Trump's Palestinian Proposal: A Cessation to Bloodshed That Betrays Palestinian Aspirations

24 months after the militant group attacks of October 7th, 2023, where some 1,200 Israeli citizens were killed, and amid a genocide in Gaza that has claimed 67,000 Palestinian lives, the demand for peace has reached a peak. People in Gaza are desperate for an end to hunger and bombings. Israelis want the hostilities to conclude for the sake of captives still held and soldiers. Violence has reverberated across the Middle East. Momentum has been growing around Donald Trump's proposal, with both Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas showing reluctant approval under US threat.

Frail Hopes and Major Rejections

With indirect talks between Israel and Hamas beginning in Egypt on the start of the week, there are frail hopes of progress finally. However, both sides have made it evident that they oppose major parts of the American 20-point proposal, which starts with an immediate ceasefire, the return of all captives – then the freeing of Palestinian prisoners – and the resumption of full aid.

For the Israeli leader, ongoing conflict in the region extends his political survival. His far-right coalition partners aim to remove Palestinians and settle Gaza. The militant organization has little interest to sign itself out of existence, and returning the remaining captives would eliminate any leverage it retains. It has seen a large part of its command structure eliminated, as well as daily existence for Gazans – but has also observed global sentiment change dramatically towards support for Palestinians, dragging nations in its aftermath. It can recruit from a vast number of angry and traumatised young men.

The Full Plan and Its Contentious Elements

The full peace plan is even more controversial. Pledges of widespread backing from nations in the area and in Europe do not mean that they believe it is workable – still less that they want to deploy forces to an “global peacekeeping mission”. But a number hope that a fairer and more realistic path ahead might in some way arise from all this.

True, this proposal is less grotesque than the initial Trumpian vision of a “riviera” established through the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Palestinians would remain, but would be sidelined, as they were in drawing up the proposal. The “board of peace” managing Gaza seems like a foreign-controlled governance headed by Donald Trump personally and, disturbingly given his past involvement in the region, Tony Blair.

The plan gives superficial support to eventual self-determination and statehood as a mere “aspiration” – not an entitlement – of the Palestinian people, via a route that is extremely unclear, dependent and uncertain. It states that the Israeli government will not control or annex Gaza. Mr Netanyahu has already said that the army would stay in the majority of the territory and would “strongly oppose” a Palestinian state.

Pressure and Prospects

The US leader has strong-armed the Israel's leader finally, but lethal attacks persist and he, like Joe Biden previously, might have stopped the carnage much earlier. Instructing the two parties to “act quickly” now demonstrates his impatience as much as the pressing need for a truce. He will surely settle for whatever enables him to take the praise. If Israel does stop, it could restart the assault at any moment – just as it broke the ceasefire early this year.

Every chance to stop this war of annihilation must be taken. Something better may develop from this process, if – a major condition – the American president and others apply continuous strong influence to the Israeli PM and create a agreement that Arab nations can wholeheartedly back, ensuring pressure on Hamas. But durable resolution must not be established on an neglect of basic Palestinian rights.