Tuesday, 30 September 2025

Does Netanyahu really want Trump's peace plan for Gaza?

Benjamin Netanyahu shook Donald Trump's hand and smiled as the president announced his new 20-point peace plan for Gaza. So, everything was looking good! But no, not really. Netanyahu had to agree to the deal but he knows that it will never get past his most extreme conservative cabinet members who want Gaza to become an extension to the West Bank for Jewish settlers. Nor will Hamas leap at it because they will demand that all Israeli troops are withdrawn from Gaza and Netanyahu is never gong to agree to that. So, lots of optimistic welcome from around the world to the Trump deal but are they all really fooling themselves? This latest deal is an agglomeration of all the previous deals and since every one failed to bring the war to an end, it is pretty short odds that this 20-pointer will also go the same way. Or if it does work, eventually, it will be a long way off. Netanyahu is against a two-state solution, ie an indpendent state for Palestinians, but the Trump proposal hints at it, in order to keep the Arab nations happy. But there is nothing in the package that says it will definitely happen or how it will happen. One thing that does seem to have been dropped is Trump's idea of turning Gaza into a Middle East Riviera, with all the Palestinians told to leave and live somewhere else. That means the Palestinian inhabitants of what's left of Gaza will be allowed to stay, as the massive reconstruction programme gets underway. If this deal goes ahead, Netanyahu will not survive as Israeli leader.

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