Trump...and distracting attention from the core issues

My initial reaction to President Donald Trump’s proposals for Gaza was to dismiss them as bizarre—out of touch with reality, dangerously provocative, illegal, and indifferent to the humanity of Palestinians.

Indeed, his proposals have all of these characteristics. But since we know that this president is no ordinary man, it is wise to assume that there is a “method of his own.” Just as Trump did in his flurry of executive orders that left his opponents and the media scrambling to understand his intentions, I think the same logic may be behind his statements on Gaza.

This logic consists of two basic elements: the first is to confuse his opponents and weaken their morale. The second is to distract them - like carnival tricks - so that we turn our attention away from the real issues and become preoccupied with the illusion that is being created.

Based on this, I do not believe for a moment that Trump intends to send American forces to control Gaza and forcibly expel 1.5 million Palestinians. Nor will he be able to force Jordan and Egypt to receive these Palestinians and resettle them permanently.

All of these ideas are so far removed from reality and so dangerous that it is inconceivable that this president — who says he wants to keep America out of wars and bring peace to the Middle East — would try to implement any of them.

Some may attack me as trying to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt. To be clear, that is exactly what I am not doing. He may want to distract from the real issues with a bizarre Gaza plan, but instead of falling into the trap, we should focus on what is realistic and urgent. What I am saying is that instead of spending countless hours analyzing his words, criticizing his plan, or preparing for its implementation (which is exactly what he wants), we should ignore these statements and focus on the urgent issues facing us. The fragile ceasefire in Gaza must be preserved, and the parties must move to phases two and three of it. That means continuing to press for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and developing plans for reconstruction. It means directing our attention to de-escalating Israel’s repressive violence in the West Bank. And it means maintaining the focus on holding Israel and the United States accountable for the war crimes of the past 15 months.

Neither President Trump nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want us to move on any of these urgent issues. They want to further frustrate the Palestinians, create chaos in the Arab states, and run out the clock on the first phase of the ceasefire plan. That would allow Netanyahu to resume his war to achieve what he calls “total victory” in Gaza, ensuring the survival of his governing coalition and his continued hold on power.

In other words, instead of dealing with the real issues that need our attention, Trump wants us to fall into his trap of distracting discussion, while Israel moves forward with its deadly game before our eyes.