President Trump Reigns at the Peace Summit in Egypt in which He Acknowledged his Special Friend Going Back to his Presidental Race with the “Crooked” Hillary Clinton; Time to Move on Trump – Don’t You Agree?

The Maine Coalition for Palestine welcomes the recently announced Gaza ceasefire that may bring needed relief to Gaza and an end to deliberate starvation.  Yet we are deeply concerned over Trump’s 20-point plan and its ramifications, the failure to consult with Palestinians, the lack of any tangible pathway to Palestinians right to self-determination and the likelihood that Israel will fail to implement even its minimal obligations according to a press release issued this morning by the non-profit.

Gaza has suffered two years of devastation in an Israeli-engineered genocide that has shocked the conscience of the world.  Israel’s brutality has killed or maimed more than ten percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, with thousands still buried under the rubble.  The lose and trauma in Gaza are unimaginable:  decimated families, deliberately-induced famine and the near-total destruction of homes and life-sustaining infrastructure, espeically health, water, sanitation and education.  These crimes against humanity, perpetrated without acountabililby by Israel and paid for by more than $33 billion of our US tax dollars, have been roundly condemned by expert legal bodies of the United Nations, human rights organizations, scholars of genocide and the vast majority of states.

The promised end of the killings and resumption of the flow of aid therefore come as welcome relief.  For two years, Mainers and people of goodwill around he world have been demanding a ceasefire.  Now we can finally breathe a sign of relief for Gaza, even as we continue to hold our breath in fear of what is to come.

The ceasefire is only the first stage of Trump’s 20-point plan for the future governance and reconstruction of Gaza.  The plan was made in consultation with Israel, but without input from Palestinians on the ground.  It requires them to disarm and beome vaguely “de-radicalized”, with no acknowledgement of their decades-long grievances under Israel’s occupation and siege.

Under the plan, Gaza would be governed for an undetermined period of years by an “International Peace Board,” chaired by Trump and including the discredited former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and a number of otherwise unnamed billionaires.  It appears to be more of a re-construction investment plan rather than a peace plan and may be the first step towards creating Trump’s much touted “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Trump’s plan replaces the Israeli occupation with an Amerian-led occupation by a multi-national and Arab “Interim Stabilization Force” to relieve the occupier, Israel, of the burden of its occupation.  It requires Palestinian submission to American authority working in tandem with Israel, thus rewarding the perpetrators of genocide while punishing its victims.

The plan dangles the carrot of the end of bombings and allegiation of Israel’s manufactured famine, while promising “steps” toward agreements and negotiations that have failed for the past 30 years.  We have seen such “steps” before and this plan promises even less than the failed Oslo Agreement did.  Point 20 of the plan simply says that the US will “establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians” to find a “political horizin for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.”

This is thinly coded wording for “we will not allow Palestinian self-determination,” thrown in the face of mounting recognition of Palestinian human rights by the international community.  The plan contains not a word about the West Bank which is an ongoing target of Israeli ethnic cleansing.

In our view, Trump’s plan is a recipe for permanent American-Israeli occupation and real estate development.  It is unworkable in the long term and far from a pathway to a just and lasting peace in Gaza or in all of Palestine.  There is no peace without justice and accountability and the full exercise of fundamental human rights by all.

“Was anyone representing the Palestinians seen at the Summit in Egypt?” asks ths blogger.