October 24, 2025
Mohammed Samaana
The plan speaks of a potential Palestinian state without specifying where this state is going to be. It also makes it conditional on the Palestinian authority to carry out some reforms but does not mention ending the Israeli occupation or evacuating the illegal Israeli squatter-settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. It could at least call for a freeze on the building of any more settlements or expanding the already existing ones, since they are already an obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Additionally, there is no mention in the plan of holding those responsible for the genocide to account — thus letting Israeli officials off the hook. This omission will encourage them to continue committing atrocities towards the Palestinians. If anything, failure to hold Israeli politicians to account is one of the root causes of the continuation of injustice and suffering.
There are also practical problems. The plan insists on the return of all Israeli hostages, including the remains of those who died during the conflict. Yet it is well known to the Trump administration and for that matter the whole world that Israel destroyed most search-and-rescue equipment and vehicles in order to maximize fatalities among the Palestinians. The lack of equipment makes the search for Israeli bodies difficult. Israel made the task even more difficult by refusing admittance to a team coming from Turkey that has experience searching for bodies after earthquakes.
The document centers the recovery of Israeli bodies while ignoring thousands of bodies of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel and buried under the rubble, whose loved ones also want a decent burial and closure.
What was not said, moreover, is more alarming than what was said. The total disregard for Palestinian lives is on display in the plan, since there is no mention of any steps to deal with the unexploded ammunition dropped on Gaza by Israel. The UN estimated that 10 percent of the 200,000 tons of bombs that Israel dropped on Gaza failed to explode, leaving a silent killer buried in Gaza rubble.
Point number 13 of the plan talks about decommissioning and demilitarizing Gaza, though this applies to the Palestinians only and does not apply to the Israeli army. As a Palestinian, this unfairness brings back the painful memories and the nightmare of the conditions that led to the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, in which thousands of Palestinians were killed over 43 hours.
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Current events in Gaza are very similar to these in Lebanon in 1982: an assault by Israel with heavy loss of life followed by ceasefire deal that included disarming the Palestinian refugee camps when the PLO fighters left to Tunisia. The US and Italy guaranteed the safety of the mainly Palestinian civilian population of the refugee camp but left a few weeks later, depriving the refugee camps of any protection. These developments enabled the Israeli forces to encircle the refugee camps while far-right Lebanese Christian militias, proxies of Israel, went into the refugee camps on September 16 and committed the massacre. An Israeli commission concluded that Ariel Sharon who was then Israel defense minister was personally responsible for the massacre, but he never faced justice. Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi argued that the US was responsible for the massacre as declassified documents showed that the Israelis told American diplomats what they might be up to in Lebanon.
International Middle East Media Center
On Wednesday the Israeli Knesset approved the preliminary reading of one bill to annex the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty over it, and another to impose sovereignty over the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, east of occupied Jerusalem.
Both drafts still must pass three additional readings to become law.
Middle East Monitor reports that Vice President J. D. Vance, in Israel, rejected the bills. “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy,” he added.
Vance said that he was told that the Knesset voting was “a symbolic vote.”
“If people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren’t happy about it,” he added.
The spokesman for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Fuad Al-Majali, maintained that the Kingdom of Jordan rejects and denounces the occupation’s plan to impose sovereignty over the West Bank.
The Ministry called the move a flagrant violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution 2334 which affirms that “the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement calling on the international community to fulfil its legal and moral duty to pressure the Israeli occupation to cease its settlement schemes in the occupied West Bank.
The statement added that the state of Qatar affirms that any attempt to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank would be a violation of international law and resolutions.
In the United States, forty-six Democratic senators called on President Donald Trump to oppose the Israeli plan to annex the occupied West Bank.
The Axios news website published the letter sent to President Trump, signed by senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Adam Schiff.
The letter urged the Trump administration to “promote steps to preserve the viability of a two-state solution and the success of the Abraham Accords”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the move and declared that the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza are one geographical unit, and that Israel has no sovereignty over them.
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah said that the Knesset vote will not erase the historical facts or destroy the legitimate rights of our people, to self-determination and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Additionally, Türkiye, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia released statements condemning the Knesset vote to impose sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
Mohammed Samaana
Like most Palestinians, I was
initially excited about the ceasefire agreement in Gaza — even though, judging
by recent history, Israel has breached every agreement it signed and never
lived to its commitments.
But I’ve concluded that Trump’s
twenty-point plan will only lead to the continuation of suffering. There are
multiple problems with the plan including textual and practical ones. The text
does not mention the occupation or international law or UN resolutions.
