Source: Daily Kos

This is because Netanyahu has said that Israel ,which now is occupying 64% of the Gaza Strip, and that Yellow Line keeps moving, will not leave Gaza until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed” argues Susan Pashkoff

On  30 July 2026, this announcement was made by Trump and Al Jazeera reported:

“This agreement is a critical step towards Gaza finally being governed by a new Palestinian government that will work closely with the Board of Peace to help the Palestinian people,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.

“At the same time, Israel will have the security it deserves, with Gaza no longer used as a base for terror attacks.”The copy of the agreement obtained by Al Jazeera says that the disarmament process will begin with the entry of a National Committee and the International Stabilisation Force to Gaza. The National Committee will then oversee the “inventory and storage” process, with the international verification committee observing, and the Palestinian factions participating.”

As anyone who has been watching the situation in Gaza knows, there is no ceasefire. When there is a ceasefire, people do not dying as a result of military action. The genocide has continued in Gaza.

Since the “ceasefire” in October 2025, according to Al Jazeera, the Israeli government and military has killed 1,250 people and wounded 4,120. Bodies are beginning to be pulled out of the rubble; 800 so far. The overall death toll in Gaza since October 2025 is at least 73,300 and 174,000 wounded. If the recovery of bodies is allowed to continue, the number of dead will continue to rise. 8000 people are known to be missing; but there is probably more as whole families have been wiped out and buried under rubble).  The so-called cease fire has never really existed.

Further he Israelis have moved to take over more and more of the West Bank and East Jerusalem; seizing more land and arresting, torturing and killing Palestinians.  They are even weaponising archaeology by excavating land in Palestinian towns ; Sebastia near Nablus and Nabi Samwil near Jerusalem, and  the pools of Solomton near Bethlehem on the West Bank dating back to the time of Herod.  That they were planning to seize land in the West Bank and excavating it this was raised by +972 magazine in February and again in July as the pattern became evident. In the July 2026 article, Mohammed Azzam (the mayor of Sebastia), explained that all of these will come under control of Israeli civil authorities:

“Israeli authorities have presented their archaeological work as an innocent search for Jewish history, and as necessary for research and preservation of the site. But Azzam says they privilege a particular, unsubstantiated historical narrative while Palestinians are denied the ability to manage a site embedded within their own town.

What we are witnessing is not archaeology for the sake of scientific research,” he said. “It is an attempt to reshape history and impose a new reality through facts on the ground. When historical evidence cannot be altered, the occupation tries to impose its narrative through the barrel of a gun.”

What we are seeing is a form of cultural and historical revisionism where the history of Palestinian people is being erased from their own land and culture.

Genocide and Accountability

The latest version of the Gaza “peace plan” has collapsed. Netanyahu has an election to fight and he has no reason to think that this will create any problems with the US; why should he? Both Biden and Trump provided weaponry and massive amounts of money to facilitate and enable the genocide in Gaza. This genocide can legitimately be called an Israel-US genocide.

But, as we see, Genocide Denial seems to be the name of the game among US allies and European governments. The largest supplier of weapons to Israel is the US, but Germany, Italy, UK, Canada and India also supply arms to Israel.  The lowest charge that could be brought against them, if there was something like accountability and the UN Convention on Genocide actually could be useful and they ICC and ICJ could do their jobs, is complicity in genocide.

Is that why these governments refuse to use the term genocide despite it being correct? Are they covering for themselves? Are they covering for their past actions? Is Israel as foothold for US and European imperialism in the Middle East what is happening?

Even worse, many of these countries are suppressing solidarity with Palestinians, arresting supporters and criminalisating people standing for protection of civil rights. In the UK, the suppression of Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”, the arrest and prosecution of its members for direct action and their being sentenced as terrorists , despite not being convicted as such is rife. Now opponents of the attack on  freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and the right to protest have started to be prosecuted. Look how much credibility as democracies these governments have lost to protect the Israeli government and military.  To throw out all the talking points about how democracies are accountable and allow opposition is an incredible cost.

The genocide in Gaza is literally a textbook case of genocide. Looking at the UN Convention on genocide (1948), of the five types of actions in Article II of the Convention that describe the crime of genocide, the only one which is missing is the fifth ;the forcible removal of children and I would argue that is due to racism in political Zionism and the dehumanisation of Palestinians. I am putting this here so that you do know the definition and can judge for yourself. Palestinians have been killed because they are Palestinians, that’s it.

Article II of the Convention on Genocide

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” This denial of genocide (and, as such, international law and human rights law) and the refusal to allow the arrest and prosecution of Israeli war criminals has clearly demonstrated that international law, international humanitarian law and human rights law have little meaning in practice.

Why is this happening? Why throw out a document signed in the aftermath of the genocide of European Jews and Roma and Sinti? Is it because countries that still send weapons and money to Israel concerned about how it looks, does it have something to do with maintaining economic and military imperialism in the Middle East?! Or is it just simply racism and the dehumanisation of Palestinians?

If US allies have no problems with the genocide in Gaza, why would they care that this is a blow to Trump’s “Board of Peace”? What this does is demonstrate the complete and utter uselessness of that organisation supposedly set up to replace the UN and including war criminals and other luminaries on its “board of peace”.

