The maverick US President Donald J. Trump released his twenty point peace plan for Ghaza after over two years of brutal Israeli onslaught, death and destruction.
This rather vague peace plan is now being rammed down the throat of the poor suffering people of Ghaza. This sounds like a repeat of the Paris peace talks of 1919 when the big three that is Britain, France and the USA dictated all the terms of the treaty of Versailles and the poor Germans were coerced into signing what later was called “Dictated Peace” This peace plan has already been accepted by the Israeli Govt. of Benjamin Netanyahu. Surprisingly the Hamas leadership has also agreed to go with this plan and meetings of all the stake holders have already started in Egypt. This plan aims to make Ghaza a terror free zone and to develop it for the local population all military actions will cease and all hostages released. Israel will release all Palestinians in its jailsand Hamas members will be allowed safe passage out of Ghaza and it will be governed by a technocratic apolitical committee made up of Palestinian and international experts under a “Board of Peace” chaired by Donald Trump. Hamas will not have any role in the governance of Ghaza. International stabilization force ISF will be created for all security needs and Israel will not occupy or annex Ghaza . A senior Hamas figure has told the BBC that the group is likely to reject Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, saying it “serves Israel’s interests” and “ignores those of the Palestinian people. The figure said that Hamas is unlikely to agree to disarming and handing over their weapons – a key condition of Trump’s plan. Even after such initial statements Hamas has shown its willingness to go with this peace plan. The world community has welcomed this plan in the hope that this will mean the end of the horrible bloody conflict in Ghaza but doubts have been expressed if this plan would lead to a formal treaty that will bring about lasting peace.
The plan’s twenty points appear to be greatly in favorof Israel and many Palestinians view this plan as a gimmick to achieve Israel’s political and military aims and objectives. Almost all the 8 Muslim countries including Pakistan who had welcomed the proposal are now saying that this plan is not what was discussed with them by Donald Trump and amendments have been made on the request of the Israeli PM Netanyahu that has annoyed the Arab nations involved in the peace negotiations.This explains Netanyahu’s upbeat remarks at the joint presser with Trump where he said Israel’s war aims are achieved by the plan: for Hamas to be disarmed, Gaza demilitarized and no future Palestinian state to be established.He then went on to add further that Israeli forces will remain in most of the territory and that Israel did absolutely not agree to a Palestinian state. The Plan has already been accepted by Hamas with certain reservations that have already been rejected by Donald Trump the chief architect of this peace plan. Some tough and difficult negotiations are ahead for all the stake holders specially Hamas. Donald trump has now changed his threatening tone regarding Israel and has welcomed the statement by the Hamas leadership. The response of the Hamas leadership is still rather ambiguous as a top Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk in an interview to Aljazeera TV said Hamas will only hand over weapons “if the occupation ends and Palestinians can govern themselves. In its present shape, the Trump plan is light on detail and vague on core issues. The only timeline specified in the proposal is that 72 hours after the agreement is concluded all hostages are to be released. Once they are freed there is no guarantee Netanyahu, untrustworthy as he is, will abide by the rest of the agreement. There is no provision in the plan for a permanent ceasefire. There is no timeline or even a deadline date for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Ghaza and this does not hold any assurance for an Israeli withdrawal it does say that Israel “Will not occupy orannex Ghaza” and Hamas has yet to declare its acceptance of all these terms. Details of the International Stabilization force need to be explained its mandate, rules of engagement and SOP are not clear all this has to be clarified because Pakistan too is supposed to be contributing some troops to this force to be deployed in Ghaza.
The most tricky and controversial part of the plan is the system of governance which is supposed to consist of a committee of local and international experts who will rule the area and this sounds like to 1920s after the First World War and the treaty of Versailles like the British occupation of Iraq with no form of autonomy for the Palestinians to govern themselves. The entire world community including the European countries have given their overwhelming support for the establishment of an independent state of Palestine but the Israeli leaders led by Netanyahu have opposed the two nation solution tooth and nail and this plan has no provisions for an independent Palestine or even a mention of the two nation solution. Ironically Netanyahu on his way back from the US has said he “absolutely did not agree to Palestinian state” and that “IDF will remain in most of territory”. And there is news that Trump showed another plan to the Arabs, and Netanyahu agreed to another plan.
The successful fruition of this peae plan depends entirely on how much pressure Donald Trump can exert on the Israeli leaders and then cooperation and coordination by the Muslim countries involved in the negotiations or there is a great likelihood that this peace initiative will be nothing but another lost opportunity for peace.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
