The engineered collapse of Gaza - World - Al-Ahram Weekly

Al-Ahram Weekly

2 days ago

The momentum is building for Palestinian statehood even as Israel is doing its best to undermine it through its actions on the ground.
Amid Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, calls for Palestinian statehood alongside Israel have gained traction as a just political solution and one that could end the bloodshed and finally grant Palestinians their long-denied rights.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently presented a proposal to US President Donald Trump during their meeting in Scotland. Though not a detailed roadmap, the plan, crafted in collaboration with France and Germany, outlines actionable steps towards peace.
Its key provisions include an immediate ceasefire, unfettered humanitarian access to Gaza, and the establishment of secure food distribution centres to combat what Trump himself acknowledged as a 'real famine.'
The European proposal extends beyond immediate relief, charting a course towards Palestinian statehood within a framework that ensures Israel's security while excluding Hamas from governance. The plan calls for the release of hostages, an Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, and the formation of a transitional civilian authority to oversee reconstruction.
Meanwhile, a high-level international conference co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia opened in New York on Monday. The gathering seeks to reinvigorate the two-state solution through economic, political, and security frameworks. Eight committees comprising nations from Egypt to the EU have been crafting actionable visions since June, addressing sovereignty, security, and post-war reconstruction.
This diplomatic surge arrives as Israel's war and settlement expansions threaten to erase the very possibility of Palestinian statehood, nearly two years into Gaza's genocide.
Nevertheless, recent moves by European nations to recognise Palestinian statehood carry profound moral weight. France, poised to become the first G7 country to take this step in September, joins a growing list as Spain, Norway, Ireland, and several Eastern European states recognised Palestine years ago.
These gestures, though largely symbolic, defy Israel's relentless campaign to erase the very idea of Palestinian sovereignty.
Yet, Europe remains fractured. Britain and Germany condition recognition on a negotiated settlement, effectively submitting to Israel's veto. Italy, the Netherlands, and the Nordic nations echo this hesitation, their caution undermining the EU's collective influence.
While Europe debates symbolism, Israel is outpacing its adversaries, rendering Palestinian statehood an ever-receding mirage. Gaza lies in ruins, with 80 per cent of the Strip decimated and cities reduced to rubble.
A methodical expulsion is underway, herding Palestinians into less than a fifth of Gaza's territory and tightening the noose with each passing day. In the north, Israel's entrenched presence betrays a long-term strategy, masked beneath the veneer of security imperatives.
The West Bank, too, is being reshaped with surgical precision. Last May, Israel greenlit 22 new settlements and legitimised rogue outposts, hailing it as a 'historic opportunity' to cement its grip and extinguish any viable Palestinian state.
Planning and administrative powers in Areas B and C, once under military oversight, have been transferred to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in an open gambit to replace occupation with civilian rule and effectively absorb the territory.
What is unfolding is not mere occupation, but a deliberate unmaking – a slow-motion conquest, brick by brick, law by law. The facts are stark, the trajectory clear: Palestine is being erased, not in a day, but in increments, until nothing remains to claim.
Against this reality, the European recognition of statehood, however righteous, lacks the force to alter facts on the ground.
The paradox is striking: Europe possesses the tools to exert meaningful pressure on Israel, yet it hesitates to wield them.
Foremost among these instruments is the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which grants Israel privileged access to European markets, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of its total trade. Article 2 of the agreement explicitly designates human rights as a 'fundamental element' of the partnership, a provision flagrantly violated by the ongoing atrocities in Gaza.
Yet the agreement stands unchallenged, its terms unenforced.
Similarly, while Europe has imposed arms embargoes in other conflicts, it continues to supply weapons and ammunition that fuel the daily violence against the Palestinians. Even the most egregious actors, the extremist Israeli settlers, face no comprehensive European sanctions, despite their well-documented crimes.
Nor has Europe mustered the political will to shield the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from Israel's baseless smear campaign, despite knowing the agency's indispensable role in sustaining millions of Palestinians. Again, its leverage remains unused: borders stay closed, aid is blocked, and the most fundamental needs of nearly two million people under siege go unmet.
