In the sweltering corridors of power at the White House, where deals are struck and destinies rewritten over Diet Cokes and classified briefings, President Trump has once again thrust himself into the heart of the Middle East maelstrom. On September 29, 2025, flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump unveiled a sweeping 20-point plan aimed at halting Israel’s relentless war on Gaza – a conflict that has claimed over 66,000 Palestinian lives and left the enclave in rubble since October 2023.
With characteristic bombast, Trump declared the proposal “tremendous,” a “game-changer” that could usher in “greatness in the Middle East,” while Netanyahu nodded in apparent agreement, vowing Israel’s full backing if Hamas balks.
At its core, the plan dangles an immediate ceasefire: a freeze on all military operations, including Israeli airstrikes and artillery, in exchange for the swift release of all 20 remaining living hostages and the remains of over two dozen deceased captives held by Hamas – within 72 hours of acceptance. Israel would reciprocate by freeing 250 Palestinians serving life sentences and 1,700 detainees swept up since the war’s outbreak, paving the way for a phased Israeli withdrawal to pre-agreed lines. Gaza’s future governance? A technocratic Palestinian administration, sidelining both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority until reforms are complete, with Trump himself chairing an international “board of peace” to oversee reconstruction and economic revival – potentially unlocking billions in aid from Arab states and global partners.
Here is the full text of the peace proposal:
- Gaza will be a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours.
- Gaza will be redeveloped for the benefit of the people of Gaza, who have suffered more than enough.
- If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.
- Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.
- Once all hostages are released, Israel will release 250 life sentence prisoners plus 1,700 Gazans who were detained after October 7th 2023, including all women and children detained in that context. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 deceased Gazans.
- Once all hostages are returned, 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.
- Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.
- Entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the United Nations and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the January 19, 2025, agreement.
- Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, responsible for delivering the day-to-day running of public services and municipalities for the people in Gaza. This committee will be 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, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former Prime Minister Tony Blair. This body will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program, as outlined in various proposals, including President Trump’s peace plan in 2020 and the Saudi-French proposal, and can securely and effectively take back control of Gaza. This body will call on best international standards to create modern and efficient governance that serves the people of Gaza and is conducive to attracting investment.
- A Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East. Many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas have been crafted by well-meaning international groups, and will be considered to synthesize the security and governance frameworks to attract and facilitate these investments that will create jobs, opportunity, and hope for future Gaza.
- A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.
- No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza.
- 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. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning, and supported by an internationally funded buy back and reintegration program all verified by the independent monitors. New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbors.
- A guarantee will be provided by regional partners to ensure that Hamas, and the factions, comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat to its neighbors or its people.
- The United States will work with Arab and international partners to develop 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. The ISF will work with Israel and Egypt to help secure border areas, along with newly trained Palestinian police forces. It is critical to prevent munitions from entering Gaza and to facilitate the rapid and secure flow of goods to rebuild and revitalize Gaza. A deconfliction mechanism will be agreed upon by the parties.
- Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. As the ISF establishes control and stability, the [Israeli military] will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization that will be agreed upon between the [Israeli military], ISF, the guarantors, and the Unites States, with the objective of a secure Gaza that no longer poses a threat to Israel, Egypt, or its citizens. Practically, the [Israeli military] will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the ISF according to an agreement they will make with the transitional authority until they are withdrawn completely from Gaza, save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.
- In the event Hamas delays or rejects this proposal, the above, including the scaled-up aid operation, will proceed in the terror-free areas handed over from the [Israeli military] to the ISF.
- An interfaith dialogue process will be established based on the values of tolerance and peaceful co-existence to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasizing the benefits that can be derived from peace.
- While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform program is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.
- The United States will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.
Yet, as the ink dries on this audacious blueprint – floated last week to leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and beyond at the UN General Assembly – the devil lurks in the details, and Hamas has yet to even receive a written copy. The plan nods to Palestinian aspirations for statehood, a pathway Netanyahu has long scorned, while offering amnesty to Hamas fighters who swear off violence and exile for the rest – echoing Trump’s first-term Abraham Accords but with a sharper edge of coercion.
