By Ch Haroon Rashid
The world watched a few days ago as U.S. President Donald Trump triumphantly announced what he called a historic peace blueprint for Gaza — a plan promising ceasefire, prisoner exchange, and humanitarian relief. The words sounded noble. The cameras captured relief. But within forty-eight hours, the same skies over Gaza lit up again — with the roar of Israeli fighter jets pounding the same streets where aid convoys were supposed to roll.
The ink on the peace plan was not dry before the bombs began to fall again. It became clear: this document was never designed to restrain power. It was crafted to discipline the powerless.
A Plan Built to Control the Ant, Not the Lion
Let’s speak plainly. The plan places every obligation, every test, and every clause upon Hamas — or what one might call the ant in this brutal metaphor. Small, fragile, and surrounded by fire, the ant is told to disarm, to hand over control, to submit to inspections, to trust promises. Meanwhile, the lion — the Israeli state — continues to hunt at will, roaring about defense while its claws rip through refugee camps, hospitals, and apartment blocks.
The world’s dominant powers — the “other lions and leopards” — shield it under the name of diplomacy. Their silence is the most deafening sound in Gaza tonight.
Defensive Posture or Calculated Coercion?
Israel calls its continuing assault a “defensive posture.” But when cities are flattened and families vanish, defense becomes a grotesque euphemism. The asymmetry is total: F-35s versus pistols, artillery versus tunnels, tanks versus hunger. To claim such warfare as “defense” is to mock the very idea of proportionality and international law.
This is not war; it is controlled demolition — political, moral, and humanitarian. Every strike tells the world that promises mean nothing when power has no leash.
The Illusion of Control — Who Will Stop the Lion?
Israel is not outside global control — it is protected by it. The “lion” roams free not because no one can stop it, but because those who can, will not. The United States, Europe, and several Arab governments provide the political cover, the funding channels, and the silence that turns outrage into apathy.
In truth, the so-called peace plan was not peace. It was a geopolitical firewall — designed to contain the resistance, not to restrain the occupier. It demanded Hamas to surrender weapons but asked nothing enforceable of Israel. The “ceasefire” was never verified, the “oversight” never defined, and the “consequences for violations” never written.
Without those, it was only a mirage.
The Anatomy of a One-Sided Peace
- No Verifiable Enforcement: No neutral monitoring mission with real authority to verify strikes, casualties, or ceasefire breaches.
- No Penalty Mechanism: No automatic sanctions, arms pauses, or political consequences for violations by Israel.
- No Accountability Track: No ICC cooperation clause, no named responsibility for civilian deaths, no binding investigation.
- Asymmetric Sequencing: Hamas must move first — disarm, release hostages, dissolve governance — while Israel retains “security discretion.”
- No Humanitarian Guarantees: Aid flow, safe corridors, and electricity supply depend entirely on Israel’s approval.
That is not a peace plan. It is a control document dressed as diplomacy.
The Role of the Other Lions and Leopards
Every empire, every military-industrial network, every intelligence partner in this region carries part of the blame. They lecture the world on human rights but fund the bombs that bury those rights under rubble.
They sell weapons with one hand and send aid trucks with the other — a grotesque theatre of moral confusion. Their statements of “deep concern” echo louder than the sirens, yet none translate into the enforcement mechanisms that could halt the bombing even for 72 hours.
It’s not absence of control — it’s the deliberate refusal to exercise it.
Moral Bankruptcy of Modern Diplomacy
The world’s diplomacy today measures peace not by justice but by manageability. If the explosions stay within the news cycle and markets stay calm, the world calls it “stability.” This moral erosion — where the right of the oppressed is negotiable and the privilege of the powerful is sacred — defines our global order.
When civilians in Gaza die, they are counted as “collateral.” When a rocket falls on Tel Aviv, it becomes “terrorism.” Such double standards are the oxygen of impunity.
The Real Route to Peace — Binding the Lion
True peace begins when the strong are bound by the same laws that restrain the weak. It means:
- Independent verification missions that publicly log every strike and casualty.
- Automatic sanctions and arms pauses upon civilian-targeted bombings.
- Legal accountability for military and political leaders who authorize disproportionate force.
- Humanitarian guarantees — not promises — that protect civilians regardless of who rules Gaza.
Anything less is a smokescreen for domination, not diplomacy.
Conclusion — The Roar of Hypocrisy
The world stands at a moral cliff. The Trump plan promised peace but delivered proof that power without accountability becomes a crime. When one side is asked to surrender and the other is allowed to bomb at will, the word “peace” loses all meaning.
Gaza’s destruction is not a failure of negotiation — it is the success of hypocrisy.
And until the world gathers the courage to leash the lion, the ant will keep bleeding — and humanity will keep losing.
