THE Gaza peace plan championed by US President Donald Trump and his Board of Peace has encountered major turbulence, as the American leader’s Israeli friends have rejected the deal. On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, after a cabinet meeting, said his military would not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed”.
These verbal gymnastics indicate that Tel Aviv has no intention of ending its occupation of the Strip. Hamas had agreed to surrender its weapons to a Palestinian committee last month, and the disarmament process and Israeli withdrawal were supposed to take place in tandem. Trump had then said the development was “monumental”. It seems his Israeli allies do not share his enthusiasm. Israel does not play by the rules, and shifts the goalposts when things are not going its way. Hamas says it remains committed to the plan.
From the Nakba to the Oslo Accords to the present day, it is the Arab side that has been expected to make all the compromises, while Israel is treated like a spoilt child and given whatever it wants by its powerful Western supporters whenever it throws a tantrum. Its rejection of the Trumpian peace plan is the latest example of this hypocrisy.
Trump does not like to take no for an answer. But both in Gaza and Lebanon, the Israelis have been constantly sabotaging his attempts to end hostilities. Will the American leader put pressure on Tel Aviv to honour its pledges vis-à-vis Gaza? The excuse that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu will not want to be seen giving concessions to the Palestinians before the Zionist state’s October elections is flimsy. Peace and rehabilitation in Gaza cannot be held hostage to internal Israeli politics.
Israeli provocations and oppression had created the grounds for the last two Intifadas, as well as the October 2023 Hamas attacks. When Tel Aviv cuts off all avenues for peaceful resolution of the dispute, and commits to never accepting an independent Palestinian state, then violence will be the unfortunate outcome, as the Arabs resist by any means necessary. Sadly, it appears that Israel thrives in an atmosphere of violence, and is uninterested in peace. This is the reality unless it changes its tune on the Gaza peace plan.
Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026
