Gaza: Where’s that?

The first phase of the so-called Trump peace plan came into effect on October 10, 2025. This ceasefire included the return of all hostages by Hamas, dead or alive, and the withdrawal of the IDF to within a yellow buffer line. Hamas have delivered on their part of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF have retreated to within the yellow line, and in addition, post-ceasefire, the IDF has also killed hundreds of people, including many children. The genocide that took place in Gaza and the current destitution under which two million people are living are simply off our screens. Tent cities have been erected with no access to running water, which have been flooded due to heavy rain, and access to proper medical care is limited. Humanitarian conditions in the territory remain dire, according to the UN, which has stressed the need for the unrestricted flow of critical supplies. All the while, Witkoff and Kushner are pushing the concept for the new Mediterranean Riviera not for Gazans but to line their pockets and those in Trump’s family. Just as an aside, Witkoff is also trying to negotiate a wait for it, a $12 trillion trade deal with Russia, which will require throwing Ukraine under the bus.

The illegal annexation of the West Bank by the Israeli Reich continues at a pace with only mealy-mouthed condemnation by the European democracies and nothing from Trump’s regime. For those British politicians who complained about the chanting of the phrase by the protesters, “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” as being an anti-Semitic trope, where is your condemnation of the continuing illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank through the increase in the establishment of new settlements and settler violence?

We are apparently moving on to phase two of the Peace Plan, which entails the complete withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza and demilitarisation and the disarming of Hamas. The issue is that Hamas have said that they will not disarm until there is a clear road map towards an independent Palestinian state, not exactly an unreasonable request. On the other hand, the current Israeli Reich has not committed to a full withdrawal. To say that this ceasefire is fragile is an understatement, and Netanyahu could resume the genocide at the drop of a hat.

There are reports that Starmer, a former human rights lawyer and Director of Public Prosecutions, is considering joining Trump’s peace board, and for those who call him a good person, joining this board will do irreparable damage to his standing as “a good man”, let alone to his meagre legacy as a British Prime Minister. I do hope these reports have no merit.

It seems that ” out of sight, out of mind is the mantra that can now be applied to Gaza and applied to Sudan, where the UN have also said that genocide is being committed. To my friends in the media, don’t be distracted by Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and the utterings of King Silliman, both of whom are the lowest form of creation, but continue to report on the human suffering that continues in Gaza and the West Bank.

Finally, the attack by Israel and the US on Iran has again pushed Gaza further into the background. Not understanding the past, Trump and the American military assumed the decapitation and management change strategy that worked in Venezuela would work in Iran. They seemed to have overlooked the history of Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, let alone understanding the theocratic regime in Iran and the pain it would allow its people to suffer to stay in power; in addition, a bit of martyrdom would not go amiss.

Suneil Sharma

16th March 2023

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