On Sept. 29, President Donald Trump announced his 20-point plan to end the fighting in Gaza. It would take Israel’s defensive war to decisively defeat Hamas out of Israel’s hands.
It’s a further step in Washington’s efforts to impose a “Pax Americana,” ensuring the U.S. rulers’ domination in the Middle East and stability for their plunder of the oil and other resources and labor power of the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for the plan.
Carrying Israel’s war through to the end is key to preventing Hamas from rebuilding and launching a new Holocaust. From its inception, Hamas has repeatedly pledged to kill or drive all the Jews out of the Middle East. That’s what is meant by the chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be Arab.” That’s what Hamas began when it massacred 1,200 Jews and others on Oct. 7, 2023, with backing from Tehran.
Israel Defense Forces continue to make advances in Gaza City, Hamas’ last stronghold. They’re taking control of more areas there and have evacuated some 800,000 of the city’s population of 1 million in order to minimize civilian casualties.
Trump’s plan calls for an immediate ceasefire and a limited withdrawal of Israeli forces, followed by the release within 72 hours of all 48 hostages, alive or dead, who were seized by Hamas and have been tortured in inhuman conditions for the past two years.
Israel will then release some 1,950 Palestinians, including some of those imprisoned after the Oct. 7 pogrom. Hamas members will either be allowed to leave Gaza or be given an amnesty if they decommission their weapons and commit to renounce further combat.
The plan proposes a temporary transitional government in Gaza made up of “experts” overseen by Washington and excluding Hamas. Under the plan, Hamas’ military infrastructure is to be destroyed, but it doesn’t indicate which forces will carry that out or when.
Washington, in collaboration with Arab governments in the region, will establish an “International Stabilization Force” in Gaza, gradually taking control of areas now held by the IDF. Israeli forces will eventually be left controlling a thin buffer zone, including along the border with Egypt.
Netanyahu: Israel will finish the job
The announcement of the plan settles nothing. That was underscored by Netanyahu when he told Trump, “If Hamas rejects your plan, or if they supposedly accepted and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job.”
Foreign ministers of several Arab governments, as well as Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey, issued a joint statement welcoming Trump’s proposals.
Trump gave Hamas a four-day deadline to respond. As the Militant goes to press, two of those days have passed.
The broad goal of Trump’s plan is to shore up Washington’s domination of the imperialist world order by gaining greater sway in the Middle East, a region where it has tens of thousands of troops and several military bases.
This includes developing a relationship with the rulers in Tehran. This is why Washington intervened in June to prevent Israel’s 12-day war against Tehran from leading to the toppling of the regime there.
To extend the U.S. rulers’ influence, the Gaza plan names Trump as chairman of a “Board of Peace” that would supervise the transitional government. Former British Prime Minister Anthony Blair has also been named to the board.
As part of ensuring Washington’s control in the region, Trump also issued an executive order Sept. 29, saying any attack on Qatari territory is “a threat to the peace and security of the United States.” The order is a response to Israel’s earlier airstrikes attempting to kill Hamas leaders who are based there.
The starting point for Washington is not the defense of Israel as a refuge from Jew-hatred and pogroms. Israel’s fate is of concern to the U.S. rulers only in so far as they have to deal with Israel’s determination to defend itself, which affects the balance of U.S. power in the region.
Israel’s opponents seek to use U.N.
As Israeli forces have moved closer to dismantling Hamas, the Islamist outfit and various imperialist rulers are intensifying their international propaganda campaign slandering Israel for carrying out genocide.
More than 70 delegations to the United Nations General Assembly staged a symbolic walkout during Netanyahu’s address there Sept. 26.
The day before, top Hamas official Ghazi Hamad hailed the condemnation of Israel by a number of U.N. delegates as a “golden moment,” calling it a positive result of Hamas’ Oct. 7 pogrom.
“Much of the world no longer remembers Oct. 7,” Netanyahu said in his speech, “but we remember.” He encouraged those who want to learn the truth to log onto “saturday-october-seven.com,” which shows videos taken by Hamas thugs themselves showing atrocities they carried out that day.
Netanyahu also answered charges that Israel is perpetrating genocide in Gaza. “For three weeks, Israel dropped millions of leaflets, sent millions of text messages and made countless phone calls urging civilians to leave Gaza City before our military moves in,” he said. Hamas “implants itself in mosques, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and tries to force these civilians not to leave.”
If Israel was trying to commit genocide, would it tell Palestinian civilians “to get out?” he asked.
“We’re wiping out the terror regime of Hamas and ensuring that its savagery will never threaten Israel again,” he said.
He condemned governments that call for a “two-state solution.” In today’s world, this could only ensure Hamas’ survival and the perpetuation of its war to destroy Israel.
In an important change, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto told the General Assembly Sept. 23, “We must also recognize, we must also respect, and we must also guarantee the safety and security of Israel. Only then we can have real peace.” He concluded with the Hebrew greeting “Shalom.”
His comments marked a shift by the Indonesian government, which has had no diplomatic ties with Israel for decades. Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world.
From the point of view of the working class, the defeat of Hamas will push back, for now, the threat of more pogroms. This will create better conditions for the toilers in Gaza, Israel and throughout the region to join together in common struggles for their class interests and for their national rights.
Seth Galinsky contributed to this article.
