Satellite images show a pier under construction on the Gaza coast (Maxar)
While the American ship makes its way to Gaza loaded with the necessary equipment to build the floating dock there, and is expected to arrive on the seventh of next month;
Mystery still looms over the motives for constructing this pier, and the goals that the Zionist-American alliance seeks to achieve through its construction, which is expected to be ready for use in the first week of next June.
I explained in my previous article how this project was not a spur of the moment for US President Joe Biden, but rather two weeks after the start of the Zionist-American genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
And now the project is coming into effect in conjunction with the Zionist occupation army’s announcement of the establishment of “humanitarian islands” in the Gaza Strip to transfer the residents of the city of Rafah to them, before the military operation it intends to carry out in the next few days.
The biggest problem that preoccupies the United States and Western countries is not the humanitarian consequences of the war, but rather the failure of the Zionist entity to eliminate the Hamas movement, and this means the necessity of helping it achieve a clear and urgent military victory that restores its regional and international prestige, which was undermined by the Palestinian resistance and the people’s rally around it.
Basic starting points for understanding
Before talking about the possible motives and objectives for establishing the floating dock, it is necessary to recall the following basic premises:
For a clearer understanding of what is currently taking place in the Gaza Strip in terms of military, political and administrative operations and movements:
The United States agreed to construct the floating dock;
At the request of the Zionist entity, and if its goal is to enable humanitarian aid ships to reach the displaced;
It could have been established on the Mediterranean coast, north of the Gaza Strip in the territory of the Zionist entity, or south of the Gaza Strip in Egyptian territory, to avoid being exposed to any attacks by the Palestinian resistance according to its fears. It could also have used the port of Ashdod in the north or Al-Arish in the south, instead of that. From the construction of the floating dock.
The United States and Western countries consider the Hamas movement a terrorist organization, and stand solidly and unitedly with the Zionist entity in its declared goals of the war on Gaza, the first of which is the elimination of the Hamas movement. The Palestinian Authority and a number of Arab countries agree with this position - unfortunately - with this position.
The real crisis and major problem that preoccupies the political administration, security and military services of the United States and Western countries is not the humanitarian consequences of the war, but rather the failure of the Zionist entity to achieve its declared goals, foremost of which is the elimination of the Hamas movement. This means the necessity of helping the Zionist entity achieve a clear and urgent military victory. It restores its regional and international prestige, which was destroyed by the Palestinian resistance, and the people’s rally around it.
The plays of preventing humanitarian aid, the UNRWA crisis, and hunger are no longer deceiving anyone, and that the United States and Western countries are crying over the genocide that is happening to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, is for media consumption, to please voters, and to deceptively appear as a conservative of Western civilized human values.
Because if the lamentation were real, binding measures would have been taken early on the Zionist entity to stop the war, bring in aid, and spare the blood of civilians. The United States and Western countries control the global system, and the state of the Zionist entity is considered a strategic ally.
The West is lamenting what is happening to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, but it has not yet issued any clear and frank condemnation of what the Zionist entity is doing, similar to the fierce aggressive condemnations that were launched successively against the Hamas movement over the first week following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack in The seventh of last October.
The behaviors adopted by the Zionist entity in its war against Hamas are not disciplined military behaviors aimed at defeating the Hamas movement and liberating the prisoners and abductees, but rather comprehensive genocidal behaviors against the population of the Gaza Strip and its superstructure and infrastructure.
It reveals the existence of other undeclared goals, confirmed by the reality of the military and political situation, and the plans that are unfolding day after day.
The United States and Western countries talk a lot about their rejection of the forced displacement of the population of the Gaza Strip.
As it is in violation of international and humanitarian law, this automatically means accepting voluntary displacement, and working to create conditions that encourage the residents of the Gaza Strip to voluntarily migrate.
Talking about the attack on the city of Rafah and the insistence of Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry it out;
It can only be understood in terms of unstated goals;
Because the justifications he gives for carrying out this attack were previously presented at the start of the ground invasion, when the central governorates were invaded, and the invasion of Khan Yunis, in all of which he is still facing fierce and costly resistance until now.
The end of the war does not seem near if the situation continues as it is in the government of the Zionist entity, and Netanyahu continues at the helm of power, and talk about rehabilitating the Gaza Strip and arranging the next situation after the war will take years, during which what no one ever imagined would happen.
As for the international enthusiasm for the two-state solution, it is for local, regional and international political consumption, and it is only expected to result in a new round of international conferences that will lead to nothing.
