The hype was the classic Trump.
“We have a real chance for greatness in the Middle East,” the US president appeared on all caps on his Truth Social Account on Sunday. “Everything is on board for something special for the first time. We’re going to make it!!!”
The next day he announced that Israel had agreed to a 20-point American proposal to end the war in Gaza and arrange for the exchange of Israeli hostages (living and dead) for Palestinian prisoners (living and dead). Israel has a safe and recognized border. ”
Decades ago, American leaders deployed epic schemes in conflict, but can only be seen collapsed in catastrophe or burning with disappointment and condemnation.
Following Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, President Ronald Reagan announced a “new start” calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon, the freeze of Israeli settlements, and the autonomy of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
That didn’t happen.
Eleven years later, on a sunny September day when Yasser Arafat, leader of the White House Rose Garden, Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin oversaw the signing of the so-called Oslo agreement, designed to end the Palestinian-Israel conflict, the emotional President Bill Clinton declared, “For too long, Abraham’s children have been pointing their swords at each other. Today, that has changed.”
No, “that” didn’t change.
World leaders are rushing to praise President Donald Trump’s complicated Gaza plan. Two years after this brutal war, which was instantly live streamed all over the world, Heard will become the center of those who do not greet the opportunity to end the bloodshed with something other than salvation.
Without a doubt, Trump is stricken by the glow of success.
It’s not that fast.
Hours after the Israeli delegation left the White House, Israeli Daily Haretz reported that when he and Trump were asked “when asked if they agreed to establish a Palestinian state, Netanyahu explicitly stated, “It’s absolutely not, that’s not written in the agreement.”
Already, his coalition partner has taken Netanyahu’s heels because he has publicly accepted the plan. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described accepting the Prime Minister’s plan as “a overwhelming diplomatic failure, intentional blindness, betrayal of all the lessons of the October 7 attack. In my view, it ends in tears.”
Netanyahu may have been an image of confidence while on the White House grounds. But the promises made in Washington may be difficult to maintain when returning to Israeli politics Boxing Ring.
Hamas has not yet agreed to the Trump plan. Israel has not officially embraced it despite Netanyahu’s glorious smile standing next to Trump.
And beyond that, Trump’s plans ignore the elephants in the room. It goes beyond the fate of Gaza, and is Israeli reconciliation and occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Trump said on September 25 that Israel would not annex the West Bank, but the latest proposal does not mention other Palestinian territories.
All US administrations since 1967 have been moving away from putting pressure on the process of establishing settlements in occupied territories to stop or reverse the process.
For decades, successive governments have described these settlements as “an obstacles to peace.” It was the constant refrain that shunned White House and State Department spokesmen that cried out Israel to charge first, and created settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The population of settlers in these regions has grown from just 20,000 in the early 1970s to more than 750,000 today.
Trump recently vowed not to allow Israel to annex the West Bank – something Israeli officials have threatened after several countries recently recognized the Palestinian state. But apart from legal elegance, Israel has already taken over its territory for all intents and purposes. It manages movements within the West Bank and runs its own two-tier legal system (one for the Israelis and the other for the Palestinians), and is the ultimate authority there.
Trump certainly isn’t going to act to change these facts on earth.
However, these are the facts that encourage conflict. Anyone who goes to the West Bank and sees how Israeli security forces and settlers operate and often abuse Palestinians will understand (often violently) why Palestinians are so opposed to Israel’s existence.
Perhaps Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza would end the war in Gaza. Perhaps it will signal the end of Hamas. Perhaps it would allow the Palestinians of Gaza to rebuild their crushed lives. Perhaps they will reunite the Israeli hostages Hamas had held along with his loved ones.
The Greatness of the Middle East? Do not hold your breath. A careful expectation is the suspension of the murder in Gaza.
