Palestinian Ambassador to London: Our people are facing genocide

During the participation of the Palestinian Ambassador to London, Hassan Zomlot, via video call, in the “Symposium on Palestine and the Future of International Relations,” organized by the Turkish “Ibn Khaldun University” in Istanbul.

The Palestinian Ambassador to London, Hassan Zomlot, said on Friday that the situation in his country is terrible and its people are facing genocide.

This came during his participation via video communication in a session titled “Critical Approaches to Apartheid and the Zionist Occupation,” within the framework of the “Symposium on Palestine and the Future of International Relations,” organized by the Turkish “Ibn Khaldun University” in Istanbul.

Ambassador Zomlot pointed out that Palestine highlights the failures and shortcomings of the world after World War II.

He explained that what is currently happening in Palestine is considered a test of the moral foundations of the world order.

Zomlot said: “The situation in Palestine is terrible in every sense of the word, and we are facing genocide against our people.”

He explained that "Israel is moving within the framework of a plan to evacuate the Gaza Strip by implementing what it did 76 years ago," referring to the Nakba of 1948.

He added, "For this reason, Israel killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 1.7 million people, and completely destroyed the infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, and hunger and infectious diseases spread more and more every day."

The Palestinian ambassador pointed out that all war crimes under international law were committed, and that genocide continues despite the decision of the International Court of Justice.

He added: "The global system does not work, and there is no benefit from it. We can no longer talk about an international system, as this is an entity that can only be used and exploited by the most powerful countries in the world and within the framework of their orders."

For his part, writer and human rights activist Miko Bled said that he grew up hearing about the heroism of those struggling against discrimination, dictatorship and occupation, but he never saw a condemnation of the resistance until it came to the Palestinians.

In his speech, Blade addressed those who condemned the Palestinians following the attacks of last October 7, saying: “I call on them to bow their heads before the Palestinian people’s display of great courage and sacrifice.”

He added: "Condemnation must be directed at the source of violence and racism, which is the State of Israel, the Zionist movement, Zionists and supporters of Israel around the world."

In his plan for Gaza's future after the war, Netanyahu said that Israel would not allow reconstruction until the resistance in the Strip was disarmed. In this report, we review this plan and the possibility of actually implementing it on the ground.

For the first time since the start of the aggression on Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a written plan regarding his plans for the day after the war in Gaza. In his plan, Netanyahu stressed that Israel would not allow reconstruction until the Strip was disarmed, according to Axios .

But the principles laid out in the document unveiled Thursday lack concrete details and are based largely on Netanyahu's public statements in the past few months. It also does not rule out the role of the Palestinian Authority in the next stage.

According to the plan, Israel will indefinitely maintain freedom of operations throughout the Gaza Strip, a position that Netanyahu has expressed in the past. While it will establish a “security zone” within Gaza territory adjacent to Israel, Israel will also control the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and will work there “as much as possible in cooperation with Egypt and with the assistance of the United States” to prevent smuggling from the Egyptian side of the border, including through the Rafah crossing. .

Disarm the resistance

The document says the Gaza Strip will be completely demilitarized except for weapons “necessary to maintain public order.” While Israel will be responsible for monitoring disarmament in Gaza and ensuring that it is not violated.

As for the governance of Gaza during this stage, the document did not clearly specify who Netanyahu envisions ruling Gaza after the war, but it says that “local elements with administrative experience who do not have any ties to countries or entities that support terrorism and do not receive money from them” will be responsible for civil administration. And public order in Gaza.

Netanyahu also wants to implement a plan for what he calls the eradication of extremism in all religious, educational, and social care institutions in the Gaza Strip. The document stipulates that this plan will be implemented “as much as possible with the participation and assistance of Arab countries that have experience in strengthening the fight against extremism in their territories.”

The document stresses that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will not be possible until the demilitarization process is completed and the de-radicalization process begins, a position that Netanyahu has not expressed publicly before. The document states that “reconstruction plans will be implemented with funding and leadership from countries acceptable to Israel.”

According to Axios , Netanyahu appears to be hinting at the participation of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in reconstruction efforts and eliminating extremism. But the two Gulf states publicly made clear that they would not participate in any plan for the “day after” in Gaza if it did not include a path to establishing a Palestinian state.

A demilitarized state

Netanyahu has long rejected the concept of a two-state solution, but rarely has this been as explicit as in the months following the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023. However, US President Joe Biden insists that a path exists to move forward towards statehood. An independent Palestinian state in cooperation with the Netanyahu government.

“I think we'll be able to work something out... I think there's a ways to make this work,” Biden recently told reporters, referring to a potential post-war agreement that could lead to the creation of a Palestinian state while also overcoming the objections of his Israeli counterpart.

It seems that what Biden had in mind was the establishment of an independent, demilitarized Palestinian state. Foreign Policy reported that State Department officials have already been tasked with considering what a demilitarized Palestine would look like “based on other models from around the world.”

According to Foreign Policy, the idea has increasing acceptance in the international community as a possible way out of the current dilemma, namely by allaying Israeli security concerns and granting the Palestinians a state of their own.

Will Netanyahu's plan succeed?

Throughout the aggression, which has entered its fifth month, Netanyahu has said many times that the war will continue until the resistance and Hamas are eliminated. But his battle plan to achieve this goal is not clear at all, despite the appearance of a document on Thursday.

With calls growing around the world for a ceasefire, and Biden telling Netanyahu that he cannot support a year-long war in Gaza as elections approach, Israel finds itself under increasing pressure to respond. This places more scrutiny on Netanyahu's comprehensive strategy to continue the war until full temporary control of Gaza, not to mention disarming the resistance.

Regardless of the impossibility of defeating the Palestinian resistance, according to many observers, which is still steadfast despite the aggression and siege that has continued for 5 months, the political and economic pressures inside Israel would hinder such as Netanyahu’s plan to disarm Gaza.

In this regard, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak criticized Netanyahu's policies, warning that the course of the war might lead to "Israel's involvement in the Gaza quagmire." Barak said: "We see in Israel despair and the feeling that despite the gains achieved by the Israeli army, Hamas has not been defeated and that the return of hostages is declining."

Barak warned: “In the absence of a realistic goal, we will end up mired in the Gaza quagmire, fighting simultaneously in Lebanon and the West Bank, which will erode American support and jeopardize the Abraham Accords and peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan.” Considering that "this type of behavior drags Israel's security into the abyss," according to what Anatolia reported .