Turning point?

After killing over 52,000 Palestinians in less than two years, Israel is quickly finding itself more isolated than ever before. It had already lost the battle of global public opinion, the support of most of the world’s countries and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Israeli PM Netanyahu and his former defence minister last year, the first ever against leaders of a Western-backed so-called ‘democracy’. Meanwhile, Palestinian recognition and support have only grown, with three EU states (Norway, Ireland and Spain) recognising a Palestinian state last year. Now, there are signs that even its most ‘special’ and powerful of allies is beginning to balk. After negotiating a peace deal independently of Israel with Yemen’s Houthi movement, the US is reportedly turning up the pressure on Israel to negotiate a wider peace deal with Hamas and end its bloody assault on Gaza. The seeming shift in US policy comes after reports of a growing rift between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, with the former going as far as telling the Israeli parliament that the country needs to wean itself of American military aid. Tellingly, Israel was not a part of the US deal with the Houthis. Israel is also not a part of Trump’s ongoing Middle East trip, which has also seen him lift sanctions on Syria, another Middle Eastern country whose territory Israel is illegally occupying.

However, while the wheels may be falling off of Israel’s war machine, that does not mean that the Zionists have taken their foot off the pedal. US pressure might have pushed Netanyahu to send a negotiating team to Qatar, but so far he remains adamant about rejecting an overall peace deal and moving forward with plans to expand the Israeli operation in Gaza. Wednesday morning brought fresh Israeli strikes on the strip, killing at least 65 people, the shooting of a Palestinian boy in the West Bank, a drone strike in Lebanon that killed at least one person and even forced evacuation threats for three seaports in Yemen from the Israeli army. Meanwhile, the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip keeps getting worse. Food has long been running out, with a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative released on Monday warning that half a million Gazans face starvation as Israel continues to block access to critical aid supplies. Water is also running out now, with 75 per cent of households in Gaza reporting a decline in water access over the past month, and over 37 per cent of essential medicines and almost 60 per cent of medical disposables are no longer available.

The global turn against Israel has come too late for thousands of Palestinians and others in the Middle East and thousands more may yet suffer before a lasting peace is achieved. It is important to remember that Trump already pressured Israel into a ceasefire back in January, but could only keep them in it for a little over a month. And while the current US administration may be souring on Israel, it is far from clear what the next administration will do. Israel has managed to continue its illegal occupation for decades, and it remains to be seen whether its current isolation is a temporary setback for the Zionists or a real turning point. Those who want peace can only hope that it is the latter.