Israel hoping to scupper Gaza peace plan through ‘artificial barriers’
The biggest obstacles to maintaining the ceasefire in Gaza and moving to the next stage of the peace plan are the “artificial barriers” being put up by Israel, according to Sultan Barakat, a professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar.
“On the Israeli side, the first thing they should have done is to withdraw [their forces] – and they haven’t done this totally in line with the agreement – and then to allow aid in … but they are trying to delay it little by little, in the hope that this will create a crisis and Hamas will react in some form,” he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Barakat said moves by the Israeli Knesset to advance two bills on annexing the occupied West Bank were “designed entirely to irritate Trump” and his administration.
“It also shows us that the majority of the [Knesset] supports annexation and the issue is not just with a minority of extremists in the Israeli government, it’s much wider,” he said.
ICJ ruling shows international law ‘on the side of the Palestinians’
The International Court of Justice’s ruling that Israel has an obligation as the occupying power to allow basic necessities into Gaza shows that the law is “on the side of the Palestinians” and that the “world’s moral conscience is still alive”, Sultan Barakat, professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, tells Al Jazeera.
“The Israelis are likely to dismiss it, but deep inside I think they’re very upset,” he said.
“They dismiss all these international rulings, but they know that the wheel of justice will catch up with them – if not today, then tomorrow, or if not tomorrow, then in 10 years.”
10 years seems a bit optimistic, it all depends on how long the USA is still going to shield Israel. The USA has been ignoring ICJ rulings since 1986.
