“The Gaza plan of the Arab leaders will be in the interest of the US and Israel”
Published 3/6/25
Arab countries' alternative to Trump's Gaza plan may be worse for Palestinians
Lamis Andoni / The New Arab
Donald Trump's proposal to expel the Palestinians from Gaza was neither a complete surprise nor the result of one of the president's characteristic mood swings.
From the moment Trump made the bombshell statement about his desire to “take over” Gaza and turn it into a real estate project, his advisers, congressmen and experts from U.S. think tanks have been busy persuading the White House to pull the idea back. However, they used this opportunity to put pressure on Arab states to present an alternative proposal that meets US-Israeli conditions for the reconstruction of Gaza, including moving forward with the ongoing goal of normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
In fact, Trump's step back was not only a response to Jordan and Egypt's rejection of the proposal to displace the Palestinians and settle on their own territory. This is probably because influential circles in Washington believe that this plan will undermine and further delay the normalisation agreement they so much want to sign between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Transfer the cost
It should also be noted that the call to present an alternative plan to the Arab states was first voiced by Dennis Ross, an experienced diplomat from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Zionist think tank. Later, US officials, especially Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio, repeated this call.
The timing of all this was also no coincidence because it coincided with the recent informal "mini" Arab summit in Riyadh. US officials realized that Trump's ideas on Gaza prevented Arab leaders from presenting alternative proposals.
Ultimately, this pressure to offer an alternative would guarantee to blame Israel's responsibility for dealing with the devastating (and costly) consequences of the war of genocide.
The inevitable negotiations to follow the alternative proposal will ensure that Israel's interests and security requirements are met, something Israel failed to achieve by waging war on Gaza. The resolution of this issue will also pave the way for the Saudi-Israel agreement.
It will probably be a transition period under the supervision of the Arabs, and the Palestinian Authority will be responsible for the administration of Gaza under the new conditions and new names approved by Washington. The purpose of this arrangement is to give control over the population of Gaza, to end the existence of Hamas and to prevent the emergence of any group that would resist Israeli control.
Impacts and US interests
While Israel strongly denied the Palestinian Authority's role in Gaza from the beginning, the previous US administration insisted on this issue. A senior American official even met with some independent Palestinian figures and tried to convince them to take on this role, but was unsuccessful.
It is not yet clear whether the Trump administration will accept the Palestinian Authority taking on a role in Gaza, especially since it recently stopped financial aid to the Palestinian security forces. Moreover, the responsibility for this decision was given to Steve Wittkoff, Trump's special representative for the Middle East, who is clearly Zionist. Wittkoff, together with Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, is interested in the idea of evaluating Gaza's coastline for tourism projects.
However, although Trump was clearly disressed about not being able to take over Gaza by describing it as a “beautiful piece of land”, he publicly changed his stance on this issue.
This shows that the great strategic interests of the USA stand in the way of Trump's personal desires. At least in this regard, US institutions were able to restrain Trump. However, this does not mean that a more comprehensive process to limit Trump has begun, both within the US and internationally. However, it is clear that a wider circle within the Republican Party is also involved in this issue.
So much so that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has strongly rejected Trump's vision of the future of Gaza in public.
Expanding normalization
US administrations, including the Trump administration, have taken important steps to expand the normalization circle of Arab countries with Israel. Let's not forget that the unprecedented Abrahami Agreements enabled Israel to form alliances with the Arab countries and led to a wider acceptance of the Zionist narrative in the region. Now they want this process to progress rapidly.
Of course, Trump's step back is an important development. However, leaving the process to the initiative of the Arab countries shows neither his special mastery nor of the influential decision-makers in Washington.
Rather, because Arab countries are extremely unsuccessful to take the initiative or make any proposal to protect the rights of Palestinians, it means that the US is confident that any arrangement they propose will be fully in line (and even based on) the U.S.'s proposals. This guarantees that no matter what "conclise" is reached, American sovereignty will be accepted.
Any "alternative" put forward by Arab countries on Gaza should be a source of serious concern. Because these proposals are put forward by governments that weaken their own power and reduce their goals to secure a role in which they can only “serve US interests.” These governments have been cut off from their peoples and institutions and even some of them have become prisoners of normalization agreements with Israel.
The fact that Arab leaders did not even threaten to suspend the normalization process or economic agreements with Israel has made them more open to the pressure and blackmail of the US and Israel.
What's next?
The Arab world's unresponsiveness to the genocide in Gaza and Israel's implementation of its massive forced migration plan in the West Bank by demolishing the Janin and Tulkarm camps and driving their inhabitants, has accelerated Israel's and the US' plans to completely isolate the Gaza people. Their aim is to prevent the reconstruction of the Palestinian identity and to break the hopes and aspirations for freedom of the Palestinians.
Considering all this, we are right to be afraid and angry about the possibility of signing an agreement, especially between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such an agreement will be the last link in the full subjugation of the Arab world and the region and will put the region under Israeli-American tutelage.
The current danger in the region threatens not only Palestinians, but all Arab peoples from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf. What is happening today, or even worse, is similar to the moment when the US was on the verge of declaring a decisive victory over the Palestinians and Arabs by pulling Saudi Arabia into alliance with Israel before the Al-Aqsa Flood.
We have to question whether any of the Arab regimes, which see resistance as a much greater threat to them than Israel, pays attention to it. Do they at least care?