(It's been reported that 8 Muslim and Arab nations signed onto the Trump 20-point peace plan last week at a meeting that took place at the UN. There are reports and images of Trump sitting next to Erdogan of Turkey. Turns out, Trump and his sycophantic Zionist supporters (Kushner, Witkoff and maybe General Michael "Erik" Kurilla?) then took that agreement to Netanyahu who made changes to the plan and after that happened, the Trump team told everyone those 8 countries agreed to the plan. But that wasn't the case. They hadn't seen Bibi's version which is now on Hamas' table. This is just more scummy and dishonest statecraft from Glorious TrumpyBear and the Genocidal Netanyahu.)
from DAWN
US news outlet Axios says deal now before Hamas is significantly different than one US and Muslim countries had previously agreed on.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday unveiled a 20-point plan for Gaza. Subsequently, eight Arab or Muslim-majority nations — Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt — “welcomed the role of the American president and his sincere efforts aimed at ending the war in Gaza”.
In Pakistan, the government’s so-called approval of the plan had drawn flak from politicians, journalists and activists alike, who termed the deal a “two-state surrender’’ with the scales weighing heavily in Israel’s favour.
Subsequently, signs began appearing that not everyone was happy with the draft made public by the White House. On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar seemingly distanced Pakistani decision-makers from the plan. He also made it clear in so many words that the US peace plan for Gaza would not be acceptable if the amendments — jointly proposed by eight Muslim countries — were not included.
This came after Trump had previously claimed that both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir were behind the plan “100 per cent”. However, in yesterday’s presser, Dar said the “document has been issued by the US” and that it was “not our document”.
The question that has arisen after these developments is whether the Muslim countries, whose leaders had met Trump last week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss a possible deal on Gaza, had backed a plan that looked different. Here’s what we know:
‘Deal significantly different’
According to US news outlet Axios, the deal now before Hamas is significantly different than the one the US and a group of Arab and Muslim countries had previously agreed on, due to Netanyahu’s intervention.
“Trump presented the situation as straightforward,” Axios reported. “Israel, the US and its Arab partners were all aligned on a final plan, and Hamas had to agree or face annihilation.”
However, the publication stated that behind the scenes, reality was murkier.
While Trump and Netanyahu were discussing the plan on camera at the White House, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was presenting it to Hamas leaders in Doha, Axios reported, citing a knowledgeable source.
“Officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey were furious over the changes, according to sources with knowledge,” it reported. It further said that the Qataris had tried to convince the Trump administration to not release the plan due to these objections but the White House did so anyway.
It noted that while the eight Muslim and Arab countries had welcomed the deal in an initial statement, the “Qataris told the other countries that after that generally positive statement, they would have further discussions with the US over the details,” the report quoted one source as saying.
‘Netanyahu secured key edits’
Meanwhile, The Times of Israel reported that during the extensive meeting with Trump, Netanyahu had managed to secure “significant 11th-hour changes” to the proposal regarding the scope and nature of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, along with the disarmament of Hamas.
The publication stated: “Point 3 of what was then a 21-point plan obtained by The Times of Israel stated that “Israeli forces will withdraw to the battle lines as of when the [US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s] proposal was presented to prepare for hostage release.”
The Times of Israel noted that the previous version did not specify which Witkoff proposal and the plan published on Monday stated that “Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed-upon line“ without any further elaborations. It stated, however, that it appeared to refer to a “new map” that was “included in the updated version that illustrated three phases of Israeli withdrawals from Gaza”.
The report further said that the map shows that “Israeli troops will be able to remain in the majority of the Gaza Strip even after the first pullback of Israel Defence Forces (IDF) troops in preparation for all of the hostages to be released”.
“They will then be able to remain in those positions until the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) of Arab and Muslim countries is prepared to deploy and fully operate to disarm Hamas, the plan states. Even after the second phase of the withdrawal, the IDF will remain in over a third of the Strip, the map indicates,” the report said.
“The third withdrawal will clear the final troops out of Gaza, but the map shows that a security buffer zone will be established along the perimeter of the entire Strip, another Israeli demand aimed at mitigating the threat of another October 7-like invasion,” it said.
Further, the report said that point 16 of the original US plan simply stated that the IDF “will progressively hand over the Gaza territory that [it] occup[ies].”
It added that the updated version added two lines that “further qualify the nature of the withdrawal in Israel’s favour”, stating that IDF “will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarisation that will be agreed upon between the IDF, ISF, the guarantors, and the US“.
“Practically, the IDF 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,” the plan announced on Monday states.
Concessions on disarmament
The Times of Israel further stated that Netanyahu managed to secure concessions regarding disarmament during a meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and top adviser Jared Kushner at his hotel in New York on Thursday and Sunday.
“Whereas last week’s version granted amnesty to ‘Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence’, the plan published Monday adds that those members also have to ‘decommission their weapons’,” the publication said.
It further noted that point 13 of the plan originally stated: “There will be full commitment to destroy and stop building any offensive military infrastructure.”
However, the updated version goes into much greater detail on the issue, stating that “all military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt,“ it reported.
“There will be a process of demilitarisation 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,” the plan released on Monday said.
‘Arab mediator less bullish than Netanyahu’
The Times of Israel quoted a diplomat from one of the mediating countries as saying that while Arab and Muslim leaders met Trump last week, Netanyahu managed to secure “the last word”, convincing Washington to make additional changes to the plan at a point in the process when it was much harder for them to intervene.
“Speaking to Trump last also allowed Netanyahu to secure something of a concession from the US president,” the report said. It quoted the diplomat as saying that it would be difficult for Egypt and Qatar to convince Hamas to accept the US proposal as is and it would likely take them several days to respond.
Qatar says ‘clarification’ needed
Meanwhile, Qatar, a key mediator, has also said that further talks were needed over details of Trump’s peace plan. The Associated Press quoted three Arab officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, as saying that changes had been made in the original proposal that Arab and Muslim countries had worked out with Trump — changes in favour of Israel.
The Arab officials who spoke to the AP expressed frustration with the White House’s 20 points. “This is not what we agreed on,” said one. “This is the Netanyahu plan,“ the publication reported the official as saying.
Separately, the Qatari prime minister has also told Al Jazeera that there were certain things within the plan that needed “clarification” and “discussion and negotiation”.
“The main focus is how we protect the people in Gaza. In the end, we are a mediator. When we started the plan last week [..] we delivered it to Hamas, the negotiating delegation and the discussions with them were in generality.
“We hope that everyone will look at the matter constructively and we tried to make use of the momentum now to end the war in Gaza. I believe that should be the primary priority,” he said.
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