After two years of genocide, a so-called ‘peace plan’ is on the table for the Palestinians, and the ghasts and ghouls of Western imperialism have been trotted out to champion it.
The 20-point document released yesterday at a White House press conference – President Donald J. Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict – bears the name of one war criminal, is supported by another in Netanyahu, and has a third at its heart in the Middle East’s grim reaper, Tony Blair.
The ‘Peace’ Plan
The document contains a hodgepodge of different ceasefire settlements touted over the last eighteen months, with one common theme: a potential end to military bombardment for the immediate, but a guarantee of continued misery inflicted on Palestinians by other means.
In return for the complete disarmament of Hamas (who are currently considering the deal) and the return of Israeli hostages (both alive and deceased), then:
Palestinian prisoners will also be released, and, according to the Trump text, “Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty.” Aid will be let in, yet the text doesn’t commit to the vastly increased aid that would be necessary to even begin to deal with the situation on the ground. The UN would be involved in distribution – although the door is left open to other “international institutions” playing a role, which, given the involvement of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in aid-centre killing fields, remains very worrying.
Most of the plan concerns the aftermath of the so-called war, and the vision it sets out is replete with imperial connivance and Palestinian subjugation (discussed more below). But worse still are the details surrounding the immediate end to Israel’s murderous campaign.
Wiggle Room for Israel
Israel will not have to withdraw from Gaza entirely at once – only in piecemeal ‘stages’. As Ryan Grim, of Dropsite News, reports, a key Hamas demand throughout is that the US guarantees any agreement, as they do not trust Netanyahu. Every previous ‘ceasefire’ has left a trail of blood as Israel breaks the cessation with impunity, continues its slaughter, all while claiming – lying – that they were responding to Palestinian ‘aggression’.
This latest plan is another in a long line of agreements that gives Israel plenty of scope to restart its genocide if it feels like it. Indeed, Netanyahu himself, mere hours after the White House conference, addressed Israeli media in Hebrew and boasted the following:
Trump himself said that if Hamas break this deal, Israel will have his “full backing” to “finish the job” – a clear greenlight for further genocide considering that it is Israel who sets the narrative for what Hamas have or haven’t done.
A Plan to Give Western Rulers Some Peace
Ultimately, this ceasefire deal, like many others before now, is about the West and the other Arab states – not Palestine.
At present the largest flotilla in history is making its way to Gaza. They have been attacked repeatedly by Israel in an attempt to dissuade them, yet participants remain as committed as ever to breaking the siege. And despite the appearance of immunity, the pressure on Western governments is ramping up and being keenly felt by our rulers at home. Recent weeks have witnessed the spate of recognitions for Palestinian statehood, the increased speculation around boycotting Israel at Eurovision, and the upsurge in demands to have Israel removed from international sporting competitions. Indeed, the flotilla itself is currently being accompanied by ships from multiple European countries.
All this is evidence of the extent to which Western governments feel they must do something to get the movement off their back. The mass movement for Palestine has not yet managed to bring down the imperial backing for the Israeli project, but it can’t be emphasised enough how much our ruling class wish this problem would go away. Italy, ruled by a far-right administration, is one of the nations that is chaperoning the flotilla – evidence that recent mass action by workers can compel even the most right-wing establishments to do things they really don’t want to do.
It is significant that this deal is being presented now as the flotilla’s progress risks causing an international crisis for the ruling elite. Years of precedent suggest Israel will break all manner of international laws to stop those ships reaching their destination – even despite the presence of the Western military vessels on the scene. Israel’s continued impunity has tarnished the international order in an historic sense; the legitimacy of this project has been left in tatters in the eyes of the majority by their complicity and support for the genocide.
And so, what our rulers in the West want above all else is for Palestine to go away, for dismembered babies to drop off the headlines. This ‘peace deal’ provides a route for them to get Israel to stop, even for a short while. In that breathing space they hope that the mass movement, in all its current forms, will demobilise. And in the longer run they hope they can use cultural gimmicks like NFL games, and their more dangerous warmongering with Russia and China, to rehabilitate western capitalism.
Hence the outpouring of positivity across western media for this deal. Having spent months decrying the various forms of authoritarianism emanating from Trump, there is now no hint of that critical stance when presented with President Donald J. Trump’s Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict. They can put aside their intra-ruling class jostling for now as they have a shared interest in putting a lid on the Middle East.
