What is Behind the Establishment of the Zionist-American Port in Gaza?

As the American ship makes its way to Gaza loaded with the necessary equipment to build the floating dock there, expected to arrive on the seventh of next month, the mystery still looms over the motives for establishing this dock and the goals the Zionist-American alliance seeks to achieve behind its construction, which is expected to be ready for use in the first week of June.

I explained in my previous article how this project was not an impulsive decision by US President Joe Biden but rather came two weeks after the start of the Zionist-American genocidal war on Gaza. Now the project enters the implementation phase coinciding with the announcement by the Zionist occupation army of the establishment of “humanitarian islands” in Gaza to relocate the residents of Rafah city to them before the military operation it intends to carry out in the coming days.

Basic Frameworks for Understanding:

Before discussing the possible motives and objectives for establishing the floating dock, it is necessary to consider the following basic frameworks to better understand the current military, political, and administrative operations and movements in Gaza:

• The United States agreed to establish the floating dock at the explicit request of the Zionist entity. If its goal was to enable humanitarian aid ships to reach the displaced, it could have been built on the Mediterranean coast north of Gaza within the territory of the Zionist entity or in southern Gaza within Egyptian territory to avoid any attacks from the Palestinian resistance, as it could have also resorted to using the Ashdod port to the north or El Arish to the south instead of building the floating dock.
• The United States and Western countries consider Hamas a terrorist organization and stand firmly and unanimously with the Zionist entity in its declared goals of waging war on Gaza. The primary goal is to eliminate Hamas, a position unfortunately shared by the Palestinian Authority and a number of Arab countries.
• The real crisis and major problem that occupies the political, security, and military administration of the United States and Western countries is not the humanitarian consequences of the war, but the failure of the Zionist entity to achieve its declared goals, foremost among them the elimination of Hamas. This necessitates helping the Zionist entity achieve a clear and urgent military victory to restore its regional and international prestige that has been tarnished by Palestinian resistance and to rally the people around it.
• The humanitarian aid blockade, the UNRWA crisis, and the famine no longer deceive anyone. The lamentations of the United States and Western countries over the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza are mere media consumption and voter appeasement, and an attempt to appear as guardians of Western humanitarian values. If the lamentation were genuine, they would have taken early measures to compel the Zionist entity to stop the war, allow aid, and prevent the shedding of civilian blood.
• The United States and Western countries control the international system, and the Zionist entity is considered their strategic ally. The West laments what is happening to the Palestinian people in Gaza, but so far has not issued any clear and explicit condemnation of what the Zionist entity is doing, similar to the fierce condemnations that were unleashed successively against Hamas in the first week after the “Al-Aqsa Storm” attack last October.
• The behaviours adopted by the Zionist entity in its war against Hamas are not disciplined military behaviours aimed at defeating Hamas and freeing prisoners, but rather behaviours of comprehensive genocide against the population, and infrastructure of Gaza, revealing hidden objectives that are confirmed by the military and political reality, and the plans that are unfolding day by day.
• The United States and Western countries talk a lot about their rejection of the forced displacement of the population of Gaza, considering it a violation of international humanitarian law. This automatically implies acceptance of voluntary displacement and working to create conditions that encourage the population of Gaza to migrate voluntarily.
• Talking about the attack on Rafah city and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on it cannot be understood except within the context of undeclared objectives, as the justifications he provided for carrying out this attack were previously presented at the beginning of the ground invasion, during the invasion of the central governorates, and the invasion of Khan Yunis, all of which are still facing fierce and costly resistance.

Possible Motives for Establishing the Port:

On January 22nd last year, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz met with the European Union Foreign Ministers in Brussels, presenting them with two projects: the first to establish a railway connecting Israel with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, and India, and the second to create an artificial island off the coast of Gaza Strip, including an airport, a port, an industrial zone, and a desalination plant, to accommodate the Palestinian people until the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip, a project that Katz presented in 2017 to Prime Minister Netanyahu in his previous government when he was Minister of Transportation, and it was widely accepted by Netanyahu and his government at the time. Despite the remarks made by Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, on Katz’s proposal, the European Union was one of the first supporters of President Biden’s announcement of the establishment of the floating dock in Gaza.

President Biden reiterated in his recent phone call with Netanyahu the “necessity of defeating Hamas in Gaza, while at the same time protecting civilians and facilitating aid delivery.” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan clarified on the same day that the United States will not allow Hamas to find a haven in Rafah and that military, security, and humanitarian experts from the United States and the Zionist entity will soon meet to develop alternative plans to attack Rafah that ensure achieving both goals together: eliminating Hamas and preserving civilians, taking into account Egyptian security concerns.

Returning to the aforementioned basic frameworks to understand what is happening, we can infer the Zionist-American and Western motives for establishing the floating dock, including:

• Execution of Netanyahu’s port project presented to President Biden, and Katz’s presentation to the EU Foreign Ministers. The floating dock will not remain just a dock but rather will serve as a precursor to the construction of the port, for which Arab countries have prepared to contribute, and it has been announced that it will receive not only humanitarian aid ships but also commercial vessels.
• The Zionist military spokesman announced that the temporary humanitarian islands to relocate Rafah residents before the attack on them will be built in cooperation with the international community, and the necessary humanitarian supplies will be provided through the United Nations. This project, which will be carried out in coordination with the Zionist entity, will play a major role in implementing the upcoming plans for the Gaza Strip, which have not yet been announced.
• Field support for the Zionist entity’s army, and assistance in achieving victory over Hamas through the forces accompanying the construction of the floating dock, with an initial number of 1,000 US Navy personnel, including security, intelligence, military, and administrative personnel working to penetrate Palestinian society, weaken popular support for the resistance, especially after relocating the displaced to the humanitarian islands, isolating them from current daily life and alleviating their suffering.
• Breaking the will and resilience of the Palestinian people, creating conditions for voluntary migration, especially for the displaced people on the humanitarian islands, encouraged by the United Nations and facilitated by Western countries, will increase pressure on Hamas and deprive it of popular support. The inclusion of Cyprus in the maritime transport line seems 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 evacuating areas of inhabitants, hospitals, and places of worship, and confining the battlefield to the Zionist army and armed resistance factions, especially al-Qassam Brigades.
• Pressuring Egypt to provide facilities for accommodating some of the displaced and facilitating their transfer from Rafah to Egyptian territories in coordination with the United Nations, to avoid missing upcoming investment opportunities and losing its role in arranging the next stage.

The plans and concepts currently being discussed for the post-war phase differ significantly from what Palestinian and Arab circles are debating regarding Hamas’s position in the upcoming scene, who will govern Gaza afterward, and the role of the Palestinian Authority and lurking Palestinian forces behind closed doors. If these plans and concepts succeed, there may be no such thing as the Gaza Strip, and no Gaza Strip people, until Palestinian and Arab factions differ on who and how.

The United States has entered Gaza’s waters without permission or authorization from anyone and will have the say in the next phase. Will it succeed in implementing its Zionist-American plans and projects, or will it sink into the sands of Gaza, as it did before in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq? Will matters remain under its control? Or will they be swept away by regional and international rivalries?

As for the question of Hamas’s stance on all of this, we will discuss it in a forthcoming article, God willing.