Trump’s “Eternal Peace Plan” for Gaza is an ill-conceived hodge-podge. Despite that, it may succeed because it is the only show in town. It is also Donald Trump’s best shot at the elusive Nobel Peace Prize.
To truly succeed it needs buy-in from Hamas. But why should they accept it? The plan calls for their disbandment, surrender of all weapons and exile from Gaza.
The Plan makes no mention of the West Bank where Israeli settlers are daily forcing Palestinians out of their home. As for the role of the Palestinian Authority, it is allowed a role “after reform.” But how is it to be reformed?
The two-state solution which Palestinians and most of the international community, support, is referred to as an “aspiration of the Palestinian people” not a justifiable goal or a goal supported by the US. Palestinian statehood is held out as a vague carrot, but only after a hazy list of conditions are met.
Anyway, that point (number 19) has been knocked on the head by the repeated assertion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that there will “never” be a Palestinian state.
Then there is the fate of hostages and Palestinians held in Israeli jail. According to the plan, once all the hostages are released, the Israelis will release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Why can’t the exchange be done simultaneously?
Point 3 of the plan says that as soon as the fighting stops the Israelis will conduct a staged withdrawal. From where to where? Over what period of time?
Point 7: “Upon implementation / acceptance, full humanitarian aid immediately flows into Gaza.” Haven’t the Israelis claimed that “full humanitarian aid” is already reaching the Gazans?
Points 9-12 Cover the type of government that will administer Gaza after an end to the fighting. Trump will be chairman of the board and former British Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair will supervise redevelopment, funding and governance. But what powers will the chairman of the board have? And ditto for Sir Tony?
There is no suggestion for the legal framework for the proposed authority. Will it come under UN auspices or that of the Arab League or the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC)? As it stands at the moment the succeeding authority will come under the authority of Donald Trump.
Sir Tony will recruit “temporary, apolitical, technocratic” Palestinians to run the country. The fact is that most of the civil servants who have been running Gaza are Hamas members. Like it or not, they will be needed to keep the strip going and to rebuild it, simply because they know all the ropes.
Point 12: “Creation of a Special Economic Zone in Gaza, with favourable trade Which countries are contributing?
Point 18. “Gradual, phased Israeli withdrawal: The IDF will pull back in stages as ISF and transitional authority take over; Israel will not annex or permanently occupy Gaza. There might be a security perimeter until Gaza is properly secure.” How long will the phased withdrawal take? Where will be security perimeter be, on Israeli or Gazan territory?
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European and Middle East leaders have welcomed the plan. Sir Keir Starmer has said he would work Trump and the Israelis to see it implemented. But the plan cannot work without the effective surrender of Hamas.
The political leadership in Qatar is thinking about it. The military leader in Gaza is said to be opposed. He is prepared to go down fighting in the hope that his struggle will serve as a recruiting sergeant for future generations of Palestinians. Usually it is the military leader which has the final decision.
Trump has warned Hamas that this deal is their last chance. Take it or leave it. If they leave it he says the US “will help Israel finish the job.”
* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice. He also contributes to “The New World” magazine and lectures on world affairs. He is the author of “America Made in Britain,” two editions of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “The Falklands Crisis.”
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6 Comments
Thank you Tom: ‘Trump’s “Eternal Peace Plan” for Gaza is an ill-conceived hodge-podge.’
I agree that we must be concerned. On October 1, 2025 Patrick Cockburn wrote in the iPaper: ‘The universal welcome that has greeted Donald Trump’s peace proposal to end the two-year conflict in Gaza is a measure of the horror felt worldwide at what a UN Commission of Inquiry described as a deliberate genocide of Palestinians by Israel.
But the relief expressed by national leaders at the proposals may be largely wishful thinking because it supposes that the Trump plan is more than a skeleton framework unlikely to be realised in full or even partially.
The freeing of the hostages is a politically crucial gain for Netanyahu since their families have been at the forefront of demands to end the war. Netanyahu would be able to portray their release as proof that he had won a complete victory not only in Gaza but in the regional conflicts that have stemmed from it.
