I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to seven am. At a press conference at the White House, Donald Trump and Benjamin Etna, who unveiled a twenty point proposal they say could end the war in Gaza immediately after nearly two
years of bombardment and growing international pressure. At its core, the proposal states mus must release all hostages, disarm, and have no role in Gaza's future, while Israel would not commit to a full withdrawal, keeping the right to re enter Gaza and establishing a security footprint within the Strip.
The plan also includes creating a so called Board of Peace, chaired by Donald Trump himself to oversee the transition, but it leaves many questions unanswered, including how Gaza would be governed and whether Palestinian statehood is even on the cards today. Senior diplomatic correspondent for Half Post Akbasha hid Ahmed on how this plan outsources Gaza's future and gives leverage to Israel.
It's Wednesday, October one. So this is a big, big day, a beautiful day, potentially one of the great days ever in civilization. So Donald Trump and Benjamin ya who have just announced what they are calling a peace plan for Gaza. Can you just start by telling me what they've said.
Yeah, it's a striking plan. Essentially, Na Nyahu and Trump unveiled a proposal that said Hamas would have to within Sandy two hours, agree to a series of stats to disarm, release hostages, accept the release of falsten In prisoners in exchange, and it would have to give up on a lot of its quartermands for previous agreements.
To end the war, Hamas will be disarmed, Gaza will be demilitarized, Israel will retain security responsibility, including a security perimeter for the foreseeable future. And lastly, Gaza will have a peaceful civilian administration that is rut neither by Hamas nor by the Palestinian authority.
It that tracks suddle the most extreme demands that we've seen earlier in the Trump administration. So, for instance, it doesn't say that Palestinians have to move en mass out of Gaza. It says that they can choose to say there if they want to. But in a lot of ways, it's a plan that's quite tilted Sillian savor as well.
In the US. So, for instance, this new agreement that Trump and a Nia who have put out would say, we're not going to talk about a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza as part of a compromise in the war.
I have a feeling that we're going to have a positive answer. But if not, as you know, maybe you'd have mar fall back in to do what you would have to do.
It's also an agreement that Trump and Nttnil, who are both linked to immense threats, saying by going to go through with further bombardment, which is really hard for Balactinians to kind of understand just from a point of view if that's been intense bombardment.
So what is in the proposal that who would actually take control of Gaza.
So the idea of the control of Gaza in this kind of true speriod is an international stabilization force overseen by a board run by President Trump, but with involvement from Arab states, from Tony Blair, the architect, of course of British involvement in the Iraq War, a disastrous US foreign policy move in two thousand and three that many people in the region still think about frequently. So these kind of figures would be involved.
The leaders of the Arab world and Israel and everybody involved asked me to do this, so it would be headed by a gentleman known as President Donald J.
Trump of the UN.
It really quite resembles the international security force that's been put in place to run the aid operation of Gaza, and that's been hugely controversial and really not quite successful. More than one hundred and seventy non governmental organizations operating in Gaza have called for the immediate end of the US and Israeli backdaid distribution scheme. And I just invite
folks to consider that. You know, President Biden himself and many US officials have said repeatedly that a big part of why October seven itself happened is because of this kind of rush to treat Israel Palestigne as an issue without a Palestinian voice, as an issue that the Arab power, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the US could just deal with.
Right.
So, there is a lot in this proposal that might make it difficult for not just Hamas, but for Palestinians in general to accept, particularly Donald Trump's role in having direct oversight. So how do you think that will land?
Look?
The pedestal people are not unaware of Donald Trump's past record and statements around their rights stas determination.
Right.
This is someone who in his first presidency gave Israel huge amounts of power, access, recognition and never gotten before. So there's not a lot of trust thet right if you have Donald Trump at the at the head. And of course in this presidency he's talked about a riviera in Gaza, the Gaza Strip as a sort of seafront water development, which is a chilling way ruby to really talk about a war zone and probably the most devastated war zone of the twenty first century.
Be cute.
I don't want to be a wise guy, but the riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so bad, This could be so magnificent.
That said, there's a real kind of reliance on Arab states and Arab powers to be the key forces here to united our memirates. And they have the money, don't necessarily have the manpower, I think that's the real question, right, And will they necessarily put their own forces in there? Or when they're talking about Palatinians security forces, who will they hire? Will they be welcomed by the local population.
These are all kind of really really tough questions, especially when You're talking about a population of two point two million people who have felt so beleeded and so abandoned by the world. So the plan talks about Hamas Hammas leaders and fighters disarming and committing to having no future role in the governments of Gaza. It talks about Israel's freedom of action and this idea that Israel will forever be able to go in and out whenever it wants
to have a military operation. But it gives really the tiniest lip service towards any future for the Palestinians in terms of their own self determination. And that's the real sticking point at the Hawks.