Trump’s optimism is infectious: “Everyone else has accepted it,” he boasted, hinting at full U.S. support for Israel to “do what you have to do” if talks falter. But with Gaza City under fresh bombardment and over 700,000 displaced in recent escalations, the question hangs heavy: Is this a genuine olive branch, or another high-stakes poker game where the Palestinians hold the weakest hand? As the world watches, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
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Thanks for that, Roswell.
As you say, the devil is in the detail and Hamas have yet to comment but as the Hamas negotiating team in Doha were bombed by Israel two weeks ago they may be keeping their heads down.
At least Netanyahu has been pushed into making a sort of apology to Qatar for the military intrusion into their capital.
Trump has made himself the Chair but the inclusion of Tony Blair and other leaders yet to be named could assist in objectivity and impartiality.
Hamas have been given the opportunity to leave Gaza unmolested and go into exile in another country – seems sensible.
Doesn’t seem to place a ban on settlement expansion in the West Bank ??
Mentions a ‘credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood’ as this is the clear objective it probably needs greater emphasis.
I’m an optimist, this could lead to a cessation of military action and the flow of aid within forty-eight hours !!!
Another Trump brain fart at enriching himself and that other war criminal Netanyahu.
Thanks, Terry. And thanks for the idea.
I’m rather cynical about this deal. Bits of might look good on paper and it might seem to have good intentions, BUT, what are Trump’s real intentions?
I’m sceptical of anything he involves himself in.
Chances of failure…100%. Blame for failure, everybody elses but The Donalds. Same old ad nauseam bullshit.
If Trump’s involved it’s because he sees great opportunities for making money.
Gazan Riviera, here we come!
and the West Bank settlements?…. silence.
Maniacs like Trump and Netanyahu always have an ulterior motive…
I wouldnt trust the USA and Israevil as far as I could throw them.
All above board with Don Don of the Trumpafia in charge. Nothing criminal in this at all. Honest, really and truly, he’d do it all for the good of the people.
https://thehill.com/homenews/5527399-trump-plan-gaza-israel/
The numbers in this article do not add up. It is well over 300,000 Palestinians who have been slaughtered incuding/as well as far more babies and children under 5 who have been bombed, burned and buried under rubble!
There are well over 7,000 children “arrested” and incarcerated in IDF gaols being tortured raped and broken.
Anyone who believes Trump, Netanyahu or these figures quoted have not been paying attention.
Both Trump and Netanyahu should be headed to The Hague for crimes against humanity.
#StopGenocide
Blair, Howard, Bush jnr, Trump and Netanyahu are war criminals and should be in the dock in the Hague facing charges of crimes against humanity.This bit of theatre would have two war criminals who in the past have acted in Israel’s interests in charge of Gaza – nothing would suit Israel more.
Let’s not forget Trump worked with Israel to set up food aid distributions as humiliating, denegrating killing zones.Let’s not forget Trump approved Israel’s attempted assassination of the Palestinian negotiating team in Doha. Let’s not forget Netanyahu’s history of relentless blocking of negotiations,of shifting the goalposts if Hamas agrees to deal, and of the US lies framing Hamas as the problem here.
This is what electronic intifada had to say about Blair, not today but in 2007:
‘A true friend of the State of Israel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of his outgoing British counterpart Tony Blair. He was appointed this week as special envoy for the Middle East Quartet with a portfolio focused on Palestinian economic and political reform. “Tony Blair is a very well-appreciated figure in Israel,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. According to an Israeli government statement, Israel “will provide [him] with all necessary assistance in order for him to carry out his duties.”
It should not come as a surprise that Israeli government officials welcome Blair to his new job. Although he has long claimed to be interested in supporting justice for the Palestinians, Blair has an unremitting record of bias towards Israel. After George W. Bush, Blair is probably the most disliked and distrusted individual, among Palestinians as well as in the Arab world in general. This stems not only from his role in the Iraq war, but because he has swallowed the neoconservative agenda whole, becoming one of the leading proponents of a “clash of civilizations” between a supposedly enlightened West and a backward Islamic world.