I believe that Palestinians in Gaza – and not just Hamas – will want assurances that Netanyahu does not simply bank the release of Israeli hostages and prevent the return of Palestinians to parts of Gaza which they have been ordered to leave by the IDF. I think they will suspect that not very far down the road, Netanyahu will find some excuse to end a ceasefire and resume military operations.
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/The-i-paper/20251001/283643946112901
There is also another big fault in the plan: just who are “Hamas”, does it really have a well maintained membership list or is it other organisations something a lot less structured and more of a brand. Thus anyone could be a member and who gets to decide.
This is important because “exile” can and given Israel’s previous bad faith behaviour, will be used by Israel to eject Palestinians, especially young men but also families where they will claim a member was/is a member of Hams.
What we can be sure of is Netanyahu and his supporters will find every excuse to eradicate Israel’s Palestinian population…
This article is symptomatic of a view that “Israel can’t win whatever it does”. We have a plan. It’s from Trump and has been agreed by Netanyahu so defacto the pro-Palestinian advocates cannot accept it. Notwithstanding the fact that:
(a) It will end the war which we have all been calling for the past two years, “ceasefire now” has been the call!
(b) All the moderate Arab nations have accepted it.
(c) It will bring home the hostages, again, what most of us have been calling for the past two years.
What Tom does here is what Alistair Carmichael MP said so forcefully in the Topical Debate at conference just two weeks ago… “what abootism”.
What aboot the settlers. What aboot the West Bank.
There is a workable plan. Suddenly we’re all supposed to be concerned about what Hamas does or doesn’t think or want. If pressure would have been put on Hamas to surrender two years ago or anytime until now, the suffering in Israel and Gaza could have been avoided.
Clearly we need a pathway to peace. We need Netanyahu voted out and a moderate coalition voted in. In the here and now how about we as Liberals and Democrats endorse this plan to work. Throwing supposed obstacles in the way here simply detracts from what we as a Party want. That there is peace and some form of basis to move beyond the 7th October paradigm. This Plan delivers this however much we might dislike its author.
Gavin Stollar OBE 4th Oct ’25 – 1:34pm…………..This article is symptomatic of a view that “Israel can’t win whatever it does”. We have a plan. It’s from Trump and has been agreed by Netanyahu…….
On the contrary, this article points out that, “Palestinians LOSE whatever they do”..
1) It is purely a 20 point scheme agreed between Trump and Netanyahu with no Palestinian input.. (The American political scientist John Mearsheimer argued, that the Israeli elimination of the Hamas negotiation team in Qatar proved that Israel is making sure there is, “No Hamas voice in settling the conflict in Gaza.”
2) Hours after leaving his meeting with Trump Netanyahu questioned what he’d supposedly agreed.. Not a good sign for a lasting deal..
3) All Israeli ‘concessions’ are based on ‘Hamas Disarming Completely’.. Who decides if Hamas has disarmed completely?.. “Israel”..
The list goes on with EVERY point, even UN participation, being subject to Israeli ‘interpretation’ and without Palestinian input; even the ‘Palestinian Authority’ is quoted as “needing reform” (unspecified) but decided by Netanyahu..
Of course Gaza has no option but to accept this; the alternative is the US Military joining
the IDF in ongoing genocide.. Palestinian acceptance merely ensures their removal from Gaza and facilitates Israel’s three objectives; expand Jewish settled territory, move the Palestinians out of all conquered territory, and ensure that all countries in the region are weak.
The article contains a number of inaccuracies. Perhaps the most glaring is the comment “The two-state solution which Palestinians and most of the international community, support…”.
The reality is that neither Hamas nor Fatah – the two major political organisations in Gaza and the West Bank respectively – accept the right of Israel to exist (Fatah did briefly post-Oslo but reversed that position).
And their position isn’t even “extreme” for the region since, almost without exception, Israel’s neighbours decades later still refuse to recognise Israel as a state and in some cases are technically at war with Israel (for decades).
@Paul R – when you look and assess the rationale put forward for the current state of Israel in its current geographical location and realise how tenuous it is, you can understand why they might not accept the obligation the Zionists in 1948 imposed on them…