The president’s statement earlier today regarding Israel’s proposed three-step ceasefire plan is deeply concerning and shows a disturbing lack of understanding about the realities on the ground in Gaza. This supposed “plan” is nothing more than a regurgitation of the same failed policies and empty promises we have heard time and again from the Israeli government.

Israel claims this is a sincere effort to achieve peace, but their actions speak louder than words. We have seen this script before – a brief pause in the bombardment of Gaza, followed by a return to the status quo of oppression, blockades, and wanton killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, especially children.

How can we possibly trust a “ceasefire” proposal from the very nation that has carried out this latest campaign of terror and bloodshed? In the past few weeks alone, Israeli forces have killed over 200 Palestinians, more than a quarter of them children. Entire families have been wiped out by indiscriminate airstrikes on their homes.

These are not the actions of a government genuinely interested in peace. They are the brutal tactics of an apartheid regime bent on perpetuating the subjugation and displacement of the Palestinian people. Israel uses these temporary ceasefires as a cynical ploy to regroup and rearm before inevitably resuming its assault on the open-air prison that is Gaza.

We have had enough of Israel’s bad-faith negotiations and toothless “peace plans.” The world has witnessed the truth – Israel is the aggressor, killing civilians with impunity, while Palestinians have no means to defend themselves from this merciless onslaught. Enough is enough.

If Israel is sincere about peace, it must immediately and permanently end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. It must dismantle its oppressive apartheid system and allow the creation of a truly independent Palestinian state with sovereignty over its own borders, resources and security. Anything less is simply delaying the inevitable struggle for freedom and self-determination.

The Palestinian people have suffered for far too long under Israel’s brutal regime of occupation, land theft, and human rights abuses. We will not be fooled again by empty promises and half-measures dressed up as a “ceasefire plan.” Our resilience and resistance in the face of this injustice is unwavering. True peace can only be achieved through the complete liberation of Palestine.