Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and their supporters around the world have angrily denounced United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan, announced on February 4, to ethnically cleanse Gaza under the guise of “resettlement”.
The genocidal announcement came after Netanyahu paid homage to the US, Israel’s biggest military and political backer.
Trump said if Gazans had an alternative “they’d much rather not go back to Gaza”.
He talked up their “cherished alliance” which, among other things, during his first term delivered the US Embassy to Jerusalem, recognising it as Israel’s capital; recognised Israel’s occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights; and the Abraham Accords — the 2020 bilateral agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Israel and Bahrain, promoted as religious cooperation but, in fact, are economic deals which betray the Palestinian’ long struggle for justice.
Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif al-Qanou said Trump will fail to achieve his goals in Gaza “through real estate deals and brokerage” just as Israel has failed “through 15 months of starvation, genocide and systematic destruction.”
Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Lybia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Lebanon, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council have rejected Trump’s annexation plan. The Houthi movement in Yemen condemned Trump’s statements as a blatant attack on Palestinian rights and an insult to the Arab and Muslim world, Anadolu reported.
Canada, France, Germany, Russia, China, Spain, Ireland, Brazil and Britain have condemned the Trump plan.
Shamikh Badra, Palestinian activist and member of the Palestinian People’s Party, told the Green Left Show that Trump’s statement was an “extension of the colonial strategy of eliminating the Palestinian people in Gaza”.
“They thought that after the destruction of Gaza that people would leave and they would succeed in their ethnic cleansing campaign … but Palestinians will never leave Gaza.”
Israel has released 183 Palestinians after Hamas released three Israeli prisoners.
The Israeli Occupation Force has completed its withdraw from Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor, which cut off northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip, while it continues to expand its assault on the Occupied West Bank, killing Palestinians in the Nur Shams refugee camp, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman.
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Snap protests were held across the country in response to Trump’s announcement, ahead of the 70th weekend of Palestine solidarity protests over February 8–9.
Alex Salmon reports that more than 200 people rallied outside the US consulate in Boorloo/Perth on February 7 to protest Trump and Netanyahu’s plan for the US to “takeover” the Gaza Strip and to permanently displace all Gazans.
The rally was called by Friends of Palestine WA (FOPWA), which said: “Palestinians living in Perth and their supporters will demonstrate this Friday night to express their horror and dismay at Donald Trump and Netanyahu’s latest announcement.”
Hala Ilena, FOPWA co-chair, told the rally: “By declaring that Gaza should be put under American control and Palestinians removed to neighboring countries, the most powerful man in the world is calling openly for ethnic cleansing.
“We have suffered beyond belief. Our children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles have been slaughtered for the last 15 months. And now this. The world must stand up.”
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Nick Everett, FOPWA co-chair, said: “Donald Trump has not ruled out the use of American troops in the Gaza strip.”
He also indicated that Israel should continue and accelerate their conquest of Palestinian land in the West Bank. “The notion of international law has been tossed out the window.
FOPWA spokesperson Vashti Fox said: “All such moves must be vigorously opposed by our own government. Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have claimed that they stand for equal rights and justice for Palestinians. Thus far we have only seen them grovel at the feet of Donald Trump.
“We must protest and demand our government actively and urgently break all ties with Israel and refuse to go along with Donald Trump’s plans for imperial expansion,” Fox said.
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Peter Boyle reports that the snap protest organised by the Palestine Action Group against Trump’s announcement drew large crowds to Sydney Town Hall on Gadigal Country on February 7.
NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should condemn Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan. “Donald Trump stood alongside the fugitive war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and proposed permanently displacing millions of Palestinians in a move to grab land.
“But has the Australian PM Anthony Albanese even shown a whiff of criticism or condemnation of this plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza?
“If he can’t speak up now, he is never going to speak up.”
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Ahead of the 70th weekly Palestine solidarity rally in Naarm/Melbourne on February 9, hundreds joined a rally called by a collective of anti-Zionist Jewish activist groups campaigning against racism, the weaponisation of antisemitism and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
Speakers included Jeffery Lowenstein, former chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission; comedian and researcher Jacob Sacher; Wiradjuri activist Debbie Morgan-Frail; and Palestinian organiser Mai Saif.
“We are here in sorrow, solidarity, and anger with our Palestinian sisters and brothers," said rally chair David Glanz. Glanz said Netanyahu, Trump, Albanese and Dutton have weaponised antisemitism and Jewish identity as means to justify the oppression and slaughter of Palestinians.
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Morgan-Frail spoke about the interconnectedness of First Nations, Jewish and Palestinian struggles against racism.
She said it is important to be informed about the history of these struggles, particularly as Israel has attempted to gain legitimacy and support from First Nations peoples by crafting false narratives of Israeli indigeneity to Palestine.
Morgan-Frail called out the major parties’ hypocrisy: ”Upholding our governments and corporate media's narratives and concerns about a [false] antisemitism benefits only the two-party system and their bipartisan support for Israel… while ignoring the daily, overt and structural racism against First-Nations people in this country".
Morgan-Frail said she had been attacked on her way to the rally by pro-Israel demonstrators, who held a small counter-rally.
Saif, whose family includes Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians, told Green Left that Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish activist “stand together for justice and peace, and an end to the colonial project that has murdered thousands of Palestinians”.
Protesters marched to join the main rally at the Victorian State Library.
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Alex Bainbridge reports that hundreds rallied in Magan-djin/Brisbane on February 9. Speakers welcomed the ceasefire that came into effect 21 days before the rally but pointed out that Israel is still killing Palestinians and has failed to uphold its obligations under the ceasefire agreement.
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Jonathan Strauss, Socialist Alliance Senate candidate in Queensland, told the Green Left that the genocide “calls on all of us to join in solidarity action with the Palestinian struggle”.
“A ceasefire is one thing, but justice is another. We have to continue the struggle for justice.”
Justice For Palestine Magan-djin will be organising rallies on a monthly basis. The next one is planned to be an Iftar gathering on March 9.
Palestinians Don’t Need Sidewalks, the new film by Dare to Struggle Films, the team behind Palestine Under Siege, drew a huge crowd for its premiere at Dendy Newtown in Gadigal Country/Sydney on February 4.
The film is being screened in Magan-djin/Brisbane on February 13 and in Burramattagal/Parramatta on March 7. Contact Dare to Struggle Films if you want to host a screening.
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