The same goes for the Irish Government. Shamefully Simon Harris has welcomed this plan, claiming it represents “a chance now to silence the guns, secure the release of hostages and get vitally needed humanitarian aid into Gaza”. He is crossing his fingers that this will be so – not for humanitarian reasons but to dampen the clamour for real action from the Irish government. They know, as we do, that proper sanctions on Israel would require defying the United States, a prospect that terrifies the Irish establishment like no other.
The Arab States
Backing the ceasefire deal is Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey, all of whom are pressuring Hamas to accept. If the Western establishment wishes that Gaza would disappear from the news, then so do the Arab states and other ruling classes in the surrounding area.
Thus far the inaction and complicity of many of these states has been as deplorable as those in the West. The bind that rulers in the Gulf, in Egypt, in Jordan etc. all find themselves in is very similar to that of the Irish government. On the one hand is a domestic population that demands real action for Palestine, and which wants nothing to do with the Zionist regime, and on the other hand is the fact that any such action would jeopardise the project of Arab and Gulf capitalism which is tied to the US. Furthermore, these rulers understand that Palestine solidarity has often lit the sparks of revolt in the wider region, something they are keen to avoid as the memory of the Arab Spring looms large in their rearview mirror.
And it is these states – Qatar, the Saudis, Egypt etc. – that have pushed most strongly for one of the ugliest provisions in Trump’s deal: the international oversight board charged with governing in Gaza. Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ – irony doesn’t do justice to the insulting name given this body – will be:
Overall, such a board will allow certain Arab rulers to claim that Israel no longer has a say, and hope that this will be enough to quell anger at what has been done to Gaza. It also ties into the economic vision for the region, on which both the US and the Gulf are largely reading off the same hymn sheet. The document mentions “thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East” – a clear nod to the Gulf – and speaks of “thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas [that] have been crafted by well-meaning international groups” alongside other assorted euphemisms for Western plunder and extraction.
The Arab states have a further role, in cooperation with Washington, to:
The withdrawal of Israel from each successive section of Gaza is predicated on the ISF’s ability to achieve ‘control and stability’, while the IDF “will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the United States”. In short, this is a recipe similar to that of the PA in the West Bank, with a host of states from across the Middle East and North Africa now likely to be directly cooperating with Israel in managing the political and military occupation of Gaza.
Since Trump regained power much of his efforts in the region have been focused on reigniting the Abraham Accords – a series of agreements intended to normalise relations between Israel and nearby states, especially in the Gulf. This latest deal has that in mind as much as anything else.
Don’t Let Our Own Rulers Off the Hook
This peace plan is another colonial carve-up of Palestine, packaged and sold as if it’s something to be grateful for, complete with the token mention of the West’s imperial fig leaf, the two state solution.
The simple fact of having Tony Blair centre stage is enough to show the plan up for what it is. Blair has the blood of a million Iraqis on his hands after the hellish occupation he and George Bush instigated in 2003. Instead of being put behind bars for his war crimes, he was later appointed as a special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet, made up of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia. During this period, he began what Jonathan Cook describes as “rapid self-enrichment through murky consultancies and opaque business deals with Middle East dictators”. He gave up this post in 2015, but continued to work in the Middle East through the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which reportedly had a hand in Trump’s plans to construct a Gaza Riviera on the bones of dead Gazans.
Speaking to Sky News, prominent Palestinian Mustafa Barghouti has described Blair’s involvement as “a recipe for continuation of the war rather than ending it.” And that is what this whole peace deal is. A recipe for the maintenance of the violent oppression of Palestinians, but in a way that doesn’t dominate the news cycle – or so the West and the Arab states hope.
To be clear, people in Gaza absolutely want this genocidal bombardment to end, and Hamas may or may not accept the proposed deal. However, it is our job in the West, as people who are horrified at what’s been done to Palestinians for decades, to not let our rulers off the hook.
That means being unequivocal in our condemnation of what’s being ‘offered’ to the Palestinians: an agreement that gives Israel leeway to continue its slaughter if it desires, while paving the way for further brutal occupation via other methods. It means having a strong grasp of why our rulers are pushing for it. And it means resolving that we won’t give them a minute’s peace for this so-called ‘peace’ place, not until we’ve done all we can to dismantle the Zionist regime.
