The Trump administration is pushing for an Israeli-authored resolution at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) this week aimed at eliminating the possibility of a Palestinian state. A resolution does three things. Establish U.S. political control over the Gaza Strip. It separates Gaza from the rest of Palestine. And while it would allow the United States, and by extension Israel, to determine a timeline for a supposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, it means it will never happen.
This is imperialism disguised as a peace process. That in itself is not surprising. Israel leads US foreign policy in the Middle East. What is surprising is that unless the world speaks out with urgency and indignation, the United States and Israel may just get away with this travesty.
The draft Security Council resolution would establish a U.S.-U.K.-led peace commission, chaired by none other than President Donald Trump himself, with broad powers over Gaza’s governance, borders, reconstruction, and security. This resolution sets aside Palestinian statehood and makes the transfer of power to the Palestinians a condition of peace commission immunity.
This is a clear return to the British mandate of 100 years ago, with the only change being that the mandate will now be administered by the United States rather than the United Kingdom. It would be a funny story if it weren’t downright tragic. As Marx said, history repeats itself, first as a tragedy and then as a farce. Yes, this suggestion is a farce, but Israel’s genocide is not. That is a tragedy of the first order.
Incredibly, the resolution would give the peace committee sovereignty over Gaza. Palestinian sovereignty is at the discretion of the Council, but only the Council can decide when the Palestinians are “ready” to govern themselves – perhaps in another 100 years? Even military security is subordinated to the Council, with the envisaged military responding to its “strategic guidance” rather than the Security Council or the Palestinian people.
The US-Israel resolution is being proposed precisely because Israel and the rest of the world except the US have woken up to two facts. First, Israel commits genocide, a reality witnessed daily in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, where innocent Palestinians are murdered to the satisfaction of the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Second, although Palestine is a state, its sovereignty remains blocked by the United States, which uses its Security Council veto to prevent Palestine from becoming a permanent member of the United Nations. At the United Nations this past July and September, the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of establishing a Palestinian state, a fact that heated up the Zionist lobby in Israel and the United States and led to the current draft resolution.
In order for Israel to achieve its goal of a Greater Israel, the United States is pursuing a classic divide-and-conquer strategy of oppressing Arab and Islamic countries through intimidation and inducement. If other countries resist US and Israeli demands, even those with US military bases, they will be cut off from critical technology, lose access to World Bank and IMF loans, and suffer from Israeli bombing. The US offers no real protection. Rather, it organizes protection efforts and extracts concessions from countries wherever it has influence. This extortion will continue until the international community confronts such tactics and asserts true Palestinian sovereignty and U.S. and Israeli compliance with international law.
Palestine remains a never-ending victim of US and Israeli machinations. The consequences are devastating not only for Palestine, which has suffered open genocide, but also for the Arab world and beyond. Israel and the United States are currently at war, both overtly and covertly, across the Horn of Africa (Libya, Sudan, Somalia), the eastern Mediterranean (Lebanon, Syria), the Gulf region (Yemen), and Western Asia (Iraq, Iran).
If the Security Council is to provide true security in accordance with the UN Charter, it must not bow to US pressure and instead act decisively in accordance with international law. A resolution for true peace must include four important points: First, the United States should lift its veto and welcome the Palestinian state as a sovereign member state of the United Nations. Second, the territorial integrity of Palestine and Israel should be protected based on the 1967 borders. Third, a Security Council-mandated protection force drawn from Muslim-majority countries should be established. Fourth, it should include the defunding and disarmament of all belligerent non-state actors, ensuring the mutual security of Israel and Palestine.
The two-state solution is about real peace, not about Palestinian political crimes, genocide, or continued attacks by extremists against Israel. It is time for both Palestinians and Israelis to be safe and to abandon the cruel delusion that the United States and Israel will forever control the Palestinian people.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
