President Donald Trump's peace plan to end the Israeli occupation of Gaza got a mostly scathing review from The Guardian's editorial board on Monday.
The plan, featuring 20 points and concocted in partnership with Israel, was developed without direct input from Palestinians. Ultimately, however, Hamas, the terrorist group that has ruled over Gaza for decades and whose invasion of Israel triggered the war, tentatively agreed to at least some parts of the plan last week, and agreed to release all remaining Israeli hostages, after Trump threatened "annihilation" if they did not.
The problem with the deal, they noted, is that neither side is fully committed to following it.
"For [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, perpetual war in Gaza and beyond extends his political survival. His far-right coalition partners want to expel Palestinians and settle Gaza," wrote the board. Meanwhile, "Hamas has no desire to sign itself out of existence, and handing back the last hostages would remove any leverage it retains. It has seen much of its leadership destroyed, as well as life in Gaza – but has also watched international public opinion shift unprecedentedly towards support for Palestinians, pulling governments in its wake. It can recruit from a huge pool of angry and traumatised young men."
Ultimately, this deal is far better than Trump's widely unpopular ideas of rebuilding Gaza as a luxury tourist riviera, noted the board, but that doesn't mean what he's crafted is a deal built to last.
The fundamental problem, the board continued, is that any sort of Palestinian state remains an idea for the far future at best under this plan: "Palestinians would remain, but would be sidelined, as they were in drawing up the plan. The 'board of peace' overseeing Gaza appears to be a colonial administration headed by Mr Trump himself and, disturbingly given his history in the region, Tony Blair."
It pays "lip service" to eventual Palestinian self-determination, the board noted, but doesn't establish this as a fundamental right, and Netanyahu has vowed never to allow that.
"Something better may emerge from this path, if – a huge if – Mr Trump and others apply heavy, sustained pressure to Mr Netanyahu and forge a deal that Arab nations can fully support, ensuring pressure on Hamas," the board concluded. "But lasting peace should not and cannot be built upon an abandonment of basic Palestinian rights."