International Forces in Gaza: Between Protecting the Occupation and Undermining Palestinian Sovereignty

The idea of deploying international forces in Gaza is being raised again today as if the world has learned nothing from its history. After Israel's failure to achieve its goals of war, destruction, extermination, and displacement, and after its moral image in the world has collapsed in the face of the scenes of devastation, this proposal is presented as a "humanitarian plan" to protect civilians. However, its true essence is to reproduce Israeli control through soft means under the guise of international legitimacy.

Since the inception of the modern international system, there has been no multinational force known to enter occupied land to protect its people from occupation; they have always protected the status quo and bestowed it with a legal veneer. The experience of Lebanon with "UNIFIL" is a clear example: its presence has not prevented ongoing Israeli violations to this day but has rather provided cover for them. Today, Gaza is intended to enter the same scene, where the Palestinians' hand is removed from their security, and their fate is entrusted to forces that do not hold their decisions, while the occupation remains unrestricted.

A project is being promoted with an announced goal of stability, but what kind of stability can be established while the occupation continues and the siege is ongoing? The intended stability is that of the occupation, not that of the Palestinian people, and it aims to quell Palestinian resistance rather than protect civilians. The introduction of Arab or Turkish forces within this framework is merely an attempt to beautify the guardianship to appear "friendly," while the decision remains in the capitals of the West in the hands of Trump (Netanyahu) and Tony Blair.

The greatest danger is that the proposition is limited to Gaza without the West Bank and Jerusalem, and this is not a coincidence but a political pillar aimed at separating the geographical and political components of Palestine and transforming the issue into two separate files: Gaza is "internationalized" while the West Bank is "settled". Thus, the foundation of international recognition of Palestine as a single state within the 1967 borders is undermined. If this separation is realized, it will redefine Palestine as a divided entity lacking sovereignty, granting the occupation ample time to swallow the land and complete its settlement project.

What is happening is not a peace initiative but a rescue operation for the occupation after its failure in military resolution. The United States is attempting to convert Israel's defeat into a political achievement under a global umbrella, stopping the ceasefire and the killing of children, which has isolated Israel and made it a pariah state. They freeze the idea of resistance and grant Israel a new lease for settlement and displacing people by not providing means of living and through the continued siege, all under the banner of peace and under the supervision of "international forces" led by Trump. Thus, the victim is turned into the accused, and the aggressor becomes the one in need of protection.

The true decision that must be made is not the sending of foreign armies but the ending of the occupation, lifting the siege, and holding accountable those responsible for crimes; justice is the only guarantee for security, while guardianship is merely a continuation of war by other means.

In the face of all this, the Palestinians have no weapon sharper than their unity, and division is the gap through which every project to dismantle them slips, while unity is the only condition for dignity or sovereignty. The unity of decision and position is not a tactical choice but a matter of survival: either the leadership is rebuilt on a national collective basis, or the field is left open for every foreign guardianship to decide in their place.

International forces will not protect Gaza because those in need of protection are the people from the occupation, not the occupation from the people. The people of Gaza, who have confronted death and emerged from the rubble, do not need foreign guardians but rather complete freedom and true justice; when the occupation's hand is removed, the justification for weapons and siege automatically falls away.

Gaza will not be managed from abroad, and the West Bank will not be separated from it. This is one homeland and an elected Palestinian leadership that does not accept fragmentation and does not accept guardianship, and any project that does not start with ending the occupation is a project to entrench it, no matter how its name or banner changes.