What was recently proposed by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under the title “peace deals” is nothing but a rearrangement of the cards of power in the region, far from addressing the core of the Palestinian issue: justice.

The so-called “Trump Plan” does not bring anything new, but rather falls within a series of unilateral initiatives that treat the Palestinian issue as if it were an administrative or security problem that needs “rehabilitation”, ignoring that the Palestinian people do not need guardianship as much as they need to regain their basic, inalienable rights.

Since the beginning of the Israeli genocide on Gaza in October 2023, US support for the Israeli occupation has taken an unprecedented upward trend, and Trump’s plan was an extension of this completely biased path. The plan does not aim to achieve peace, as promoted, but rather seeks to enshrine Israel’s interests, specifically the interests of the extremist Israeli Government led by Netanyahu, which is seeking international cover for its colonial practices.

Between a real-estate deal and the right to self-determination

Treating the Palestinian people’s issue as a real-estate deal or investment project, as seen in American-Israeli discourse, reveals a deep ignorance of the historical, political and social dimensions of Palestinian society. The Palestinian issue is not a dispute over a plot of land or an administrative file that requires an “external director”. Rather, it is an issue of national liberation for a people who have lived for more than seven decades under occupation and continuous displacement.

The American plan completely ignores the historical context and deep-rooted Palestinian suffering, and imposes on the Palestinians two bitter choices: either accept direct Israeli occupation or submit to a tripartite American-British-Israeli occupation, in a new form of political and security guardianship that undermines the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

Agreement without guarantees

Upon examining the plan’s provisions, it becomes clear that it carries no real guarantee of stopping the ongoing genocide in Gaza or halting the accelerating settlement activity in the West Bank. Rather, it links humanitarian aid, which is a right for civilians, to political goals that serve the Israeli occupation, empties the idea of a Palestinian state of its content and attempts to abolish the moral and symbolic value of international recognition of Palestine, a recognition for which the Palestinians paid dearly with their blood and sacrifices.

It is a plan that does not deserve to be called a “peace agreement”, but rather a disguised “reoccupation”, seeking to consolidate Israel’s hegemony and expand its settlement project under official American cover.

Bargaining for existence

The essence of the American plan is based on bargaining with the Palestinians: either surrender to the conditions of occupation, or face isolation, starvation and destruction. It is an attempt to extract Palestinian recognition of the occupation in exchange for crumbs of rights that do not even amount to the minimum level of justice.

The blatant duality of the proposal is evident here: while the plan demands the release of all Israeli prisoners within 72 hours, it only grants the Palestinians the release of 1700 prisoners out of more than 12,000 detainees, many of whom have spent many years in prison. These unbalanced criteria reveal that the plan was not designed to achieve justice, but rather to enhance Israeli superiority.

Reproducing the occupation

Even in the best-case scenario proposed by the plan, Israel still has a military and security presence inside the Gaza Strip, which means the occupation will continue in another form. As for talking about international security forces or UN institutions to manage Gaza, it is nothing but a reproduction of the occupation with a new facade. International institutions, which are supposed to be civilian and humanitarian, have proven their great failure to protect civilians, and have sometimes even turned into tools used to justify Israeli hegemony, as was clearly demonstrated in Gaza at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF.

Palestinian society is not incapable of managing its affairs. Before the last war, despite the long siege, it had proven its ability to build effective government institutions, achieve the highest levels of education in the region and maintain internal security and stability. After the genocide, Palestinians will still be able to rebuild their society and produce national competencies that manage its affairs with dignity. Attempts to impose external guardianship through figures such as Tony Blair or the so-called “Trump Peace Council” are merely tools to reproduce and beautify the occupation.

Immunity for Israel and weakening for the Palestinians

The plan grants Israel absolute immunity to continue its aggression, with complete freedom to expand settlements and tighten the noose on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, while depriving Palestinians of their most basic rights. It is an unjust equation that demonstrates unlimited American bias toward the most extreme policies in Israel’s history, at the expense of the lives and rights of millions of Palestinians.

This bias coincides with a state of weakness in global political elites, which allows Israel to continue genocide and displacement without accountability. In this sense, the plan represents only additional cover for destructive colonial policies.

The real challenge: Dismantling colonial logic

The Palestinian issue is not a temporary humanitarian crisis that can be addressed with aid, nor is it a “security file” that can be resolved through international committees. Rather, it is a struggle for national liberation against a colonial logic that seeks to erase the existence of the Palestinian people. The real challenge lies in dismantling this colonial logic adopted by Israel and the US, and explicitly recognising the right of the Palestinians to establish their independent, fully sovereign state on their historical land.

Any solutions that do not start from recognising this basic right will remain temporary solutions, increasing tension and opening the door to new waves of violence and wars; the end of such conflicts and where their fires will extend are unknown.

Dignity is a right that is not granted

Ultimately, the fundamental question is not “Who will run Gaza?”, but “When will the occupation and decades-long suffering end?”. The dignity of peoples is not granted by imposed agreements, but is a natural and inalienable right. The Palestinians are not demanding the impossible, but rather legitimate rights guaranteed by international law: freedom, independence and an end to the occupation.

What is being proposed under the name of a “peace deal” is nothing but an attempt to beautify and reproduce the occupation. But the unmistakable truth is that the Palestinian people, despite genocide, starvation and displacement, will continue to cling to their rights, because justice is neither bought nor sold, and freedom is not given as a gift, but rather taken away with a long and courageous struggle.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.