Bad as it is, Trump's deal is a good deal. Here's why

By Martin Cohen

What should be made of the new plan for Gaza? As the London Times noted of it: “There is no timeline for the exit of Israeli forces from Gaza and no reference to an eventual Palestinian state.” In fact, the more you see of Trump’s Gaza plan, the worse it looks. It is a terrible, poisonous deal. Trump even presented it with a kind of Mafia threat saying basically: “this is what we want, accept it or die”, all of which hardly makes it easier politically. But another way, and I think the best way to evaluate it perhaps is to ask - what would Israel want? And as to that, without doubt, Israel does not want this deal. It wants it to fall through, leaving it free to carry on its slow but steady genocide.

From the point of view of those of us who support the aspirations of the Palestinian people, I think it should be accepted. It’s all about the difference between tactics and strategy. Yes, it seems to involve the resistance surrendering and Israel and the US annexing Gaza. That’s tactically. But strategically – it is a disaster for Isreal’s longterm strategy of wiping Palestine and Palestinians off the face of the earth. It may even be another of those deceptive turning points, like the original UN partition plan, which was so grossly unjust and unfair to the Palestinians, yet the opposition to which opened the way for Israel to not seize grab whatever it wanted, and to do so with Western support.

In the last few years the Israelis have killed or injured at least a quarter of a million civilians in Gaza, while boasting that “if they wanted” they could do far worse. If this plan is rejected, doubtless they will. But that’s not why I say it should be accepted. No, the reason why I think it should be embraced is that strategically, it embeds a million Palestinians for the foreseeable future in historic Palestine - with the US, the UK and key Arab states accepting responsibility for their well-being and safety.

This is a DISASTER for the Israeli project! And it will only get worse, as the West will be brought, in the process of investing in rebuilding Gaza, increasingly into opposition to Israel with its eternal strategy of preventing progress and investment.

Similarly, in the West Bank, the almost complete process of colonisation will become increasingly untenable, as long as the Palestinian nation has a foothold in Gaza.

The Chinese are experts on strategy and their ancient game of strategy, called simply ‘Go’, illustrates the point. In the game, pieces that are entirely surrounded are destroyed - but any collection of pieces that includes two “eyes” or spaces, is immune as both cannot be destroyed at once. Similarly, no matter how appalling the deal is for Gaza, it will be a refuge for Palestinians, and as long as it exists, Israel will not be able to wipe out the last remaining pockets of the West Bank. There won’t be any point! The whole, cruel process of expulsions and colonisation depends on denying the existence of Palestine and Palestinians. And terrible though the deal is, it does establish a permanent and enduring Palestinian presence. It should be embraced on that ‘strategic’ basis.