[News] The story of the U.S. ‘floating dock’ built from the rubble of Gaza’s homes

Sat Jun 15 09:45:12 EDT 2024

mondoweiss.net
<https://mondoweiss.net/2024/06/the-story-of-the-u-s-floating-dock-built-from-the-rubble-of-gazas-homes/?ml_recipient=124206822907184239&ml_link=124206806904865919&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2024-06-15&utm_campaign=Daily+Headlines+RSS+Automation>
The story of the U.S. ‘floating dock’ built from the rubble of Gaza’s homes
Tareq S. Hajjaj
June 14, 2024
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[image: 150324_Gaza_OSH_4_001-1536x1024.jpg]

The Trident, a U.S.-built “floating pier” off Gaza’s coast that is expected
to deliver over 150 trucks’ worth of humanitarian aid into Gaza once fully
operational, has been out of service for weeks. The port has received
damage to its infrastructure in unclear weather-related circumstances, and
on June 15 U.S. Central Command released a statement
<https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/1801724619843313842> saying that “the
temporary pier will be removed from its anchored position in Gaza and towed
back to Ashdod, Israel” due to expected high seas.

“The decision to temporarily relocate the pier is not made lightly but is
necessary to ensure the temporary pier can continue to deliver aid in the
future,” the statement read.

Despite this, the floating pier appears to have served as a joint command
center for both Israeli and U.S. forces during the invasion and massacre at
Nuseirat refugee camp
<https://mondoweiss.net/2024/06/i-heard-all-of-my-friends-last-breath-testimonies-from-the-nuseirat-massacre/>
on June 8, which saw the retrieval of four Israeli captives.

The damage that rendered the Trident unusable ostensibly resulted from
heavy waves that affected parts of the port and four U.S. Navy ships,
according to U.S. Central Command. On the ground, Palestinians believe that
resistance groups have targeted the U.S. port with mortar shells, but no
resistance faction in Gaza has claimed responsibility for any attack
against the port. No other news has emerged to corroborate the speculation
either.

But one thing is becoming clearer. The Trident appears to be used to
facilitate the Israeli army’s invasions throughout Gaza. Francesca
Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Palestine, said
<https://x.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1799503174933372999> that Israel
“perfidiously” used aid trucks as cover during the Nuseirat invasion,
calling it “‘humanitarian camouflage’ at another level.”

Under international law, perfidy, or the “feigning of civilian or
non-combatant status,” is considered a war crime.

Several Palestinian factions rejected the presence of the American port on
Gaza’s shores, while at the popular level, activists mocked the port and
circulated pictures of armored U.S. Hummer-type vehicles at the pier. Some
sarcastically commented that these armored Jeeps must be there to protect
canned beans, sauce, and food supplies.

The government media office in the Gaza Strip issued a press statement
about the American port, which officially entered operation on May 17
before the weather rendered it unusable. The statement said that the U.S.
administration was trying to beautify its ugly face and appear civilized by
establishing a pier for the delivery of humanitarian aid.

“The U.S. says the goal is to bring humanitarian aid and food to our
Palestinian people in the Strip, who are exposed to policies of starvation,
forced displacement, and genocide carried out by the Israeli army with the
participation, involvement, and blessings of the American administration,”
the statement said.

The statement questioned the intentions of the American administration,
asserting that the Trident does not come close to covering the need of the
Palestinian people for food in Gaza.

“The port will not break the famine,” it said. “Instead, it will allow the
Israeli occupation to prolong this war, which has devoured everything.”

When the construction of the port was first announced back in March, the
U.S. promised that American forces would not enter the Gaza Strip. Biden
said there would be “no boots on the ground,” and the U.S. military’s
presence would only be to facilitate delivery. The aid would reach Cyprus
by air or by sea, where it would be strictly inspected by Cypriot customs
officials, Israeli and American crews, and United Nations representatives,
before being loaded onto commercial ships and sailing 320 kilometers to the
Trident.

