After Gaza: Necessary Actions In The Immediate Aftermath

This is the transcript of my YouTube video "After Gaza: Necessary Actions In The Immediate Aftermath".

You may have noticed that in the first “After Gaza” video, I ignored discussing what I suggest should happen in the immediate aftermath of the genocide.  That was a deliberate act because I don’t feel it’s a Westerner’s right to dictate what should happen to Israel and Palestine but I do think that we need to think about what suggested steps need to happen without the clouding effect of the highly emotional state inherent in being perpetrator or victim of genocidal acts.

So, here are my initial thoughts on what needs to be done in the immediate aftermath of the genocide and they are in no particular order.

• All Hamas fighters suspected of being instrumental in the 7^th October attack and all Israelis who are suspected of having committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against Humanity should be arrested and put on trial at the International Criminal Court for their crimes.  Maximum possible sentences should be passed for those found guilty.
• Hostages and prisoners on both sides of the conflict should be released.
• Israel should be returned to the 1967 borders agreed to by the Palestinians with the following edition: a strip of land that connects the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and all land to the South of that strip.
• All illegal Israeli settlements emptied of Israeli settlers and the homes given to the displaced Palestinians.
• Reparations to be paid by Israel to Palestine minus reparations for the attack of 7^th October.  The amount of reparations to be paid by both sides to be determined by a commission of neutral States.
• Demilitarisation of Israel (including nuclear weapons) to be undertaken by a multinational force of neutral States.
• Israel must pay for the excess land they were gifted by Western States for the formation of Israel, given that the land was given without regard to the Palestinian claim to the land and disproportionately in relation to the number of Jewish settlers moving there compared with the indigenous Palestinian population.  The States involved with the gifting of the Palestinian land for the creation of State of Israel must also pay a proportion of the cost of the excess land.
• Israel and its allies must pay for and help rebuild the Gaza Strip and the land that is returned to the Palestinians.
• A multi-Middle Eastern State armed force to secure the new borders of Palestine and neutral States will provide an armed force to protect the new borders of Israel.
• Those individuals convicted of war crimes, crimes against Humanity or genocide to be stripped of their ability to travel outside the borders of their respective country.
• Israelis will be given the option of staying within the new borders of Israel or emigrate unless they have been convicted of genocide, war crimes or crimes against Humanity.
• Individuals and companies in foreign States that are suspected of complicity in Israel’s genocide to be arrested and held accountable for their complicity.
• The State of Palestine to be recognised by the international community under the new borders.  Israel will only be recognised as a State under its new borders.
• Arms sales to Israel to be stopped immediately.
• Reduced level of diplomacy between Israel and other States to reflect its pariah status for a number of years to be determined by a committee of neutral States.

I know that these measures seem disproportionately aimed at Israel but there have to be severe consequences to committing genocide so that every State on Earth understands that “never again” means exactly that.  Hamas should be held accountable for their war crimes too but the response by Israel to the Hamas attack on 7^th October was disproportionate.  The measures I have suggested are, however, proportionate to the severity of the crimes committed by IDF.

Israelis who were against the genocide will not suffer any punishment except perhaps having to move from where they live if it comes within the new borders of Palestine and they should receive reparations from the State of Israel to compensate them or, they may be able to stay within the borders of Palestine if they can come to some peaceful agreement with the Palestinians.  However, there should be an organisation formed of members from neutral States to keep the peace in any areas where Israelis who elect to stay with the new borders of Palestine live to ensure there is no conflict.

After Gaza: A Collective Re-assessment

This is the transcript for my YouTube video "After Gaza: A Collective Re-assessment".

I know that the genocide taking place in Gaza seems a long way from ending but I think it’s important that someone starts thinking about what happens after, about what the international community has to do to start to heal the wounds and, more importantly, ensure that when we say “never again” in relation to genocide, we actually mean it.

Along the way, perhaps we can make some improvements to some of the other things that need improving too.

It seems that the first thing we need to do is that we need to look a good long look at international law and the organisations that are meant to enforce them.  Here are my initial thoughts for the work that’s needed:

• We need to revisit the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to update the language, make the wording as inclusive as possible to reflect the modern world so that not a single individual is left out.
• Every State in the world should sign up to the revised Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  It should be mandatory and States that refuse should be subject to sanctions until they do sign up.
• The Genocide Conventions need to have their wording amended so that no State can claim that they do not apply to them.
• The United Nations has been shown to be absolutely unable to fulfil its duty to ensure that genocide never happens again so it must be reformed, dismantled and rebuilt or replaced over time if reform is deemed impossible.  The new UN or its replacement should be tasked with updating, reforming and creating international laws.
• The United Nations Security Council has been shown to be unfit for purpose due to a small number of States having permanent seats on the council and veto power that has stood in the way of holding Israel to account for its genocidal actions (as we have seen with the United States during the Gaza genocide.  The UN Security Council (or whatever replaces it) must dispense with the idea of permanent seats and veto powers offered to such States.
• Every State should accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court as a mandatory requirement of membership of the reformed UN or its replacement.
• Membership of the reformed UN or its replacement should come with benefits for trade and diplomacy and the duty that Human Rights are to be enforced as laid out in the revised Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Any State breaching their duty to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should lose their membership of the UN (or its replacement), their membership benefits and face sanctions in proportion to their Human Rights infractions.
• The ICJ and ICC will, in the short term, be subject to having fewer members from States that looked the other way during Israel’s genocide.
• The ICJ and ICC should be given a multinational force to ensure that their rulings on international issues are followed and international arrest warrants are carried out.
• All external States must remove their military forces from the Middle East and Middle Eastern States must be allowed to conduct their own affairs without external influence.  Trade and diplomatic ties should still be allowed but the Middle East should no longer be allowed to become pawns or victims of political and strategic moves by powers outside the Middle East.
• The reformed UN or its replacement should have a multinational force to create the peace between States, to patrol the borders of States that welcome them, not to intervene in aggressive acts between States but to freely the information gathered in their duties to both sides in the conflict to help resolve the dispute as peacefully as possible.  This multinational force could be the same as that created for the ICJ and ICC or a complimentary force.  Most importantly, members of States currently in conflict will not be made to serve together or in the States that are in conflict to ensure that no States or individuals will be placed in a position in which they cannot act impartially.

These are, of course, only a few suggestions of the work that needs to be done in a post-Gaza genocide world and suggestions that are not fully thought through but they form the start of a debate that’s needed.