Trump secures Netanyahu’s agreement to Gaza deal but Hamas support in question • FRANCE 24 English

Trump secures Netanyahu’s agreement to Gaza deal but Hamas support in question • FRANCE 24 English

Putting the onus back on Hamas to accept the latest ceasefire proposal. US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say they’ve agreed to a plan to end the bloodshed in Gaza. Gaza, where the UN on Monday called for the immediate evacuation to save 25 ill or premature babies because the hospital their incubators are in is being bombed as Israel continues the onslaught. Trump’s plan includes the immediate release of the remaining hostages in exchange for some Palestinian prisoners, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the disarming of Hamas. It also leads to an interim leadership of Gaza by Donald Trump. Here, first of all, is a listen to those two men. So, this is a big big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization. things that have been going on for hundreds of years and thousands of years. We’re going to at least we’re at a minimum very very close and I think we’re beyond very close and I want to thank BB for really getting in there and doing a job. We’ve worked well together. I believe that today we’re taking a critical step towards both ending the war in Gaza and setting the stage for dramatically advancing peace in the Middle East. I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims. It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities, end its political rule, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel. With us on set now is international affairs commentator Douglas Herbert. Douglas, well, in the words of the US president, there is now hope for eternal peace in the Middle East. And he said more than that, Eve, he also said that this is a big big day, a beautiful day. perhaps uh one potentially one of the greatest days ever in civilization. So, okay, you could say he’s being bombastic. Very Trumpian to say that. And you might say, well, what’s wrong with that? He’s trying to be ambitious. He’s trying to end what has been an intractable conflict which has gone on for two years. Um investing a lot of time and energy and and trying to to make something happen, bringing the Arab leaders on board, the regional leaders. So, it would be perhaps overly cynical to dismiss it out of hand, call it, you know, the so-called nothing burger, right? And to say it has absolutely no chance. There’s always a chance. There’s always a potential. Sure, there’s always something that might click and lead to some sort of breakthrough on a certain level. However, perhaps not because at the end of the day, when you really study this detailed yet vague, detailed yet vague 20point plan, it really does not put together bring bring together many more elements than what we’ve already seen in the past, including under plans put forth by the Biden administration in the past, which is uh calling for a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, uh calling for the release of hostages, all of the hostages, um and calling for uh an influx, a influx of humanitarian aid which to greater or lesser degrees has been blocked for uh for a lot of the past year causing a devastating absolutely devastating humanitarian situation leading to what many describe as just outright famine uh in Gaza. So not many more elements and the plan itself is vague. Don’t hear it from me. I want our viewers to to to listen to this report on what actually the plan involves. What are 20 points? What do they call for? and what’s not in there. Plan for peace in Gaza. The first step would be an immediate ceasefire. Hamas would then have 72 hours to free all hostages. 48 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 25 of whom are believed to be deceased. In return, Israel would free 250 Palestinian prisoners and 1,700 Gazans detained since the start of the conflict. The plan would see Israeli forces perform a gradual staggered retreat from Gaza. Initially, the Gaza Strip would be governed by a technocratic a-olitical board of peace made up of Palestinians and international experts directed and presided over by US President Donald Trump. The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would also play a part in this organization. Hamas would be banned from any role in governing Gaza, while Hamas members would benefit from an amnesty if they disarm and agree to peacefully coexist with Israel. The framework includes plans to invest in Gaza and rebuild the devastated territory. As soon as a text is signed, access for humanitarian aid would be restored, overseen by bodies including the United Nations and the Red Cross. An international stabilization force with the backing of Arab states would keep the peace. In the long term, the Palestinian Authority would be allowed to take control of governing the territory after certain reforms, and the plan leaves the door open for an eventual Palestinian state. But if Hamas rejects the plan or does not follow through, Trump says Israel would then have US backing to