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| By Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=138775619 |
Left Voice journalist and leading antisemite, Maryam Alaniz, pens an article entitled Ceasefire on the Brink: Trump and Netanyahu Push for Renewed War in Gaza. She is right that the "ceasefire is on the brink." Otherwise almost everything else in the article is just wrong.
She seems to think that Hamas still has some bargaining power. She writes,
The situation has opened up a diplomatic crisis and jeopardizes the second stage of the deal — scheduled for March — which calls for the release of all remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and a permanent ceasefire. Netanyahu, under pressure from his far-right allies, has vowed to continue military operations until Hamas is eliminated, calling the second phase into question.
The "situation" refers to the aftermath of Trump's remark describing Gaza as a "demolition zone" unfit for human habitation, and that the population needs to be removed into better housing. This seems on its face to be undeniably true--as the picture above (and also the one accompanying Ms. Alaniz's article) illustrates. Does she really think 2.3 million people can happily live amidst the rubble?
The quoted paragraph suggests she believes Israel and Hamas are embarking on a lengthy negotiation process which will end (ideally) with Hamas remaining in control of the Strip. She claims that
Despite Israel’s overwhelming military advantage, Netanyahu’s government has failed to achieve its stated goal of eradicating Hamas — much like previous U.S. interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan failed to eliminate their political adversaries. This failure is not just a military embarrassment but a political disaster for both Israel and its imperial patrons. Even with U.S. backing, Israel has proven incapable of achieving decisive victory, further exposing the bankruptcy of its apartheid policies.
Ms. Alaniz is just wrong: Israel has categorically, unambiguously won the war in Gaza. Hamas has been wiped out as a military organization. It has no infrastructure left, no access to food, water, electricity or armaments, and no place to hide. The only remaining military asset are a few teenagers marching around with AK-47s pretending to be an army.
And the hostages? Yes, Hamas still has hostages, and that's all that stays Israel's hand. But not for long, because, as Trump says, on Saturday "all hell" is gonna break loose. The only negotiation left open for Hamas is when and how the hostages will be released. That's it. That's their last bargaining chip, and now it comes with an expiration date.
There will be no negotiation. Israel will dictate the terms of the peace. As Trump's comments make clear, Gaza as it existed on October 6, 2023, will NOT be rebuilt, and most of its existing residents will have to find a new place to live. The where, how and when of such resettlement remains to be determined, but it will happen--and for humanitarian reasons it must happen soon.
Ms. Alaniz complains about "ethnic cleansing." Yes--but that's what happens when you lose a war. Had Hamas won, would they have behaved any differently? Of course not! Their explicit agenda was the murder/exile of all of Israel's Jews. Their goal has always been a Judenrein Palestine. It is a crusade that Ms. Alaniz has ardently supported.
Moral of that story: if you start a war, you'd better make sure you win it. Hamas started the war on October 7th, and Israel's actions since then have been entirely predictable. Why Hamas thought they could defy the laws of military gravity is beyond me. Their actions on that date seem in retrospect to be inexcusably stupid. They will now suffer the consequences.
So the question becomes where the Palestinians will be resettled, and who will pay for the facilities to house them at their new address. Neither Egypt nor Jordan want to host them, and for good reason. Egypt correctly views Hamas as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood--a sworn enemy of its current government. Housing a million Palestinians would be seriously disruptive. The Egyptians have adamantly refused to accept refugees from the war--their Rafah crossing has been hermitically sealed shut. They're not of a mind to open it now.
Jordan already houses a huge refugee population, including Palestinians (most of whom are now Jordanian citizens), Syrians, Lebanese and Iraqis. They don't need any more Palestinian refugees--and certainly not the sort that come from Gaza! Again, such an influx would be hugely destabilizing.
So I don't know what the solution will be. Probably Egypt--in exchange for large dollops of aid from both Israel and the US.
Ms. Alaniz does accurately lay out the motives of the neighboring states. None of them want Gazan refugees. Meanwhile, they're happy to see the end of Hamas, which they regard as a proxy for their archenemy: Iran.
So what explains Ms. Alaniz's completely unreasonable hatred of Israel? This paragraph may offer a clue (links omitted).
At the same time, the so-called “two-state solution,” the proposed liberal alternative to the total subjugation of the Palestinians, remains a mirage. For decades, this “solution” has been used to delay and deflect from the reality that Israel has always been a capitalist settler-colonial state created to defend the interests of imperialism.
She is right about the two-state solution. It is now impossible. But she is wrong that it represents the "total subjugation of the Palestinians." No, it was an effort to find a way for the two peoples to live together. Obviously failed, thanks to Oct. 7th.
The last sentence is a clue to her antisemitism. She describes Israel as "a capitalist settler-colonial state created to defend the interests of imperialism." Let's take these terms one at a time.
"Imperialism" is a meaningless weasel-word. There is no conscious body on the globe that expresses the "interests of imperialism." "Imperialism" has no interests and they don't need defending. "Imperialism" doesn't even exist. How the "interests of imperialism" map on to the Israel-Gaza conflict is an unknowable mystery.
But Israel is "capitalist." All this means is that it has a viable economy and can engage in global trade. It produces exports from which proceeds it can buy imports. Indeed, the country boasts a small trade surplus. Israel generally permits free trade within its borders, which is why it has a high standard of living. Contrast this with any of its Arab neighbors.
Then she describes Israel as a "colony." Of whom? Who is the colonial master (besides non-existent "imperialism")?
More precisely, she describes it as a "colonial-settler" state. She is right about the settlers--Jewish settlers began arriving from Eastern Europe (mostly from Russia/Ukraine) in the late 19th Century, fleeing from pogroms. By the 1880s there were 80,000 Jews in Palestine. By 1948 the Jewish population had grown to 630,000, despite the British Mandate's efforts to keep Jewish immigration to a minimum. In the four years after independence, 687,624 Jews moved to Israel--mostly survivors and refugees from the Holocaust, who had no place else to go. Over the next two decades, 630,000 Mizrahi Jews moved to Israel from the Middle East and North Africa.
So yes--they were settlers. Of that there is no question. But which colonial power did they represent? Russia? Iraq? Yemen? Morocco? Or any number of other countries from which Jews fled under varying degrees of duress? Today about 70% of Israel's Jewish population were born in Israel. They are no longer settlers, but instead natives--with as much right to live there as any Palestinian.
Israelis, being human, are not more (or less) moral than any other group of people. But they are more civilized than any of their Arab neighbors, and certainly more than Gazans. By "civilized" I mean a richer, more prosperous economy, a bigger, more powerful military, and a more stable and democratic form of government.
Israel won the war and owns the peace. Gazans, in their majority, are likely to be rehoused somewhere else.
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