Outsourcing occupation

There is supposed to be a ceasefire in Gaza, but it appears everyone forgot to tell the Israelis. The Zionist state has continued butchering the Palestinians, killing at least dozens of Palestinians in ceasefire violations. On Monday, UNRWA claimed that their international staff and aid continue to be denied entry into Gaza and several reports say that Israel still impedes the flow of aid. It has also intensified its illegal settlement efforts in the West Bank, where over 1000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. For all intents and purposes, what we are currently seeing in Gaza and the West Bank is not an end to genocide so much as a drop in its pace and intensity. And even the latter point is debatable. However, the rest of the world appears to want to live in a fantasy land where there actually is a proper ceasefire. The US and Co are purportedly even coming up with some kind of ‘international peacekeeping force’ to stabilise the strip in the wake of the ‘ceasefire’.

What’s worse is that unconfirmed rumours have made the rounds – mainly in Israeli and Indian media – that Pakistan will be a part of this international force. Encouragingly, Pakistan – via the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting – has been quick to refute any claims regarding Pakistani troops being sent to Gaza. This is the right stance. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also revealed that Israel will be able to veto who does and does not get to join this force, clearly indicating who is in charge. Alongside this ‘peacekeeping force’, plans are also developing to hand over the governance of the Gaza Strip to “an independent committee of technocrats” on a temporary basis. In all this, the only ones who do not appear to have a voice, ironically, are the ones who matter most: the Palestinian people. What is their view on this technocratic committee and this international peacekeeping force? Are they content to be ruled over by those they did not elect or policed by foreigners they do not know? Given the US-Israeli insistence on excluding Hamas from any governance in Gaza going forward, this may well be how things pan out.

At this stage, allowing Israel to dictate a peacekeeping force or impose some panel of technocrats on the people of Gaza would be entirely unjust. Not only do they lack the consent and input of those whose futures they seek to determine, they also effectively amount to becoming participants in the Israeli occupation. How can countries countenance being part of anything that clearly seems to be run by a country still participating in an illegal occupation and genocide, not complying with international rulings asking it to end these practices and not even bothering to comply with the terms of its own ceasefire?