Editorial in Offensiv, paper of Socialistiskt Alternativ (ISA in Sweden)
(This article was first published on 18 November 2025)
During the 1.5-months ‘ceasefire,’ Gaza has not come a single step closer to real peace, let alone an end to occupation and oppression. Trump’s ‘peace plan,’ which the UN adopted on Monday, means continued siege and attacks by the Israeli army.
Over 250 Palestinians have been killed by daily Israeli attacks since the ‘ceasefire’ was declared on 10 October. The official death toll since 7 October 2023 is now over 70,000. Deliveries of medicines and supplies are still restricted. Save the Children’s last aid delivery into Gaza was in March. 1.5 million Palestinians are waiting for tents or other accommodation, and hundreds of thousands more who have tents still lack water and basic services.
Israel continues to control over half of Gaza, behind what is known as the ‘yellow line.’ This area is called the green zone. Only a few thousand Palestinians (including groups armed by Israel) out of a total of two million live there. In the rest of the completely bombed-out Gaza, it is Hamas that controls authorities and the police.
“Peace” negotiated by warmongers
Light years above the heads of the Palestinians, workers and ordinary people in the Middle East, constantly changing and incomplete ‘peace plans’ are being discussed. The UN resolution in line with Trump’s plan talks about an international stabilisation force, but not a single government or regime has yet appointed any participants in such a force. The most committed to participating, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority (PA), have already been dismissed by Netanyahu’s far-right government. Trump’s plan contains vague wording that the PA may participate in the governance of Gaza in the future after unspecified ‘reforms’. Of the other states that Trump says will participate with troops, only Indonesia has agreed, with certain reservations and stipulations.
Even more vague are the proposals for a ‘peace council’ under Trump’s control. The only designated participant, Tony Blair, a war criminal from the Iraq War, has not yet been confirmed. And the most important humanitarian aspect of the plan, reconstruction, still exists only on paper. Washington has recently put forward the idea that this should only take place in the Israeli-controlled green zone. In practice, this plan would make the division of Gaza permanent, with zero reconstruction in the “red zone” to which the Palestinians have been forcibly evacuated.
The fact that Trump is having difficulty getting the autocratic regimes in the Middle East to actively participate in the plan says a lot about the mood among the region’s masses, especially young people. Even the dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, like the King of Jordan and al-Sisi in Egypt, have at least on paper demanded a Palestinian state.
Consistently the most unpredictable risk factor in the Middle East is Netanyahu’s government. Since it was reluctantly forced to adapt to Trump’s plan, the violence from settlers and the Israeli army in the West Bank is escalating, with over 1,000 Palestinians killed since 2023. There are daily Israeli attacks on Lebanon with 300 fatalities since the ceasefire a year ago. Israel occupies a wide zone in southern Syria, and renewed war with Iran remains on Netanyahu’s radar.
No imperialist peace plans, with or without UN resolutions, can bring about a real end to the genocidal war. This is the experience of all previous deals, in particular the Oslo Accords more than 30 years ago, which were supposed to lead to a Palestinian state. During two years of war of extermination since 2023, US imperialism and Western powers such as Sweden have given Israel their full support. The other imperialist superpower, China, has repeatedly invited Hamas and Fatah from the Palestinian Authority to summit meetings. But when Xi Jinping met Trump in South Korea, he praised Trump’s efforts ‘for peace’ in Gaza. In the UN vote, Russia and China abstained.
Continue the solidarity movement
Two years of genocidal war are now followed by continued attacks and suffering. The solidarity movement with Palestine, and especially the trade unions that organised general strikes in Italy and Spain, or arranged blockades, must continue the fight back. The struggle for Gaza and Palestine is a global class struggle against capitalism and imperialism. The working class in the Middle East, including in Israel, is crucial to the socialist struggle that is necessary.
- Reject imperialist ‘peace plans’ which mean continued occupation and acts of war.
- Stop Israel’s occupation, siege, settlements and continued acts of war.
- Spread and expand international working-class support: strikes, blockades and mass demonstrations.
- For an independent socialist Palestine and for socialist struggle in Israel and throughout the Middle East.
