When UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini recently described Gaza to the Pope as a 'sea of ruins' and an 'environment of extreme poverty,' Israeli offices were finalizing documents, and in Davos, Jared Kushner was presenting slides with 180 skyscrapers on the coast. This is not a contradiction - it is the perfect logic of the new colonialism of the 21st century. While the world, tired of the 'eternal conflict,' looks away, the final act is playing out on the ruins of Gaza: the elimination of even the semblance of law, humanitarianism, and hope, replaced by imperialistic fantasies and administrative cleansing. This is not war. It is planned starvation, expulsion, and reconstruction under the dictates of the victor.
Peace That Kills: Ceasefire as a Tool of Cleansing
Formally, a 'ceasefire' has been in place since October 2025. Western rhetoric speaks of a 'fragile chance for peace.' The Palestinian reality, however, looks different: from October 10 to the end of December, 414 people were killed, and 1,145 were injured. Although the intensity of shelling has decreased, 'the ceasefire does not mean that Israeli bombings do not occur.' This is the ideal model for modern imperialism: violence maintained at a precisely chosen, 'acceptable' level that does not shock consciences in Europe but systematically devastates the local community. Residents, repeatedly displaced, vegetate in ruins and tents, deprived of food, water, and hygiene supplies, struggling with winter, torrential rains, and winds destroying makeshift shelters. The UN admits that 100,000 people are still in a 'catastrophic' situation. This is not a side effect of war. It is its goal.
Trump's 'Peace Council': The New Munich
As Palestinians bury their dead, another act of grotesque unfolds in Davos. President Donald Trump solemnly inaugurates the 'Peace Council' (Board of Peace) - a body to 'resolve international conflicts' for a fixed membership fee of 1 billion dollars. This is an overt, cynical capitalization of human suffering.
This 'peace' smells of the old Munich betrayal and the policy of appeasement. In the 1930s, this strategy, used by Great Britain and France, involved concessions to the aggressor in the hope of avoiding war. Its culmination was the Munich Agreement of 1938, where the powers - without the participation of Czechoslovakia - gave its lands to the Third Reich, believing they would buy 'peace for our time.' It was an illusion of stabilization paid for by sacrificing a weaker ally. Today, we see the same imperial mechanism: the interests of the strong are realized at the expense of the existence of the weak, and overt dictates and partitions are called 'diplomacy.'
The strategy of 'appeasing' the aggressor has not disappeared. In January 2026, even influential European leaders began to loudly signal that appeasement means no results and humiliation. They noticed this, of course, not in the context of Gaza, but in relations with Trump's aggressive policy towards Europe itself. Other commentators pointed out that the soft stance of the EU and Great Britain towards Trump's tariff blackmail is precisely a modern form of this policy.
Trump's 'Peace Council' is the quintessence of this approach in a new, highly commercialized version. It is a purely imperial project where peace becomes a paid service, and the stabilization of occupation becomes a commodity. Its goal is not justice but the extinction of conflict on the terms of the stronger, while creating the ground for investments such as Kushner's 'New Gaza.' This is a new Munich with a billion-dollar admission ticket: the powers and paying members of the Council will decide the future of a nation behind its back, believing they are buying themselves peace and profits by sacrificing the Palestinians' right to self-determination. History teaches, however, that feeding the aggressor with further concessions does not lead to lasting peace but only postpones and magnifies the coming tragedy.
Kushner and the 'New Gaza': A Resort on the Ashes
The vision of the 'New Gaza,' presented by Kushner in Davos, is a moral abyss. On colorful maps, you can see 180 skyscrapers in the 'coastal tourism zone,' new ports, airports, and a 'security zone' for Israeli troops. 'It's a beautiful property,' Trump marvels, being 'at heart a real estate man.' This statement reveals the true nature of the venture: Gaza is not a homeland in their eyes, it is a 'location on the sea,' an investment plot waiting for gentrification. Kushner's plan involves building a 'New Rafah' with 100,000 homes within 2-3 years. However, the 280,000 residents of Rafah, whose homes lie in ruins, were not asked for their opinion. This is not a reconstruction plan - it is an erasure plan.
