The Gaza Board of Peace is the latest attempt by colonial powers to use “development” plans to manage, fragment, and dispossess Palestinians. Palestinians have resisted these plans in the past and continue to do so today.
Hours after Donald Trump announced a “historic” agreement for disarming Hamas and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, Israel attacked Gaza, killing 19. Palestinians weren’t surprised. “We don’t trust Israel, and we don’t trust America,” said one resident.
Hamas dissolved its government in Gaza to remove any obstacle to reconstruction, but little has changed for ordinary Palestinians in the Strip — because Israel ultimately controls whether the nightmare it has inflicted on them will ever end.
Hamas dissolved its government in Gaza to remove Israel’s pretexts for delaying reconstruction and withdrawal. But Israel is now doubling down on a demand for full disarmament before any withdrawal, a precondition designed to be impossible to meet.
Trump’s Board of Peace is in financial crisis and wants to use funds taken from the Palestinian Authority to pay for Gaza’s reconstruction. Palestinians would pay twice over: money stolen from the West Bank would be used to cement Gaza’s occupation.
Gaza is paying the price for the failed U.S.-Israeli wars across the Middle East. As the countries have become mired in Lebanon and Iran, Gaza has faded into the background, and Palestinians’ hopes of ending the genocide have faded as well.
While the world is focused on Iran, Israel is signaling plans to restart the genocide in Gaza.
The U.S. plan for Gaza is the final stage of Israel’s genocide. Bombs and bulldozers obliterated Gaza’s landscape, and now skyscrapers and data centers aim to dismantle its social fabric and capacity to resist.
U.S. companies are aiming to make huge profits from the Gaza reconstruction plan, with several billionaires on Trump’s Board of Peace openly discussing the opportunity to make billions.
This week, we covered Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace,” escalating threats toward Iran, and Israel continuing to make life unlivable for Palestinians.