Moreover, Trump’s plan seems not to acknowledge Israel’s obligations under
international law, stating “Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza.” This
phrasing implies contrary to what the International Court of Justice has
affirmed, that Israel is not occupying Gaza and has no legal responsibility as
an occupying power. Not to mention that the plan completely ignores the Israeli
occupation of the West Bank and its own tens of thousands of forcibly displaced
Palestinians. It elides, too, Israel’s declared intention to annex the
territory, and the increasing violence of Israeli squatters on Palestinian land
there. Previous ceasefire agreements between Israel and Hamas wrongly ignored
the situation in the West Bank, which reinforced the Palestinian divisions —
playing into the hands of Israel.
The plan speaks of a potential Palestinian state without specifying where this state is going to be. It also makes it conditional on the Palestinian authority to carry out some reforms but does not mention ending the Israeli occupation or evacuating the illegal Israeli squatter-settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. It could at least call for a freeze on the building of any more settlements or expanding the already existing ones, since they are already an obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Additionally, there is no mention in the plan of holding those responsible for the genocide to account — thus letting Israeli officials off the hook. This omission will encourage them to continue committing atrocities towards the Palestinians. If anything, failure to hold Israeli politicians to account is one of the root causes of the continuation of injustice and suffering.
There are also practical problems. The plan insists on the return of all Israeli hostages, including the remains of those who died during the conflict. Yet it is well known to the Trump administration and for that matter the whole world that Israel destroyed most search-and-rescue equipment and vehicles in order to maximize fatalities among the Palestinians. The lack of equipment makes the search for Israeli bodies difficult. Israel made the task even more difficult by refusing admittance to a team coming from Turkey that has experience searching for bodies after earthquakes.
The document centers the recovery of Israeli bodies while ignoring thousands of bodies of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel and buried under the rubble, whose loved ones also want a decent burial and closure.
What was not said, moreover, is more alarming than what was said. The total disregard for Palestinian lives is on display in the plan, since there is no mention of any steps to deal with the unexploded ammunition dropped on Gaza by Israel. The UN estimated that 10 percent of the 200,000 tons of bombs that Israel dropped on Gaza failed to explode, leaving a silent killer buried in Gaza rubble.
Point number 13 of the plan talks about decommissioning and demilitarizing Gaza, though this applies to the Palestinians only and does not apply to the Israeli army. As a Palestinian, this unfairness brings back the painful memories and the nightmare of the conditions that led to the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, in which thousands of Palestinians were killed over 43 hours.
Never miss an issue of Informed Comment: Click here to subscribe to our email newsletter! Social media will pretend to let you subscribe but then use algorithms to suppress the postings and show you their ads instead. And please, if you see an essay you like, paste it into an email and share with friends.
Current events in Gaza are very similar to these in Lebanon in 1982: an assault by Israel with heavy loss of life followed by ceasefire deal that included disarming the Palestinian refugee camps when the PLO fighters left to Tunisia. The US and Italy guaranteed the safety of the mainly Palestinian civilian population of the refugee camp but left a few weeks later, depriving the refugee camps of any protection. These developments enabled the Israeli forces to encircle the refugee camps while far-right Lebanese Christian militias, proxies of Israel, went into the refugee camps on September 16 and committed the massacre. An Israeli commission concluded that Ariel Sharon who was then Israel defense minister was personally responsible for the massacre, but he never faced justice. Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi argued that the US was responsible for the massacre as declassified documents showed that the Israelis told American diplomats what they might be up to in Lebanon.
International Middle East Media Center
On Wednesday the Israeli Knesset approved the preliminary reading of one bill to annex the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty over it, and another to impose sovereignty over the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, east of occupied Jerusalem.
Both drafts still must pass three additional readings to become law.
Middle East Monitor reports that Vice President J. D. Vance, in Israel, rejected the bills. “If it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it. The West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel,” Vance told reporters in Tel Aviv.
“The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy,” he added.
Vance said that he was told that the Knesset voting was “a symbolic vote.”
“If people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren’t happy about it,” he added.
The spokesman for the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, Fuad Al-Majali, maintained that the Kingdom of Jordan rejects and denounces the occupation’s plan to impose sovereignty over the West Bank.
The Ministry called the move a flagrant violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution 2334 which affirms that “the establishment by Israel of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement calling on the international community to fulfil its legal and moral duty to pressure the Israeli occupation to cease its settlement schemes in the occupied West Bank.
The statement added that the state of Qatar affirms that any attempt to impose Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank would be a violation of international law and resolutions.
In the United States, forty-six Democratic senators called on President Donald Trump to oppose the Israeli plan to annex the occupied West Bank.
The Axios news website published the letter sent to President Trump, signed by senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Adam Schiff.
The letter urged the Trump administration to “promote steps to preserve the viability of a two-state solution and the success of the Abraham Accords”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the move and declared that the occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza are one geographical unit, and that Israel has no sovereignty over them.
The Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah said that the Knesset vote will not erase the historical facts or destroy the legitimate rights of our people, to self-determination and the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Additionally, Türkiye, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia released statements condemning the Knesset vote to impose sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.
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