It was with great fanfare that a ceasefire in the two-year genocide of the Palestinian people by Israel was announced in October. The fact that Palestine has kept its part of the bargain, and Israel has not, seems to have escaped the notice of most news outlets. A resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on November 17 includes United States (US) President Donald Trump’s proposal for a 'Board of Peace" with himself as the head. Also included in the resolution is an "Internal Stabilisation Force" which would comprise personnel from countries that Israel approves (Turkey volunteered, but Israel said no; it is not sufficiently pro-Zionist). Mentioned almost as an aside in the resolution is the possibility, at some far-off, unnamed date, of a Palestinian state. Israel’s government, however, says this will never happen.

Before going into detail about Trump’s much-vaunted (by Trump) peace plan, let’s look at some of the verbiage associated with this entire situation.

1. Ceasefire: A ceasefire implies that two, basically equal forces, will lay down their arms. This does not apply in a genocide, where one country, which has long and illegally occupied another, has all the power. Israel has a powerful military operation, backed completely by the US, the undisputed most powerful military organisation in the world. Palestine has no army, no navy, no air force, no marine corps. All it has is a group of people committed to resisting the occupation and annexation of their nation. And Israel has slowly been annexing Palestine for over 75 years. 
2. Adherence to the ceasefire: Such a phrase indicates that each party to the conflict – again, none of this should apply in the case of genocide – has accepted the terms and conditions, and is abiding by them. Palestine released all the surviving so-called hostages, along with the bodies of those who have died, if they could be located. Due to the savage bombing by Israel, locating those bodies has been challenging, at best. 

Israel, however, hasn’t stopped bombing civilians living in tents by the hundreds of thousands. It has not allowed food and other essential items to be delivered into Gaza, despite the fact that these were the two main conditions it agreed to. 

3. Genocide: This writer has no problem with the use of this term in the context of what Israel has been doing for the last two years in Gaza, and to a slightly lesser degree, in the West Bank. It is not merely his opinion; if anyone has doubts, please refer to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, al-Haq, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, multiple United Nations Special Committee Reports, The International Court of Justice and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, all of which have deemed it a genocide.

Trump's plan

Now, for a peek at Trump’s plan, now enshrined by the basically useless UN. Time and space do not allow a full discussion, but we will look at some of the key points.

• Point 3 states in part that: “ If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended….” Apparently, Israel overlooked that point when signing onto the agreement, since ‘all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment’ have continued. Hundreds of Palestinians have been slaughtered since the "ceasefire" went into effect.

Additionally, the "agreed upon line" is in Palestine; Israel forces are not, according to this agreement, required to vacate Palestine. 

• Point 7, also, seems to have been missed by Israel. It states, in part, the following: “Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip.” On October 29, Oxfam reported this: “Since the current ceasefire began on October 10th, Israeli authorities have arbitrarily rejected scores of shipments of life-saving assistance into Gaza. Between October 10th and the 21st, 17 international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have had shipments of water, food, tents and medical supplies denied entry into Gaza. Over that same period of time almost 100 requests by INGOs to deliver aid into Gaza were rejected.”
• Point 10 begins quite ominously: “A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energise Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts….” Trump earlier said he wanted to make Gaza the "Riveria of the Middle East"’, expelling Palestinians living there to who-knows-where, so he can build luxury condos on the blood and graves of tens of thousands of innocent victims. 
• Point 15 includes, as mentioned, an International Stabilization Force, comprised of nations friendly to Israel. Whether or not it would simply be a peacekeeping force, or would be responsible for disarming Hamas, has not been clarified. Skeptics believe, and for good reason, that it would simply be an extension of the Israeli Occupation Forces, just another tool in the genocidal tool box of Israel and the US. 
• Point 20: “The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.” For decades, the US brokered peace talks between the apartheid regime and its victim nation, during which time Israel continued to kill Palestinians, arrest them by the thousands without charge, and steal their land. And now the US is going to "establish a dialogue" to agree to ‘peaceful and prosperous co-existence’. This is just more diplomatic mumbo-jumbo to allow Israel time to complete its destruction of Palestine.

It's important to look at wording. This point says the dialogue will be between "Israel and the Palestinians", not between Israel and Palestine. This subtle wording again minimises the existence of the state of Palestine. 

History has proven time and again that wherever the US chooses to insert itself on the international stage, the result is always repression and suffering. We have seen it happen around the world, and the US interference in Palestine will be no different. Israel will have whatever it wants, and the Palestinians will have nothing. 

History will document this Security Council resolution as a major stain on the already tattered reputation of the United Nations. The long-term suffering of the people of Palestine will continue, and the world’s citizens, who have been clamouring for a just end to the genocide for over two years, will know that they cannot rely on their governments for justice, when international law is ignored. 

People around the world must continue to work tirelessly for the liberation of Palestine, and for the holding to account those responsible for this ongoing genocide.

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Photo: Israel refuses to recognise a Palestinian State. (by Adobe).