Palestine: No peace in sight. Germany: Responsible

The US-government has announced the start of the second phase of its „peace plan“ for Gaza, involving a new body to administer the Gaza Strip. Since October 2023, more than 71,000 people in Gaza have been killed by Israel, including over 20,000 children (that is, more than one child per hour), while more than 171,000 people have been injured.

Trump chairs the executive committee that administers the Gaza Strip holding sole veto power. Several billionaires and real‑estate magnates stand at his side, tasked with implementing the Sunrise Project, a large‑scale 112‑billion‑dollar real‑estate plan. This establishment of a colonial protectorate in Gaza is presented as a “peace plan.” Trump’s “peace plan” offers no concrete perspective for freedom or self‑determination for the Palestinian people.

Yet, peace and a life of dignity still seem far out of reach in the Gaza Strip. Since the „ceasefire“ in October 2025, at least 449 Palestinians have been killed, including at least 100 children (roughly, one child per day). The Al Jazeera news network reports more than 1,300 violations of the ceasefire by the Israeli army in the last three months.

The heavy rainfall and flooding in recent weeks have rendered thousands of tents inhabitable and exposed nearly 800,000 people in flood-prone camps to additional risk, while children continue to face severe risks of malnutrition and disease as the health system teeters on the brink of collapse (OCHA). 

At the same time, both settler and the army violence has been rapidly escalating in the West Bank and in East-Jerusalem, with increased attacks, killings, arrests, house demolitions and the forced displacement of Palestinian families (OCHA). These systematic acts of violence contribute to the further consolidation of the apartheid-state against the Palestinian people. Satellite imagery analyzed by Forensic Architecture shows how Israel has been transforming the so-called „Yellow Line“, which de-facto divides the Gaza Strip, into a physical barrier through earthworks and military infrastructure; a further step towards the permanent territorial division and control of Palestinian territories. 

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has only been opened in a symbolic manner. Each day, only 50 people are allowed to leave the Gaza Strip, under strict control by the Israeli army. 

All in all, in an era in which language is used to mask the obvious, this US “peace plan“ is nothing more than a colonial fantasy dressed up as business as usual. It is an architecture of terror and violent self‑sufficiency. Any real peace plan would entail accountability, equality and, above all, self‑determination. In this case, we are watching an authoritarian imperial hegemon stand alongside a wanted war criminal to dictate “peace terms“, while still threatening Palestinians if they refuse to submit to this colonial dystopian fantasy. In theory, negotiations are supposed to involve mutual compromise. Here, however, Israel is not held accountable, is not required to disarm, and is not asked to relinquish control in any way, nor are any of the other complicit powers. Only the Palestinian resistance has to.

In Vance’s presentation, we see a pure capitalist dreamscape: technocrats, private investors and geopolitical elites positioning themselves to chair and invest in “New Gaza“ while the genocide is still ongoing in front of the world’s eyes that has seemed to have forgotten their duty to act. We are not merely dealing with ceasefire violations, we are far beyond that. What we see instead is the international embrace of an imperial “peace plan“ that, in explicitly racialised and white‑supremacist terms, demands the total subjugation of Palestinians. It is a plan that openly obliterates international law, even in its already heavily diluted masquerading form.

Israel is banning a large amount of NGOs from operating in Gaza 

Also with regard to food and medical care for people in the Gaza Strip, Israel is not adhering to the provisions of Trump’s „peace plan“. Instead of ensuring the agreed unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid and the full opening of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, 37 NGOs in the Gaza Strip are being forced to cease their work by 1 March 2026. 

The decision to forbid the NGOs from operating in the Gaza Strip constitutes yet another violation of international humanitarian law by Israel, as well as a breach of the US’ „peace plan“ for Gaza. Furthermore, this is in line with the findings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has held that the Israeli government is systematically depriving the population of Gaza of essentials for their survival and is thereby continuing the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Because: „Humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law“, as stated on 31 December 2025 by the heads of several major humanitarian agencies within the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC).

Every third healthcare facility in the Gaza Strip will be forced to close because of the expulsion of the NGOs, depriving countless people of access to medical care. In addition, since 1 January 2026, Israel has only allowed those foreign organisations and staff to operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that reject the arrest warrants issued by the ISJ against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. 

Germany: Accomplice 

The arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu and Gallant relate to Israel having failed to enable „the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza“, as ordered by the ICJ.

However, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) has met with Netanyahu three times since taking office. Netanyahu himself has spoken of „excellent relations“ between the two. 

Despite an agreed ceasefire that is not really one, Tel Aviv is continuing to pursue its war aims of fully conquering the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu himself has said that the US administration’s „peace plan“ is merely symbolic. The Israeli military has therefore already drawn up plans for a renewed offensive in Gaza City and had them approved.

The genocide is making German corporations rich

Meanwhile, the US subsidiary of Allianz, one of the largest insurance companies in the world, purchased Israeli “war bonds” worth almost one billion US dollars. In addition, the insurance group invested at least 7,3 billion dollars in shares and bonds linked to the occupation and the genocide.

