Israel accepts US peace plan for Gaza

From the FokusIsrael.ch editorial team

Israel has accepted the American peace plan for Gaza. This was announced by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference at the White House.

The plan drawn up by US special envoy Steve Witkoff with the support of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner provides for the following key points:

• The war in Gaza is stopped.
• Hamas releases all 48 Israeli hostages it is still holding within a maximum of 72 hours. That means: those 20 who are still believed to be alive, as well as the bodies of the 28 others who were killed.
• An international security organization provided by Arab states disarms Hamas, destroys its infrastructure and demilitarizes Gaza.
• In return, the Israeli army IDF is gradually withdrawing from its current positions in Gaza, but will retain a security perimeter for the foreseeable future.
• With the support of the World Bank, a new Palestinian civil administration (New Transitional Authority) is being established in Gaza, to which neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority (PA) belong. The PA can only play a role again once it has fundamentally renewed itself.
• A “Board of Peace” will oversee the progress of the plan’s implementation. President Trump himself will chair the council, which will also include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and representatives of other governments.

As President Trump explained at the media conference, the plan had been discussed in advance with the political leaders of all Arab and numerous other Muslim states, as well as European governments, and they had generally approved it. In addition to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt, Trump also mentioned Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia in particular.

Now, Trump said, it was up to Hamas to approve the plan. It was up to the Arab and other Muslim states to convince the terrorist organization of this, said Trump. He was confident that this would succeed. Because if Hamas rejects the plan, the USA will give the Israeli state its full backing “to finish the job.”

The US President also announced that Qatar and Israel had agreed to work with the USA to resolve the problems between the two countries in a new joint committee. Qatar had played a mediating role in earlier negotiations between Israel and Hamas, but ended this role after Israel attempted to eliminate the Hamas leadership, who were living in exile in Qatar’s capital Doha. Alongside Iran, Qatar has been Hamas’ most important financial backer for decades.

Trump explained that during his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, a very constructive phone call took place between the Israeli Prime Minister and his Qatari counterpart Jassim al Thani. During this call, Netanyahu expressed his regret that Qataris had also been killed in the attack on the Hamas leadership.

At the media conference in the White House, Netanyahu declared his support for the American peace plan and thanked US President Trump at length for his friendship with Israel and his great commitment. With this peace plan, Netanyahu said, not only could the war in Gaza be ended, but the plan would change the entire Middle East and Israel’s relationship with other Muslim states.

Netanyahu recalled that the return of all hostages still held by Hamas, the disempowerment of the terrorist organization and the demilitarization of Gaza had always been Israel’s primary war aims. The Israeli Prime Minister left no doubt as to what would happen if Hamas rejected the plan: “Then we will finish the job, because it has to be done.”