The Merchant of ‘Peace’

Despite Trump’s repeated public postures, the Nobel Committee, finally awarded this year’s peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, citing her “timeless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy”. But the West-pampered Maria is a fanatically defender of American hegemonism. And she lost no time to dedicate her prize to Trump at a time when under the pretext of fighting drug cartels Trump is all set to invade her country Venezuela by mobilising American war ships in the Caribbean. It’s no accident that this year’s Nobel ’Peace’ Prize for imperialist war and regime change goes to Washington’s puppet Maria Corina Machado. In truth Trump’s Nobel Peace prize obsession is not yet over. This year’s Nobel peace prize winner is asking the US to send troops to Venezuela to change the regime. She is openly inviting American oil majors to exploit Venezuelan oil resources. She vows to privatise oil industry allowing US corporations to make a lot of money at the cost of Venezuelan national interests. Trump has already authorised CIA to operate inside Venezuela to clamp down on alleged illegal flows of migrants and drugs from the South American nation, but short of saying they would have authority to remove President Nicolas Maduro. And yet all the autocratic allies of Trump are still hawking for his Nobel after the ceasefire in Gaza and return of remaining 20 Israeli alive hostages.

The much talked-about Trump peace proposal emerged in the wake of intensified pressure from Arab and European nations following Israel’s targeting of Qatar; a key mediator in the ceasefire negotiations. For many Gazans, the plan represents a last chance, an opportunity that may not come again. For others, it represents a formalisation of their subjugation, a surrender not just of territory, but the very idea of self-determination. If anything Gazans are being asked to make an impossible choice: between peace that may not be just and a war that has already taken everything. Israeli apartheid and genocide are now normalised and integrated into a regional and global economy. Even if the ceasefire holds rebuilding of Gaza is out of question as it would require $70 billion as per UN estimates to recover the devastated land from rubbles and ruins.

After the stoppage of war there were celebrations on both sides. The released hostages came at the “hostage square” in Tel Aviv, while Palestinians rushed to embrace freed prisoners and detainees who arrived in buses in Khan Ypunis in southern Gaza. Strangely enough, the peace deal was signed by Trump and the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and Turkey who helped broker the ceasefire but no representatives of Hamas or Israel signed the document. They called it the first phase of ceasefire. All things considered this ceasefire is as fragile as anything else. The negotiations between Hamas and Israel have been characterised by stubborn refusals on both sides, each unwilling to compromise on core demands. For the Palestinians this intransigence has been a great source of deep frustration.

What comes next is hazier. For Gaza, which lies in ruins, the damage defies description. More than 67,000 Palestinians were killed in 700-plus days of war. As major issues such as Hamas’s disarmament remain unresolved, Palestinians face a dilemma: ‘Every concession made by Hamas is irreversible, while every concession made by Israel can be undone’. Also the question of the future of Gaza governance is still uncertain. In short, this temporary arrangement of tranquillity may not last long.

The US-backed Israel is a murder machine that will not stop its genocidal actions until they have wiped out the Palestinian population. The people across the world at least formally possess human rights and their right to life. Except the Palestinians, against whom a war of extermination has been unfolding for a century.

22-10-2025

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 20, Nov 9 - 15, 2025