Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine condemns Trump’s shameless plan

Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine (SLCSP) yesterday via a statement condemned the US President Donald Trump’s plan to evict Palestinians from their homeland.

It described Trump’s move as “shameless” and called on the people the world over to reject this evil plan and join hands to bring about peace with justice to Palestinians. 

“We also demand the genocidal leaders of Israel be tried for crimes against humanity for the murder and mayhem they are unleashing of these helpless people,” the SLCSP said. Minister and MP Bimal Rathnayake is the Co-Chairman of SLCSP and General Secretary is Fawzer Farook.

In its statement the SLCSP also said the following: On 15 January a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza which commenced on 7 September 2023 when Israel attacked the Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a ‘Hamas’ attack on an illegal Jewish settlement in Israeli-occupied Palestine. Since then, Israel has killed 46,707 Palestinians including 18,000 children in 15 months of daily bombardment. Thousands more are buried under the rubble and are presumed dead. At least 110,265 people have been injured in Gaza as a result of the bombardment. Israel has also cut all supplies of water, food, medicine and electricity to the city. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forcibly displaced during the attacks. At least 60% of all buildings in Gaza have been destroyed. In addition, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have conducted numerous airstrikes on more than 200 educational facilities, including universities in the Gaza Strip. According to UN reports, Israel has also carried out 136 strikes on Gaza hospitals which have caused critical damage and casualties among medical personnel. It is in this context we have to view US President Trump’s proposal for peace in Palestine. Since winning the US presidential election, President Trump threatened to “unleash all hell” on Palestinians. Unless ‘Hamas’ releases all Israeli hostages. Hamas rejected Trump’s demands and called on Israel to release the thousands of Palestinians held hostage in Israeli prisons in return for prisoners taken by Hamas. A fragile peace process based on the exchange of prisoners is now in operation between Hamas and the Israeli Government. The exchange of prisoners is not complete with Israel holding out releasing a number of Palestinians. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues carrying out random raids into Palestinian territory.

It is at this point US president Trump interjected himself into the peace process to bring about an end to Israel’s continuing attacks on the people of Palestine. The US President’s ‘peace plan’ for Palestine is both simplistic as it is without any foundation for ground realities. President Trump has proposed that the United States “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip. His statement came during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on 4 February. On 10 February in a Fox News interview, Trump stated that Palestinians would not return to Gaza because “they’re going to have much better housing and a permanent place for them”. He is also calling on Egypt and Jordan to provide land in their countries to house the Palestinians evicted from the Gaza Strip. In simple language Trump’s plan for peace in Gaza, is to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinian population and for the US to take over Palestinian territory! Gaza’s marine field hold an estimated 1.6 trillion cubic feet in recoverable natural gas resources. The offshore Gaza territory also holds additional energy resources. Trump’s ‘peace plan’ is to gain control of these resources of the Palestinian people. The Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, in solidarity with the people of Palestine and the neighbouring Arab states rejects out of hand Trump’s racially biased plan to cleanse the Palestinian city of Gaza of Palestinians as well as to hand over Palestinian territory to the US.

For the past 77 years – since the setting up of the State of Israel in Palestine – Palestinians have been under Israeli attack. To date, there are as many as 1.5 million Palestinian refugees who live in 58 recognised Palestine refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. On 11 March Israel recommenced bombing of the Gaza Strip. The 11 March attacks led to over 400 Palestinians being killed in a single day. US president Trump’s so-called ‘peace plan’ in reality, is simply a means of delivering the whole of Palestine into Israeli hands on the one hand and rewarding those who commit mass murder and genocide on the other.