The Gaza “Peace Plan”: A Neo-Colonial Takeover, and the Erasure of Palestinian Resistance and Independence

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After nearly two years of the most horrific live-streamed genocide in history, the majority of the world’s eight billion people, shocked and appalled to varying degrees, want nothing less than an end to the ceaseless murder of Palestinian civilians and the total eradication of the Gaza Strip, the provision of humanitarian aid and medical supplies in vast quantities, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

They — we — also want the establishment of Palestinian autonomy so thorough that Israel can no longer treat Palestinians as vermin to be slaughtered in the pursuit of the malignant dream that has been the driver of its existence since its blood-soaked founding 77 years ago — the total control of all Palestinian land, and the complete subjugation, disappearance or extermination of the entire Palestinian population.

The 20-point “Peace Plan” unveiled by Donald Trump at the White House yesterday, which Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting after alienating most of the world at the UN General Assembly last Friday, seemed to accept, appears, at first glance, to finally offer the promise of an end to Israel’s relentless genocidal assault on Gaza’s trapped and starving civilian population.

As the plan states, “If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to [an] agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release”, and, “During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.” Elsewhere, the plan explicitly promises that “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza.”

The proposal also promises the resumption of humanitarian aid at scale and the start of reconstruction, stating, “Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the 19 January 2025 agreement [the ceasefire deal torpedoed by Israel in March after just six weeks of peace] regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.”

The proposal adds that, “Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party.” Also promised is the re-opening of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt, “in both directions”, which “will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the 19 January 2025 agreement.”

Also of huge significance — and undoubtedly included at the insistence of Arab negotiators — is the promise that “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return”, striking down the obsession of Israel’s far-right with the complete removal of the Palestinian population, whether through extermination or the illusory promise of forced displacement, or ass ethnic cleansing euphemistically framed as “voluntary migration.” As the proposal adds, “We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”

However, while an end to Israel’s military actions appears to be enshrined in the proposal, no mechanism is provided to ensure enforcement, and the requirement that, “Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned”, is immediately alarming, because the release of the remaining hostages seized on October 7 (48 in total, of whom 20 are reportedly still alive) would instantly remove Hamas’ sole bargaining chip, allowing Netanyahu to resume hostilities having placated his fiercest internal critics — the families of the remaining hostages, who have waged an incessant campaign against him and his government, rightly accusing them of sacrificing their loved ones through an obsession with perpetual war.

New technocratic colonialism and the evisceration of any Palestinian right to self-defence

On Palestinian autonomy, the “Peace Plan” is particularly compromised, and is insultingly colonial in its proposals, suggesting that the only way forward is for the governance of Gaza to be taken over by westerners. Although the “Peace Plan” trumpets Gaza’s “temporary transitional governance” by “a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza”, which “will be made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts”, it also notes, crucially, that “oversight and supervision” will be provided by “a new international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace’, which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of state to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair.”

This “Board of Peace” will, apparently, “set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza”, and “will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment”, maintaining governance “until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed [a] reform programme, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the [recent] Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza.”

Enthusing wildly about the “investment” opportunities, the “Peace Plan” adds that “A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza.”

If that sounds like nothing more than a pitch by property developers for “regeneration” and “gentrification” that’s probably because that’s what it is.

As for Hamas, the “Peace Plan” only accepts the continued presence of any Hamas members if they disarm, stating that those “who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty”, while those “who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”

Elsewhere, the plan insists that “Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form”, adding, “All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt”, and envisioning “a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning.”

For future security, apparently, “The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza”, which “will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field.”

As for Palestinian independence, the plan only suggests that, “While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform programme is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people”, adding that the US “will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.”

All of the above, of course, is fraught with profound problems and unanswered questions.

For western readers — and, in particular, white western readers — imagine the impression created in the Muslim world and throughout the Global South yesterday as two old white men in the White House — one the instigator of an ongoing genocide, a wanted criminal facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, and the other the leader of the country that has done more than any other to facilitate the genocide — proposed colonial governance of Gaza not only with no Palestinians present, but with no representation at all from any of the Arab nations involved in the negotiations, or any Muslim countries at all.

In addition, no detail is provided in the plan regarding how the “Palestinian committee” overseeing Gaza’s reconstruction, supervised by Trump and Blair and others, will be chosen, the extent to which Israel will be involved, or how long it will be in power. The inclusion of  Tony Blair is, of course, a bitter pill for anyone in the Middle East to swallow, as he is an unrepentant (and sadly unindicted) war criminal responsible, with George W. Bush, for millions of deaths in Iraq, while the “reform” of the Palestinian Authority is also particularly troubling.

Headed up by the aged, decrepit and corrupt Mahmoud Abbas, the PA is widely and correctly regarded by Palestinians as a collaborator with the Israeli oppressor, while the most notable example of “reform” of the PA that Israel seeks was discussed by Netanyahu just yesterday, when he revealed that his top two reforms would be “stopping incitement [against Israel] in the media” and “ending lawfare against Israel at the ICC [and] ICJ.” As the commentator Assal Rad noted on X, “So Palestinians can’t criticize Israel in the media or hold them accountable under international law. No form of resistance is allowed, just surrender.”

