It is clear that what is called the “peace plan” presented by the American president in its current form looks like a document of surrender that paves the way for a new long-term colonization of the Gaza Strip. The matter becomes even clearer when the task of oversight is placed on Tony Blair, the man who incited the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, and when the duties of maintaining security and stability in Gaza are assigned to non-Palestinian
parties. More than that, it is a plan that constitutes a lifting of the international cover from the possibility of holding Netanyahu and his racist Zionist government accountable for the crimes of extermination that, as I write this, continue.
The proposed plan, consisting of twenty articles, plainly disowns the Palestinian people’s right to self-rule, self-determination, and sovereignty over their land without external interference, rights that are, of course, inalienable. This plan was drafted unilaterally and discussed and approved by parties without consulting all Palestinians -the tragedy that still eats away at our political system and its parties: that the Palestinian decision is never in the hands of the Palestinian, and that he, his land and his holy sites are always subject to the logic of guardianship by a non-Palestinian other!
The plan masquerading as peace appears at first glance to have come to rescue Netanyahu and his government after his army failed over 22 months to recover the hostages by force, destroy Hamas, disarm it and dismantle the tunnel network, and point 13 of the plan represents the core of all this.
According to my reading of the twenty points, the plan in its current form offers no more than a temporary halt to the aggression against the Palestinians – and that is a good thing – so that Netanyahu can retrieve his hostages in exchange for the release of 200 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli prisons as well as 1,700 Palestinians arrested from Gaza during the aggression, and in addition an exchange of the remaining bodies held by both sides. The question now is: Who will guarantee that aggression will not resume, and that the plan to
occupy Gaza and forcibly displace Palestinians will not continue once the first stage is complete and Hamas is stripped of its final bargaining card, the hostages?
Anyone who understands President Trump’s foreign policy knows that dismantling what is called the project of “political Islam” and its movements, especially in the Middle East, drying up their funding sources and deterring the establishment and the states that stand behind them are at the top of his foreign priorities. This explains the alignment of the positions of many Arab and Islamic countries with Trump’s policies, foremost among them Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia, which welcomed Trump’s peace plan, which includes their explicit approval and agreement to disarm Hamas
and that Hamas should not return to rule Gaza in the future nor participate in governance directly or indirectly.
Also among the priorities of his foreign policy is ending conflicts and wars, eradicating organized criminal gangs and networks that traffic children and organs, and establishing peace as a cornerstone for revitalizing the global economy. Anyone following the American mass media knows that President Trump can no longer tolerate Netanyahu’s adventures and arrogance, especially after the Qatargate political scandal and after Netanyahu’s violation of
Qatari sovereignty by bombing of Hamas leadership in Doha and Netanyahu’s procrastination in prolonging the aggression and extermination in Gaza. All of this has recently resulted in the reshaping of American public opinion against Israel and Zionism, led by Charlie Kirk, one of the biggest supporters of President Trump, and resulted in his assassination in the same way President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (despite the fact that Charlie Kirk was
a supporter of Israel as well)!
The scene seems contradictory and unclear to the public, but after the Qatargate scandal many American politicians and military figures agreed that, to get rid of Netanyahu, who has become a burden not only on the region and America but on Israeli citizens themselves, Hamas (which Netanyahu uses as a pretext) must be eliminated first, on the premise that Hamas and Netanyahu are two sides of the same coin, according to their claim. This would pave the way for a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
Let us be more realistic and admit as Palestinians that what Hamas did on October 7 harmed Palestinians more than it helped them, and that Hamas with its weapons and approach could not protect the Palestinians in Gaza from the brutality and might of the Israeli army. On the contrary, the Palestinians in Gaza were left facing extermination, displacement, and starvation without any sense of responsibility from the international community. Here we are not in the position of criticizing Hamas, as Hamas is one of the components of the Palestinian people, but it is in an unenviable position now, and the national consensus must be to unite to save what can be saved for Palestine.
Indeed, Hamas is between two options, both bitter, and the final word now belongs to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who have suffered and continue to suffer the pains of this tragedy. Gaza can no longer foot the bill and offer further sacrifices to the thirst for blood. Gaza is not just numbers and figures, and anyone who speaks for Gaza with rhetoric of martyrdom and sacrifice while living outside it should go to Gaza, stay there and face what the Palestinians in
Gaza face; only then will they understand the humanitarian urgent need to stop the aggression against our people in Gaza so that children and adults may enjoy security and peace. The time has come for this brutal aggression against Gaza to stop, and stopping the aggression on Gaza is, in short, the end of the chapter of Hamas and Netanyahu once and for all.