Review, coming up the threats underpinning.
The plan, I think we should understand that we're giving everybody a chance to have this done peacefully, something that will achieve all our war objectives without any further bloodshed. But if Hamas rejects your plan, mister President, or if they supposedly accept it and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way.
Will be done Akba Trump and Ntya who have said that if Hamas does not sign on to this plan, then the bombardment will continue. So what kind of pace plan is it under those conditions.
It's interesting because I think talking to people in the Trump administration, there is a real appetite and a desire to see a resolution, right, But it's weirdly constricting with this, with the sense of we can offer pressure on or question Israel in any way.
Right.
So you haven't seen the Trump administration, any officials or President Trump talked about limiting military support to Israel, And so as long as you as military funding and aid and weaponry continue to flow, I don't really see how there's a real possibility of pressure, right, which has been the kind of missing factor. Of course, Hamas has been brutal towards hostages, began the war, through its brutal up
to over sudden attack. But but two years and now and the US is kind of the determining factor Latin. The Trump administration has kind of hoped that rhetoric will make them different than the Biden administration, and they're realizing now ten months in that's not enough.
I just wanted to talk a bit about the promise for aid because that's one of the other things that is mentioned in this plan that should it go ahead, there will be full aid immediately sent to Gaza. But is that really an admission that you know aid is being withheld right now?
Well, I think you've hit a nail on the head Ruby, because every time that AID is kind of put forward as a plus point or a concession in a piece seal, that's essentially saying that aid, which is a requirement for any civilian agia conventions, that's essentially saying it's been used as bargainship. People in Gaza are so desperate and the you know eight groups will tell you us, local medical workers will tell you this, there's a desire to just say whatever it takes, get supplies in.
Right.
But what we've seen, especially from the model that the trumplementistation has implemented, which is really backing since me the glassa humanitarian foundation, we've seen thousands of Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid. We've seen that A provisions have not been the actual nutritious provision, right. It hasn't been high protein, high fiber, that kind of thing that actually
helps people feel nourished. So when you're talking about a at this point, if there's not a guarantee of neutral, internationally distributed age that is fairly shared. I think even that is it's kind of a stretch to put faith in.
And can we talk a little more about self determination in Palestinian statehood, because it was, you know, just a couple of weeks ago that Benjamin Netnyahu said that they would be no Palestinian state and he still continues to say that. He's also laying out plans to expand settlements in the West Bank. And while he was announcing this plan this week, Trump called Palestinian recognition foolish. However, the plan does mention the idea of working towards Palestinian statehoods.
So I suppose, in the context of what's being said and what's being written down, is it at all credible to think that that is actually something that could come out of this plan.
That's kind of trially as to this the quick long term is historically the US has of course said to say solution, we support it, moves towards it have been really tough for the US to take, and we haven't seen kind of Palastinian autotomy be implemented medium term, especially
in the last kind of Tenuyeres net Nahoo. He has made denying Palestinian statehood his ultimate promise two days really right, and so this has become this of defining Mo as an Israeli politician and as we have to remember, the longest serving prime minister in Israeli history. And then just in the short term, they talk about the Palastinian Authority, which is internationally backed, eventually being able to take over
if it takes certain particular reforms. What we've seen is that the Palestinian Authority a has through its own kind of sclerotic and unrepresentative leadership, not reformed, and b even to degrees to which it has changed and reformed, has not kind of met the standards that international partners of want to see. Some Palaestinians see that as as kind
of a sense of it'll never be enough. You know, we can give you everything you ask for, and you really just don't want to give us any autonomy Under this plan, there's a real sense of let's just kick the sound road a little further right. And really part of the plan is is hinging on Ntniahu changing his political moo and moving towards a more moderate, less far right government, which he has not shown indication to do over the last five to ten.
Years, and Israel has given him Ust seventy two hours to agree or not to this plan. So if they don't, what do you think we're likely to see happen?
I mean, I think we're already seeing just an unreal decimation of Gaza city. We're seeing continued US backed Israeli bombardment. It's hard to know, right, I mean, sort of when we just closed un Week one year ago. At un Week, the Israeli government assassinated Hassee Masrilla, leader of the his
Biloa militia and Lebanon, which no one really expected. So otherwise I think we're just see an expansion of these really offensive that's continued, and of course it is really really controversial within Israeli society, beyond being a of course, hugely punishing for Parasitians who's left through two years of war.
I'm both thank you so much for your time.
Hi, it's Ruby.
We have a second episode of seven Am in your feed today. Doctor Rachel Coglan is an Australian palliative care doctor who spent time in hospitals and healthcare facilities in Gaza. Recently, she got a lengthy voice message from a friend and colleague there about why, after caring for people through two years of war, he reluctantly made the decision to finally flee Gaza City. It's called What's Left of Gaza's Hospitals, and it's in your feed now