All the language of Blair’s appointment describes the conflict not as one generated by Israeli occupation and colonialism — something a more courageous former leader Jimmy Carter has characterized as “apartheid” — but one of Palestinian failure, and a need for “institutional reform.” This suits Israel perfectly because Blair, with his fake pro-Palestinian tones, is actually helping Israel to blame the victim by changing the subject from the brutal Israeli military rule that makes normal Palestinian life imposssible.’
Blair achieved nothing as an envoy to the Middle-east, Israel simply rejected his proposal, end of story.
Let’s be realistic here and not forget that Israel has broken almost, if not every, ceasefire agreement it has ever signed. The chances of this being any different are Buckley’s to none.
This is clearly an Israeli-US genocide, the rest of the world should be taking actions to stop the genocide not wasting time on just another scheme to dispossess and displace Palestinians from Palestine In fact, Jothathan Cook offers a fairly convincing argument that this is an Israeli-West genocide.)
Just a simple question: What happens to Gazan land tenure? Now that all has been reduced to rubble and landmarks have been removed (conveniently?) who will decide how pre-genocide Gazan owned land titles and boundaries will be decided? Will Gazans be permitted to re-occupy their orchards, vegetable gardens and grazing lands?
What about fishing rights off-shore from Gaza? If land tenure is not reinstated then there will be no justice for Gazans in any plan or project to rebuild what the Israelis have wantonly destroyed. As a footnote I suggest Israel must construct a cemetery to allow surviving Gazans to respectfully inter their murdered relatives.
See how “Peace” is used as a euphemism for “Surrender or Die” – the Treaty of Versailles meets the Wizard of Oz. Utter, utter drivel intended for a trump Nobel Peace Prize.
This reads more like a script from The Producers (Springtime for Hitler and Germany; Deutschland is happy and gay; We’re marching to a faster pace; Look out, here comes the master race). Or Monty Python of Course.
Trump and Netanyahu? Beelzebub and Satan are back for a new season.
All about follow the money, lots to be made. Only one winner in this. Its not Gaza.
A lot of pessimism here, probably due to the character of the two [only two] negotiators both of whom are far from trustworthy, but it is what it is.
I agree that it would have been preferable for Trump to step down but then, you are dealing with a narcissist, and he wants all the credit and a Nobel Peace Prize, it is what it is!
A lot depends on the quality of the members of the Board of Peace which it seems will be led by Blair: no matter what you think of Blair this is his legacy to lose so he will try to assemble a worthy Board of statesman to ensure that meaningful peace is achieved. Similarly, the quality of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) will be critical as it will be responsible for day-to-day human services and peacekeeping and then rebuilding begins!!!
All we are saying ………is give peace a chance!
Same old, same old.
We have the imposition of rules from an imperialist/colonial mind set.
Do these things or else.
Go back about a hundred and eight years in the history of the Israel/Palestine settlement, we have the British, before the guns of WWI had been silenced, ceding Palestine to the Zionists in the Balfour Agreement. No Palestinians were involved in that agreement. The Mandated Palestine region was effectively given to the Zionist movement.
A few other things happened along the way, but discussions did not include Palestinians.
The end of WWII and the horrors of the holocaust are shown for all the world to see, and the newly formed UN agrees that Palestine should be carved up, partitioned into areas for refugees from the holocaust to settle alongside the indigenous Palestinians. This was presented as a fait accompli, nothing to talk about you uneducated brown Palestinians, Gods chosen are to come in. No discussion as the British leave as the Zionists start their ethnic cleansing campaign, the Nakbah displacing 700,000 or so Palestinians, wiping out village after village, eradicating any evidence that the lands had been occupied for centuries. That’s before the UN even had a chance to discuss their recognition of the d\state of Israel. And when that happened in 1948, no one thought is wise to actually engage with the Palestinians, what they thought about that idea.
And so we move through the time line, the six day war of 1967, again in 1972, and time and again the aggressive acquisition of more and more land, more and more Palestinians displaced. And daring to stand up to that aggression deemed the Palestinians to be terrorists.