United Nations relief organizations would then receive and distribute the
aid to their facilities near the Gaza coast. After the first batch of food
was delivered through the American port in May, the United Nations World
Food Program assumed responsibility for distributing aid inside the Strip.
The WFP’s activities, however, have not been suspended due to concerns for
the safety of its teams.

This costly and complex logistical operation was conceived by the U.S.
administration as a workaround for Israel’s policy of starvation and
systematic blocking of aid through Gaza’s usual land crossings, which are
far more efficient and cost-effective.

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said
<https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/humanitarian-access-snapshot-gaza-strip-1-31-may-2024>
Gaza should not depend on a costly floating dock that is easily damaged by
sea conditions. OCHA stressed that land routes remained the most feasible
means of delivering aid to the people of Gaza.
*A port soaked in blood*

During the ongoing genocidal war, the Israeli army destroyed entire cities.
Over 80% of Gaza City was leveled. Other parts of northern Gaza and Khan
Younis were also heavily hit, and continue to be. With over 13,000 missing
people in Gaza, still stuck under the rubble, Palestinians say the floating
port, which the Israeli army filled with the ruins of destroyed houses in
the Gaza Strip, means that the humanitarian aid passes over a port drenched
in blood.

When Biden first announced the pier, the Israeli army began collecting the
rubble of homes in the Gaza Strip and placing it in the port construction
area so that the ruins would be a bridge for the arrival of American aid
trucks.

Political analyst and writer Nasser Eliwa raises an essential question
regarding the American port: what is America’s endgame?

“Gaza today represents a high concentration [of interests] for the American
administration in the context of the future conflict over power,” Eliwa
told *Mondoweiss*. “The U.S. sees Gaza as the last stage in a line of
communication that stretches between India, Asia, and the Arabian Gulf to
the Mediterranean Sea. It is a port and a place to collect, re-export, and
rehabilitate gas for Europe. It is also a reserve port for its fleets and
aircraft carriers.”

“This is what the U.S. wants,” Eliwa maintains. “It wants a permanent base
on the eastern Mediterranean.”

Eliwa explains that three primary goals animate America’s policy toward
Gaza. First, it wants to allow Gaza to function as a base for the naval
fleets that feed and finance from the port of Haifa, or as an alternative
base in the event of a political shift in Israel.

Second, Gaza constitutes a meeting point for gas, whether in the
Mediterranean Sea or from what comes from the Gulf to the Mediterranean
coast.

“In the gas trade, the security of the gas flowing to Europe is essential,”
Eliwa explains. “America will therefore be a guardian of Europe.”

Third, Gaza will be downstream of the Red Sea Canal, which is the route of
the Gaza Valley.

“Gaza today is the new land that America occupies openly and clearly, and
this port is only the first step in this plan,” Eliwa said.

The American port can therefore be seen as a first milestone in a process
of transforming the political geography of the Gaza Strip. Eliwa explains
that the floating pier will soon become a giant port, and that it is not
unlikely that Arab countries will supervise it in exchange for the
reconstruction of Gaza. He explains that the presence of the port would
facilitate closing all of Gaza’s crossings, eliminating the civilian
population’s reliance on other land crossings.

“Today, aid enters,” Eliwa says. “And some of it may bring in commercial
materials, then reconstruction materials, and there may be travel for
individuals. These are speculations, but they may seem closest to reality.”

He adds that Gaza now has an independent entry point for the U.S., which
can land marine forces, relief, food, and commercial materials into the
Gaza Strip.

Earlier this week, Mondoweiss published a report quoting an intelligence
source from within the Gaza resistance, which believes that the Trident
will eventually be used to facilitate the displacement of Palestinians from
Gaza based on humanitarian grounds.

These are fears that are echoed by people in Gaza. Many expect that the
port will facilitate the process of displacing people from the Gaza Strip
across the sea, which is expected if the war continues and the American
port serves as a means of transportation. “If this port provides people
with freedom of movement, thousands of people from the Gaza Strip will want
to travel and return to trade, study, or visit,” Eliwa said. “If this port
continues to exist, it will redefine the Gaza Strip in the geostrategic
sense.”
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