Netanyahu agreed to Donald Trump’s 20 point plan, calling the United State’s president the “greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House”. (Picture: Flikr)
Donald Trump has hailed the announcement of his plan for Gaza as “one of the greatest days in civilisation”.
On Monday, Trump met with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to discuss his new 20 Point Plan for Gaza. He claimed it brings the United States “very, very close” to securing peace and will provide a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood.
In reality, Trump’s plan is yet another attempt to deny Palestinians the right to self-determination and to secure US-Israeli control of Gaza.
Just this month, Western leaders rushed to “recognise” a Palestinian state so they could be seen to be doing something in the face of Israel’s genocide. This included French president Emmanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer. But the West never had any intention of taking serious action against Israel, its watchdog state in the Middle East.
On Monday, Starmer said he was “grateful for President Trump’s leadership”.
“We call on all sides to come together and to work with the US Administration,” he said, calling on Palestinian national liberation organisation Hamas to “end the misery”.
Trump’s plan repeats the common demands from Israel and the US. It says that all hostages must be returned within 72 hours of the agreement and that Hamas will “have no role in Gaza’s governance whatsoever”.
The plan adds that “no one will be forced to leave Gaza”—a shift from when Trump openly supported ethnic cleansing in February.
But the plan will still cement US imperialist interests and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Initially, Gaza will be ruled by “temporary transitional governance”, with Trump as president and notorious war criminal Tony Blair in the mix.
Palestinians will have no say in this “Board of Peace”. The plan also proposes a longer term role for the Palestinian Authority (PA), provided the group “complete the reforms” Trump lays out.
The PA, set up during the sham “peace process” in the 1990s, has long functioned as an arm of Israel’s occupation in the West Bank. But cutting it out until it bows even lower to Western authority is yet another means of removing any trace of Palestinian governance in Gaza.
Unsurprisingly, Netanyahu agreed to the plan, calling Trump the “greatest friend that Israel has ever had in the White House”.
Trump initially proposed his plan to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan and Egypt. He thanked the “great men” for their help, with “some great women too, but they tend to be mostly men”.
Netanyahu and Trump’s agreement followed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which saw the genocidal prime minister deliver a chilling genocidal speech.
He addressed the conference, slamming those who recognised Palestinian statehood. While 77 nations left UNGA in protest at his speech, at the end of the trip Netanyahu sinisterly declared, “We turned the tables.”
Qatar and Egypt have said they have given Trump’s proposal to Hamas. The plan demands the complete dissolution of Hamas—the liberation group has already agreed not to govern Gaza, but dissolution is a red line.
If Hamas does not fold to Western pressure, Trump said Israel has “our full backing to do what you have to do”. Yet it is Israel that has reneged on every previous peace deal with Hamas.
Some within Netanyahu’s government, such as far right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, are already protesting the plan, threatening to leave Netanyahu’s coalition if it doesn’t lead to the “decisive defeat of Hamas”.
Trump’s plan is a clear attempt to cut Palestinians out of their future, their state—and reward Israel’s genocide for aligning with US imperialism.
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