine organizers for so long鈥攖he Biden administration 鈥攕o I think people are like, 鈥榃e鈥檒l deal with it as it comes,鈥欌�� says Harding. Khalil鈥檚 detention has already and drawn condemnation from rights groups, including the . On Mar. 11, 2025, a federal judge , allowing time to review a petition challenging Khalil鈥檚 arrest.

Fox emphasizes the need to persist, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檙e clear on the fact that we鈥檙e not going to cede an inch before it鈥檚 taken and that we will remain in struggle, and that includes being in mobilization, in the streets, and in protest, and that defiance is going to be essential.鈥�

Beyond campaigns to combat weaponized narratives and commitments to continue mass mobilization, those in the Palestine solidarity movement in the U.S. are also forging ahead with divestment campaigns, which began to gain steam last year. Nationwide, workers have begun . Many student groups are making the same demands of their universities, while other campaigns target municipal or state funds.听

As part of this work, JVP leads an initiative called , which seeds and supports local efforts to demand divestment from . 鈥淓conomic pressure campaigns have shifted seemingly immovable political conditions time and again from apartheid South Africa to the Jim Crow South,鈥� says Fox. 鈥淚t has never been clearer that it鈥檚 time to escalate those campaigns for Palestine right now.鈥�

Meanwhile, AJP also has a new tool for organizers to support economic and social pressure campaigns: . This research initiative offers a dataset with more than 500 entries, showing board members and executives at major weapons companies who also serve in administrative or advisory roles at educational and cultural institutions nationwide, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and . It gives organizers a roster of secondary targets who could be pressured to drop partnerships with weapons companies and their executives due to the threat of lost prestige or legitimacy, whereas putting social pressure on a weapons manufacturer is less likely to be effective.听

Going forward, organizers working toward Palestinian liberation agree that coalition building will be vital. Awad sees not only opportunities to build solidarity between the Palestinian liberation movement and the immigrant rights movement but also a duty to do so. 鈥淭here is a deep connection between the Palestinian struggle and the immigrant rights struggle,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e [need to] show up for them in the way that they鈥檝e shown up for us in a way that can tie our struggles together.鈥� Indeed, Khalil鈥檚 case ties immigration to Palestine issues in a concrete way.听

Harding sees similar opportunities to build solidarity within the labor movement. 鈥淯nion work is crucial here,鈥� says Harding, who is also a member of the (PSC), a union representing faculty and professional staff at CUNY. 鈥淧eople are thinking about, 鈥楬ow do I bring the struggle to my institution?鈥� Well, taking back grassroots control of unions and using that to organize with Palestinians.鈥�

The 10 national unions of the have made organizing for a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo part of their day-to-day union work. Together, those labor organizations represent more than 10 million workers nationwide. Many more unions are also pursuing , including the PSC.

Fox says building solidarity is also key to defending democracy under the second Trump administration. 鈥淭he right is going to attempt to really take down the movement for Palestinian rights and freedom, both because they want to go after this really powerful social movement that鈥檚 risen in the last year and a half and also because they鈥檙e trying to sharpen tools they鈥檒l use on all of our movements and communities,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e need to see that our struggles for safety, freedom, and justice are all inextricably linked.鈥