quote, “finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.” We have been here before, Eve. I said going into that report that this is not very fundamentally different from the framework of past ceasefire proposals. What’s different perhaps here is the investment of time and energy, Trump’s part, Netanyahu’s perhaps growing determination to have to know yes to change something and the weigh-in, the increasing weigh-in from the regional uh leaders, the Arab leaders, Persian Gulf as well, really wanting to bring this to an end. But look, Israel broke its promise. Let’s be clear, uh, back in March when the last ceasefire proposal, two-month ceasefire proposal, which was supposed to be implemented in scheduled phases, it was on the brink of entering the second phase, which was going to be calling for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops. Uh, Netanyahu basically stopped it, resumed the offensive, and then reimposed a a crushing humanitarian blockade on Gaza, which lasted around two months as well. Um, so when I say we’ve been here before, we’ve been here before and promises and pledges or hopes have been dashed. So I’m not trying to necessarily inject a fateful note that this is doomed to fail. Like I said, it could work because dynamics always change, personalities change. There might be a new regional de dynamic that changes things. Gives it new impetus. But the bottom line here is that this plan was presented at the White House by Donald Trump and his close ally Benjamin Netanyahu. They were full of mutual accolades for one another. And essentially what my main takeaway from this is that the plan is in the eye of the beholder and the beholder is Netanyahu here. Netanyahu has the ultimate say in whether or not Hamas is accepting the terms of this plan or not. Anything that Netanyahu construses as Hamas hesitating, hemming and hawing, not accepting the plan can, not necessarily will be, but can be a pretext for Israeli military forces to spring back into action to press on with their um Gaza military offensive um and to also potentially cut off humanitarian aid again. So, uh laying putting paid to yet another ceasefire attempt. So, not to say it doesn’t have the potential to change the dynamic, but but the way it is presented does not really hold out the hope of a of a fundamental break with the past. It’s the same wine. Uh it’s it’s new wine in an old bottle essentially. So, for the 2 million Palestinians currently trapped in Gaza being bombed and being starved, you know, where does this leave them? Well, look, when you’re trapped in desperate, dire situations, you want to you want to be able to read into this type of plan some sort of shred of hope, some form of hope. So, where might there be a shred of hope, right? We heard in that report, the vague but detailed plan, one of the planks in that 20point plan is the prospect of, and the word used is a pathway to a Palestinian state. Now remember, as of today, 156 United Nations members have formally recognized Palestinian statethood. That is not something that is explicitly, far from it, recognized in this plan. Rather, via a lot of ifs, ands, or buts, maybe probably potentially in that in that plan. It says, “If the conditions are created, the security conditions, if a viable Palestinian governing entity, perhaps a new Gaza under a reformed, revamped Palestinian authority, were to emerge, and the conditions were to be created, presumably with Hamas having completely retreated from the scene, having decommissioned and lay down all of its weapons, if all of these dominoes line up, then perhaps we might be able to probably perhaps look at a pathway to a Palestinian state.” So if you’re a Palestinian look looking at that, you could say, “Well, isn’t that sort of a glass half half full?” It’s it’s a far better than what Trump had been sort of maybe insinuating a couple of months ago that the Palestinians would be expelled, sent off to another uh nation, perhaps Egypt, all of them, 2 million Palestinians, out of that territory for this great redevelopment into a Riviera of golf resorts and casinos and hotels. You could say it’s an improvement on that, sure, but clearly um it’s very vague what happens to the Palestinians. And even though yes, there will be Palestinians under the authority of this so-called board of peace that Trump will preside over um in the initial phase of a future Gaza, um it’s unclear how much of a real say on that board, the Palestinians uh these technocrats so to speak will have in uh in their own future. Um, that said, the plan does call for the Palestinians to be part of a future jobs, growth, and prosperity of a future brighter Gaza Strip. Okay, Douglas Herbert, thanks a lot for your analysis of it all.

President Donald Trump secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backing on Monday for a U.S.-sponsored peace proposal to end a nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, but questions loomed over whether Hamas would accept the plan. Analysis by Douglas Herbert.
#Gaza #Netanyahu #Hamas

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