Judging by the words of the leaders of the United States and Israel is “perpetual peace” in the Middle East. At a press conference in Washington, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Donald Trump for the fourth time this year, the US President presented a twenty-point plan that, to start, should yield a cease-fire in Gaza and then peace in the entire region. Trump spoke of “possibly one of the most important days in the history of civilization.”
The win for Trump is that Netanyahu agreed with his plan. “With this we achieve our war goals,” said the Israeli Prime Minister. At first sight, Trump also seems to have assured himself of a large part of the Arab and Islamic world.
That does not mean that there are still a lot of bumps to be taken. Firstly, Hamas has to agree with requirements that the militant group rejected rather completely. And secondly, Netanyahu still has to sell the plan to his extreme right-wing coalition partners.
Hostages this week free, Hamas has to put down weapons
Hamas has to release all remaining twenty hostages no later than Thursday evening. If the group doesn’t, Netanyahu gets the full support from Trump to destroy the enemy in Gaza. The ‘perpetual peace’ must therefore come about under the threat of massive violence, on top of the Israeli extermination campaign that has been around for almost two years and that has already cost the lives of at least 68,000 Palestinians.
Hamas must also put down his weapons. A wipe omen is that the group has refused in the last two years to dismantle its Arsenal of Arsenal before a fully -fledged Palestinian state was established. In the American plan, the order is exactly the other way around.
Netanyahu suggested that Israel would use even more violence to disarm Hamas if the militant group did not agree to the president’s plan. “This can be done in the easy way or in the difficult way,” said the Israeli Prime Minister.
Peaceful coexistence
Hamas members “who are committed to peaceful coexistence” and hand in their weapons would get amnesty. Hamas fighters can also leave Gaza without being stopped. Gazanen are “encouraged” to stay and do not have to leave the strip as with earlier plans. Israel is expected to release 250 lifelong convicts and 1,700 Palestinians from Gaza who have been arrested since October 7, 2023.
Israel will also withdraw from Gaza, although the plan allows Israeli presence in buffer zones indefinitely. Earlier versions of the plan – of which fragments appeared in international media in recent days – seemed to give a much more firm instruction to withdraw the Israeli army from Gaza.
But the final plan speaks of permanent presence of Israeli soldiers in parts of Gaza “until Gaza is sufficiently protected against a possible emerging terror threat” – a qualification that leaves a lot of room for interpretation open.
Unlikely that Hamas agrees
Hamas told Al Jazeera on Monday evening after the press conference of Trump and Netanyahu that it has not yet seen the new plan. According to Reuters news agency, Qatar has shared the plan with Hamas.
It therefore seems unlikely in advance that the group will agree to the requirements of the US president. The pressure does increase. For example, French President Emmanuel Macron, who acknowledged Palestine last week on behalf of his country, said that Hamas has no choice than “immediately releasing all hostages and to follow this plan.”
Netanyahu also has something to explain at home. The extreme right-wing minister Bezalel Smotrich (Finance) announced earlier in the day through a message on social media that he had given the Israeli Prime Minister a number of “red lines” prior to the meeting.
His requirements are at odds with several of the points in the new plan. For example, Smotrich says that his party will not agree with a plan in which there is any role for the Palestinian authority or that even “hint” in a future Palestinian state.
‘Total failure’
It seems that Trump wanted to remove this opposition with vagueness. The precise role of Palestinian Authority (PA) – which is seen by a large part of the world as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people – is not discussed in detail as a future director of Gaza. It is stated that the PA must reform.
While ten Western countries recognized the state of Palestine last week, this new plan will not go much further than to say that in the future the right conditions will have been created for a credible path to such a Palestinian state.
Yet even the latter concrete commitment has been acceptable in Israel more than the extreme right-wing politicians. Some on the Israeli right side, including a member of the Netanyahu government coalition, already called the plan a “total failure” immediately after the presentation.
If Smotrich and another extreme right-wing minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, leave the coalition out of dissatisfaction with the plan, then Netanyahu loses his majority in the Knesset. Based on the opposition, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz have previously reported themselves in the war as possible substitutes in the government, so that Netanyahu would retain a majority.
Transitional authority
Trumps plan confirms earlier reports that Gaza will be temporarily governed by an international transitional authority. New was that Trump himself will chair this so -called “Government of Peace”. Not because the American president wanted it so badly, but because all other leaders involved had asked him. Trump also confirmed that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to take a seat in the temporary administration.
In addition, an “international stabilization troop power”-founded in collaboration with Arab and international partners-must protect safety in Gaza. This force must also train Palestinian police officers who ultimately have to take over the task of the foreign soldiers.
What if Hamas does not agree with the plan? In that case, the Israeli army must already hand over the areas in Gaza that are ‘terror -free’ to the international force. The Israeli army is currently checking more than three -quarters of the coastal strip.
It is highly questionable how many countries are willing to send their soldiers to Gaza if Hamas has not deposited the weapons and the destroyed Israeli war machine elsewhere in the strip.
The joint statement that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Indonesia and a series of other Arab and Islamic countries sent the world after the press conference. In it, the countries praised Trump’s “sincere efforts” to put an end to the war.
At the same time, they noticed that they wanted to help with the further elaboration of the plan. So that it will soon be a completely Israeli military retreat – just like the establishment of a fully -fledged Palestinian state.
Read also
American Peace Plan: Israel is not allowed to annex Gaza, infrastructure Hamas is broken down
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