By Joe Montero
Donald trump’s swaggering an audacious announcement a day ago, where h told the world that as President of the United States, he announced a plan to force the Palestinian population in Gaza into Egypt and Jordan. He said the United States should seize control of Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump. whose core personal business is in property speculation may personally make a lot of money from such a scheme.
The only head of state of another country praising Trump’s announcement is Benyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader who presides over the Gaza slaughter, and is now escalating murder in the West Bank. The removal of 2.2 million Gazans would fit into the plan for a Greater Israel. That is, taking land from Israel’s neighbours.
But the announcement provoked instantaneous condemnation around the world. China and Russia made their opposition clear. And they weren’t on their own. Allies like the leaders of Germany, France, and Spain also condemned the Trump announcement. Even the United States’ closest long-standing allies in West Asia like Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, took exception.
It even brought in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. You could not find a more earnest sycophant to Washington. Even he had to distance himself from the Trumpian plan, which looks to most of the world like a crude attempt to revive old style colonialism.
Most important of all is that the Palestinians themselves have made it clear that they won’t go and would prefer to die on their feet in their own homeland.
Putting the plan into effect, when Israel’s horrendous military offensive has failed, would require massive United States military intervention, including a massive presence of ground troops. Such a move would meet stiff resistance and embroil the United Sates in perpetual war.
The American public will not have the appetite for this. There is already a great deal of opposition. Imagine when the body bags are sent home.
The Palestinian people have the right to decide their own future and are still determined to make this happen. The current imperfect ceasefire being daily violated by Israel has nevertheless seen the defiant return of Gaza civilians to their homes in the north. They are not a beaten people.
Donald Trump may not be allowed by the real power in Washington to carry out his plan. The President of the United States is not powerful enough to go it alone. The hidden and unelected and Walls Street backed permanent government is the real power.
Trump’s plan is partly the product of his own ambitions. But it has only become possible because of the falling capacity of the United States to enforce its ongoing will to dominate globally, partly because of a rising multi-polar world, but mostly because of the United States’ internal difficulties. This is a waning superpower.
Trump’s move has further isolated Washington from the rest of the world. Large scale military intervention into west Asia can only lead to greater instability and suffering, and consequently, economic chaos. It will generate resistance and might even precipitate the end of Israel Washinton’s most important surrogate in the region.
There are the reasons why it may not happen. There is a good chance that Trump will be stopped. This doesn’t mean though, that the world must be ready for the worst, to ensure the global voice against it is loud and clear enough to prevail.
