Since I last wrote, the war in Gaza has been mostly out of the news. However, behind the headlines, and despite the Ceasefire still being in place and the conflict being at a lower level than before, the fighting has continued. There have also been developments in building the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), under the auspices of Trump’s Board of Peace and the UN (see Security Council Resolution 2803), to take over management of Gaza.
Like many, I have doubts about Trump’s Board of Peace which seems to be an attempt to replace the UN under the personal leadership of Trump, but it has set up a specific Gaza Executive Board along with the NCAG so this part at least does appear to be taking shape and beginning to plan its takeover of the territory. However, even though all the Israeli hostages have now been returned, neither the current Israeli Government nor Hamas seem that interested in proceeding to the next stage of the Ceasefire Agreement, which is Hamas decommissioning its weapons & Israel withdrawing further in Gaza. Also, while some aid is getting in, it is not nearly enough. Sadly, Trump’s attention has (unsurprisingly) moved away from Gaza and there does not seem to be the drive to make the Netanyahu Government or Hamas move forward.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, the Settler Terrorists are getting more and more emboldened with parts of the IDF (which include Settler-only Units) not only protecting the settler gangs but actually aiding them in attacking Palestinian farms and villages. When Israeli peace groups go to observe and protect the Palestinians, the Military Government will sometimes declare the area a Closed Military Zone to block the peace activists but not the terrorists.
The wave of murders in Arab communities and the lack of action by the Israeli Police in investigating them, is finally getting more and more attention in Israel with many demonstrations by both Israeli Arabs and Jews calling for action. Even President Herzog has spoken out about it. In a related development, the mostly Arab parties in Israel (Ra’am, Hadash-Ta’al and Balad) have agreed to resurrect the Joint List and they could win as many as 15 seats in the upcoming Knesset Election, which means they would hold the balance of power between the pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocks. This could make forming a Government in the 26th Knesset interesting.
The anticipated Presidential and Legislature elections in Palestine are harder to follow as I am struggling to find reliable sources to inform me about them and the prospects of different parties. The continued oppression of political activity of almost any sort by the Israeli Occupation in much of Palestine means that open campaigning is very difficult. If anyone knows of any commentators on internal Palestinian politics that I could follow, I would be happy to hear from you.
Turning to our activities, we had a very successful discussion with representatives from Combatants for Peace last month, the video now up on our YouTube Channel. I hope to arrange other similar discussions soon.