Gaza is on its way to becoming a semi-protectorate, just like Bosnia

"The Dayton Accords institutionalised foreign control over the Bosnian state. The peace plan' for Gaza is doing the same. When details of the Gaza peace plan were made clear in recent days, it was difficult not to see the parallels with the agreement that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina 30 years ago. The Gaza plan promises an end to attacks, but it institutionalises endless external control."

"The designers of this plan promise Palestinians governance based on the best international standards. Bosnians have been hearing this phrase for the past three decades. To this day, we still do not know what these standards actually are. What we do know is that after the implantation of our foreign-negotiated peace plan, Bosnia became a semi-protectorate, a territory governed from the outside in the name of stability and without democratic sovereignty in which those who hold decision-making power cannot be held accountable."

"The Dayton Accords, which ended the Bosnian War, were negotiated at a US military base, mediated by foreign diplomats and agreed upon by leaders of the warring parties, including representatives of neighbouring states that had supported the war. Ordinary Bosnian citizens were excluded from the process. The same logic underpins the Gaza plan: peace negotiated about a people, not with them."

The Gaza peace plan promises an end to attacks but institutionalises continuous external control over Palestinian governance. The plan mirrors the Dayton Accords, which transformed Bosnia into a semi-protectorate governed from the outside without democratic sovereignty or accountability. The Dayton settlement legitimised wartime territorial divisions and produced a fragmented political system of two entities, a weak central state, a separate district, a Council of Ministers, and a rotating three-member Presidency based on ethnic groups. Ordinary citizens were excluded from negotiations, and the constitution was drafted in English by international mediators. The result concentrates decision-making power in unaccountable external hands under the guise of international standards.

Read at www.aljazeera.com