It has now been a week since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “historic” agreement that would see Hamas disarm as part of “phase 2” of the Gaza peace plan he unveiled 10 months ago.
But the actions and rhetoric of both the Israeli government and the Palestinian militant group over the past few days suggest that any immediate hopes of a solution should be tamped down. As Mkhaimar Abusada, an expert on Palestinian politics, explains, there is fundamental problem: Hamas says no disarmament without Israeli withdrawal; Israel insists no withdrawal until disarmament.
It’s a “Catch-22” that taps into the entrenched distrust that each side feels towards the other. The continued bombing of the enclave by Israel throughout “phase 1” of the plan and the shifting of the “yellow line” behind which Israeli forces were due to retreat only adds to the impression that strong-arming both sides into “phase 2” could be futile.
Abusada, who fled Gaza to teach at Northwestern University under the U.S. school’s At-Risk Scholars program, writes: “Behind all the negotiations and disagreements over sequencing are the Palestinians in Gaza themselves. Some are hopeful that the implementation of the plan would alleviate their daily miserable existence and improve conditions. But equally, many have lost hope in the Trump plan, as Israeli bombs continue to turn their homes into rubble.”
Elsewhere this week, we have been exploring the return of the “red scare” in U.S. politics and explaining why K-pop supergroup BTS are boycotting the Grammy awards.
