Who will step in to save the Palestinians?

The Israeli government is engaging in three processes that are shaping the future of Palestinians: ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid.
This is what Palestinians face. Emphasis should be on the word “process.” All three take place over time. All three were at play prior to Oct. 7, 2023, for those who were not paying attention. And all this occurs as international law is being ripped up, alongside the legal institutions established to deal with these very atrocities.
In Gaza, Israel is now offering a US-endorsed choice: ethnic cleansing or genocide. Stay and be killed, that is via bombing, starvation or disease. Or Palestinians can leave, to a third country, never to return — textbook ethnic cleansing.
Palestinians in the West Bank have faced a regime of apartheid for years. The systematic discrimination against Palestinians is only getting worse. Sunday’s decision to push ahead with the so-called fabric of life road to the east of Jerusalem will create yet another example of Israeli citizens benefiting from a first-class road and Palestinians being forced on to riskier, slower routes, while being denied access to yet more areas around Jerusalem.
Ethnic cleansing is a feature in the West Bank too, as it was within what is now Israel between 1947 and 1949. Israeli settlers and the military authorities drive this process. About 50,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced since mid-January, with sites like the Jenin refugee camp rendered uninhabitable. Settler-army attacks on Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills have only escalated since the Oscars triumph for the film “No Other Land.”
Israel is on the cusp of annexing all or part of the West Bank. Annexation, no doubt endorsed by the US, will be the formal confirmation of this apartheid. We can be certain that Palestinian residents of the West Bank will not be offered the vote in Israel or equal rights, or anything close.
With these terminal processes heating up and the White House actively encouraging them, who can step in to save the Palestinian people? That sounds stark and it is meant to.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ilk within Israel have never accepted Palestinians have rights as a people. For him, they do not have any collective rights but might be allowed temporary status if they behave. If some Palestinians do survive these processes, they will be foreigners living in a state of Israel — tolerated guests.
The most powerful force likely to prevent such a scenario is within Israel itself. A recent poll showed that 73 percent of Israelis want January’s Gaza ceasefire deal to enter the second phase; in other words, for the pause in the bloodshed to resume. The unhappiness with Netanyahu’s imperial rule is also escalating, as he trashes the vestigial remains of Israel’s institutions.
Arab states lack the clout on their own. Too many key states — from Iraq to Syria and Libya — are in too fragile a condition to offer any genuine support. The wider Islamic world is an option but here too there are divisions.
China and Russia are not seriously engaged. Besides, both enjoy the benefits of the US trashing its own reputation across much of the world. Israel’s grave breaches of international law — all Washington-approved — also give them the cover to commit the same breaches when needed.
Perhaps Europe is the only bloc that might make a difference. Europe has punched below its weight for so long in this conflict. It has considerably more power than its leaders let on. Most of Israel’s trade is with Europe. Already at odds with most of the Middle East, Israel can hardly afford to fall out with Europe too.
Could leading Arab states and European powers work together? A few signs of this have sprouted. On March 8, the UK, France, Germany and Italy put out a joint statement welcoming the Arab League’s reconstruction plan for Gaza. It was never stated explicitly, but it was a clear repudiation of President Donald Trump’s “riviera” plan.

This is a watershed moment. Europe has to be prepared to challenge Israel’s total impunity.

Chris Doyle

Follow-up is vital. European powers can get even more involved in backing the plan, including pledging serious funds for it and helping shape some of the detail. It could become an Arab-Euro plan, with the emphasis on the former. Others like Canada could also get involved. This coalition plan would be far harder for the US and Israel to dismiss in the arrogant fashion they have exhibited thus far.
It also requires a joint Euro-Arab call to return to the January ceasefire and enter phases two and three of that plan. This would tie Europe to the broader sway of Israeli public opinion.
This is a watershed moment. Europe has to be prepared to challenge Israel’s total impunity. Netanyahu will not stop unless there is a serious cost to him continuing down this path. This could range from disengagement with Israel, such as reducing the scale of ties, to all-out sanctions.
Protesters throughout the world have for years been screaming “Free Palestine.” Soon, it will have to be “Save Palestine.”

• Chris Doyle is director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding in London. X: @Doylech