Ellen Kenyon Peers, Waltham Forest Socialist Party
Plans have emerged for the forced displacement of all inhabitants of Gaza into a camp built on the ruins of Rafah. The proposal, which is supported by US president Trump as a step towards forced deportation of Palestinians in Gaza to surrounding countries, has raised tensions even within the Israeli right wing and highlighted the fragility of the current Israeli government.
Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, who spent most of his political career vehemently rejecting withdrawal from the settlements, referred to the so-called ‘humanitarian city’ as a concentration camp, resulting in calls for his imprisonment from Israeli defence minister Israel Katz. Olmert’s words were echoed by current opposition leader Yair Lapid, who described it as ‘a bad idea from every possible perspective’.
The project, which is estimated to cost $4 billion, would initially see 600,000 Palestinians forcibly relocated to the heavily guarded camp in the south of the enclave, where they would not be permitted to leave. Northern Gaza is seen as prime real estate by the Israeli ruling class and Israeli forces have been clearing areas for development and settlement by Israelis since the start of the war. Israel’s military forces have clashed with the government over the plans, highlighting that current resources would be spread too thin and reflecting the disquiet of army reservists, who have previously raised concerns they were being ordered to commit war crimes in Palestine.
The news comes as reports of settler violence rise dramatically in the region. Recently two Palestinians, one a US citizen visiting from Florida, were beaten to death by settlers in Sinjil, which has been attacked repeatedly over recent months as part of an ongoing land grab by Israeli settlers. Referred to as a ‘prevailing crime of impunity’ by the UK embassy in Jerusalem, Palestinians in the West Bank live their lives in fear of violence and – in many cases – death at the hands of Israel’s armed settler militias.
Netanyahu has, in the past, curried favour with religious groups by funnelling money into illegal settlements. But he has met with dissent in recent days as the United Torah Judaism and Shas (ultra-orthodox) parties threaten to leave his fragile coalition over his introduction of conscription for Yeshiva students, that were previously exempt, in a bid to boost troops. In tandem, his far-right security minister, Ben Gvir, has threatened to leave the current coalition if a ceasefire and hostage return deal is signed with Hamas. Netanyahu has spent the majority of his tenure in the current government carefully walking a tightrope that will reveal, with a gentle shake, the precarity of his power.
In fear that Gaza is being ethnically cleansed, 60 Labour MPs have called for the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state in a letter to foreign secretary David Lammy. The letter also calls for a trade blockade on settlements in the West Bank. The weak and deeply unpopular Labour government, however, has proven they cannot be trusted to act in the interests of the Palestinian people and Labour’s previous sanctions on some members of the Israeli government have done nothing to stop the onslaught.
Only the unionised working class has the power to stop goods and arms from reaching Israel through organised withdrawal of labour; in factories, transport, border control and beyond.
Palestinians and the Israeli working class will never find peace under the bloodied thumb of capitalism.
The Socialist Party fights for:
- End the siege of Gaza and the occupation of all the Palestinian territories. For the permanent withdrawal of the Israeli military from those areas
- A mass struggle of the Palestinians, under their own democratic control, to fight for liberation
- The building of independent workers’ parties in Palestine and Israel and links between them
- An independent, socialist Palestinian state, alongside a socialist Israel, with guaranteed democratic rights for all minorities, as part of the struggle for a socialist Middle East
- No trust in capitalist politicians internationally. Fight to build workers’ parties that stand for socialism and internationalism
