As President Donald Trump convenes his “Board of Peace” to consolidate Israeli and U.S. exploitation and seizure of Gaza, death and suffering continue to stalk the population. Estimates are that 3-15 times as many Gazans have died since October, 2023 as the official toll of over 72,000 - not only from conflict, but from malnutrition and disease. At least 56% of the dead are women, children and the elderly (Reuters, 2/19). Since the so-called ceasefire, Israel has occupied 53% of the territory, relief supplies remain severely restricted, and almost no one has been allowed egress for life-saving medical treatment. The long-standing Israeli dream of ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians is continuing apace in Gaza, as it also accelerates in the West Bank.
Meanwhile Trump envisions a luxurious territory under his control, not only as a beachfront resort, but as an anchor of U.S. control of the fossil fuel resources in and around Gaza, indeed in the entire Middle East (BBC, 1/26).
Reshifting of U.S. bosses’ world order
The Board of Peace invitation to over 50 countries does not even mention Gaza per se, but purports to be an engine for solving widespread international conflicts. It is an effort to rework the NATO/U.S. domination of the world after World War II into a new structure of U.S. domination, this time with non-European autocratic nations as allies.
Among the 26 countries that have so far accepted Board membership are Argentina, El Salvador, Hungary, Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Indonesia, and Israel. Although EU countries have declined to join, Russia, China and India are still considering it. The Executive Board consists of Chairman Trump (for life), as well as Steven Witkoff, Jared Kushner, Mark Rubio, the president of the World Bank and the Chairman of Apollo International. No Palestinians are included of course, except a technical board seat for the collaborationist Palestinian Authority that administers the West Bank. Security is proposed to be enforced by thousands of international soldiers housed at a huge new military base to be constructed on the ruins of Rafah in southern Gaza [The Guardian, 2/19]. Armed Israeli-supported Palestinian gangs that have opposed Hamas and are thought to have seized much of what relief has entered the Strip will be empowered as police.
More suffering for Palestinian workers
For those in Gaza, the plan offers no hope of resuming a stable life - no goal of their wellbeing or say in their future. We do not know how many Gazans support Hamas, but we do know that many are firmly nationalist and do not wish to leave. Hamas, although greatly weakened, is refusing to surrender its remaining weapons.
As communists, we recognize that the weakness of the anti-imperialist movement of Palestinians, from the time of the Ottoman Empire to British colonialism to U.S. sponsored Zionism, has been the lack of a class-conscious resistance and continued loyalty to a Palestinian ruling class. Whether in the West Bank or Gaza, governance has always been controlled by a small elite, in league with international capitalists. Palestinian workers have no hope of achieving a society in their interests unless they become part of an international working-class alliance, be they Arab or Jew or from all nations of the world. As declining U.S. capitalists become more desperate and competition with China accelerates, all workers of the world face the risk of devastating war and deprivation. It is urgent that we build an international communist movement to overthrow capitalism and imperialism everywhere - our survival is at stake.
