There will be no peace without justice.
The signing of the “Gaza Peace Plan” on October 13th marks an end, for now, of this phase of the zionist state of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. However, we must understand this as an imperialist, zionist vision of “peace” – which is only synonymous with full-spectrum dominance and total social control – not justice. While this deal may give much needed relief to the people of Gaza and stop the widespread bombardment, it makes a mockery of the liberatory conceptions of peace and people(s)-centered human rights. Peace, as Black Alliance for Peace understands, requires the defeat of the interlocking systems of oppression that inhibit the realization of collective self-determination, human dignity, ecological balance, and shared well-being. True peace is inconsistent with the ongoing existence of imperialist, zionist domination and violence.
This so-called “peace deal” is far from decolonization. Presented as a concession for stability, it only normalizes the ongoing colonial project of zionist settlement and military occupation by offering a pacified, fragmented Palestinian entity devoid of true sovereignty. The state of Israel is already indicating that it will not abide by certain humanitarian conditions of the deal.
Some elements in the Trump Administration have implied that a neutered Hamas might play a role providing security in the strip, similar to the collaborative role reminiscent of the 1993 Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority from the PLO and would transform the resistance movement into a comprador security apparatus.
But the Palestinian resistance is not reducible to Hamas or to Hamas ceding control, disarming, and decommissioning. The Palestinian resistance resides in the sovereignty of the people and it is unlikely that the Palestinian people and their resistance organizations will ever accept a colonial trusteeship and Bantustan, where governance is an international trusteeship overseen by external powers.
In this “peace deal” arrangement, Egypt is functioning as the regional gendarme, a role incentivized by massive U.S. military aid and praised at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit. President el-Sisi’s role in co-hosting the ceremony and enforcing the terms on the ground is crucial for zionism; it outsources the siege and absolves the state of Israel of its responsibilities as the occupying power under international law, all under the veneer of Arab partnership.
The violence required to sustain this system does not remain confined to occupied Palestine, it inevitably produces the domestic boomerang effect within the imperial core we are organizing against today. The militarized tactics of occupation, refined at checkpoints in Hebron and Gaza, are repatriated, manifesting in the deployment of National Guard troops and ICE to major cities (Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago), transforming the streets into zones of controlled pacification. This continuum of control links directly to the current assault on the Zone of Peace in the Americas, where U.S. economic and hybrid aggression against Venezuela aims to discipline any sovereign model defying neoliberal dogma. And we MUST NOT forget the continued foreign occupation of Haiti under a UN-sanctioned veil and the deliberate destabilization of resource-rich nations like the Congo and Sudan, where AFRICOM’s role exacerbates conflict under the guise of security, all revealing a coherent global strategy.
From Palestine to the entire Global South, we can see that these are not isolated crises, but interconnected components of a system grasping to maintain control. This is why we remain steadfast in defeating the war against Africans and all colonized people, in the U.S and globally.
Erica Caines, Austin Cole, Tunde Osazua
National Co-Cordinators
Black Alliance for Peace
Erica Caines is a writer and organizer in Baltimore and the DMV. Caines is the Field Operations and Membership coordinator of The Black Alliance For Peace, a member of the Black working-class centered Ujima People’s Progress Party in Maryland, and founder of #LiberationThroughReading providing African children with books that represent them.
Tunde Osazua is the National Co-Coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace and a member of the Steering Committee of the International Campaign to Free Kamau Sadiki.
Austin Cole is a graduate student in City Planning and Business Administration. He is a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, the MIT Graduate Student Union-UE Local 256, the MIT Black Graduate Student Association, and BLM Boston.
Revisiting Paul Robeson’s prepared statement to the House Un-American Activities Committee–during a new era of repression.
TAKEOVER! A Human Rights Approach to Housing is a beautifully written book about poor and homeless people choosing to live and refusing to die.
Divisions with breakaway areas further hamper the resolution of broader issues.
"Love My Black Job" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
We urge people of conscience around the world to stop another United Nations invasion of Haiti.
