By Ameer Ali –

Dr. Ameer Ali

“Throughout history many nations have suffered a physical defeat, but that never marked the end of a nation. But when a natin has become the victim of a psychological defeat, then that marks the end of a nation”~ Ibn Khaldun

It was the late Ayatollah Khomeini who described US as the “Greatest Satan” and the US Embassy as a “den of spies and espionage”. What happened afterwards is history with revolutionary consequences US lost one of its wealthiest and strategic allies in the Middle East to maintain the imperial order. The shah and his family were thrown out of the country and the revolution ended in putting to power a semi-theocratic government. But the scars of that wound continue to hurt the superpower till now, and the surviving remnants of Iran’s Pahlavi Dynasty are still looking for an opportunity to stage a comeback. That opportunity came in the recent expression of public discontent over rising cost of living, which in fact is a global pandemic emanating from a collapsing world economic order built on the foundation of extractive capitalism. However, what began as a protest over economic mismanagement was soon hijacked and turned into a murderous riot by mercenary elements funded and armed by agencies from outside. US and Israel are obviously the main culprits behind this convulsion. Global North’s media propaganda spread its own narrative that what is taking place in Iran is a political campaign calling for regime change. President Trump promised the rioters that help was on the way, and the son of the late Shah started preparing for his return and be installed by Trump as the future Iranian monarch. In short, the riots seem to be a prelude to the next US-Iran-Israel war with unpredictable consequences.     

Trump’s recent adventure in Venezuela, which was tactically a successful ploy has given his megalomaniac ego a big boost, and he is now threatening to repeat the same in Greenland and other South American and Caribbean countries. But whether he would succeed in his ultimate objective of taking control over Venezuela’s oil resources, which are by far the largest known on record, by promoting a vassal state in Venezuela is extremely doubtful given the revolutionary history of that part of the world. Anti-US demonstrations have already started in Cuba, and they are destined to spread to other countries in the region. It is also his greed for oil and rare earth minerals and not US defence which made his move on Greenland. But Iran is a different kettle of fish. The country’s anti-US semi-theocratic government has become a menacing obstacle to the imperialist aspirations of US-led Global North in protecting the Middle East Order which it created after WWII. Iran has already lost a great deal of its influence in Middle Eastern affairs after the fall of Asad regime in Syria. Its influence now is confined to the support it renders to the forces of armed resistance against US-Israel expansionism in that region. This is why Trump and Netanyahu realize that destroying Iran’s military arsenal and its economy is a prerequisite not only to colonize Gaza and Occupied West Bank but also and more strategically to stop China’s One Road Belt from penetrating the Middle East. But more immediately, Iran needs to be subdued if Trump’s dream of a new Riviera in Gaza were to materialize via the second phase of his so-called ceasefire plan.        

According to information available so far, Gaza Strip would be administered by a 15-member committee of technocrats apparently headed by a 67-year-old civil engineer Dr. Ali Abdel Hamid Shaath, a native of Gaza residing in the Occupied West Bank. This committee in turn would function under the supervision of a 7-member Board of Peace including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner the son-in-law of Trump and businessman, Steve Wittcof the US special envoy to Middle Est and the infamous Tony Blair and three others. Trump has invited Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to join and Israel has opposed the inclusion of Turkey and Qatar. That Board, which is expected to include even more members would be chaired by Trump himself, and in his own words, it would be “the greatest board ever appointed anywhere, anytime”. There is also going to be an Executive Board to play an advisory role. And above all, an International Stabilization Force to be headed by US army General Jasper Jeffers. In fact, the entire machinery resembles a colonial framework. Trump so far said nothing about Israel which still holds 60% of Gaza’s territory but has threatened Hamas with unparallel consequences if it fails to disarm completely and remain just an onlooker of the unfolding drama. It appears that several factions within Hamas are previewing the second phase, and according to a senior Hamas leader Bassam Nain, “the ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor and the international community”, which implies a conditional ‘Yes’. But the newly appointed head of Hamas’ Qassam Brigade, Izz al-Din al-Haddad earlier stated that there would be no change in their resistance path. Just as Europe faced the “Eastern Question” on the eve of the collapse of Ottoman Empire and found the answer in dividing the Ottoman territory into respective colonial zones between Britain and France, US-led Global North (GN) is now facing the question of an Independent Palestine State on the eve of Israel’s genocide and destruction of Gaza. The fact that this genocide and destruction was lavishly funded and weaponised by GN is a different story. Recently, Israel’s far right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared that Gaza belongs to Israel and wanted Trump’s plan to be scrapped. For the moment, Trump’s second phase with all his institutional paraphernalia and boast is in essence answering that question by proposing a colonial takeover.      

Once the committee of technocrats, the Board of Peace and other agencies are put in place one of the immediate tasks facing this colonial structure is to find the financial resources to rebuild Gaza, the cost of which is conservatively estimated to be around $70 billion. Previous colonial experience in Global South shows that colonies were ruled by exploiting their natural resources and by taxing the population. After the genocide and devastation of Gaza there is no hope for any revenue from taxation, but there is plenty of dollars in the oil and gas resources underneath Palestinian waters. Trump’s greedy eyes fell on it already in 2015 during his first term in office, and the Abraham Accord signed by Israel, UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco already was born as a result. Recently, Qatar too suggested that the exploitation of this resource could fund Gaza’s rebuilding expenses. Thus, Gaza and Occupied West Bank are ready to be colonized without spending a cent by Israel and Global Norh. But will the new colonial era end when it ends with an Independent State of Palestine? That is the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question.

So long as the Muslim world and particularly its Arab sector remains sectarian and disunited it could forget the dream of an independent Palestine state ever happening. GN will exploit this division to protect is Midde East Order with Israel as its gatekeeper. Iran, despite its Shiite theocratic outfit, is by far the only Muslim country that has the militarily capacity and diplomatic expertise capable of checking Israeli expansionism in the Middle East. It is also more China and Russia aligned than any other Muslim country. This is the reason why the megalomaniac Trump is determined to destroy Iran’s economy as well as its military. One should not forget the fact that soon after Iran’s 1979 revolution when a wave of religious awakening started engulfing the Muslim world calling for an Islamic Order, US was in the forefront of a propaganda to convince the awakened that the revolution was part of a violent Shiite history and that Sunnis should keep away from it and follow their peaceful path for political and socio-economic changes. The Shia-Sunni division was driven in to isolate Iran. The1980 Iran-Iraq war was also the handiwork of US-led GN to destroy Iran. The same tactic is repeated today in the face of the anti-Israeli wave of protest within the Sunni world on behalf of Iran-backed and Hamas-led armed resistance against Israelis genocide in Gaza.Having dubbed that protest as antisemitism, which is historically and factually incorrect, Trump is betting the success of his colonial phase of the Ceasefire in exploiting the Shia-Sunni divide. Already eight Sunni Muslim countries had endorsed his cease fire plan and now he has invited Egypt, Turkey and UAE to join his Board of Peace. The outcome of Trump’s solution to Gaza is not an Independent State of Palestine but an expanded state of Israel with Gaza and the Occupied West Bank annexed with it.  The third holiest mosque Al-Aqsa has fallen already under Israeli boots, but what is the guarantee that the first and second in Saudi Arabia are safe in the future?