The Board of Peace extends Israel’s security narrative

While the debate on Hamas refusing to disarm continues, Israel is still killing Palestinians in the background, or in plain sight, depending on which narrative one employs. For Palestinians, the genocide is a reality, while for mainstream media, it is just background noise for news reports. International diplomacy follows the same line as mainstream media, which accepts Israel killing Palestinians but not Hamas refusing to lay down their weapons. Demilitarising Gaza became a bigger aim than stopping Israel’s genocide; such is the absurd truth. 

A week ago, Hamas reasserted it would not disarm, and any process regarding its weapons would have to take place in discussion with Palestinian factions. The request, far removed from what the US and Israel have decided for Gaza, is not unreasonable. However, since disarmament is intrinsically tied to the US plan for Gaza, no alternatives are allowed. Unless they are Israeli alternatives, of course, in which case landgrab in Gaza, for example, is justified upon Hamas refusing to give up its weapons. 

READ: Palestinian factions submit response to mediators, reject disarmament proposal

In reality, the US Board of Peace High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov has already set the scene for the next step. Hamas refuses to disarm, Israel gets the green light from the Board of Peace to renege on all ceasefire terms and continue to colonise Gaza. Meanwhile, the discussion on Hamas disarmament will continue, in order to frame the issue as the reason why Israel cannot get out of Gaza and purportedly needs not only presence but more land for its security. In essence, Mladenov has learnt Israel’s security narrative by heart. 

If at some point, the debate over Hamas disarming subsides, the space will not be taken up by arguing against Israel’s military occupation of Gaza, which paves the way for eventual settler-colonies. Neither will it be filled with calls for Israel to be held accountable for its genocide in Gaza. Instead, Israel will be left free to fill the space as it deems fit. So while Israel usurps more of Gaza, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already publicly declared, it will also fill that space with colonial narratives uncontested by the international community. 

Meanwhile, colonial expansion as the reason behind Israel’s genocide in Gaza, utterly exposed for the entire world to see, is never discussed by the international community. On the contrary, the Board of Peace promotes it and sets the conditions that justify colonialism instead of preventing it, using an extension of the same narrative Israel used to destroy Gaza.  

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