The Gaza peace farce

Trump’s speech in the Knesset was a surreal spectacle. To be fair, most Trump speeches are surreal, but watching him congratulate himself, his family, his administration, Netanyahu, and the Israelis for a so-called ceasefire after killing hundreds of thousands of defenceless civilians — about half of them children — was on another level of spectacle.

With the entirety of Gaza reduced to smouldering ruins, Trump went to occupied Palestine to preach peace. “After tremendous pain and death and hardship, now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down,” Trump stated, blaming the victims for their live-streamed Holocaust. He then went on to admire his own ingenuity in naming things: “I intend to be a partner in this effort, in the sense that we’re going to help, and we’re going to do something that became unbelievably popular — everybody wants to be on it — it’s called the Board of Peace. Okay, how about that? Is that a beautiful name, like a Board of Peace?” 

While Trump’s Board of Peace goes to work, other “stakeholders” in the region are also talking about bringing relief to the people of Gaza, as bombs continue to fall despite a supposed ceasefire being in place. Egypt is eager to kick on with a reconstruction programme. The Turks are keen on sending teams to remove the rubble. An actress wants to fund orphanages. The World Bank is ready to start reconstruction within weeks, while, for some Arab vassals, taking away whatever military capabilities remain inside Gaza is the most urgent undertaking. 

But nothing of even the sham ceasefire is being enacted on the ground. Of the 6,600 aid trucks that should have gone into Gaza since the “ceasefire” went into effect on October 10, a mere 986 have been allowed in. The bodies of murdered Palestinians are being sent from the Israeli rape-and-torture dungeons without identification, bearing marks of brutal torture. Working under a severe resource crunch, hospitals are operating at a mere fraction of their capacity, water wells remain poisoned, and electricity is a distant dream. 

Children — who constituted roughly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents pre-Holocaust — are enduring unbearable suffering. Some have lost the ability to speak, despite suffering no physical damage to their vocal chords. “According to a report by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP), increasing numbers of children exhibit severe post-traumatic symptoms, including chronic nightmares, hypersensitivity to loud sounds, and bedwetting. Many remain completely silent despite having no damage to their vocal cords,” Middle East Monitor reported. 

At the peak of the Israeli blockade earlier this year, some emaciated infants did not even have the energy to cry, while the most unfortunate ones did not even have the presence of their parents as they lay dead on cold hospital floors.

Also read: A father in Gaza

Meanwhile, the genocidaires clink glasses, pat each other on the back for a Holocaust well done, and continue with their barbarism. 

This so-called peace plan is an embarrassing parody of peace: bombs that never stop, aid that trickles in far too slowly to save lives, and reconstruction projects that exist only in slide shows. The same powers that enabled the Holocaust continue to take the stage, with one hand outstretched in a false gesture of peace, and the other issuing open threats. 

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As this peace charade runs its course, no one has stopped to ask what the Palestinians want. Governance will be foisted upon the Palestinians from the West, while the Arabs will supply supposed security and alms to feed the devastated populace. 

The message from the powers that be to the Palestinians is clear: be silent, benevolent victims — inert, just like the rubble in Gaza. We will decide everything for you: who governs you, who protects you, who feeds you, and how much.

This is the only genocide in modern history where the victims had to negotiate their terms of peace while the genocidaires remain armed, funded, and free to do as they please. No trials, no tribunals, no justice. There can never be peace without justice. The 2.3 million Palestinians of Gaza may never be fairly compensated in this life for what they have suffered, but at the very least, they deserve to see those responsible for their annihilation held accountable. That means bringing to justice those who pulled the trigger, those who issued the orders, and those who supplied the weapons. And ultimately, it means allowing Palestinians to return to their homes — the homes from which they have been expelled for over a century since the start of the Jewish supremacist project in historic Palestine.

However, this fundamental step for justice is not even on the table.

Palestinians are being asked to rejoice through their suffering — while they await tools to retrieve the bodies of thousands of loved ones still trapped under the rubble of their homes — as outsiders decide their future. This is transparent fraud. There can be no peace when the criminals remain free, funded, and celebrated. The only path forward runs through the total dismantling of the genocidal state, the unconditional right of return, and reparations for the long-suffering Palestinians. Anything less is simply a continuation of the same barbarism under a new, flimsy banner. 

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