A UN-mandated investigative body, in its report released two days ago, concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible. According to the report, explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities, along with patterns of military action, “indicated that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.”
As expected, Israel categorically rejected Tuesday’s report. Its foreign ministry described the findings as “distorted and false” and called “for the immediate abolition of this Commission of Inquiry.” It is pertinent to mention that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had also declared Israeli actions in Gaza as ‘genocide’ and even issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Netanyahu. Former U.S. President Donald Trump was so incensed by the ICC’s action that, through an executive order, he imposed asset freezes and travel bans on ICC officials in protest. He denounced the court as “illegitimate” and placed financial and visa restrictions on ICC staff and anyone assisting in ICC investigations against the U.S. and its allies.
Trump fails to realize that Gaza has been home to generations of Palestinians and that their forced displacement would amount to a second ‘Nakba’-an act of ethnic cleansing.
Israel has not confined itself to genocide in Gaza. It has also attacked Iran’s nuclear installations, followed by similar U.S. strikes. Just a few days ago, Israel launched an attack on a meeting of Hamas leaders in Doha. These attacks by Israel and the U.S. constituted a serious breach of international law and the UN Charter. They acted with impunity, showing utter disrespect for the UN.
Regarding the Doha attack, the U.S. stated that while it did not approve of the action, the incident would not affect or dilute its support for Israel. This provoked worldwide condemnation and a wave of resentment among Islamic countries, prompting the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene a summit of member states.
At the end of its deliberations, the summit issued a lengthy statement. The crux was an unequivocal expression of solidarity with Qatar, condemnation of Israel’s attack in the harshest possible terms, and a warning of its dangerous consequences for the region. It urged collective action to counter Israeli attempts to impose a new reality in the Middle East. Stressing the principles of collective security, shared destiny, and joint confrontation of common threats, the summit called on OIC member states to “examine Israel’s UN membership in light of its clear violations of the Charter and persistent disregard for UN resolutions, with the possibility of coordinating efforts to suspend Israel’s membership.” The summit also rejected Israel’s expansionist plans and condemned the genocide of the people of Gaza.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, expressing solidarity with Qatar, stated:
“Israel’s genocidal campaign in Palestine has reduced Gaza to rubble and ruin. The world shall always bear the scars of this unending carnage, etched on the very soul of humanity. Injustice has reached an unbearable level. This must stop! And stop now.”
He reiterated Pakistan’s stance that a just, comprehensive, and lasting two-state solution must be achieved through the creation of an independent State of Palestine, based on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio backed Israel’s new offensive in Gaza City, supporting the goal of eradicating Hamas and casting doubt on whether diplomacy could end nearly two years of war. He said:
“The people of Gaza deserve a better future, but that better future cannot begin until Hamas is eliminated.”
Rubio added that international efforts to recognize the Palestinian state “embolden Hamas” and make it harder to end the war. The U.S., he noted, has conveyed this view to its allies, including the UK, France, and Canada. His statement clearly demonstrates that both Israel and the U.S. are seeking a solution through military might rather than diplomacy, international law, or the UN Charter.
The dilemma of powerful nations and their leaders lies in their irresistible propensity to seek solutions to complex and intractable problems through coercion, force, and even wars-refusing to learn from history. History shows repeated humiliation and failure of strategies based on the use of force to subjugate smaller nations. For the U.S., the failures in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan are quintessential examples of this irrefutable reality. Peace in the world remains elusive because the U.S., as a superpower, is either directly responsible for starting wars and conflicts or indirectly supporting them to achieve its strategic objectives.
U.S. support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and settlement-building on occupied Palestinian land is a shameless chapter of American history. It starkly negates its much-trumpeted credentials of civility, love for humanitarian causes, human rights, and commitment to peace. The demolition of Gaza’s infrastructure and the killing of more than seventy thousand Palestinians-while U.S. leaders allow Israel to pursue its mission of annihilation-represents unparalleled callousness in modern history.
President Trump, contrary to his pre-election pledges to stop wars and conflicts, seems bent on imposing his own perceived solution to the Palestinian problem rather than helping implement the two-state agreement. He appears indifferent to condemnation of his plans by European allies, Arab nations, the Muslim world, and even the UN Secretary-General. His approach is mindless and callous-a recipe for unending mayhem in the Middle East. Regrettably, he is acting like a bull in a china shop.
Trump fails to realize that Gaza has been home to generations of Palestinians and that their forced displacement would amount to a second ‘Nakba’-an act of ethnic cleansing. Such a displacement would be totally unacceptable to Palestinians. Gaza is not a real estate project; it is the homeland of its people. The conflict is not an economic venture but a political struggle rooted in history and identity. Trump’s simplistic and deeply flawed view of the conflict will be difficult to defend in the long run.
The people of Gaza, along with Hamas, have outrightly rejected Trump’s proposition. Any attempt to implement his plan would spark more violence across the Middle East. U.S. support for Israeli oppression and land-grabbing will have disastrous consequences for the entire region, and Israel itself may not emerge unscathed. Trump’s vision is dangerous. By advocating forced displacement, he disregards the aspirations of the Palestinian people and undermines the principles of the UN Charter.
President Trump would be better advised to revisit his stance, understand the pulse of changing times, and focus his energies on the two-state solution agreed in the U.S.-backed Oslo Accords of 1993, signed by Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The global community overwhelmingly supports this solution, and the UN endorses it as the only viable path forward.
The writer is a former diplomat and freelance columnist.