Bernard Spiegal

It is important not to be misled by what we might call the surface activity that Trump’s plan for Gaza has prompted.

Surface activity: a charade

Beneath the flurry of international activity directed at taking Trump’s plan for Gaza into its second phase, lies another reality. The reality that Israel has not deviated from its overarching strategic aim: to displace Palestinians from their land; to ethnically cleanse, not only the Palestinians of Gaza, but also those of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

This process is well under way, with seemingly nothing able to prevent its further unfolding. From this perspective, the Trump plan for Gaza, and the activities associated with its formation, are a distraction. Not only a distraction, but also cover for Israel, sotto voce, to extend its control and (illegal) ownership of Palestinian land throughout the entire OPT.

In Gaza, under Trump’s plan, Israel was allocated 53% of the strip marked by a line drawn on the maps in yellow. That 53% includes some of the most fertile land in Gaza, now out of reach to Palestinian farmers. But that 53% has already been extended with estimates of the proportion of Gaza land under Israeli control rising to between 58%-60%. Any Palestinian crossing over the yellow line, a line often shifting and not clearly defined, is shot at and killed. An AI report:

Based on reports from late 2025 and early 2026, several Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces after approaching or crossing the “yellow line” in Gaza, a, largely invisible, temporary demarcation line used by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to separate controlled areas from the rest of the strip during the ceasefire.

Since Palestinian movement is only permitted in approximately 42 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip, many people’s access to their homes and lands continue to be blocked. As a result, the population is being squeezed into the remainder of the territory, in overcrowded encampments, in tents scattered throughout the Strip, and on top of the ruins of or inside bombed-out buildings.

No ceasefire

There is no ceasefire in Gaza. A reduction in the rate and intensity of Israel’s military assault on Gaza does not constitute any sort of ‘cease’. This from Middle East Eye 15th January 2026:

‘Since the beginning of the ceasefire on 10 October, at least 449 Palestinians have been killed and 1,264 others wounded, according to the health ministry…On Tuesday, Unicef said it had documented the killing of 100 children in Gaza since October, describing the past three months as a “ceasefire that kills children”.’

The dictionary defines ‘charade’ as an absurd pretence intended to create a pleasant or respectable appearance.’

A charade is being enacted by Israel and its colluders in genocide. The UK stands especially accused since it masks its perfidious double standards – supply of military equipment, surveillance of Gaza via RAF flights, diplomatic cover – whilst, somewhat reluctantly, and late in the day, in response to pressure, it calls for a ceasefire and formally recognises the state of Palestine. But does nothing to back its words with actions.

We can expect nothing different given that senior members of our Labour government shamelessly proclaim fealty, and sense of connection, to Zionism and the racist state of Israel. This pro-Zionist stance is reinforced by the large parliamentary Labour Friends of Israel group, a lobby that has its Conservative counterpart. Singly and together, they form a formidable pro-Israel bloc whose strapline is surely ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’, even as evil flaunts itself shamelessly before their very eyes.

By way of contrast, this Labour government has proscribed Palestinian Action, a non-violent, direct-action organisation seeking to curb the flow of UK arms to Israel. In proscribing Palestine Action, it is an offence to ‘support’ the organisation, even where that support constitutes but words. The proscription is being challenged in court. We await its judgement to see whether government has been successful in curbing dissent.

Indicators of genocide: depopulation of Palestinians

Gaza is systematically being emptied-out of Palestinians: Gaza’s population has decreased by between 10.6% – 11.00% in the last two years. Since 7 October 2023, the average life expectancy of Gaza’s population has dropped from seventy-four years, to thirty-five.

Twenty-six thousand children have been killed in Gaza over the past two years. That’s ‘around a school class a day’, according to Dr Mads Gilbert, head of the emergency medicine department at the University Hospital of North Norway and Professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø.

Israel need only to continue to indulge itself in its full spectrum evil to achieve its goals. And it seems to do this with relish, yet with precision. The litany of life-denying measures that Israel deploys somehow combine sophistication, with crude effectiveness. Israel’s assaults are planned, systematic, comprehensive. The strategy is straightforward: create the conditions that make life unliveable. And here, Israel has notched-up a range of what it deems to be successes.

Palestinians’ deaths, maimings and injuries are achieved via a number of routes: starvation; prolonged exposure to the elements, especially effective now that winter assails the area; through to the straightforward unleashing of lethal fire by ground and air forces; by the denial of medicine; by the denial of medical treatment.

But this is not sufficient. For the minds of Palestinians are also Israel’s target. Here the strategic purposes are to: demoralise; to induce profound trauma among the young and old; to destroy social structures; to dehumanise; to wrench the possibility of hope for a better future out of the imagination. To induce existential despair.   

Planned, systematic, comprehensive

The focus on Gaza has acted as a highly functional distraction from IDF and Settler campaigns to disrupt, destroy and displace Palestinians from their homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  This ethnic cleansing is being undertaken at pace, and comprehensively. From Unicef:

As of July this year, [2025] at least 32,590 Palestine refugees have been displaced from refugee camps in the northern West Bank—a result of Israeli militarized operations. Many of their homes and infrastructures in the refugee camps have been damaged or destroyed.

Neutering

Taking together Trump’s ‘peace’ plan, and the manoeuvres associated with it, along with what I have briefly outlined above in respect of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it’s important – no, it’s vital! – that we acknowledge just how effective Israel and its allies have been, not only in terms of its physical undermining and eradication of Palestinians, but also the way it has achieved their political neutering. We can think of the Trump plan as a frighteningly clear indicator of this – Palestinians have had no meaningful say in constructing the regime under which they will be governed. The consequences are potentially seismic and being played-out in real time.

Ten minutes to midnight

Jeff Harper, founder of ICHAD, in his January 2026 video ‘update’ on the Palestine/Israel situation, characterises it as being ‘ten minutes to midnight’ [1].

Time is running out. Israel is both clearing Palestinians out of Palestine and where this cannot be achieved, forcing then to live in over-crowded, non-contiguous Bantustans. These, by their very nature, stifle the potential for Palestinian unified political organising not to speak of the gross, cruel living conditions.

At the same time, in the background, waiting for when the moment is right – perhaps at the point when the organisational architecture of Trump’s cobbled-together peace plan is populated – lurk the Abraham Accords. If and when implemented, the aspiration for meaningful Palestinian self-determination, will be even more constrained.

The question is, what must we do in the light of this dismal prospect.

[1] I recommend you take a few minutes to watch it