In a step that clearly reveals the true nature of Israeli plans toward the Palestinian people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his decision to occupy 70% of the Gaza Strip.
The past months have demonstrated that Netanyahu’s government shows no regard for international law or humanitarian considerations. Instead, it operates with a complete sense of impunity, encouraged by American complicity and shameful international silence. Since the announcement of a ceasefire agreement last October, the Israeli military has reportedly committed nearly three thousand documented violations of the agreement, resulting in the deaths of about 930 Palestinians and injuries to nearly three thousand others, despite the Palestinian side not responding militarily to these violations. Yet no serious international action has been taken to hold Israel accountable or even to exert meaningful pressure to stop its actions.
Despite the killing, starvation, and displacement they continue to endure, the Palestinian people remain steadfast, displaying remarkable resilience and unwavering commitment to their land and national rights.
This international silence has encouraged Netanyahu to continue policies of expansion, occupation, and renewed aggression. Through his repeated announcements and ongoing violations, he has not hesitated to disregard and insult international and Arab mediators, including the American administration itself, President Donald Trump, and all parties that have discussed arrangements to end the war or establish what has been called a ‘Peace Council’. Nevertheless, the American position still lacks any genuine deterrent measures, while some Western countries continue to provide political and military cover for the Israeli government.
What is happening in Gaza cannot be separated from developments in the West Bank, where attacks by extremist settlers, settlement expansion, and daily military incursions continue to escalate. All of this forms part of a single colonial project aimed at consolidating the occupation and preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The current Israeli government, which includes some of the most extreme and racist forces in Israel’s history, seeks to exploit international paralysis to impose irreversible facts on the ground through military force and organised terror, centred on annexation, Judaization, and ethnic cleansing.
It has become increasingly clear that the Zionist movement seeks neither peace nor a political solution. Instead, it aims to impose a formula based on displacement and submission through raw force. What is happening today in Gaza represents the most dangerous phase of the Israeli project in decades because the objective is not merely to subjugate Palestinians but to uproot them entirely, eliminate the Palestinian cause….
Netanyahu’s audacity exceeded all limits when he allegedly expressed support for a vision of a ‘Greater Israel’ encompassing not only all of Palestine, Jordan, and Lebanon, but also two-thirds of Syria, half of Iraq, all of Kuwait, one-third of Saudi Arabia, and half of Egypt. Regrettably, no decisive response was made to such statements.
The forces that remain silent or complicit will bear responsibility for the bloodshed that Netanyahu’s government is dragging Palestine, Lebanon, and the wider region toward.
The imposition of comprehensive sanctions and a broad boycott of Netanyahu’s government have become an urgent necessity. This includes a complete military embargo and the suspension of all forms of cooperation that contribute to the continuation of the conflict. History has shown that regimes practising occupation, racism, and apartheid retreat only under genuine pressure.
Despite everything they face in terms of killing, starvation, and displacement, the Palestinian people continue their legendary steadfastness and attachment to their land and national rights.
If the world fails to act today to stop these crimes, Israel will not hesitate to renew what it describes as a genocidal war and will drag the entire region into greater violence and instability. The silent and complicit powers will bear full responsibility for the bloodshed that Netanyahu’s government is leading Palestine, Lebanon, and the region toward.
[by Mustafa Barghouti in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed]
