President Trump succeeds in disrupting conventional wisdom
From his Oval Office in Washington DC, President Trump is orchestrating events in the Middle East. He is disrupting conventional frameworks of thinking about the “Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
Last week he announced the unexpected idea that the US would take ownership of Gaza, relocate its people and develop Gaza into a riviera on the Mediterranean Sea. He also called on Egypt and Jordan to take in Gazan Palestinians.
Ceasefire deal on shaky ground
Later, after Hamas released three Israeli hostages last Saturday that were clearly and shockingly abused and mistreated, an emotional Trump demanded that all hostages must be released. In doing so he seemed to contradict the ceasefire/hostages deal that his own emissary Steve Witkoff had negotiated, in close consultation with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, involving gradual release of all remaining hostages during the 3 months in which the first two phases of the deal would be implemented.
And then the bombshell came this week when Hamas announced on Monday that it would not be releasing the next group of hostages, scheduled for coming Saturday, alleging that Israel is violating the ceasefire.
“ALL hostages must be released or else all hell will break loose”
Trump responded by saying that ALL hostages must be released by 12 noon on Saturday 15th February, or else “all hell will break loose”.
This led to a decision of the Israeli cabinet to mobilize the IDF to be ready to invade Gaza again at short notice. A scurry of press releases by Netanyahu’s office followed. Did Trump really mean “all” hostages? Does that mean all 73 of the remaining hostages? Or only all those who were scheduled for release on Saturday? Nobody knows. Bibi’s office was deliberately ambiguous.
But Trump’s demands have seemingly resulted in Hamas changing its mind. Jerusalem Post reported this morning that “Hamas has reached an agreement with the Egyptian ceasefire mediators to resume the hostage release deal in its original form in exchange for caravans and fuel, Egyptian sources told UK-based Qatari news organization Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Wednesday. According to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the supplies are scheduled to enter Gaza on Thursday, and after, Hamas will announce the names of three hostages to be released on Saturday.”
Egypt is preparing a plan for dealing with the Palestinians
In a related development, Egypt has announced it is preparing a plan for dealing with the Palestinians. Egypt has said it is working on a “comprehensive vision” for the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip that guarantees Palestinians the right to stay on their land, unlike the proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump. The Egyptian foreign ministry said it hoped to “co-operate with the Trump administration to reach a just settlement of the Palestinian cause.”
This announcement came at the same time as Trump was meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah in the White House this week. Trump applied the screws on a visibly shaken Abdullah, repeating his demand that Jordan assist in taking in Palestinian refugees from Gaza. Abdullah responded that Jordan would take in 2000 sick Palestinians. Trump said that is a “very nice gesture”.
Whatever one may think of Donald Trump’s audacious and controversial plan to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian population, he has certainly succeeded in changing the conversation and forcing Arab leaders to become more actively involved in finding a solution to the tragic destruction of Gaza that Hamas has caused.
“Hamas WILL be destroyed”
That in itself is a huge achievement. Notwithstanding the peace agreements between Israel and Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994), these Arab states have refused to contribute to resolving the problem of the Palestinian refugees – a problem they created by invading Israel on 15th May 1948 and launching the “War of Independence”. Since then the intractable position of the Arab League (which includes both Jordan and Egypt) has been to insist on two things: that all the Palestinian “refugees” who left their homes in 1948 have a right to return to what is now the State of Israel, and the creation of a Palestinian state comprising East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria (“the West Bank”) and Gaza. Israel, for its part, has refused to accept either demand, because both would result in annihilation of the Jewish State of Israel. The result has been hollow pursuit of the “two state solution” that everyone in the Arab and West knows is unachievable, unrealistic and even undesirable, but no-one dares to challenge.
“Trump destroying the paradigm”
Trump has now clearly destroyed that paradigm – at least as far as Gaza is concerned. The Palestinians in Gaza will NOT be returning to Israel, Hamas WILL be destroyed, and there will NOT be a corrupt and hostile Palestinian state in Gaza.
That is a major achievement, and could present the breakthrough that is needed to come up with a solution that involves liberating the people of Gaza from the prison of Hamas, giving them dignity, and ensuring the sovereignty and safety of the people of Israel.
Let us hope and pray that, as things play out over the coming days and months, all hostages will be released, Hamas will be defeated, and all innocent lives will be spared.
Trump plan puts an end to the Palestinian state fantasy
Jonathan Tobin at JNS: “Moving Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip may not happen, but at least, there will be a four-year respite from pressure to achieve the unachievable.”
>Read more..
Egypt to present ‘vision’ to rebuild Gaza without displacement
Egypt has said it is working on a “comprehensive vision” for the reconstruction of the war-torn Gaza Strip that guarantees Palestinians the right to stay on their land, unlike the proposal put forward by US President Donald Trump.
> Read more..
Trump’s ultimatum is directed at Hamas, but it’s also a direct rebuke of Netanyahu
Shalom Yerushalmi at Times of Israel: “US president openly rejects the phased framework for the hostages’ release — an approach initiated by the PM, who sought to avoid confrontation with the far right.”
> Read more..
‘Qatar is Hamas, and Hamas is Qatar’
Khaled Abu Toameh at Gatestone: “The Trump administration needs to understand what Arabs have known for years: that Qatar’s support for Hamas and other extremist Islamist groups is the main reason thousands of Israelis and Palestinians have died over the past few years.”
> Read more..
SCRIPTURE FOR THE WEEK: Isaiah 19:16-25
16 “In that day the Egyptians will become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them. 18 In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun. 19 In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. 20 It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 21 So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them. 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. 24 In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
