The main reason for much of the war and instability that has plagued the Middle East over the last several decades is the lack of a Palestinian state. There is simply no way in which leaving millions of people stateless and under the thumb of a genocidal occupier is compatible with peace and stability. As such, the fact that Israel’s actions are making a Palestinian state less and less viable by the day should worry those leaders – including our prime minister – who are set to gather in Washington next week for the inaugural leaders meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. While Trump, ostensibly, tries to restore peace and stability, his Israeli allies seem to be hurtling in the opposite direction as fast as possible. Last week, the Israeli security cabinet approved measures making it easier for Jewish Israeli settlers to buy land in the West Bank and extend greater Israeli control over areas where the Palestinian Authority exercises power. This move comes on the heels of increasingly brazen Israeli behaviour in the West Bank, including the approval of new settlements, rising demolitions of Palestinian homes and other properties and increasing settler violence and harassment. The latter has reportedly driven almost 700 Palestinians from their homes in January alone.
The Israelis have been facilitating an illegal and violent land grab in the West Bank for decades, but last week’s moves from its security cabinet show that the Zionist state is eager to formalise the land grab into a straightforward annexation. The UN has recognised the moves as such. Interestingly, the latest Israeli measures have also drawn a rare rebuke from the US. Other Western allies like France, Germany and even the usually neutral Swiss have issued similar statements. Sadly, these words would have meant a lot more coming from Trump himself, who has, in his first meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu since the new West Bank measures were passed, said that he had a very good meeting and focused instead on Iran. Ominously, Netanyahu has now announced that Israel is set to join Trump’s Board of Peace, which does not bode well, given that the Israelis seem to have little interest in being peaceful. The irony of asking the chief architect of a genocide to sit on a panel that tries to end it is lost on some, it seems.
Anyone with a thimble of sense can see that there will be no peace in Gaza while Israel annexes the West Bank. The Palestinians in both territories are victims of the same occupation and what the Israelis do in the West Bank they will try to replicate in Gaza. In fact, Israel launched more attacks on Gaza in January than in any month since the so-called ‘ceasefire’ was signed last October. Only one side seems to have actually ceased firing, while the other continues with its genocide. The leaders meeting in Washington next week, including the Pakistani prime minister, have to call out Israel’s hypocritical, dangerous, inhumane and illegal actions. Encouragingly, most Muslim leaders, especially in Pakistan, have never shied away from calling out Israel. If Trump truly wants a more peaceful outcome and for his board to be successful, he will listen to what they have to say.
