THE West is at it again — led by the US with the spineless backing of the other members of the UN security council, Palestine is being made to play roulette with an Israeli gun to its head. Heads you lose, tails we win.

The Trump — or as it is euphemistically called, the “Comprehensive” — Plan is neither a plan for peace for the Palestinians, nor is it comprehensive in any sense other than giving Israel everything it wants.

For the Palestinians history is repeating itself, with Western countries deciding their fate over their heads, capitulating to zionist pressure, without bothering to consult or involve them in the process.

The Palestinian Authority being coerced into approving the plan does not legitimise it. It is born of the belief that we, the West, have the right to determine the fate of other countries or peoples — the only right we recognise is might.

First, during the World War I, Sir Mark Sykes and Francois Picot for the French carved up the Middle East and Britain got and occupied Palestine. Then Balfour gave it away in 1917.

As the film Palestine 36 shows, we ruled Palestine brutally until after the second world war, putting down the Palestinian general strike and rebellion using terror tactics learnt in India and concentration camps. All the time aiding and abetting Jewish settlement culminating in allowing the Nakba to take place in 1948.

The decades of colonial rule and occupation the Palestinians have suffered is a direct result of successive British governments’ decisions and complicity at every step of the way. This is not someone else’s mess — it is ours. A wrong we owe to Palestinians today to put right.

Ironically, today, November 29 is the UN Day of Solidarity with Palestine. When the UN voted to create Israel in 1948, it had no such power — its charter does not give it the power to bring countries into existence taking over occupied land. Neither does the UN security council have the legal authority to agree, approve and implement Trump’s plan, which is in direct contravention of all international law regarding self-determination.

The US feels free to ignore the many resolutions on Palestine passed by the general council and the rulings of the International Court of Justice when it doesn’t suit it but gets the security council to jump to its bidding to legitimise its plan concocted with the Israelis and now being imposed onto the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian people would not need days of solidarity if the UN — and the Western countries that run it — had used its powers to make Israel comply with international law for the last 70 years, or even more so over the last two.

How many red lines does Israel have to cross before the world acts? Seemingly as many as it wants.

Instead, the security council decision legitimises Israel’s actions and behaviours over decades. It does not mention self-determination, the occupation, the West Bank, settlements, settler violence, the wall or Jerusalem. Let alone the genocide, apartheid, reparations and the many breaches of international law it has committed.

Israel is let off scot-free — it is not even on bail for its crimes. It is left in complete control of everything, with new enlarged buffer zones, a security perimeter and no timetable or commitment for withdrawal from Gaza — let alone recognition of a Palestinian state, only a vague reference to it being considered in some “never ever land” future.

There is no role for the Palestinians — they can’t be trusted unless vetted and approved. It is the victim that has been found guilty and is being punished. A new colonial construct is being imposed — an Orwellian-named “Board of Peace” backed up by an “International Stabilisation Force.”

This is an imposition of a new “no-end-in-sight” colonial regime. The role of these organisations is not to end the occupation, rather to manage that occupation.

Not only does it resolve no issues in Gaza, leaving millions still starving among the rubble and the ecocide that was their fertile land, it allows Israel to renew the war in the West Bank untroubled by Gaza — we are defending its rear.

Settlers and the Israeli military have become indistinguishable, morphing from one to the other, all armed by the Israeli state.

Violence and destruction in Palestinian villages is reaching unprecedented heights. It being harvest time, olive trees are being destroyed at will.

The excellent UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese in her latest report has made clear that the Gaza genocide is a collective crime — “third states” like Britain, France and many others cannot hide behind Israel and the US, saying “it wasn’t us.”

Even the security council decision gives them no cover from failing to make good their commitments under international law.

She identifies four areas where we have aided and abetted Israel. We shielded Israel by our diplomatic and political actions. Maintained military ties, supplying the means. Facilitated the weaponisation of humanitarian aid. Maintained or increased economic relations and trade.

We have provided aid and assistance to Israel’s unlawful occupation and genocide. So, with British and US companies being lined up to make a profit out of the carve-up of Gaza, the need for solidarity is greater than ever.

We need to bring the world’s attention to the con that is going on. There is no ceasefire, no peace, no solution for Palestine, just another generation of colonial rule. The ceasefire is being used by governments and the media to push Palestine out of the news, to stop any pressure on Israel — instead we are endorsing Israel’s military victory and rewarding it for the genocide it has committed.

The Starmer government — now haunted by Tony Blair in zombie form, is more culpable than any other “third state,” plays a proactive role in the genocide providing intelligence and military support. It is not a passive bystander.

The emergency resolution passed by this year’s Labour conference accepting the findings of the UN Inquiry on Genocide, shows that there remains a majority of Labour members who support Palestine — a view not represented by its current leadership who immediately disowned the resolution.

The UN Day of Solidarity is an opportunity to renew our commitment to build a global alliance that will help bring about self-determination for Palestine, not allowing Western companies to profit from the genocide we have supported. This means BDS, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — Bigger, Deeper, Stronger.