Israeli obligations are vague in Trump’s Gaza peace plan
US President Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan is reportedly vague on Israel’s obligations to secure peace in the region, the Middle East Eye reported on September 30th.
The proposal is defined as Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly already approved.
The plan stipulates that Hamas will have 48 hours to release all remaining Israeli hostages before disarming and relinquishing control of Gaza.
If the proposal is also given the green light by Hamas, the US will work with Arab states to establish a transitional International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which will consist of Palestinian security forces trained in Egypt and Jordan.
The deal would guarantee the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, along with 1,700 Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained by Israel since October 2023.
The text mentioned that “all women and children detained in that context” would be released.
The deal also said that “full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip” if all sides agreed to the proposal; this means that Israel will not interfere with aid deliveries.
The Israeli military “will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarisation,” which will be agreed upon by Israel, the US, the ISF and international guarantors.
However, the vagueness of Israel’s obligations to withdraw from Gaza appears to have concerned Daniel Levy, a British-Israeli former peace negotiator, who said: “There is no plan in the sense of something sufficiently substantive and detailed that could be implemented – no granularity around the specifics of timelines and maps.”
He added: “That is by design. It allows Israel to blame the other side when either a deal is not reached or when Netanyahu decides to desist from implementing and resumes the genocide assault.”
Ex-US State Department official Annelle Sheline shared a similar sentiment to Levy about the vagueness of Trump’s plan, and discussed the failed 1993 Oslo Accords.
She said: “Furthermore, similar to Oslo, there are no penalties (for Israel) if it fails to adhere to the terms. Therefore, Israel has no incentive to ensure that it complies with the agreement, a standard feature of American proposals for ‘resolving’ the conflict.”
Gazans detained in Israeli prisons have faced horrific abuse, including beatings and starvation; it was reported on August 15th that the number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons was the highest in 25 years. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Information Office, Israel was detaining 10,800 people, including 49 women and more than 450 minors in August. More than a third, 3,613 people, were being detained without charge or trial.
Middle East Eye, Maghrebi.org
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