They want to build a resort for the global elite on land cleared of its native inhabitants, under the pretext of 'catastrophic success.' This is the purest form of settler colonialism: first, level it to the ground, then declare it a 'void' waiting for development. Gaza is to become the 'Riviera of the Middle East' for wealthy tourists, while Palestinians will serve them as cheap labor or be expelled forever. This is not a dream of peace; it is a nightmare of ethnic cleansing wrapped in developer brochures. Anyone who has read Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine' knows exactly how this mechanism works.
Bureaucracy and Bulldozers
In the current phase of the conflict, tanks and bombs are giving way to another, equally deadly tool: bureaucracy and bulldozers. Israel, under the pretext of 'not providing significant aid' or 'promoting delegitimization campaigns,' expels key humanitarian organizations, including Doctors Without Borders. It requires the submission of full personal data of Palestinian employees, which, given that Israeli forces regularly attack aid personnel, is equivalent to issuing a proscription list.
Simultaneously, in a brutal symbolic gesture, Israeli bulldozers enter the headquarters of UNRWA in occupied East Jerusalem to demolish it. This is an 'unprecedented attack' and a 'serious violation of international law,' the agency alarms. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calls it a 'historic day.' The goal is clear: to destroy not only the buildings but also the institutional memory of Palestinian refugees. This is a systematic erasure of every structure that could support identity. As Lazzarini warns: 'what happens to UNRWA today will happen to any other international organization tomorrow.' This is a war on the very idea of multilateralism.
The hypocrisy of the West reaches its peak of finesse here. The foreign ministers of Great Britain, France, Canada, and other countries issue 'concerned' statements. The same countries that have financed and armed the Israeli war machine for years now 'criticize' its logistical improvement. This is a modern version of the 'good German': we express outrage in writing so that no one can accuse us of silence, while taking no real action - embargoes, sanctions, breaking arms deals. This is not diplomacy; it is a ritual washing of hands.
Destruction of the Future
The most terrifying sight is not the ruins but the destruction of the foundations of reconstruction. As Lazzarini says, in Gaza, 'all universities have been destroyed, and 80 percent of schools damaged or demolished.' Over 600,000 children live in ruins, in deep trauma, without access to education. The UNRWA commissioner warns: 'if children do not urgently return to school, an entire generation is at risk. And this also means sowing the seeds of future extremism.' This is not an accidental consequence. It is a strategic goal: to deprive the community of the ability to self-organize and develop. To create a generation of the uprooted, dependent on aid, easy to control. This is a method as old as colonialism: first physical expansion, then cultural and educational sterilization.
Poland: Servility and Amnesia
And where is Poland in all this? Where are the voices of those who so eagerly speak of the 'rule of law' and 'values'? They drown in servile silence. The Polish political class, from the right to the center-left, fears one thing: being accused of 'anti-Semitism' for criticizing the state of Israel. They prefer to watch the genocide in silence rather than risk offending allies in Washington. This is a disgrace comparable to the attitude of those who, in 1938 in Munich, gave away Czechoslovakia, believing they were buying 'peace for our time.' Today, we are giving away the people of Gaza, believing we are buying ourselves security in NATO. This is an illusion. A state that is silent in the face of crime loses the moral right to speak of justice at home.
Epilogue: Freedom or Eternal Ghetto
Gaza is no longer just a conflict zone. It has become a symbol of the agony of the old world order. International humanitarian law lies in ruins. Western values have turned out to be empty slogans, used purely instrumentally.
Meanwhile, visions of new skyscrapers rise above the ruins. The 'Peace Council' sells seats at the table, and bulldozers finish the work of destruction. There is no return to the status quo ante. There are two paths left. The first: a permanent ghetto, managed from the outside through hunger and investment brochures, where the Palestinian homeland becomes an amusement park for the rich. The second: true freedom and subjectivity, won against the 'civilized' world and its paid peace councils. History teaches that ghettos, sooner or later, always rise up in revolt. But will the world, blinded by the glitter of 'beautiful properties,' hear this cry?