Hamas pressed by Arab, Muslim states to accept Trump’s Gaza plan
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US President Donald Trump said Hamas has “about three or four days” to decide.
PHOTO: EPA
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CAIRO - Arab and Muslim national leaders are pushing Hamas to accept the Gaza plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump this week, saying the need to end the fighting surpasses concern about the finer details.
While some aspects of the 20-point proposal
The leaders see Israel’s campaign in Gaza since the October 2023 Hamas attacks
Israel has been seeking to destroy Hamas for almost two years, devastating Gaza in the process
The conflict has expanded over that time to include Israeli campaigns in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, as well as direct exchanges of missile fire with Iran
Israel last month struck Qatar in an attempt to kill Hamas officials
One senior regional official, who was in New York last week and was fully briefed on Mr Trump’s meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, said it was expected that the plan announced by Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would diverge in some ways from what they had agreed with the Americans.
The official declined to elaborate, stressing that it’s important not to lose sight of what he called wins for Palestinians and Arab and Muslim nations, including an end to the idea of displacing Gazans from the territory.
The document doesn’t answer a number of questions, particularly those associated with transitional governance of Gaza and the deployment of a so-called International Stabilisation Force to train and support Palestinian police forces.
But the fact it stops the fighting, states Palestinians will stay and help rebuild Gaza and that Israel will fully withdraw from the strip are significant achievements, according to the official.
These are the reasons the plan was swiftly endorsed on the night of Sept 29 by foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt, according to a person with knowledge of Saudi thinking.
Hamas therefore has, in theory, little choice but to accept the deal and begin to engage, particularly as that’s the desire of the states closest to it – namely Egypt, Qatar and Turkey – said the official.
That would require the group to disarm, a demand it has long refused, though the plan does offer amnesty to those “who commit to peaceful co-existence” and safe passage to leave.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said his country and Egypt handed the plan to Hamas on the night of Sept 29.
A delegation from the Iran-backed group told officials from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey in Doha on Sept 30 they are carefully reviewing the proposal and seeking clarity on some technical aspects, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hamas is preparing its response once it has consulted with other Palestinian factions about the plan, the person said. On Sept 30, Mr Trump said Hamas – designated a terrorist organisation by the US, European Union and others – has “about three or four days” to decide.
There are goals “that are starting to be realised, namely ending the war,” Mr al-Thani said in an interview with Qatari news outlet Al-Jazeera this week.
“There are matters that need clarification and others for sure require discussion and negotiation.”
Qatar’s leader said his country and representatives of fellow Arab and Muslim states “worked with the American side” following the meeting with Mr Trump in New York to incorporate their comments into the Gaza plan and that some “were taken into account.”
Others “were not, of course,” Mr al-Thani said.
The Qatari leader provided no specifics but added that he hoped everyone would view and engage with the plan “constructively” to “seek a solution that stops the bloodshed.”
Parts of the proposal are “vague” and “can’t afford to be obtuse,” such as who will run the ISF, how its duties will be defined and how long it will stay in Gaza, according to Dr H. A. Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London.
In the proposal, the ISF is described as “a long-term internal security solution.”
Other issues are the timing of Israel’s military withdrawal and who gets to decide when the Palestinian Authority is sufficiently reformed to take over controlling Gaza, he said, not to mention the fuzzy language around Palestinian statehood, a key Arab and Muslim goal.
The PA controls parts of the West Bank, but has no current sway over Gaza.
“This conglomerate of Arab and Muslim nations will endorse it anyway, simply because they’ll see any plan that even reduces the scale of the crisis to be better than Netanyahu continuing his devastating war,” said Dr Hellyer.
The proposal states that “full aid” should be sent into Gaza and distribution handled by United Nations agencies “without interference from the two parties.”
A top priority for oil-rich Gulf states is to move away from conflict and focus instead on ambitious economic and investment plans.
Regional leaders also believe endorsing and helping to realise a Gaza peace deal that’s being championed by Mr Trump will strengthen their personal relationship with the US leader and advance their interests in Washington.
“You could call it a Trump plan but it all started in Abu Dhabi,” said Dubai-based Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs, referring to what he described as the crucial role played by UAE diplomats in formulating the 20-point plan and building consensus from other states in the region.
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed met with Mr Netanyahu in New York before the plan’s unveiling. The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another potential big winner if the Gaza plan is agreed and executed is Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erodgan.
Ankara’s involvement nurtures the “bromance” between him and Mr Trump and gives Turkey leverage over Palestinian affairs and a prominent role in Gaza reconstruction.
It also advances its interests, particularly in neighbouring Syria, according to Ms Aslı Aydintasbas, director of the Turkey Project at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
“Trump’s special relationship with Erdogan makes it very obvious that he sees Turkey as a key security partner in the region,” she said. BLOOMBERG
