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Posted on 10/03/2025 5:10:08 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Trump’s 20-point Gaza Peace Plan, backed by Arab states and Israel, could rebuild Gaza and sideline Hamas—even if Hamas rejects it.
Although it appeared, as this article went to print, that Hamas would not accept President Trump’s historic 20-point Gaza Peace Plan without substantial changes, the beauty of this plan is that it may bring peace to the Middle East and initiate a process to rebuild Gaza, regardless of what Hamas decides. This is because, due to President Trump’s leadership, Arab states, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel support this plan; the war will soon end, and a process to rebuild and secure Gaza will proceed, even if Hamas rejects the plan.
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar support the 20-point plan. Even the Palestinian Authority (PA), which rejected previous peace plans as insufficient, has accepted this plan. European states have voiced their support. Although the Israeli government is uncomfortable with some provisions of the plan, it has accepted it.
Some of the provisions of the 20-point plan are similar to previous plans that failed due to Hamas’s opposition. The plan calls for a cease-fire, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and the release of almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Hamas will be disarmed and its weapons will be destroyed. Hamas will be barred from playing any role in the future governance of Gaza. Hamas members who pledge to live peacefully and support coexistence with Israel will be offered amnesty. Those who refuse will be provided safe passage out of Gaza.
The plan includes some new ideas involving Israeli concessions that address previous stumbling blocks. Israel will not annex the Gaza Strip, and Israeli troops will gradually withdraw and be limited to a perimeter presence.
A temporary international stabilization force will be deployed in Gaza to oversee security, demilitarization, and reconstruction in Gaza following a ceasefire and the disarmament of Hamas. This force will reportedly be staffed mainly by troops from Gulf Arab states. A Palestinian Authority police force will eventually be deployed after the PA is reformed and deradicalized.
A Board of Peace will be established as a temporary international oversight body to manage Gaza’s transitional governance and redevelopment. President Trump will chair this board. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will be a prominent member. Arab and European members will join them. The board will eventually be dissolved and replaced by the PA after it undergoes substantial reforms and deradicalization.
Finally, the plan keeps the door open to a future Palestinian state, albeit as a distant Palestinian aspiration. According to the plan, “when Gaza’s redevelopment has been advanced and the PA reform program has been implemented, the conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood, which is recognized as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
The idea of any role for the Palestinian Authority in administering or securing Gaza and proposals for a Palestinian state have been anathemas for Israeli officials in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre against Israel. However, Israel’s grudging acceptance of vague provisions on these ideas was crucial to winning the support of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE. Coupled with Netanyahu’s apology to Qatar for violating Qatari sovereignty in Israel’s recent airstrike, Hamas now has no Arab support in opposing the Trump plan. This may set the stage not just to rebuild Gaza but also to expand the Abraham Accords.
President Trump, on September 30, gave Hamas three or four days to accept the 20-point plan or the U.S. would support the Israeli military’s campaign to finish off Hamas. Although Hamas had not given an official response as of October 2, Hamas officials told reporters that the terrorist group thought the plan was too anti-Hamas and pro-Israel and would demand significant changes. Hamas’s rejections reportedly will include a full and immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, keeping “defensive” weapons, not immediately releasing all hostages, rejection of the temporary international stabilization force, rejection of the board of peace, and rejection of the post-war Gaza leadership plan.
Hamas has killed previous peace plans with similar objections. However, this plan differs not only because of its broad Arab support but also due to provisions that allow for its implementation despite Hamas’s objections.
Under the 20-point plan, the international stabilization force will be deployed even if Hamas rejects the proposal, but this would occur in “terror-free” areas that have been cleared and handed over from Israeli Defense Forces control to the stabilization force.
The plan also states that scaled-up aid operations—including infrastructure rehabilitation—will be implemented in the secured zones, along with economic development initiatives to create a “New Gaza” through international investment, job creation, and the establishment of a special economic zone.
This means that Trump’s 20-point peace plan could be the last peace plan for Gaza. If Hamas insists on unreasonable changes and refuses to end the war, the world will move on without it to build a “New Gaza.”