Netanyahu’s blatant betrayal of Trump’s plan within hours of agreeing to it

Even more disturbing than all of the above, however, is the role played by Netanyahu in this whole sordid affair, beyond his comments about the Palestinian Authority, which he has long insisted must have no future role in Gaza’s governance.

Within hours of apparently agreeing to the “Peace Plan”, Netanyahu posted a video, in Hebrew, in which he openly mocked key elements of the plan, telling his home audience (as he always does when he broadcasts in Hebrew) a different story to that reported in the western media — insisting that Israel will never withdraw militarily from Gaza, reasserting his absolute opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, and apparently relishing what he seemed to be foreseeing as the unstoppable continuation of genocidal hostilities on Israel’s part.

“This is a historic visit”, he stated. “Instead of Hamas isolating us, we turned the tables and isolated Hamas. Now the entire world, including the Arab and Muslim world, is pressuring Hamas to accept the terms we set together with President Trump: to release all our hostages, both living and deceased, while the IDF remains in most of the Strip. Who would have believed this? After all, people constantly say, the IDF should withdraw. No way, that’s not happening.”

After stating that the IDF would not withdraw from Gaza, Netanyahu pointed out to his viewers that President Trump had said that, if Hamas refuses to agree to the “Peace Plan”, he “will give Israel full backing to complete the military operation and eliminate them.” As Netanyahu added, “That’s why I think that, from every perspective, it was an excellent visit.”

Asked, “Did you agree to a Palestinian state?”, Netanyahu’s reply was also telling.“Absolutely not”, he said, adding, “It’s also not written in the agreement, but one thing we did say [was] that we would strongly oppose a Palestinian state. President Trump also said it. He said he understands. He also said at the UN that it would be a huge reward for terrorism and a danger to the State of Israel, and of course, we won’t agree to it.”

Given Netanyahu’s absolute untrustworthiness, and the outrageousness of the suggestion that Hamas, which has long offered to relinquish all power in Gaza, but not its weapons, until a sovereign Palestinian state is established, must neuter themselves as thoroughly as the discredited Palestinian Authority, it seems highly unlikely that they will agree to the “Peace Plan.”

Although everyone with a heart aches for an end to the killing, the timing of the plan, above all, reeks of desperate efforts by Israel and the US to stem the increasing tide of high-profile western support for Palestine, which, in recent weeks, via numerous countries officially recognizing the existence of the State of Palestine, and with increasing calls for boycotts and sanctions, seems to be inexorably leading to Israel being widely perceived as a pariah state like never before, and, deservedly, being increasingly isolated internationally, as I explained in my recent article, The Slow But Significant Erosion of Israel’s Genocidal Impunity in the West.

Stopping this rising tide of revulsion and isolation in its tracks, allowing Netanyahu time to try and get his ICC arrest warrant dropped, and allowing western developers and war criminals like Blair into Gaza to, fundamentally, remake it as the “Riviera of the Middle East” that Trump fancifully and irresponsibly evoked in February, although now as more of a “techno-riviera” of boundless looting and profiteering, is too high a price to pay for a people whose right to independence and self-governance on their own land, after nearly 80 years of barbaric oppression, apartheid and slaughter ought to be non-negotiable.

Western leaders and Arab leaders should be queuing up to apologize for their inaction (or their complicity in the genocide), to fund Gaza’s reconstruction, to thoroughly isolate Israel, and to demand Palestinian independence and autonomy, not facilitating a neo-colonial land-grab in which everyone but the Palestinians themselves will have a say.

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Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer (of an ongoing photo-journalism project, ‘The State of London’), film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers, whose music is available via Bandcamp). He is the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign (see the ongoing photo campaign here) and the successful We Stand With Shaker campaign of 2014-15, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo”, which you can watch on YouTube here.

In 2017, Andy became very involved in housing issues. He is the narrator of the documentary film, ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, about the destruction of council estates, and the inspiring resistance of residents, he wrote a song ‘Grenfell’, in the aftermath of the entirely preventable fire in June 2017 that killed over 70 people, and, in 2018, he was part of the occupation of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction — and that of 16 structurally sound council flats next door — by Lewisham Council and Peabody.

Since 2019, Andy has become increasingly involved in environmental activism, recognizing that climate change poses an unprecedented threat to life on earth, and that the window for change — requiring a severe reduction in the emission of all greenhouse gases, and the dismantling of our suicidal global capitalist system — is rapidly shrinking, as tipping points are reached that are occurring much quicker than even pessimistic climate scientists expected. You can read his articles about the climate crisis here. He has also, since, October 2023, been sickened and appalled by Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and you can read his detailed coverage here.

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