And here we go again, get down on your knees Palestinians, the Imperial overlords are commanding your compliance…. with the threat that if you don’t, take a look at the rubble that used to be Gaza, take a look at where villages used to be on the West bank…. take a look at the prisons built just for recalcitrant Palestinians who may dare to throw rock at Israeli soldiers or settlers.
Ah but there is the chance to form a responsible government, duly elected, but only from a chosen set of candidates or political parties. That has worked so well in the past…. remember all those years back, as free and fair elections were held after the Oslo accords…. Hamas was elected, but when things started to go a bit hay-wire, when they objected to another effort of Israel rot ‘mow the grass’, resistance to that violence, resistance to the virtual imprisonment in Gaza, branded them as terrorists… so they are not permitted to take part in any new for of government.
Go back, take a look at the original Hamas, the social agenda they had, schools, health care, a sense of autonomy, of Palestinian pride, cut down each time freedoms and dignities were sought. But no, they are terrorists, criminals, not fit to govern, best leave tit to the imperialists, they know well how to treat indigenous people with dignity.
The closing line of Where have all the flowers gone comes to mind….
When will we ever learn.
Bert, apparently never.How anyone with a functioning brain could think a concoction between two of the biggest criminals on earth will work out well defies belief.Never mind the welfare of the Palestinians…or the Americans.Good luck and goodnight.
WE ARE ROOTED.
Bert
I couldn’t agree more,this is imperialist/colonialist mentality.The UN recognizes Gaza and the West Bank as Palestinian land and the Palestinians have the right of self-determination. Israel is occupying those lands illegally and should leave unconditionally. For the West to demand who can and can’t govern Palestine is colonialism.
My understanding of the history of Palestine over the past two centuries matches your’s closely.The Zionists did manage to buy a small proportion of Palestine, but other than that it is not their land. For me the UN did not have the right to simply take land from people who have lived there for centuries and give it to a bunch of interlopers.
All of the Middle Eastern countries in the UN at the time, which only had a little over 40 members I think, voted against partitioning, except for Ethiopia which abstained.
I think Craig Murray sums up Tony Blair having a role in this pretty well: “As for Blair being made effectively Governor of Gaza, this is so sickening as to be beyond belief. The man who killed a million Iraqis on the basis of lies about weapons of mass destruction (WMD), who has made hundreds of millions of pounds through PR services to dictators, whose Tony Blair Institute has drawn up “Gaza Riviera” plans for Trump, and who has been discussing with western oil companies the takeover of Gaza’s gas field, is touted to administer the mass grave which Gaza has become.”
My initial enthusiasm for the peace proposal is starting to wane,
you don’t flatten a city to liberate hostages, or to root out terrorists.
The stepped-up action in Gaza City suggests that Netanyahu does not anticipate a ceasefire but intends to ethnically cleanse Gaza City’s population, seize the territory, and build Jewish settlements, and it’s cheaper for the military to do the demolition without scrutiny than it is to have commercial contractors do it.
Not looking good!
From an historical perspective it’s land contaminated by the bleating stories of near-pre-historic rancorous oligarchs, the bullshit of religious hocus pocus, the extractive aspirations of every great imperium on earth – most particularly the Romans, the blundering treachery and guile of the ‘modern’ imperia of Britain, France and Russia, the often ignorant and vengeful actions of the Ashkenazi and cover-off by the guilt-ridden British and Western Europeans, and last but by no means least the bombings and murders of Netanyahu’s Israel backed and supplied by the USA (and those colonialists cowed by them).
The T-Rump ‘plan’ is more devious & useless than that embodied in the ‘New York Declaration’. It’s all just anti-democratic, window dressing covering off ‘western’ fascist aspirations for commercial / strategic control of the entire Levant.
Point 3 of the Agreement :
“3.If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release. During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal.”
The muddled wording of the Trump agreement is going to need close scrutiny as things develop. The Israeli side are emphasising that there is no withdrawal of troops from Gaza and merely that battle lines will be frozen and that, as far as they are concerned, is as far as withdrawal goes.
So, occupation continues, at least for the time being !
Maybe I’m a cynic, but it’s a coincidence that peace in Gaza is announced on the same day the Nobel Peace Prize is.