Eight Muslim Nations Endorse Trump’s Gaza Plan

Jewish communities have been deeply worried for a long time. From Hollywood to the international sports world, calls to boycott Israel are growing louder. Among young people across the globe, Israel has become the most hated state. Even in the United States — a stronghold of Jewish life — the younger generation is turning away from Israel.

Many in the United States now see Israel as a strategic burden. They are questioning America’s unceasing support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its aggressive wars.

Their argument is that hundreds of millions of American taxpayers’ dollars and crucial military resources are being used for a genocide, which will only generate hatred toward the United States worldwide, whereas those tax dollars and military resources could be put to much better use. In the global battle of narratives about the Gaza war, Israel is losing.

The tactic of blaming the victim
Surprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not at all perturbed by the public opinion forming against Israel worldwide. His only goal is to remain in power in Israel for as long as possible and to evade corruption cases. However, hardline Jewish supporters who worry about Israel are losing sleep over Israel’s defeat in the global narrative struggle.

To change the situation they have revived an old but effective tactic — placing the entire blame on the victim. This tactic was used after the failure of the Camp David talks in 2000, when all the blame for the breakdown of negotiations between Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak was placed on Yasser Arafat.

The old U.S.-Israeli tactic (used many times after Camp David 2000 and the Oslo accords) has been applied again. An Israeli proposal is presented as if it were an American proposal. If the Arabs accept it, Israel then changes that proposal to suit its own interests.

But this is not the year 2000; twenty-five years have passed. After thousands (some estimate nearly 200,000) of Palestinians have been victims of genocide, the United States and Israel can no longer maintain their former authority in the battle of narratives. They need some scapegoats. Tragically, they have found those scapegoats in the so-called “Muslim world.”

The great betrayal by the Muslim world
Eight influential Muslim countries (Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, and Egypt) hurriedly approved Trump’s 20-point plan. This step can only be described as a massive betrayal of Palestine.

When Netanyahu, with Trump’s indirect backing, laid out the plan’s main points — effectively declaring that a Palestinian state will never be formed and that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will occupy large parts of the Gaza Strip — it seemed these eight Muslim countries had themselves become victims of the old U.S.-Israeli tactic.

Trump had given the Muslim world a promise that Israel would not annex the West Bank. Netanyahu omitted even that. Although Netanyahu’s dangerous and rapid settlement expansion in the West Bank had already rendered Trump’s promise meaningless.

Aside from Netanyahu’s engineering, Trump’s plan for Gaza is a horrific document. The specific timelines and procedures in it are clearly designed for Israel’s benefit. Meanwhile, what Palestinians would receive is vague and blurred.

Some notable features of Trump’s peace plan, which the eight countries approved, are given here:

1. All Israeli hostages must be released before one Palestinian detainee is freed (Netanyahu is given the opportunity to withdraw from the deal as soon as he secures the hostages).
2. Gaza will be governed by an international authority called the “Board of Peace,” headed by Donald Trump. The British media has described the person chosen as an instrument of genocidal fraud — Tony Blair — who will act as “viceroy.”
3. The 2020 Trump peace plan must be accepted. That plan further shrank the territory under Palestinian control. It effectively nullified the idea of a sovereign Palestinian state by going against the United Nations’ demand for Israel’s full withdrawal from territories occupied in the 1967 war.
4. Hamas must be completely disarmed. This will supposedly be done by an International Stabilization Force (ISF) composed mainly of forces from these Muslim countries. Yet Israel will retain control over large parts of Gaza and will have veto power over any withdrawal until it is satisfied with the ISF’s progress. The demand ignores the internationally protected right to armed resistance against an occupying force.
5. The agreement repeatedly emphasizes that “the new Gaza must not pose any threat to its neighbors.” This shifts the blame onto the victims of genocide and war whose land has been occupied.
6. There is no timetable for Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Instead, it states that Israel will retain an undefined security perimeter inside Gaza indefinitely.
7. Any progress toward establishing a Palestinian state is made subject to an unclear condition of “reform” of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The final decision on whether the PA has sufficiently “reformed” lies with Israel.

