Gaza: Towards Recolonization
November 22, 2024—Over the course of the last few weeks, the disagreements between the IDF General Staff and the government over the future of Gaza have ceased to be about strategic issues and have become purely tactical or technical questions. The Israeli political class is no longer asking whether or not to reoccupy Gaza; it is asking how.
Conceived by retired generals, the plan currently being implemented in northern Gaza, dubbed “starvation and extermination” by the media outlet +972, has apparently been embraced by the rest of the high command. Under total blockade, the northern cities are victims of deadly incursions and constant bombardments. The army rounds up the survivors, strips them naked, and deports them to the south in a gigantic operation of ethnic cleansing that aims to force the 400,000 Palestinians who still remain in the north to leave. For those who escape the mass deportations, the Israeli army is counting on starvation to get rid of them.
At the same time, the army is carrying out major earthworks and developments around the “Netzarim” corridor, a highway that cuts the enclave from east to west below Gaza City, which has become the obligatory crossing point for refugees who manage to escape alive from the assault in the north to head, probably with no way back, towards al-Mawasi and the refugee camps in the center and south.
For several weeks, Israeli forces have been building new roads, a sewer system, barracks, communication towers, and electrical connections, etc. A sign that the occupation is here to stay. An Israeli army officer told Haaretz that the IDF intends to maintain its presence until 2026 and that there “is no intention of allowing the residents of northern Gaza to return to their homes.”
In public opinion, the recolonization of the enclave and the extermination by bombs, drones, or hunger are no longer a matter of debate. The invasion of Lebanon put an end to the mobilizations against Netanyahu, which had nonetheless never sought to question the colonial nature of the war anyway.
While the opposition movement felt that the government was not doing enough to fight Hezbollah and allow internally displaced people to return to the northern border, Israel’s latest war against the Lebanese people seems to have satisfied their demands. At the same time, the initiatives of the messianic far-right are multiplying. After organizing cruises to allow future settlers to witness the genocide live, Daniella Weiss and her organization Nachala have already recruited 500 families to resettle in the enclave.
In the background, the expansion of the endless war and the absence of political solutions tend to exclude any other alternative for Israel other than a pure and simple end of the “Palestinian problem.” While the colonial consensus is ever stronger within Israeli society, the concretization of recolonization is also being strengthened internationally.
With Donald Trump’s victory in the White House, Israel is likely to have even greater latitude to carry out a permanent recolonization of Gaza. If the new Trump cabinet does not want a war with Iran and favors the strategy of “maximum pressure” to force the Iranian regime to back down, the evangelical and Zionist hawks surrounding the president will give Netanyahu almost total room to maneuver in the Palestinian territories.
Above all, Trump’s regional policy, in line with the Abraham Accords, but also the Biden administration’s policy of unconditional support for the genocide in Gaza, threatens to once again sweep the Palestinian question under the carpet by accelerating the rapprochement between the reactionary states of the region and Israel. If the Arab bourgeoisies, during the summit in Riyadh last week, hardened their tone towards Israel and claim to brandish the banner of the Palestinian cause, it is above all to warn the new Trump administration against the risks of a war with Iran and to exchange their rallying to the Israeli colonial project for security guarantees.
Meanwhile, in Europe, the reactionary winds are not abating in intensity. From London to Berlin, the same wall of silence is falling on arms deliveries while the ruling classes maintain the course of unconditional support for colonization and genocide.
While the colonial acceleration is undeniable, it is not yet unstoppable. The Gaza war has given rise to counter-trends that could expand and become more active. The IDF is engaged on three fronts: in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank. Its bombers are pounding Syria and Yemen and aiming at Iran. Israel has never needed the military and economic support of the imperialist powers so much. Demonstrations of solidarity with Palestine therefore have a strategic role to play.
To break Israel’s imperialist support, they must grow and, above all, expand to the workplaces. As the Greek dockers showed by blocking ships loaded with weapons, joining forces with the workers could change the movement’s league and impose a balance of power that could deprive Israel of these crucial deliveries.
In the Maghreb and the Middle East, protests could also arise. In Turkey, port occupations have emerged while in Morocco, united demonstrations have resumed. The Jordanian street [public opinion in the Arab world] is catching its breath after mobilizing almost every evening in Aman in April and could mobilize again.
From the heart of the imperialist capitals to Israel’s neighboring countries, the global movement in support of Palestine has the potential to cut the lifeline that connects Israel to the Western powers. As long as these fronts are not defeated and the mobilizations gain strength, it is still possible to stop the colonization.
—Left Voice, November 22, 2024