British troops are deploying to Israel to support the Trump-brokered ‘ceasefire’. Defence secretary John Healey announced Tuesday that a small group of military personal were to be sent. Now, British troops will join other military personnel from Egypt, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Healey told an audience at Mansion House, London. He’d just given a speech on UK military plans to the City of London:

We have specialist experience and skills that we have offered to contribute.

He added:

We can contribute to the monitoring of the ceasefire. That is likely to be led by others.

We have also, in response to the American request, put a first rate two-star officer into a civilian-military command, as the deputy commander.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed:

A small number of UK planning officers have embedded in the US led CMCC, Civil Military Coordination Centre, including a 2* deputy commander to ensure that the UK remains integrated into the US led planning efforts for Gaza post-conflict stability.

The UK continues to work with international partners to support the Gaza ceasefire to see where the UK can best contribute to the peace process.

Change of plans

The ceasefire has been shaky so far. Between 10 October, when it came effect, and 19 October, Israel violated the agreement 47 times. A number of Palestinians were killed in these attacks.

Sky News reported that UK troops would not be on the ground in Gaza. The BBC claimed:

In the first two decades of this century, the UK military has built up extensive experience in capacity-building for security forces, first in Iraq, then in Afghanistan, which is partly why Centcom [US Central Command] requested its participation.

The corporation did not dwell on how successful the UK military had been in those two wars, which ultimately resulted in military defeat. On 10 October, the day the ceasefire began, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper insisted no UK troops would be sent to monitor the ceasefire.

Britain in Palestine

Britain’s long history in Palestine is no secret. The British governed from 1920 to 1940. A number of British troops were killed by Zionist terror gangs during the post-WW2 anti-British insurgency that foreshadowed the foundation of Israel. 28 British soldier and officials were killed in the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946. The attack was carried out by the Irgun paramilitary, a forerunner of today’s Israeli Defence Force (IDF).

Keir Starmer’s Labour government recently recognised Palestinian statehood. As a result, British legacy crimes from the mandate era could now be brought to court.

A group of Palestinian families submitted 400 pages of legal documents to the Foreign Office in late September.

Their representative, legal scholar Victor Kattan, said:

Britain denied self-government to the Palestinian community… It empowered a high commissioner to behave like a dictator [and] Palestinian people bore the brunt.

Recognition alone does not deal with all these historic problems which for Palestinians are not history but the living reality to this day.

There is a level of self-delusion in believing skills the British learned while failing in Iraq will of use here. And the UK’s dark legacy in Palestine – it literally wrote the Balfour Declaration – leaves it poorly positioned to police this fragile-looking ceasefire.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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