Egypt angry as Trump Gaza plan snubs Palestinian Authority
Egypt is reportedly angry that US President Donald Trump did not provide a governance role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in his 20-point Gaza peace plan, according to Middle East Eye on September 30th.
An Arab official and another source who had been briefed on the issue said that Cairo will refuse to send troops to contribute to an international post-war Gaza peace keeping force if the PA are not allowed to govern the territory.
The official added that “Cairo is pissed” and likely will not send troops to Gaza without a clear mandate for Israel to fully withdraw its military and dismantle the occupation.
Trump’s plan does state that “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza.” However, it falls short of explicitly providing a timeframe or any logistical details. Instead, it merely states that the withdrawal will be agreed upon at a later date, according to The New Arab plus agencies on September 29th.
When Trump unveiled the plan in Washington DC on September 29th, he sought to legitimise it by heavily emphasising the support it had of “Arab and Muslim” leaders. He announced that they are willing to “demilitarise Gaza” and “decommission” Hamas’ military capabilities.
On September 29th, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Emirati counterpart, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, welcomed Trump’s initiative. They reaffirmed “the importance of supporting this peace initiative as a pathway toward achieving comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.”
However, Axios news reported early on September 30th that the text publicly released by the White House was different from the one Trump privately presented to Arab leaders, which explains the sudden Egyptian pivot from endorsement to outrage.
It also revealed that many other regional players, including Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are angry with Trump’s deception regarding the amendments. The official peace plan fails to explicitly guarantee Palestinian self-governance.
Instead, it proposes the establishment of a transitional technocratic Palestinian committee which, crucially, will be supervised by a “Board of Peace” that will be led by Trump himself and will include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In other words, Gaza’s transition will proceed on the terms of the United States, Israel’s closest ally.
The BBC reported on September 30th that Hamas is unlikely to agree to the proposal precisely for this reason, with a Hamas official saying that it “serves Israel’s interests” and “ignores those of the Palestinian people.”
Egypt has been training around 5,000 PA security personnel to be deployed in Gaza after the war as part of the International Stabilization Force (ISF). The training was designed to reform the force from its former focus on crowd control and policing to “counter-terrorism.”
Trump’s plan offers only a meagre attempt to convey commitment to eventual Palestinian self-determination. It states that the PA can only take power in Gaza once a “reform programme is faithfully carried out.” Put differently, Palestinian self-determination is itself to be determined by reforms designed by the US.
Middle East Eye, The New Arab plus agencies, Maghrebi.org, BBC
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