But above all, it is the German arms industry that is profiting from war and genocide. Rheinmetall’s share price, for example, has risen by 1,851 percent since 2020; a record in an otherwise ailing German economy. This is due primarily to the war in Ukraine and the general militarisation of Germany, but Rheinmetall has also profited from the genocide:

Rheinmetall, working together with the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, has developed and produced modern tanks with automatic fire functions for Israel. In 2024, the German government also supplied Israel with 10,000 rounds of tank ammunition manufactured by Rheinmetall, thereby substantially supporting its military operation in the Gaza Strip.

The German actors that profit from war and occupation are not limited to arms manufacturers; they also include financial and construction‑materials companies. According to the report “Don’t Buy Into Occupation” on European financial institutions, Deutsche Bank, for instance, has financed companies that supply weapons to Israel or are active in the settlement economy, while Heidelberg Materials, through its subsidiary Hanson Israel, operates in the Israeli settlement industry in the West Bank and is therefore listed in the updated UN database of settlement‑related companies.

Weapons do not create peace

For decades, Germany has been one of Israel’s biggest military supporters. Between 2003 and 2023 alone, it supplied weapons worth more than two billion euros. This was despite the fact that, as early as 2004, the ICJ called on Israel to comply with international human rights law in view of its unlawful occupation policy. 

From 7 October 2023 to 13 May 2025, the federal government exported weapons to Israel with a total value of over 485 million euros. This includes not only firearms, large-calibre weapons, ammunition and bombs, but also protective equipment, software and electronics. 

The German government is therefore complicit, through its arm exports, in the genocide of the Palestinian people and in the destruction of over 70 percent of civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. People have been shot and killed, among other things, with German rifles and German ammunition, and buildings have been destroyed and bombed, among other things, with German‑made bombs.

Yet even after the federal government’s so‑called “export stop” on 8 August last year, arms deliveries worth at least 2.46 million euros were approved – on the grounds that these were exclusively “other military goods” that would only be used for defensive purposes.

Then, in mid-November 2025, it was announced that heavy ammunition, small arms and bombs could once again be supplied. Essentially, everything as before. And this despite the arrest warrant against Netanyahu, despite the livestreamed genocide on every social media platform.

Complicity is what is understood in Germany as „culture of remembrance“ and „reason of state“. Between 24 November and 19 December 2025 alone, war weapons worth more than 54 million euros were delivered to Israel.

Pro‑Palestinian solidarity activists are being subjected to repression and violence

The internationally recognized „Civicus Monitor“ network on freedom of expression observes and analyzes the situation of civil society worldwide, using data on freedom of expression, association and assembly. The network has downgraded Germany’s civic space from “narrowed” to “obstructed”. Countries such as Hungary, Brazil, and South Africa have received the same classification. 

“Instead of supporting those who stand up for human rights, Germany has equated criticism of Israel with antisemitism, which has led to a nationwide intimidation of freedom of expression,” added Europe researcher Tara Petrović. 

Several UN Special Rapporteurs and human rights experts have also pointed the German state to a pattern of excessive and unjustified restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. This warning is further reinforced by the “Index of Repression” of the European Legal Support Center (ELSC), produced in cooperation with Forensic Architecture and Forensis, which has documented more than 700 cases of repression against Palestine solidarity in Germany since 2019.

Among other things, the UN Special Rapporteurs highlighted that:

– Lawful peace demonstrations, particularly those in solidarity with Palestine, have often been banned without any substantiated risk assessment.

– Demonstrations that do take place are frequently marked by severe police violence against thousands of activists, including children and people with disabilities.

– Above all, Palestinian or otherwise Arab people experience excessive force, discrimination and profiling.

In addition, civil society organisations and NGOs critical of Israel have been subjected to raids and funding cuts. The Jewish association “Jüdische Stimme für gerechten Frieden in Nahost” (“Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East”) has even been classified as extremist by the domestic intelligence service.

Numerous demonstrations have been broken up, including actions at universities. In several cases, peaceful participants have been arrested, in some instances without sufficiently specific charges. Since 7 October 2023, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office has initiated between nine and ten thousand preliminary proceedings against pro‑Palestinian activists, while only a very small proportion of these cases have ended with an indictment or a final conviction (see reports by WELT/dpa).

One of those affected is Baki Devrimkaya, who will appear in court on Tuesday, 10 February, in an appeal hearing. Sign here in solidarity and against these repressive measures, and come to his trial: rally at 4 p.m., Berlin Regional Court I, Turmstraße 91.

Acquit Baki, Freedom for Palestine!

We demand:

– The immediate end to the politically motivated, biased and racist persecution of a movement whose only demand is basic human rights: the liberation of the Palestinian people, an end to apartheid and the unlawful occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and an end to German complicity in the genocide in Gaza.

– An immediate arms embargo on Israel and a review of all existing export licences.

– The withdrawal of German companies from the settlement economy and from arms‑industry cooperation.

– Support for independent investigations.

– No meetings with Netanyahu and/or Gallant.

– The dismantling of all forms of Israeli occupation and apartheid throughout historic Palestine.

– Recognition and implementation of the right of return for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were expelled from their homes in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the territories occupied in 1948.

– The release of all political prisoners, an end to administrative detention, and an independent review of all cases arising in the context of protest and resistance against occupation.

• english
• Palästina/Israel