The 20-point peace plan is a masterpiece. Even David Ignatius, a noted liberal foreign policy columnist for the Washington Post, acknowledged this when he wrote, “Trump laid a strong foundation for [peace] with his plan Monday to end the nightmare war in Gaza and begin the transition to a stable day after.”
It is essential to understand how this peace plan masterpiece came about. It is the result of a president who reestablished U.S. global leadership, stubbornly pressed for peace in the Middle East, and is trusted by Arab states and Israel. While European states recently were appeasing Hamas by offering to recognize a Palestinian state without any concessions from the terrorist group, Trump’s diplomatic team, in collaboration with its Arab allies, was devising a plan for long-term Middle East peace and the rebuilding of Gaza that ensures Israel’s security and sets a course for a deradicalized Palestinian leadership that excludes Hamas.
Although there are many ways this plan could fail, it could blaze a path for a similar bold plan to end the war in Ukraine. And it more than qualifies President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Fred Fleitz previously served as National Security Council chief of staff, a CIA analyst, and a House Intelligence Committee staff member. He is the Vice Chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security.
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Yes, let the Arab countries deal with HAMAS. It will keep the leftists busy figuring out who to protest.
Hamas has already said no...
any plan that gives the terrorists their own state is a no for me.
I agree that HAMAS has to go. Best to let a coalition of Arab countries deal with that dirty work.
Wipe out HamAss………while Greta is delivering the food
Then figure out what is next.
The Middle East has Hamas.
We have BLM.
Whatever.
Until it’s proven - ahem - that the ‘paleo state’ part of that was just a Red Herring, I don’t GAS.
Gaza, Judaea, Samaria, and the Golan still belong to Israel historically and Biblically, and have received the greatest contribution to their development from Jewish people from 1840 forward. That's 1840! (not 1949). Millions and millions of dollars raised by Jewish people and put to work historic Israel; building hospitals, agricultural infrastructure and institutes, universities, road systems, railroads, and more. The greatest documentation is found in British and European newspapers and journals of that entire era (many facsimile copies I have collected since 1994)
The PLO and other such terrorist organizations got interested as a result of sheer ENVY when they saw development in the land by the Jewish people---development Muslims couldn't imagine and didn't care to imagine.
The Islamic plan for the annihilation of the Jewish people is not going to be eliminated with this plan.
Israeli leaders, no doubt understand this.
Why not just let armed PLO officers take over in Gaza?
A reward of $10 million for rebuilding might be given to each live hostage returned within 7 days, with the reward decreasing by $50,000 per day beyond 7.
A reward of $10,000 for rebuilding might be given to each dead hostage returned within 7 days, with the reward decreasing by $50 per day beyond 7.
Reward money may be paid to persons bringing the hostages to Israeli forces, or to the UN or PLO as Israel may decide.
No person shall be paid more than $1,000 on the day of hand over. Palestinians will mob around hostages as they get carried to the Israeli forces hoping for a handout.
I applaud many here for seeking peace. The Arab states, those Palestinians, Israel, after decades of confrontation. Let those in the GAZA strip live in peace with their neighbor, let them be relocated now if they cannot. Let Palestine be a state, with a WARNING, that everything gets removed (people, nation, land) if they commit terrorist acts and celebrate them in the streets. With statehood comes responsibility and accountability.
I believe that a people trained since birth to be filled anti-sematic hatred cannot be reformed, or controlled. My belief may be wrong, but Israel has a right to forever take the land if I am correct. This should be spelled out to everyone who accepts this agreement.
Maybe, but then the attacks on Israel will return and we start all over. History oh history were art thou?
Hamas as expected has rejected the plan.
Post #6: Spot on. Totally agree. Let the Arabs deal with Hamas.
They may buy in for a while but......ham-ass. They can’t overcome the hate. Despite NFL messages in the end zones.
Only real problem is that the rats will just move from one organizational nest to another - if not Hamas, then whatever mess rises to replace it.
Came here to post this, glad to see it already here.
Nothing changes in Gaza unless its people reject radical islamic terrorists as their leadership.
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