|
Written By Hasan Zia
Under international law, all peoples have the right of self-determination. To freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. This statement is embedded in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. For Palestinians, this legal right has been hijacked. In the past few months, several nations have officially recognized the State of Palestine. These include major G7 nations such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and France. 81% of UN member states officially recognize the State of Palestine, yet despite this progress, the barriers to Palestine’s right of self-determination seem immovable. On September 29, President Trump unveiled a 20-point peace plan to end Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This plan is to create what Trump himself has called a “strong, durable, and everlasting peace.” His peace plan includes provisions Palestinian advocacy groups have long called for, such as unimpeded humanitarian aid and redevelopment of Gaza. However, the peace plan attacks the very fundamental aspects of Palestinian self-determination, which is the key to lasting peace in the region. Trump’s plan for peace imposes an international stabilization force upon the Palestinian people, with a stated goal of demilitarizing the Gaza Strip and securing the border areas. This would leave Palestinians with a foreign security force, while disarming the resistance to Israel’s occupation. The stabilization force essentially becomes a further instrument of occupation of the Palestinian people. In addition, the plan mandates a transitional government headed by the President of the United States, the largest enabler of Israel’s genocide, with no definitive end date for this transitional period. These two aspects of Trump’s peace plan were confirmed in a recent vote by the UN Security Council. This plan fails to protect the Palestinian people and does not address the root causes of the conflict, including Israel’s illegal siege, occupation and apartheid. Rather, Trump’s peace plan is an impediment to Palestine’s right to self-determination, further establishing the existing power imbalance, and puts forth a capital-driven method of foreign control. So how is this continuously happening? How is it that after 81% of UN member nations recognize Palestine as a state, there is still no definitive plan for Palestinians to have the right of self-determination, a right that Palestinians have not had for generations? This is because the genocide, occupation, and apartheid of Palestinians is a collective crime, enabled and sustained by the complicity of influential third-party states, who enrich themselves off Israel’s success, and the suffering of Palestinians. Many states, primarily Western ones, have facilitated and legitimized the genocidal campaign perpetrated by Israel, and allowed for Israel to portray Palestinians as “human shields,” and the onslaught in Gaza as a fight against barbarism. Why have they done so? Because there is significant economic gain from the success of Israel’s occupation, through taking away Palestine’s right of self-determination. For example, many countries increased their economic ties with Israel during the genocide, including Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, and United Arab Emirates, countering the trade decline Israel would otherwise face. The United States has funded the Israeli military for over 60 years, and is providing Israel with a guaranteed $3.3 billion a year in US Foreign Military Financing, plus $500 million per year for missiles. The US accounts for two-thirds of Israel’s annual arms imports. In addition, corporate machinery sustains Israel’s genocide and occupation. Corporations continuously build their wealth off the success of Israel’s occupation. Palestinian suffering is lucrative for corporations, with arms companies having record profits, agribusiness sustaining settler expansion, and tech companies developing surveillance. These businesses are not neutral, but active contributors to the genocide and a significant participant in the erosion of Palestinian self-determination. Corporations such as IBM, Palantir, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Airbnb, and Caterpillar, all profit off the direct suffering of the Palestinians, and Israel’s continued superiority and engagement in the conflict serve the bottom lines of their CEOs and shareholders. Even at the heart of Donald Trump’s “peace” plan, there is the goal of creating profit for United States property developers. Until the financial backers of Israel’s crimes are held to account, there will be no genuine pathway to Palestinian self-determination. There will be no end to the violence, or to the genocide, until we come to the reckoning that human rights matter more than capital-driven interests. It’s our responsibility to remind the governments across the world that their democratic duty is to the people, and not to corporate-driven profits. Sources:
|
