Last week witnessed a back-and-forth in negotiations in Cairo between Palestinian factions and the representative of the Peace Council (Nikolay Mladenov), mediated by Egyptian intelligence, Qatar, and Turkey. These negotiations sometimes inspired optimism and at other times pessimism, to the extent that we, as observers, no longer know whether these negotiations will succeed and a breakthrough will occur, based on which Trump's plan will be fully implemented or not. The central focus of the negotiations was the settlement of Hamas's weapons in Gaza and the completion of the implementation of the first phase's provisions and the beginning of the implementation of the second phase's provisions of President Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, which was announced in October last year and whose second phase was supposed to have ended at least eight months after its first phase began.
It is noticeable that the plan is stalled and not progressing after Israel recovered its prisoners from Hamas. It is also noticeable that Israel now claims that the obstacle is the factions' weapons and the factions' non-agreement in Gaza to that, knowing that the factions had expressed their approval of settling the weapons within the framework of a neutral committee and international supervision. This was discussed in Cairo recently, and a document was submitted by the mediators to this effect (a roadmap) stating that weapons would be handed over to the Palestinian police who would be deployed in Gaza under the supervision of an international committee, provided that the weapons be transferred to a third party, and they suggested Egypt. At the same time, Israel would dismantle the militias it formed and hand over their weapons to the international committee supervising the disarmament of Hamas, using the same mechanism by which it receives the factions' weapons. The remaining provisions of the first phase would be implemented, and the steps of the second phase of President Trump's plan to end the war would be carried out, expanding the entry of aid and shelter tools in preparation for the start of the reconstruction process under the supervision of the national committee formed by the Peace Council approximately four months ago, which has not yet been able to enter Gaza due to the Israeli ban.
The Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper had reported that the Palestinian factions responded positively to the plan, but the factions handed the mediators a paper with five points, the most important of which is that the factions want international guarantees that Israel will practically cease fire and withdraw from the Yellow Line and allow the national committee to enter to manage the sector, take over governance from Hamas, manage the sector, and achieve the principle of one authority, one law, and one weapon, and thus begin the reconstruction process of the sector. The same newspaper mentioned that Israel's response to the (roadmap) document was negative, but Mr. (Nikolay Mladenov) and the mediators said that Israel agreed to the document but refused to provide any guarantees for a complete ceasefire in Gaza or withdrawal from the Yellow Line and wants, above all, to disarm Hamas and then negotiate the implementation of the remaining provisions of the plan. Here, the situation became complicated, and the scene began to suggest a return to intense war on Gaza after the Hebrew media reported the next day that Hamas refused to disarm and that Israel was preparing for renewed fighting in Gaza. All this is happening while the sector is practically witnessing a systematic change in the position of the Yellow Line every day, being advanced and its location changed, and it has become a threat to the lives of residents, many of whom have been forced to flee again. The matter did not stop there; we began to see systematic attacks by militias in multiple areas within cities with Israeli air cover, as if Israel has another plan opposite to President Trump's plan that it wants to implement, which is for the militias to take over governance in the sector, thereby undermining President Trump's plan. For this reason, we notice that Israel spares no effort in obstructing the implementation of any provision of President Trump's plan's stages, and it seems as if the plan has become a cover for Israel to implement a plan for militias to take control of Gaza in complete absence of many administrative details for managing civil affairs in Gaza.
It is noted in Hebrew reports that Israel exaggerates Hamas's strength in the sector, as if it considers it a renewing force to justify the continuation of the war and even the continued existence of the Yellow Line. This means maintaining the status quo, to say that what is beyond the Yellow Line is controlled by Hamas, and what is before the Yellow Line is controlled by militias and secured by them with Israeli cover and support, and this, of course, frustrates President Trump's plan. The Peace Council dispatched (Nikolay Mladenov) with a team urgently to Tel Aviv because it began to realize that Israel is obstructing the implementation of Trump's plan provisions and claiming that the factions reject the roadmap plan. Mladenov met with Netanyahu and discussed the completion of the first phase and the implementation of the second phase based on the proposed roadmap, and formally requested that Israel stop threatening to return to war in Gaza and discussed the issue of deploying a stabilization force in Gaza and allowing the national committee to manage the sector after taking over governance from Hamas. However, we believe that Israel may refrain from doing so and continue to obstruct Trump's plan.
The question now is whether President Trump's administration will allow Israel to continue undermining his plan and implement the alternative plan it is now weaving? And if it does not allow that, why is the Trump administration overlooking all the practical Israeli measures on the ground in the sector that are intended to sabotage President Trump's plan? And is this because Trump's advisors are preoccupied with the Iranian issue? The truth is that Israel is exploiting American preoccupation to the fullest extent with the Iranian issue and wants to impose a unilateral alternative plan to President Trump's plan in Gaza, and it is proceeding with its implementation in a frighteningly systematic way. If Trump's advisors do not quickly stop this course by pressuring Netanyahu to accept the implementation of all provisions of the second phase, the most important of which are Israel's withdrawal from the Yellow Line, acceptance of the deployment of an international stabilization force, allowing the national committee to access to manage the sector and achieve security and stability, and pressuring Israel to accept dealing with the mediators' document (roadmap).
I believe that President Trump's plan is on its way to failure at the hands of Israel to pave the way for its alternative plan, but I believe that the Trump administration's dereliction of the plan to end the war and its neglect to implement it by pressuring Israel will have serious repercussions that will fatally harm the United States' standing in the region. How will Trump achieve peace with Iran and his administration triumph if it is unable to achieve peace in Gaza? And here, Trump, who heads the Peace Council concerned with achieving peace in Gaza, will have no prestige and will remain like a puppet in the hands of Netanyahu, who draws the scene Israel wants in most regional files. I doubt that Trump will allow this because his political future and the future of the Republicans are dependent on achieving peace in Gaza and Lebanon and reaching an agreement that ends the war with Iran in favor of the United States and its agenda in the region.
شارك برأيك
Netanyahu Obstructs Trump's Plan to End the War in Gaza for an Alternative Israeli Plan