Trump’s Bold Gaza Peace Plan Is an Offer Hamas Can’t Veto Trump’s 20-point Gaza Peace Plan, backed by Arab states and Israel, could rebuild Gaza and sideline Hamas—even if Hamas rejects it. By Fred Fleitz
https://amgreatness.com/2025/10/03/trumps-bold-gaza-peace-plan-is-an-offer-hamas-cant-veto/
Although it appeared, as this article went to print, that Hamas would not accept President Trump’s historic 20-point Gaza Peace Plan without substantial changes, the beauty of this plan is that it may bring peace to the Middle East and initiate a process to rebuild Gaza, regardless of what Hamas decides. This is because, due to President Trump’s leadership, Arab states, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel support this plan; the war will soon end, and a process to rebuild and secure Gaza will proceed, even if Hamas rejects the plan.
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar support the 20-point plan. Even the Palestinian Authority (PA), which rejected previous peace plans as insufficient, has accepted this plan. European states have voiced their support. Although the Israeli government is uncomfortable with some provisions of the plan, it has accepted it.
Some of the provisions of the 20-point plan are similar to previous plans that failed due to Hamas’s opposition. The plan calls for a cease-fire, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and the release of almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Hamas will be disarmed and its weapons will be destroyed. Hamas will be barred from playing any role in the future governance of Gaza. Hamas members who pledge to live peacefully and support coexistence with Israel will be offered amnesty. Those who refuse will be provided safe passage out of Gaza.
The plan includes some new ideas involving Israeli concessions that address previous stumbling blocks. Israel will not annex the Gaza Strip, and Israeli troops will gradually withdraw and be limited to a perimeter presence.
A temporary international stabilization force will be deployed in Gaza to oversee security, demilitarization, and reconstruction in Gaza following a ceasefire and the disarmament of Hamas. This force will reportedly be staffed mainly by troops from Gulf Arab states. A Palestinian Authority police force will eventually be deployed after the PA is reformed and deradicalized.
A Board of Peace will be established as a temporary international oversight body to manage Gaza’s transitional governance and redevelopment. President Trump will chair this board. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will be a prominent member. Arab and European members will join them. The board will eventually be dissolved and replaced by the PA after it undergoes substantial reforms and deradicalization.
Finally, the plan keeps the door open to a future Palestinian state, albeit as a distant Palestinian aspiration. According to the plan, “when Gaza’s redevelopment has been advanced and the PA reform program has been implemented, the conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian statehood, which is recognized as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
The idea of any role for the Palestinian Authority in administering or securing Gaza and proposals for a Palestinian state have been anathemas for Israeli officials in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre against Israel. However, Israel’s grudging acceptance of vague provisions on these ideas was crucial to winning the support of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE. Coupled with Netanyahu’s apology to Qatar for violating Qatari sovereignty in Israel’s recent airstrike, Hamas now has no Arab support in opposing the Trump plan. This may set the stage not just to rebuild Gaza but also to expand the Abraham Accords.
President Trump, on September 30, gave Hamas three or four days to accept the 20-point plan or the U.S. would support the Israeli military’s campaign to finish off Hamas. Although Hamas had not given an official response as of October 2, Hamas officials told reporters that the terrorist group thought the plan was too anti-Hamas and pro-Israel and would demand significant changes. Hamas’s rejections reportedly will include a full and immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, keeping “defensive” weapons, not immediately releasing all hostages, rejection of the temporary international stabilization force, rejection of the board of peace, and rejection of the post-war Gaza leadership plan.
Hamas has killed previous peace plans with similar objections. However, this plan differs not only because of its broad Arab support but also due to provisions that allow for its implementation despite Hamas’s objections.
Under the 20-point plan, the international stabilization force will be deployed even if Hamas rejects the proposal, but this would occur in “terror-free” areas that have been cleared and handed over from Israeli Defense Forces control to the stabilization force.
The plan also states that scaled-up aid operations—including infrastructure rehabilitation—will be implemented in the secured zones, along with economic development initiatives to create a “New Gaza” through international investment, job creation, and the establishment of a special economic zone.
This means that Trump’s 20-point peace plan could be the last peace plan for Gaza. If Hamas insists on unreasonable changes and refuses to end the war, the world will move on without it to build a “New Gaza.”
The 20-point peace plan is a masterpiece. Even David Ignatius, a noted liberal foreign policy columnist for the Washington Post, acknowledged this when he wrote, “Trump laid a strong foundation for [peace] with his plan Monday to end the nightmare war in Gaza and begin the transition to a stable day after.”
It is essential to understand how this peace plan masterpiece came about. It is the result of a president who reestablished U.S. global leadership, stubbornly pressed for peace in the Middle East, and is trusted by Arab states and Israel. While European states recently were appeasing Hamas by offering to recognize a Palestinian state without any concessions from the terrorist group, Trump’s diplomatic team, in collaboration with its Arab allies, was devising a plan for long-term Middle East peace and the rebuilding of Gaza that ensures Israel’s security and sets a course for a deradicalized Palestinian leadership that excludes Hamas.
Although there are many ways this plan could fail, it could blaze a path for a similar bold plan to end the war in Ukraine. And it more than qualifies President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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