In the latest ceasefire talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been insistent that Israel be able to maintain a permanent military occupation of Gaza’s border with Egypt and a corridor built by Israeli forces cutting across the middle of the Gaza Strip, which Israelis respectively call the Philadelphi Corridor and Netzarim Corridor.
“Under the guise of ‘ceasefire negotiations’ Israel is trying to create the conditions for permanent occupation and more land grab. Those familiar with Palestine’s history recognize in what is happening to the Palestinians under Israel’s unlawful occupation, the pattern of settler colonialism,” said Albanese on social media on Thursday.
Albanese shared an observation from University of Edinburgh international relations professor Nicola Perugini, who noted: “Corridors are key tools of fragmentation, enclavisation and land dispossession in the history of Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. Corridors (Allon Plan etc) were key in settling the West Bank.”
In essence, Israel’s position in the ceasefire talks is for there to be no ceasefire — for Israel to be allowed to continue its genocide for as long as Israeli leaders desire — and for mediators to give Israel permission to expand its occupation of Palestine. This means that, if U.S. officials agree to an Israeli “ceasefire” plan, they are not only giving the green light to the genocide, but also for Israel to take steps toward annexing Gaza.
You can’t convince yesterday’s colonizer that today’s colonizer is wrong.