Supposedly the members of the “Board of Peace” were going to pay £1 billion to join and a World Bank account was set up where donations were supposed to go; this World Account as of the end of May-early June 2026 remains empty; not even the US put money into it. Instead, it seems that money “for Gaza reconstruction” is going into an account at JP Morgan bank.

What is unclear in those articles is who controls the account held at JP Morgan which could be accessed by the Board of Peace members for “the reconstuction of Gaza”. One other issue about this so-called group that was going to bring peace to Gaza and cover its reconstruction is that it seems to be based on Donald Trump and Jared Kushner’s fantasy riviera built on the bones of Gazans. The Board of Peace was already working on setting up “humanitarian places” (where? Egypt? a desert somewhere far far away) for the removed Gazans who need to be out of there while the “Abrahamic” beach resort could be built.

Self-determination, decolonisation, self-defence, & disarmament (?!)

I want to end this with a straight-forward political comment around decolonisation, the right of self-determination, and self-defence. When we argue that we oppose colonialism and colonisation and are in solidarity with a people that are living under occupation and colonialism what does that mean?

It means that we support a people’s right to self-determination, that is, to determine their political, economic and social future (as much as possible in an imperialist world). Decolonisation is not only the elimination of occupiers and direct colonisers and letting the former occupied and colonised control over their own society, it is the elimination of the mindset of the occupiers and imperialists; it is the transformation away from the mindset and beliefs of the occupiers/imperialists to that of the empowerment of the occupied and the oppressed so that they can create their own lives and futures.

This is what the right of self-determination means, that is an essential part of decolonisation. When people under occupation are not even consulted as a group of people and their future is determined by colonisers, occupiers, or another imperialist country, that is not self-determination. The most basic thing is the right to speak for yourself, to choose your leaders and demands.

So if we are talking about the right to determine your future; as a people you also must have the right to defend yourselves against aggression.

People under occupation have the right to liberate (free) themselves and determine their own future. We must support decolonisation and end occupations so that people can free themselves. That is decolonisation combined with the right of self-determination. Again, free from occupation and in control over their political, economic and social futures. This should be simple, yet this doesn’t seem to hold for Palestians.

An essential part of fighting for your right to self-determination and the end of colonisation/occupation is your right as people to defend yourselves. This is fundamental and it is obvious that if you are unable to defend yourself, you cannot free yourself from occupation. If you give up your weapons and the occupying force does not, you probably will have to continue to fight again for your freedom. People can decide if/when they decide to disarm, but to have your genocidal occupier tell you that you must be disarmed before they even leave is absurd. But the Israeli government, military and supporters have gotten away with genocide, they are certain they can get away with anything.

Palestinians have been forced to become permanent refugees, they have had genocide committed against them, their land and resources (water, agricultural goods) have been stolen or destroyed, infrastructure (homes, roads, sewers, transport, hospitals and healthcare, educational institutions) lies in ruins, their doctors and healthcare providers have been assassinated or arrested, their civil authorities and, journalists have been killed (these are all war crimes and crimes against humanity). Palestinians have the right to defend themselves as does every group under occupation or invasion.

Would you give up your weapons with a genocidal occupier that is trying to erase your existence and your history? I wouldn’t and if you are honest, you wouldn’t either. This is obvious, this is self-defence. It is not only military and armed action, there are many ways to sustain a people, but you must have the right to protect yourself and fight for yourself.

If you are having trouble thinking about it, that’s fair; let’s think of some historical struggles, think about the French-Algeria war, think of the long struggle to overthrow Apartheid and white rule in South Africa, think of the overthrow of military dictatorships in Latin America, think of Viet Nam against the French and then the Americans. Think of partisans fighting against fascism in Spain, Italy, France, Greece … just think about it, where would you stand, and with whom? Your opinion of the result of these struggles is less important; struggles are continual.

What we are seeing in the current genocide denial and the nonsense that states have the right to exist (how can we explain the non-existence of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the USSR?), this is clearly an attempt to blame the victim of 78 years of occupation. We must demand the right of return for all Palestinians, this has been recognised and accepted by the UN. Palestinians must have the right to demand that their country is rebuilt how that want it rebuilt (not how the US, the Israelis, the Kushners and Trumps want to build it); the money sent by the US government from the years 2023-2026 to Israel to conduct a genocide would certainly be useful in rebuilding Gaza so that Palestinians can live and thrive there.

What can we do?

• • Remember this is genocide, we have a moral obligation to fight! Some suggestions and these have worked against apartheid and other countries that were occupyers and oppressors.

    Keep protesting! show that you are in solidarity with Palestinians (and for that matter, Lebanese and Syrian people). Demand that Palestinians have the right of return to Palestine. Demand that Israel leaves Gaza now!! Demand the end of settlements in the Occupied Territories.

• • Boycott Israel (cut off trade, don’t buy anything made in Israel and the occupied territories in Israeli settlements, support cultural boycotts, sports boycotts, academic boycotts (cut off their academic legitimacy)

• • Divest your pensions, your investments , your union’s investments, local gov’t investments, force your universities to divest from Israel.

• • Demand government sanctions against Israel, demand that they cut off the arms trades and financial support to Israel, stop foreign trade and agreements with Israel!