As a plan for the future administration of a Gaza-devayed by Israel’s nearly two-year genocidal war is being discussed at a White House meeting on Monday, US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be asked to discuss the ironclad relationship between the two nations.
Trump has repeatedly stated that the war needs to end, and he has promised “greatness in the Middle East” and “something special” in a separate all-caps post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
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Netanyahu, on the other hand, claimed that Israel is working with Washington to “make the plan work.”
Arab and Muslim leaders were first given the 21-point “day after” war plan earlier this week at the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York.
It demands that Hamas release all 48 Palestinian captives who are still alive, about 20 of whom are reportedly alive, within two days, according to numerous Israeli and Western reports.
If Hamas fighters reject resistance, they allegedly will be given the option of receiving amnesty or permission to leave Gaza. Israeli forces will gradually withdraw from the famine-stricken enclave, some Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli military concentration camps, and significant humanitarian aid will be provided.
The Palestinian organization confirmed in a statement on Sunday that it has not received any new proposals from Egypt and Qatar, which have reportedly both received Trump’s proposals.
Hamas’ armed wing warned that contact has been lost with Israeli forces capturing two Israeli captives in Gaza City as a result of an expanding Israeli ground invasion and aerial bombardment, which is causing dozens of Palestinian civilians’ daily casualties and the destruction of the area. Hamas said it will take a new offer to end the war into account.
Netanyahu’s delicate balance
Even though the plan, if implemented as it is, goes against some of Israel’s far-right government’s core beliefs, the Israeli prime minister appears to be supporting it.
The vision claims, among other things, that a future Palestinian state is open, something that top Israeli leaders have vowed never to permit.
The plan emphasizes that the Palestinians have a right of return if they choose to leave after two years of genocidal war have destroyed the majority of the enclave. It also emphasizes that they do not want to forcefully expel Palestinians from Gaza.
While Netanyahu’s top ministers and coalition partners, including Finance Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, have vehemently advocated for “encouraging voluntary migration” without return and for the destruction of what is left of Gaza.
They want to halt all access to food, water, and medicine, as Israel did for months before torpedoing a previous ceasefire with Hamas, which caused widespread starvation and famine. After seizing and operating militarily in the area while annexing the occupied West Bank, they want to rebuild the illegal Israeli settlements there.
The two far-right extremists have already criticised Trump’s plan, who they have repeatedly praised as Israel’s biggest-ever ally in the White House, along with other ministers and leaders of violent settler organizations, and have been sanctioned by several western governments.
They contend that Netanyahu is not qualified to accept a deal that would prevent Hamas from being a key player in the conflict starting in 2023.
Trump may squeeze Netanyahu, who will want to appease him despite the White House’s unwavering support and diplomatic cover.
Netanyahu’s coalition, which has 32 seats in the Israeli Knesset, is already facing difficulties because it is forming a minority government with 60 out of 120 seats.
When one of the two major ultra-Orthodox parties left the government and the other left the coalition in mid-july because it was unable to guarantee religious students’ future military conscription during the war, Netanyahu was in a bind.
If Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s parties all resign from the coalition, they could potentially overthrow Netanyahu’s highly critical government and force new elections.
In January, Ben-Gvir abruptly resigned from his cabinet position in protest of the Hamas ceasefire, which resulted in the release of several prisoners, but he soon returned after Israel resumed bombing Gaza.
The far-right groups, however, are unlikely to overthrow the coalition anytime soon because Israel continues to impede Gaza’s largest urban center by using tanks and sea to launch explosives from the air and sea.
In the West Bank, in spite of Trump’s claim that he will not allow annexation of the territory, Israeli raids and settler attacks are carried out daily against Palestinians.
Trump’s new proposal currently appears at best provisional, and even if it is approved by all, it will take a while to implement.
The future of Gaza’s administration structure
The plan proposed by Trump was developed in collaboration with Israel and the institute run by Tony Blair, who was the country’s prime minister in the Middle East when the US launched an invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the ground of false weapons of mass destruction.
After Hamas is ousted for a while, the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA), which has just been established, will be able to administer Gaza.
The entire power structure of the authority, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, is at the top, with Palestinians running things on the ground at the bottom, according to a statement released on Monday.
In an effort to gain credibility, the international board of GITA will initially be based in Egypt or elsewhere near Gaza but because of the tumultuous situation created by Israel there. It may also include prominent Egyptian businessmen and Muslims.
According to reports, it will have an executive secretariat with five commissioners who will run it to deal with issues involving humanitarian aid, reconstruction, legislation, security, and coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is being urged to undergo reforms in exchange for a promise that it will take over governance at an undisclosed future date.
A Palestinian technocratic authority will be appointed by the board to oversee some implementation on the ground as a multinational stabilization force takes control of border crossings, Gaza’s coastline, and “perimeter zones” close to Israel and Egypt’s current borders.
This is in contrast to Netanyahu’s and others’ claims that Israel will operate “security control” over the enclave.
Source: Aljazeera
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