Down with Trump and Netanyahu’s neocolonial plan for Palestine

Permanent occupation

What is being presented to us? A plan that speaks of ending occupation or annexation but, on closer inspection, is littered with explosive traps that would allow Netanyahu to occupy Gaza forever. The Israeli Defence Forces’ (IDF) withdrawal is largely fictitious: buffer zones would remain, border crossings would remain under Israeli control, and the “decommissioning” of Palestinian fighters is not a step toward peace but a mechanism to eliminate any political role for the broader Palestinian movement.

The core of the deception lies in the promise of an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has made it clear in Hebrew that Israel has no intention of pulling troops out of Gaza. In a video Netanyahu posted online yesterday a journalist asks him, “Prime Minister, did you agree to a Palestinian state?” Netanyahu replies: “Absolutely not, and it is not written in the agreement either. But one thing we did say: we are firmly opposed to a Palestinian state. President Trump also said this; he said he understands our position.”

This is not a peace agreement; it formalizes the status quo of occupation and violence. Israel refuses to recognise Palestine. The Israeli withdrawal is conditioned on a neocolonial demilitarization objective meant to break Palestine forever. Moreover, under this plan Israel would annex increasing amounts of Palestinian territory. The phased withdrawal lines on Trump’s map are not the previously agreed lines such as those in the January 2025 ceasefire. Trump’s current map gives Israel control over almost half of the Gaza Strip, including large parts of Rafah, Khan Yunis, Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.

This plan does not end the genocide. It only sets out the American and Israeli conditions for a temporary pause in the genocide — namely, an open-ended occupation of Gaza by the U.S. and Israel in the form of a new occupying authority controlled by Washington and Tel Aviv.

The colonial boot of Tony Blair

To manage this megalomaniacal “real-estate project” being built on a mass grave, Tony Blair has been put forward. Blair, the former British prime minister and architect of the illegal war on Iraq, would lead the Gaza International Transitional Authority.

This role for Blair represents the return of the colonial boot of the British mandate. It is a model of “neo-trusteeship,” where external control is exercised over the territory, its laws and the reconstruction funds.

This plan means the personal annexation of Gaza by Donald J. Trump, with Palestinians expected to agree to forfeit all their political and human rights.

A plan against all international law

The plan is designed to isolate the Palestinian struggle and nullify all national aspirations. The demands placed on Palestinians come down to total surrender:

• Denial of a Palestinian State: Netanyahu has explicitly said he did not agree to a Palestinian state, and that it is not in the agreement. Both he and Trump regard a Palestinian state as “a danger to Israel.”
• Final partitioning of Palestinian territory: The plan implies a complete separation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, severing Gaza from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Israel can continue its ethnic cleansing unimpeded.
• A frontal attack on fundamental international jurisprudence: The rulings of the International Court of Justice, which unambiguously require Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and uphold the right of return for Palestinian refugees, are being thrown in the trash. Anyone who tears down the normative pillars of the United Nations and international law demonstrates that this plan is not about peace but about institutionalising lawlessness.

There is moreover zero guarantee that Netanyahu will adhere to this plan even if Hamas meets all the conditions. Netanyahu has already violated nearly everything agreed upon after previous ceasefires (January 2025), without criticism from Trump or Western governments.

A different logic is needed

A completely different logic is needed to break the deadlock. The first steps after a ceasefire could be:

1. Allow unrestricted humanitarian and medical access to all affected areas;
2. Release all hostages, both the 40 remaining Israeli hostages and the 13,500 Palestinians still held in Israeli prisons;
3. Recover the bodies of Palestinians who have been buried under the rubble for months;
4. Bring Israeli war criminals before the International Criminal Court;
5. End the Israeli occupation and guarantee the right of return for Palestinians expelled from their homes since 1948;
6. Provide reparations to the Palestinian people;
7. Ensure the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Conclusion: increase the pressure

Gaza is not empty land but a country with a rich, ancient history and the home of a people entitled to self-determination. Under the Trump plan the rights of millions of Palestinians are trampled, families will be separated for years, and their future will be held hostage. Israel can at any moment suspend the “peace process” to justify a new offensive. The plan is premised on the total subjugation of the Palestinians and precludes international mediation by the UN, human-rights movements and independent organisations.

This plan seeks to return humanity to the “law of the Western coloniser.” It aims to distract attention from the mass movements forming worldwide against the Israeli–U.S. genocide, occupation and annexation. That international movement has its own agenda and must not be diverted by this absurd neocolonial plan from three international war criminals.

Now is the time to step up the pressure. We can only reach peace by:

• A total economic and military embargo against the genocidal regime;
• Prosecution of those responsible before the International Criminal Court;
• A definitive end to the illegal colonisation and occupation of Palestine;
• Unconditional recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to existence and self-determination;
• An international protection force mandated by the United Nations.