By Walt Zlotow
Chicago Tribune’s (my local paper) support of Trump’s Gaza peace plan ignores major flaw… no call for a Palestinian state.
Everyone should join the Chicago Tribune’s hope for an end to the 2 year Israeli genocidal ethnic cleansing of 2,300,000 Palestinians in Gaza. In its editorial, ‘Why we support Trump’s proposal for peace in Gaza between Israel and Hamas’, the Trib called Trump’s 20 point plan “substantive”, not “Trump’s prior musings about U.S. control of Gaza or fanciful talk of Trump-branded resorts.”
The Trib’s substantive claim does not include creation of a Palestinian state, an entity recognized by 157 of the UN’s 193 countries (81%), but not the US. Israel’s 2 yearlong destruction of Gaza and gobbling up their West Bank land with hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers, makes Palestinian statehood impossible.
Creation of a Palestinian state should be recognized by the US and made Point 1 of Trump’s 20 point plan. But one must scroll down to point 19 before gleaning even a hint of a Palestinian state far in the future:
19. While Gaza re-development advances and when the PA reform programme is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.
If there was any doubt this precludes a Palestinian state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed after release of the plan that it did not call for a Palestinian state. To show his disdain for the plan, Netanyahu ignored Trump’s demand Friday to immediately cease bombing the now obliterated Gaza by killing over 190 Palestinians over the 3-day weekend.
The US should cease being an outlier by becoming country 158 to recognize the state of Palestine. It should further cut off all military aid to Israel until it enters into serious negotiations with both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (the rulers of Gaza and West Bank respectively) to create a Palestinian state that will live in peace with neighboring Israel. That is precisely what Trump’s proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) should be tasked with.
That, and not the Trump peace plan that likely precludes there ever being a Palestinian state, would truly be substantive.
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL
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I can think of another flaw: it relies upon Israel doing the right thing and keeping to the terms. Given that they’ve broken every ceasefire since this clusterfuck started, trusting them is tantamount to waltzing into a viper pit and breakdancing, while trusting the snakes not to bite.
Nowhere in Trump’s 20 point proposal is there any guarantee for Palestinians to legally resume title and occupation of the properties, whether residential, commercial, agricultural and/or industrial that existed legally prior to 1967.
Trump, at Netanyahu’s insistence, is confirming that Palestinians will never be able to exist independently, let alone co-exist, within lands controlled by Israel.
TRUMP’S PEACE PLAN – YOU’RE JOKING!
Trump’s peace plan is a decoy at best and a complete fallacy, failing to address the truth, the carnage, the genocide or indeed any of the fundamentals for enduring peace. It is a property grab, a vindication of Israel’s war crimes and American protectionism – to bury the lies and carnage they have themselves perpetrated as principle ally, supplier, enabler, supporter and justifier of the war crimes, misery and genocide in Palestine. For Trump to be the chair of this transitional initiative is rampant nepotism and absolute denial of justice, due process and rule of law. The very country that holds a gun to the head of any hope of Palestinian self determination – The USA has never supported it, and openly defies the UN.
Here’s a reminder of what has been swept under the rug by Israel and USA -October 7 | Al Jazeera Investigations https://youtu.be/_0atzea-mPY?si=7y9YoKYNOXTGvnUp
An independent summary – ‘Hamas’s incursion into Israel on October 7 transformed the politics of the Middle East. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has carried out a forensic analysis of the events of that day – examining seven hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones and headcams of dead Hamas fighters, and drawing up a comprehensive list of those killed.
In October 7, the I-Unit reveals widespread human rights abuses by Hamas fighters and others who followed them through the fence from Gaza into Israel.
But the investigation also found that many of the worst stories that came out in the days following the attack were false. This was especially true of atrocities that were used repeatedly by politicians in Israel and the West to justify the ferocity of the bombardment of the Gaza Strip, such as the mass killing of babies and allegations of widespread and systematic rape.
In particular the I-Unit reveals that claims by the Israel Defence Force that it found 8 burned babies at a house in Kibbutz Be’eri were entirely untrue. There were no babies in the house and the 12 civilians inside were killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the house.
This was one of a number of incidents where the police and army appear to have killed Israeli citizens.
October 7 is a deep dive into the events that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the significance of which will reverberate for decades’.
Leading US State officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations were directly responsible for the lies, the propaganda to justify the slaughter and genocide that followed, and now the very same US national institution (of government – not even representative of the people of USA, let alone an impartial world beyond) wants to be benefactor, powerbroker – executive, judge and jury!
What we should be considering – The Guardian, 8 October 2025: Young lives cut short on an unimaginable scale: the 18,457 children on Gaza’s list of war dead https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2025/oct/08/young-lives-cut-short-on-an-unimaginable-scale-the-18457-children-on-gazas-list-of-war-dead
Not even the ABC (Australia) our public broadcaster could get even close to balancing the airwaves and reporting over the past 2 days – instead towing our own governments’ flaccid Israeli lies and propaganda still, couching Israel’s shameful and pitiful loss against the genocide and war crimes they have perpetrated, justified and sold to the world under threat of revenge, state sponsored terrorism and intimidation.
And once again NSW police and government try to silence the voice of Australians with attempts to ban yet another march to raise the agony of Palestine.
‘There is no greater sorrow on earth than the loss of one’s native land
(Euripides 480-406 BC – ‘Medea’)’ – Perhaps there is, the slaughter of the people themselves.
And the world, our governments (sycophants) support this peace plan? Clearly the people don’t.
An article by Stuart Rees in todays Pearls and Irritations on the history of this conflict,gives a much more accurate overview of the horrors perpetrated on Palestinians for more than a century.
Nothing Netanyahu or Trump says is worth two knobs of goat shit.
The Zionists will resume normal transmission(genocide) the minute they invent the next pretext.
The would- be Nobel Peace Prize recipient should not crank up a welter of self congratulation,as he has been played for the idiot that he is.
The Donald does not deserve the prize this year. Trump being Trump won’t like the thought of maybe having to wait until 2026. Let’s see how long his vaunted ceasefire (and that’s all I consider it to be) lasts before nominating him. If, and that’s a big if, it holds for, at the very least, three months then that’s a plus. I’m going to be surprised if it lasts a couple of months before one side or the other triggers it all off again.