President Donald Trump has released a 20-point plan that he says would a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli prisoners and bring about stability to the entire Middle East.
Trump announced the proposal during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said he accepted it.
The roadmap has received support from Arab, Muslim and Western countries. Hamas has said it is reviewing it.
But despite the optimism in Washington, there are many question marks over the deal and how it would work in practice.
The devil, as they say, is in the details. And Trump’s plan is thin on the details.
The US proposal received a mixed reaction from Palestinian rights advocates. While many pointed to its shortcomings, some stressed that any effort to stop the genocide is a welcome one.
What does the proposal say?
The plan conditions ending the war on a de-facto Hamas surrender. It stipulates that the group must hand over the Israeli prisoners in one go, decommission its weapons and give up the governance of the territory.
An independent panel of Palestinians would then be tasked with the administration of the enclave. But that committee would be overseen by an international board, led by Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The involvement of Blair – who is seen by many as a war criminal for his role in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 – has seen early criticism of the entire plan.
Importantly, the plan rules out the ethnic cleansing of Gaza or removal of Palestinians from the territory, as envisioned by Trump and Netanyahu earlier this year.
“No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return,” it says.
“We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.”
But while it provides that the Israeli military would pull out gradually from Gaza, it does not provide any timetables for the withdrawal.
It also does not set clear standards as for when and how Palestinians would reclaim full governance of the territory.
The proposal says that security in Gaza would be seen by an International Stabilization Force (ISF), but it is not clear who would staff the force or what its exact mandate would be.
The plan hints at the possibility of a pathway to a Palestinian state, but it does not commit to one.
“While Gaza re-development advances and when the [Palestinian Authority] reform program is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people,” it reads.
The proposal appears to put the onus on Palestinians. They must release the Israeli prisoners, disarm and “reform” in order to stop the slaughter.
Meanwhile, Israel, which is carrying out the genocide, is held to minimal commitments.
World welcomes plan
Trump hailed the roadmap as historic, falsely claiming that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which started in the past century, has been going on for thousands of years.
“I said, ‘How long have you been fighting?’ ‘Three thousand years, sir.’ That’s a long time, but we got it, I think, settled. We’ll see,” he said.
Despite the apparent flaws in the proposal, Arab countries and the international community rushed to praise it.
Sidelined by the proposal, the Palestinian Authority said that it “reiterates its shared commitment to working with the United States, regional countries, and partners to end the war on Gaza through a comprehensive agreement.”
It also lauded Trump’s “ability to find a path to peace”.
Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and the United Arab Emirates released a joint statement praising what they called Trump’s “sincere effort” to end the war.
“Along these lines, the ministers welcome the announcement by President Trump regarding his proposal to end the war, rebuild Gaza, prevent the displacement of the Palestinian people and advance a comprehensive peace, as well as his announcement that he will not allow the annexation of the West Bank,” the statement said.
Countries across the world, from China to India to Germany, also backed the proposal.
“We must put an end to so much suffering,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a post on X.
For now, the main question is whether the plan is a meaningful push to end the war or another US move to ease international pressure off Israel and put the blame on Hamas as the brutal assault on Gaza continues.
Meanwhile, Israel’s pushed on with its genocidal bombardment of Gaza as the plan is being discussed.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the White House released the plan.
