Trump releases Gaza peace plan with threat to Hamas

Trump releases Gaza peace plan with threat to Hamas.

Two Marine vets are suspects in deadly mass shootings in two states this weekend.

President Trump has released his 20-point Gaza peace plan which has been the subject of discussions with Israeli and non-Palestinian Arab leaders for several weeks now. When announcing the plan, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side, Trump threatened that he would allow Netanyahu to do as he pleases in Gaza if Hamas refuses the deal.

The main points of the plan include:

A demand that Hamas release all Israeli hostages, alive and dead, within 72 hours of Israel accepting the deal (which Netanyahu reportedly already has). Only after all Israelis are released will Israel release some (not all) of the thousands of Palestinians they have taken prisoner since October 7th, including women and children.
A phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from areas they occupy in Gaza and their replacement with an “International Stabilization Force” (ISF) of soldiers from other countries, including Muslim and Arab countries. There is no firm timeline for the withdrawal of all troops from the Gaza Strip.
Amnesty for members of Hamas willing to disarm and safe passage for any who wish to leave Gaza to third countries.
No long-term Israeli occupation or annexation of Gaza.
No Palestinians will be forced to leave Gaza, but any who wish to leave will be allowed to leave to a third country and allowed to return if they so wish.
Governance of Gaza will be handed over to the Gaza International Transitional Authority.

Unappealing deal for the Palestinians

Hamas says they are currently studying the proposal but there are several reasons to believe they will not view the deal favorably, chief among them being the lack of any guarantee of a permanent end to the war.

Another sticking point for Hamas is that the plan calls for the group to totally disarm. Hamas leadership has said they are fine with having no role in Gaza’s future governance, but the group has repeatedly vowed not to disarm until there is a viable Palestinian state capable of defending itself. Despite the plan’s nod to an eventual Palestinian state, the plan contains no mechanism to bring this about. Israel and Egypt would control Gaza’s borders and the ISF would be in control of seaward access.

The plan for the Gaza International Transitional Authority (GITA) envisions former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Gaza’s head of state. Blair would govern the territory along with a cadre of foreign businessmen and technocrats with no Palestinian representation. GITA’s organizational chart envisions several layers of internationally bureaucracy with a body called the “Palestinian Executive Authority” (PEA) at the very bottom. The PEA would be in charge of Gaza’s day-to-day municipal functions, but the ultimate authority for every decision would lie with GITA’s board.

Supposedly, GITA would eventually hand off governance of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, which already controls parts of the West Bank. There is no timeline for this hand off. From the Palestinian perspective, accepting this deal may be viewed as legitimizing Gaza’s perpetual foreign occupation by other means.

However unpalatable they may find the plan’s particulars, it’s possible Hamas will accept it, knowing it is unlikely that Netanyahu will stick to it. In the meantime, Palestinians in Gaza would get a long overdue reprieve from constant bombing and receive an influx of urgently needed aid.

Netanyahu unlikely to stick to the agreement

Even if Hamas accepts this proposal, Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies observed that Trump’s plan contains nothing to guarantee that Netanyahu will not simply find some pretext to resume the war once the Israeli hostages are released. While Netanyahu has supposedly accepted the plan, far-right members of his governing coalition have repeatedly stated that they will not support ending the war. Any further defections could cause Netanyahu’s government to fall, leaving Netanyahu with no way to avoid trial or prison for the corruption and bribery charges against him.

Israeli journalist Gideon Levy predicts Netanyahu “will tell one thing to Donald Trump and one thing to [far-right coalition partners] Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. But the real question is ‘what will he do?'”. Levy suggests that the ceasefire, if implemented, will very quickly fall apart when Netanyahu finds himself unable to bridge gap between Trump’s plan and his own ministers’ ambitions. Netanyahu broke the January ceasefire brokered by Trump in just six weeks in order to keep his fragile coalition together.

There is already reason to doubt Netanyahu’s sincerity in accepting the plan. The plan ultimately calls for a path to a Palestinian state, something Netanyahu has repeatedly said he will not accept.

Half of Gaza’s City’s population either unable or unwilling to leave despite Israeli onslaught.

Two Marine vets carried out deadly mass shootings in two states this weekend, authorities say

Authorities are searching for answers after two deadly and highly organized attacks were carried out this weekend in two separate states, both allegedly by Marine Corps veterans. There does not appear to be any connection between the two suspects beyond some bizarre coincidences, of which there are a few.

The first attack took place around 9:30pm local time on Saturday night in Southport, NC. A gunman opened fire from a boat on a waterfront bar, killing three people and injuring eight others. The suspect fled the scene on his boat but was later captured by the Coast Guard. The suspect has been identified as Nigel Edge, 40, a decorated Marine combat veteran who served in the Iraq War. Edge, who legally changed his name from Sean Debevoise in 2023, was wounded in Iraq and apparently suffers from PTSD. He has been involved with several legal disputes in recent years, including with his parents and with the local government. Nothing is so far known about his motives for the shooting.

The second attack happened at 10:25 Sunday morning as members of a Church of Latter-day Saints congregation (commonly known as Mormons) were attending service in Grand Blanc Township, MI. A silver pickup bearing two American flags rammed open the door of the church. The driver opened fire, and then set the building ablaze with gasoline. Four congregants were killed (two by gunfire and two from the fire) and eight others were injured. The suspect was then killed in an exchange of fire with police.

The suspect has been identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford, also 40. Like Nigel Edge, Sanford was a Marine veteran who served in Iraq. Police have not given any indication of a motive. However, local politician Kris Johns told the Detroit Free Press that he had encountered Sanford last week while canvassing. Johns noted that Sanford had a Trump 2024 sign in his yard and said that during their 20-minute conversation, Sanford described Mormons as “the antichrist”.

These were just two of six mass shootings in the US this weekend, which left a total of nine people dead.