Understanding the Gaza Peace Agreement - by Ayiza Salman
Understanding the Gaza Peace Agreement
Ayiza Salman
Distraught, forcibly displaced, and brutally dehumanized Palestinians are returning home after Donald Trump’s 20-point peace proposal brings a ceasefire into effect in Gaza. Israel and Hamas formally agreed to the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage deal to pause the hostilities perpetrated by Israel, withdraw its troops from the ground, and allow the flow of aid and humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Even though the plan is a welcome development for Palestinians whose suffering deserves a respite, it is not as straightforward on either paper or in its implementation- drawing criticism over its terms, concerns about its durability, and comparisons with the deliberate violation of preceding ceasefire agreements by Israel.
In fact, the so-called attempt toward “peaceful and prosperous co-existence” between Israel and the Palestinians stands against the backdrop of 734 days of genocide, killing more than 67,000 Palestinians and starving 459 people to death, without impunity. Therefore, it calls for skepticism more than celebration as the colonial undertones, financial motives, and a multitude of loopholes in this agreement hang the fate of Palestine in the balance.
Forcing Peace by the Neocolonial Playbook
British colonial legacy continues to haunt Palestine, stripping it of its sovereignty more than a century ago and continuing its complicity in its genocide today. The latest phantom of this outdated Anglo-American approach to Palestine emerges in the form of a “Board of Peace” headed by Donald Trump, which will serve as an apolitical committee for Gaza’s transitional governance, while including the likes of Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister responsible for the death of 600,000 civilians and destablization of the Middle East during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
Such an attempt to internationalize the redevelopment of Gaza disguises the role of self-interested foreign players, who are actively responsible for the destruction of Gaza and indifferent to the suffering of its people, in the cloak of neutrality. Deliberate exclusion of indigenous voices demanding an end to not only the relentless massacre, but also the apartheid and illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel, further proves the colonial oversight dictating the terms of this peace agreement.
Pursuing Profits in the Name of Peace
Economic sovereignty of a nation-state is the primary target of colonial exploitation and the easiest agenda to promote to its beneficiaries. Therefore, mentioning “modern miracle cities” and “exciting development ideas” in the peace plan for Gaza, where twenty-four months of onslaught have damaged 89% of the water and sanitation infrastructure and destroyed 92% of the residential buildings and 88% of its commercial facilities, exposes the more sinister motives at play.
What is being proposed as an economic redevelopment plan is a way for the likes of Jared Kushners and Tony Blairs to partake in the systemic plundering of Gaza’s land and resources with political legitimacy. While the latter is a billionaire-funded war criminal, the former is Donald Trump’s son-in-law, golden boy for Gulf businesses, and a key player in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Egypt, who is notoriously remembered for reducing Gaza’s value to the potential of its waterfront property at the peak of its suffering.
In other words, implementation of this plan is likely to become the blueprint for displacing Palestinians once again and inviting private contractors to replace the rubble under which hundreds of thousands of Gazans might still be buried with a Riviera of high-tech cities, mega-industries, and skyscrapers that overlook their plight.
Double-Crossing in Plain Sight
As the colonial masters continued to pull the strings of a ceasefire and peace agreement, the Arab and broader Muslim world joined forces to provide a stamp of validation for their schemes. While the importance of a ceasefire must not be ignored, the role of Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s financial ties with Donald Trump also demands a fair assessment. In other words, this peace agreement is yet another attempt at reviving the promise of the Abraham Accords to somehow remove the “Palestine obstacle” for the pursuit of making con men wealthier.
More disconcerting than the selfish cowardice of Arab states is the flagrant manipulation of the terms of this agreement by none other than the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, regarding Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, or its indefinite occupation thereof, and the disarmament of Hamas as a precondition. As a result, the Foreign Ministers of Qatar, Jordan, UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have expressed their joint commitment to support this peace plan despite not endorsing the alterations made without their discretion. It renders their collective front, vigilant, at best, and completely powerless, at worst.
Carefully Treading the Ceasefire
Violating international law is Israel’s longstanding practice. But now that it holds international backing of the players that were meant to be the strongest allies of the Palestinians, there is no guarantee for how long and to what extent it will abide by the peace plan it has signed.
In fact, just like the ceasefire announcement didn’t stop Israel from continuing its air and artillery attacks in Gaza City, it also didn’t end the dehumanization against Palestinians that became a precursor for their suffering, as evident in the former US President and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Barack Obama’s recent tweet bothsides-ing a genocide and sympathizing with “Israeli families” as opposed to just “the people of Gaza”.
The latter is only a trivial example of a system that neither acknowledges the brutal subjugation and occupation of Palestinians nor does it leaves room for a misguided, intentionally vague, and non-inclusive 20-point reform to provide lasting justice to the victims of genocide.
Comments
Post a Comment