Last week, Hamas announced the dissolution of the body that has governed the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades, clearing the way for a technocratic committee to administer the territory. Given that this is the same Gaza Strip where a genocide is taking place and the Israelis are relentlessly expanding their brutal occupation, one would think that this would be bigger news. Sadly, for the Palestinians, their struggle appears to have taken a backseat to the Hormuz crisis and its energy effects. According to Hamas officials, the head of the government’s emergency committee has decided to dissolve the committee to facilitate the administrative and governmental transition to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG). This committee is currently based in Cairo and was created by the Board of Peace that Trump established when he brokered the current ceasefire last year. Of course, to say that Gaza is currently under a ceasefire would be a gross mischaracterisation. Well over a thousand Palestinians have been killed since it came into effect, with the Israelis having no qualms about regularly violating it.
The latest additions to this grisly total, as of writing, came this past Sunday with Israeli attacks killing at least six people in the strip, including a 9-year-old girl. This girl was reportedly killed when Israeli gunfire was directed at a tent encampment. What threat this encampment posed is unclear but what we do know is that an independent UN commission has said that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank. And yet, it is the Palestinian resistance that is clearly trying to keep the peace process moving forward, with a Hamas spokesman saying that Hamas has taken a new step in order to remove any pretexts for the occupation. The issue of Hamas’ disarmament, however, remains unresolved. That it is the arms of the Palestinian resistance that are the issue rather than those of the ones guilty of genocide and occupation is very telling. Nevertheless, it is those who are being subjected to genocide and having their land swallowed up during what is supposed to be a ceasefire who are actually playing by the rules, however unfair they may be.
In fact, many in the West are now getting a dose of just how violent and unreasonable Israel can be. Last week, US lawmaker Ro Khanna said he was “detained” by armed Israeli settlers along with other Americans during a visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. How confident must the Israelis be in their US backing to treat American journalists and politicians this way. But, then again, given how President Trump has virtually tanked his own presidency at the egging of the Zionists, perhaps none of this is surprising. The pressure on the Palestinian resistance to disarm will now likely be raised, but it is important to remember that they are not the cause of this conflict. Regardless of who governs Gaza going forward, without the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and an end to the occupation, peace will remain elusive.
