Is US Peace Plan Just Words?

Words, words, words…

Call them terrorists or freedom fighters. 

Either way, thousands of them, led by Hamas, broke through the southern border of Israel on October 7, 2023, butchered and burned nearly 1,200 people, raped with abandon, and abducted 251 people of all ages, snaring Israeli citizens, non-citizens, and foreign workers, alike.

Call it disproportionality or the heavy price of unconventional warfare.

Israel struck back with ferocity against the Hamas terrorists/freedom fighters who hid in tunnels under schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings. Since the black Sabbath of October 7, tens of thousands of Gazans, of all ages, fighters and non-combatants, have been killed. 

Call it ethnic cleansing, genocide or a fight for independence and survival.

Both sides have used the terms to vilify their adversaries’ and justify their own actions. The Hamas Charter calls for the eradication of Israel. Members of Israel’s governing coalition have advocated the removal of Gaza’s inhabitants and the return of Israeli settlements to the Gaza Strip.

Call it a historic peace plan or the same old same old.

Donald Trump’s  20-point blueprint laid out the return of all 48 hostages, alive and dead, within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting the agreement. Once that happened, Israel would release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after 7 October 2023, including all women and children. 

Call it a promising start or a flop.

The Trump plan went into effect this past October 10. The remaining 20 living hostages are now back in Israel. Despite Hamas’ failure to return more than a dozen of the dead hostages, Israel has released as many as 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire has held with periodic violations by both sides.  

Abandon hope or keep wishing.

Hamas returning prisoners, living and dead, should have been relatively easy to accomplish. If Hamas still hasn’t returned all of the dead hostages, more than two weeks after the ceasefire began, how likely is it that the terrorists/freedom fighters will give up their weapons, disband, and take no further role in leading Gaza?

If Hamas won’t return the hostages or surrender its guns how likely is it that Israel will withdraw its armed forces from the Gaza Strip? If Israel won’t withdraw, how can a transitional government take over to implement an economic development plan to rebuild Gaza City and the other devastated parts of the Strip?

While waiting for the remaining dead hostages’ return, I have watched recent videos of Hamas terrorists/freedom fighters gunning down suspected collaborators in the streets. To consider the leaders of those masked executioners promising peace partners seems absurd.  

Which leaves me wondering how anti-Zionists the world over can claim the moral high ground as they label Israel a genocidal, colonizing pariah that must be dissolved.

This is not to say that I, an Israeli citizen, support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.  When the dust finally clears, I hope Netanyahu will be replaced. I also hope that he will be held accountable for dragging out the Gaza War, while turning a blind eye to the lawlessness of settlers in the disputed territories. If he winds up in prison for fraud, breach of trust, and bribery, I will not shed a tear.

Which brings me to Donald Trump. I abhor his dismantling democratic institutions in the country where I was born and raised. His threat to start a war with Venezuela in order to put a halt to its drug smuggling when Venezuela is a minor player in the smuggling world, is unjustified, and alienating Mexico, Canada, and America’s friends in Europe seems stupidly self-defeating.

Still, I am cheering Trump on when it comes to Israel.  As an Israeli citizen, I support his peace plan with enthusiasm and hope he has the stamina and sincere interest to carry through with it.

At the same time, with each passing day, no matter how hard Trump lobbies for a Nobel Peace Prize, I believe that his “historic” outline for “eternal peace” is largely words, words, words destined for the dustbin of history.