The United States entered the waters of Gaza without permission or authorization from anyone, and it will have the say in the next stage. Will it succeed in implementing its Zionist-American plans and projects, or will it dive into the sands of Gaza, as it did before in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq?
Will things remain under its control or will they be blown away by the winds of lurking regional and international tensions?
Possible motives for establishing the port
On January 22, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, met with the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union in Brussels, and presented to them two projects: the first to establish a railway linking the Zionist entity to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Emirates, and India, and the second to establish an artificial island on the coast of the Gaza Strip. With an airport, port, industrial zone, and desalination plant, in order to accommodate the Palestinian people until the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, which is the project that Katz presented in 2017 to his Prime Minister Netanyahu in his previous government in which he was Minister of Transportation, and it was then widely accepted by Netanyahu and his government.
Despite the comments made by Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy official, on Minister Katz's presentation, the European Union is one of the first supporters of President Biden's announcement of the establishment of the floating dock in Gaza.
In his phone call with Netanyahu two days ago, President Biden stressed “the necessity of defeating Hamas in Gaza, while at the same time protecting civilians and facilitating the delivery of aid.”
US National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan explained on the same day that the United States would not allow Hamas to find a safe haven in Rafah, and that there were military, security and humanitarian experts from the United States and the Zionist entity who would meet soon to develop alternative plans for the attack on Rafah that would ensure achieving both goals together.
The goal of eliminating Hamas and the goal of preserving civilians, and taking into account Egyptian security concerns.
Returning to the previous basic premises to understand what is going on, we can deduce the Zionist-American and Western motives for constructing the floating dock, the most important of which are:
Implementing the port project that Netanyahu presented to President Biden, and Minister Katz presented to the European Union foreign ministers. The floating dock will not remain a dock, but rather will be a prelude to the establishment of the port, to which Arab countries have prepared to contribute, and it has been announced that it will receive not only humanitarian aid ships;
But also merchant ships.
The Zionist military spokesman announced that the temporary humanitarian islands to transfer the residents of Rafah to before the attack on it will be built in cooperation with the international community, and the necessary humanitarian supplies will be provided to them through the United Nations.
This project - which will be managed in coordination with the Zionist entity - will have a major role in implementing plans for the next status of the Gaza Strip, which have not yet been announced.
Supporting the army of the Zionist entity on the ground, and helping it achieve victory over the Hamas movement, through the forces that will accompany the process of constructing the floating dock. Their number in the first phase will reach 1,000 US Navy personnel, and it is expected that this number will include security, intelligence, military and administrative cadres working to penetrate Palestinian society, and weakening the popular rally around the resistance, especially after transferring the displaced to humanitarian islands, isolating them from current daily life and alleviating their suffering.
Breaking the will and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, and creating conditions for them to migrate voluntarily, especially for the displaced people on humanitarian islands, with the encouragement of the United Nations and facilitation from Western countries, which will increase the pressure on the Hamas movement, and make it lose popular support.
It seems that the introduction of Cyprus into the maritime transport line came to serve the purpose of voluntary migration.
Giving more time to enable the Zionist entity’s army to achieve the goal of eliminating Hamas, after emptying the areas of residents, hospitals, and places of worship, and restricting the battlefield to the Zionist army and the armed resistance brigades, first and foremost the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
Pressure on Egypt to provide facilities to accommodate a portion of the displaced and facilitate their movement from Rafah to Egyptian territory in coordination with the United Nations, so that it does not miss the upcoming investment opportunities and lose its role in arranging the conditions of the next stage.
It is not unlikely that this port will play a role in the initial preparations for the project to extract natural gas from the territorial waters of Gaza, and other projects in the next phase.
The plans and visions currently proposed for the post-war period are very different from what the Palestinian and Arab circles are arguing about.
In search of Hamas’ position in the coming scene, who will rule Gaza next, and the role of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian forces lurking behind the doors.
If these plans and perceptions succeed, there may be no such thing as the Gaza Strip, nor the people of the Gaza Strip, until the Palestinian and Arab parties disagree about who and how.
The United States entered the waters of Gaza without permission or authorization from anyone, and it will have the say in the next stage. Will it succeed in implementing its Zionist-American plans and projects, or will it dive into the sands of Gaza, as it did before in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq?
Will things remain under her control?
Or will it be blown away by the winds of lurking regional and international tensions?
As for the question about the position of the Hamas movement on all of this, we will discuss it in an upcoming article, God willing.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.