Gaza As Warning

Thoughtful, deeply-informed students of Gaza’s history and the Zionist project (such as Chris Hedges, Norman Finkelstein, several UN Special Rapporteurs for the Occupied Palestinian Territories past and current, Ali Abunimah, Mohammed Shehadeh, and many others) warned us that Israel would break the “ceasefire,” just as it has broken every previous ceasefire, treaty, or negotiated settlement. They warned us that Israel views a “ceasefire” as “you cease, we fire.” As predicted, since the ceasefire agreement was signed on October 10, 2025, Israel has committed over 1,300 violations of its obligations under the ceasefire agreement. During that period to the present day, the Israeli military has killed at least 488 Palestinians, including more than 100 children, and injured at least 1,350. Satellite imagery shows that Israel has illegally seized more land in Gaza, moving the “Yellow Line,” which was supposed to be a firm line of demarcation, more than 100 meters into Palestinian territory. Israel currently controls roughly 58% of the Gaza Strip, quietly adding 3% since the ceasefire was signed. For the Palestinian residents in Gaza, shelling and gunfire continues daily, the buzzing of drones overhead is constant day and night, and the misery of trying to survive in Gaza’s harsh winter without adequate food, clean water, or shelter is unrelenting. Under Stage One of the ceasefire agreement, Israel agreed to allow the entrance of life-saving humanitarian aid into Gaza at the rate of 600 trucks per day. The daily rate is @150 trucks. That Israel commits these egregious violations every day, and faces no consequences for its actions, is absolutely reprehensible, and represents a total failure of basic human morality, to say nothing of international humanitarian law.

These same thoughtful, deeply-informed students of Gaza’s history and the Zionist project are warning us that Trump’s “Board of Peace” is a cynical sham. For example, just one of the 20 points in Trump’s 20-point plan reads, “No forced displacement of Palestinian residents of Gaza. They will not be forced to leave.” Reality: Gaza is unlivable. The choice Israel has forced on Palestinians is “leave or die.” So, once the Rafah Crossing into Egypt is opened, some Palestinians will undoubtedly attempt to leave. Israel will, in fact, have forced them to leave, but they will cynically call it “voluntary migration.” The leadership of “The Board of Peace” is being stocked with Zionists like Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff, war criminals like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin, and human rights abusers from Saudi Arabia, genocidaires from Israel, and the United Arab Emirates who are funding a major faction in Sudan’s genocide. Every single one of them has blood on their hands. And responsible Palestinian leaders and genuine peacemakers have been excluded. The Palestinian technocrats with oversight of Gaza’s governance in the transition are not an autonomous voice representing the legitimate hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people. Rather, they are controlled by the Board, ultimately by Trump, and will function much like the corrupt, collaborationist Palestinian Authority, doing the bidding of their colonial masters.

Thoughtful, deeply-informed students of international institutions (such as Craig Mokhiber, Norman Finkelstein, and the UN Special Rapporteurs) are warning that Trump’s Board of Peace is an attempt to delegitimize the global international community and its institutions, and replace them with the Board of Peace. The Trump administration and the extremist Israeli government have no regard for the UN and do not intend to be bound in any way by its laws, courts, and conventions. They and their billionaire friends want “freedom to operate” in Gaza (and ultimately elsewhere). With the appearance of broad international support, the Board of Peace will seize Gaza for its own imperial and capitalist purposes. The Palestinians who survive and refuse to leave their homeland will be housed in concentration camps, where they will be subjected to nonstop comprehensive surveillance. This will be presented as humane and enlightened governance with nothing but the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart. Those who object will be characterized as “terrorists” or “terrorist sympathizers.” George Orwell, in his dystopian classic, 1984, reminded us of the dangers of totalitarian systems, among them the policing of thought, doublespeak, and propaganda.