With the silent consent of Muslim leaders, Trump also declared that Hamas must accept this plan within three or four days. Otherwise he will fully support Netanyahu to resume genocide with renewed vigor.

Therefore, Trump’s plan is not a peace agreement; it is an ultimatum. This deal attempts to force Hamas to surrender by using the lives and dignity of 2 million Palestinians facing death and starvation as leverage.

By supporting this plan, the eight Muslim countries have committed a greater betrayal than the Abraham Accords (since the Abraham Accords occurred before the worst genocide of the 21st century). By backing this plan, these eight countries have made the maximum effort to portray Palestinians as aggressors and terrorists, while trying to exonerate Israel and its genocidal actions. They have struck a heavy blow to the global narrative struggle that had been unfavorable to Israel.

This reminds me of a quote by the famous Pakistani thinker Iqbal Ahmed: “We live in a degenerate time. It is the dark age of Muslim history — an era of surrender and compromise, where madness keeps raising its head.”

Reasons for betrayal and consequences
One might ask why these eight Muslim countries would participate in such a despicable betrayal. It appears each country has its own motives, such as:

1. The need for Trump’s support to stay in power for unpopular and illegitimate governments (Egypt and Pakistan).
2. An opportunity to divide a portion of Syria (Turkey).
3. Economic benefits from the ‘special economic zone’ to be created in Gaza under Trump’s plan, and the fear that the U.S. may refuse to protect them from Israeli aggression if war continues (UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar).

The cruel irony is that like Judas, these countries will not enjoy the fruits of their betrayal for long. Becoming puppets of a foreign power increases the unpopularity and illegitimacy of their regimes. Israel has a clear policy toward Syria: it will not allow Syria to stabilize until Syria acquires the will and strength to resist Israeli aggression.

And those who hope for economic gain and security standing on Gaza’s ruins and corpses will soon learn that the project of a “Greater Israel” is as inseparable for Israel as the “Greater Germany” project was for Nazi Germany.

In the words of a character from Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” a Palestinian might tell these confused Muslim states: “Your greatest sin is that you have destroyed yourselves and betrayed without cause!”

Paths ahead for Palestinian resistance
This enormous betrayal has put Palestinian resistance in a very difficult position. Previously they received little significant aid from Muslim countries; now they are completely abandoned. What options does Palestinian resistance have?

If they accept Trump’s plan, only Netanyahu will triumph (a victory he has not yet achieved on the battlefield). But acceptance will not guarantee an end to genocide. The plan gives Israel ample opportunity to renege on its promises once Israeli hostages are recovered.

If they reject the plan outright, Netanyahu and his American allies — with the tacit support of eight important Muslim countries — may resume genocide. They will also try to frame Hamas as the obstacle and gain advantage in the narrative struggle.

Perhaps the best option for Palestinian resistance is to demand clear explanations and strong guarantees regarding the vague aspects of Trump’s plan.

Certainly Trump and Netanyahu will not provide those guarantees. They will attempt to portray Palestinians as the ones who rejected the plan to serve their own dishonest ends.

But their claims will be proven baseless, and even if genocide resumes, Palestine will remain influential in the narrative battle. If genocide restarts, the chances of rescuing Israeli hostages will decrease, diminishing Netanyahu’s hopes of returning politically.

Henry Kissinger’s famous remark is relevant here: “If conventional forces do not win, they lose; and if the guerrilla does not lose, he wins.”

If Palestinian resistance can endure until next year without Netanyahu being ousted by Israeli voters, there is hope that Israel may be submerged in internal political turmoil. In that case a ceasefire agreement might become possible, guaranteeing the survival of Palestinian resistance forces and ensuring Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Source: Middle East Monitor