Tuesday marks the two-year anniversary of the infamous Oct. 7 Hamas sneak attack, murdering, raping, and kidnapping of Israelis and precipitating a war and widescale destruction in the Gaza Strip. With luck, the remaining 48 Israeli hostages, alive or dead, will be released imminently and the Gaza war will end. And so will Hamas as a governing factor in the future of Gaza and the Palestinians.
The impetus for this hopeful and just conclusion is President Trump’s 20-point plan that he unveiled Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. It has been accepted by our European allies, the Arab states, and important Muslim countries like Indonesia and Pakistan. Israel has accepted the plan. And after Trump’s barbed Friday warning of a Sunday deadline, Hamas said “yes, but,” which is really a no, but Trump took it as full agreement and now Israel has stopped its offensive in Gaza City.
The next step is for all the living hostages to be freed and for the remains of the dead ones to be handed over. Hamas has refused this humanitarian move for two years. If Hamas does comply, then the rest of the Trump plan can proceed, including the release from Israeli prisons of hundreds of Palestinians prisoners and other Gazans who have been detained.
Aid will pour in and Gaza will be managed by a “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee made up of qualified Palestinians and international experts, with oversight and supervision by a new international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace,’ which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump” and will include Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. The corrupt West Bank administration of the Palestinian Authority must thoroughly reform in order to assume a leadership position.
There will be a “temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF) to immediately deploy in Gaza. The ISF will train and provide support to vetted Palestinian police forces in Gaza, and will consult with Jordan and Egypt who have extensive experience in this field. This force will be the long-term internal security solution.”
Economic development and rebuilding will follow.
And in all of this, there will be no Hamas, which has cruelly ruled Gaza since they seized total power in 2007. Their dictatorship and incessant war on Israel has destroyed Gaza.
This is the part of the Trump plan that Hamas has not accepted, which says, “Hamas and other factions agree to not have any role in the governance of Gaza, directly, indirectly, or in any form. All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt.”
As for individual Hamas terrorists, the plan stipulates that “Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.” And that would be the end of Hamas.
The terrorists have been defeated. Thousands of them have been killed, along with innocent Palestinian civilians that they hid behind. Those terrorists who are still alive have a choice of the kind of surrender they want: to remain in Gaza, without weapons and without political power, or exile outside of Gaza.
With the whole world united behind the Trump plan, Hamas is done as a terror faction and a political force. Their legacy is one of only death and destruction for both Israelis and Palestinians. A new world of peace will be built without them.