On Tuesday, Smotrich declared that Gaza is an 'integral part of Israel,' asserting that the expansion of Israeli settlements there is now 'closer than ever' and constitutes a viable strategic plan.
'We did not make such immense sacrifices only to transfer Gaza from one Arab authority to another. Our return will not be limited to the former Gush Katif settlements. Gaza offers us far greater strategic space.' he stated.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday that Netanyahu intends to present a proposal to the Security Cabinet advocating for the annexation of parts of the Gaza Strip.
According to the report, the proposed annexation strategy would begin with the creation of a buffer zone, followed by the seizure of northern Gaza, and ultimately extend to full territorial control. The plan is said to have received preliminary approval from the Trump administration.
Israel's Channel 13 revealed that the military is preparing a proposal for Israeli control over 90 to 100 per cent of Gaza. Previous leaks in May indicated that the government had already greenlit a full-scale occupation. Part of the plan reportedly involves forcibly relocating Palestinians from northern Gaza to a confined southern zone of no more than 20 per cent of Gaza's territory in preparation for their forced departure.
Israeli news site Walla disclosed on Tuesday that the Kerem Shalom Crossing is being expanded to facilitate what officials call the 'voluntary mass migration' of Palestinians to third countries. The infrastructure project is expected to be completed within three months.
Despite the announced 'daily tactical ceasefires' by Israel that are meant to facilitate aid deliveries, Gaza's humanitarian crisis has only deepened. Reports suggest that up to 90 per cent of aid is being looted by criminal gangs, rogue militias, or organised armed factions such as Yasser Abu Al-Shabab's group, which claims to distribute seized aid to civilians under its control.
For ordinary Palestinians, survival now depends on lining up at soup kitchens or crowding chaotic aid distribution points run by the American Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. These have devolved into scenes of desperation, with people risking stampedes or gunfire just for a bag of flour.
In the vacuum of governance, political and militia fragmentation has become a key feature of Israel's displacement strategy. The objective is to reduce Gaza to a state of ungovernable chaos, rendering any centralised Palestinian authority impossible.
One group that embodies this shift is Al-Shabab's militia, which has evolved from an armed gang to a self-styled political entity.
In a controversial Wall Street Journal op-ed, Abu Al-Shabab proclaimed the territories under his control in eastern Rafah to be 'the first Palestinian administration independent of Hamas.'
He appealed to international actors to support what he called his new administration.
'From eastern Rafah, where families now sleep safely under civilian protection, I see the future of Gaza. On behalf of the overwhelming majority of the Palestinians in Gaza, the Popular Forces call on the US and Arab countries formally to recognise and support an independent Palestinian administration under our leadership.'
He previously admitted to looting 'half a dozen' aid trucks. 'We are taking trucks so we can eat, not so we can sell… I'm not an angel,' he said.
A senior Arab diplomat engaged in the New York talks confided to Al-Ahram Weekly that the global momentum to revive the two-state solution reflects a growing conviction that conditions have become catastrophic, both humanitarianly and politically, and can no longer tolerate any delay for a comprehensive political resolution.
'Any ceasefire will remain inherently temporary, as Israel is leveraging this war to alter the realities on the ground. Thus, a cessation of hostilities must be paired with a broader international vision, one that ensures a just and enduring political settlement.'
Yet, he cautioned that the path forward will be arduous.
'Each day without a ceasefire, without the systematic, equitable, and dignified delivery of humanitarian aid to all Palestinians, and without halting Israel's unilateral actions in the Occupied Territories, including settlement expansion and land confiscation, is another day stolen from the future of a Palestinian state. The current Israeli leadership operates under the illusion that they are racing against time to erase the very possibility of Palestine,' he said.
'What is most alarming now is the deliberate, orchestrated use of armed gangs and militias to hijack aid, prolong human suffering, and dismantle the last vestiges of Gaza's social fabric and governance structures. The reality on the ground is far grimmer than what is being depicted. We stand at a critical crossroads—one that will define the fate of the region.'
For Gaza's civilians, the developments mark a deepening descent into deprivation, fragmentation, and despair. The territory now teeters between systematic collapse and what many fear is an unfolding policy of ethnic cleansing executed through war, starvation, and engineered social collapse.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 6 August, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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