‘Abraham Accords’ will make Gaza and West Bank destitute apartheid enclaves
The ‘Trump Deal’ of October 9 stopped the slaughter, and aid supplies were due to resume at pre-October 2023 levels. But Gaza, already one of the most densely populated areas on the globe, was shrunk to half its former size.
Israel continued its military occupation and blockade. Hamas ceased to govern and an outside administration was waiting in the wings. Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified his control of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. An independent Palestinian state is in the clouds.
The oil states will likely fund any reconstruction, with lucrative contracts for multinationals, and no opportunity for Palestinians to rebuild their own economy. Part two of the Trump peace deal, the two-state solution – like a mirage – will be lost in endless negotiations. And there has not been one peace deal to date that the Israeli government has not broken. It wrecked both the Gaza agreements over the past two years.
Marwan Barghouti still held by Israel
Israel handed over hundreds of Palestinian detainees from its jails, except the unifying figure of Marwan Barghouti.
But there is nothing to stop them rounding up hundreds more, over the next few months, including children.
Even after the 2,000 prisoners slated to be exchanged, Israel will continue to hold some 8,000 Palestinians, most of whom have never seen a court.
There is no halt to the torture of the prisoners nor the murderous attacks on Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank by settlers and the army. There is no prospect of freedom from the occupation Palestinians have suffered for more than 75 years – not even a step towards civil rights and freedom of movement.
Trump’s Abraham Accords will make Gaza and the West Bank a scattering of destitute enclaves in a full blown apartheid. The future of two million terrorised survivors looks to be in the hands of a reckless megalomaniac in Washington and western big-money speculators.
Tens of thousands died needlessly
The Gaza ceasefire could have been achieved more than a year earlier, saving countless lives.
The US had several times announced that agreements were close, but nothing came of them because Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu refused to co-operate.
A former US State Department official, Matthew Miller, said in August that the US had considered declaring publicly that Netanyahu was “completely intransigent” and wanted the war to continue indefinitely. It was decided to keep quiet, he said, because publicising it would help Hamas.
Israel’s approach to negotiating with its adversaries was stated clearly enough on September 9 when it tried to kill the Hamas representatives taking part in talks.
but Israel refused, carried on bombing and started a war with Lebanon
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fighter jets targeted a building in Qatar where they were staying. Six were killed – though not the top officials. In May 2024, just seven months into the conflict, then US President Joe Biden announced a three-stage peace plan.
Hamas accepted it and the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed it, but Israel refused, carried on bombing and started a war with Lebanon. When Israel does agree to ceasefires, it routinely breaks them.
In 2024, after blitzing Beirut and wiping out the leadership of Hezbollah, it did agree to a truce. Under this, Israeli and Hezbollah forces would withdraw from the south of Lebanon. Israeli ministers issued stern public warnings that any incursions by Hezbollah would be met with severe retribution. But the IDF never left the area; they are there to this day, attacking villages and from time to time shelling Beirut.
In Gaza in January this year a version of the three-stage plan finally took effect. In the second stage, after hostage exchanges, Israel was supposed to withdraw from Gaza, but instead it resumed hostilities.
Reportedly infuriated by the bombing of US ally Qatar, Trump forced Netanyahu to negotiate. Trump still supports Israel, but he wants Netanyahu to keep his mouth shut and his murderous impulses under control while he fixes an alliance with the Arab oil states.
But Trump’s “peace” plan has no mechanism to monitor or enforce compliance with its terms, and it grants Israel permanent control of Gaza’s boundaries and the West Bank.
