Palestinian Analysis on Trump's Plan: An Attempt to Liquidate the Cause and Resistance

The announcement of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan and initiative to end the war in Gaza has sparked widespread reactions among Palestinians, with analysts and political writers agreeing that it is an attempt to legitimize the ongoing genocide for two years and impose a new reality targeting resistance and Palestinian rights.

Palestinian writer and political analyst Abdul Salam Hayek viewed this initiative as coming at a time that reveals the extent of the Israeli impasse, stating: “This war has lost its legitimacy and has turned into a documented genocide in front of the world. Even Israel has acknowledged its loss in the narrative battle; every additional day is a new loss that cannot be repaired.”

Hayek noted in a post on Facebook that the West has lost trust in the Israeli narrative, which has historically been based on the “Holocaust,” anti-Semitism, and combating terrorism, adding: “Israel is left with only a group of billionaires controlling global decision-making, while it has become a symbol of brutality in the eyes of Western peoples.”

He emphasized that Arabs also now view the Israeli occupation as a direct enemy, adding that the current circumstances are “crucial to ending the war on better terms,” warning that immediate acceptance of the plan equates to rejection in its outcomes because it achieves the goals of the occupation.

Regarding the content of the plan, Hayek clarified that Trump has given Netanyahu a mandate until October 7 to end the war without concrete Israeli commitments towards Gaza, in exchange for vague promises to the Arabs, stating: “In the end, the goal is to stop the war, the surrender of Hamas, the return of prisoners, and then leaving the population trapped in a narrow and devastated pocket, allowing for the continuation of displacement and genocide under the guise of calm and security needs.”

He stressed that what is required today is to transform these promises into commitments and specific timelines, asserting that “the negotiating party is not just Hamas, but also the Arab states, and if the Palestinians sign blankly, no one will move to defend them.”

Hayek also warned that any acceptance of the plan will not last long, predicting that the residents of the sector will later reject it violently if they are prevented from returning to their destroyed homes despite the cessation of fighting, which will bring things back to square one.

He added: “Dismantling Hamas will lead to the emergence of dozens of new Hamas-like groups; the bitterness of defeat does not yield calm, and those who survived death will not fear facing it again. This is what Trump overlooks when he thinks that the utmost people want is mere survival.”

For his part, Palestinian political analyst Faiz Abu Shamala presented three options for the resistance in dealing with the plan: - An absolute rejection of the plan and working to thwart it politically through dialogue with Arab and Islamic countries and Palestinian factions, and militarily by continuing guerrilla warfare and retaining prisoners, despite his awareness that this option carries significant risks and consequences for the people of Gaza.

- Conditional acceptance with an attempt to introduce amendments to the plan to reduce its harms, which Abu Shamala ruled out as successful based on previous experiences, considering that Gaza represents the major obstacle to a broader regional project related to “Greater Israel” and normalization programs and the Deal of the Century.

- A middle option consisting of accepting the part related to prisoner exchanges and aid, and referring other issues to a comprehensive national dialogue under the auspices of Egypt or other regional parties, which he sees as not devoid of obstacles but shifts responsibility to the general national framework.

Meanwhile, writer and political analyst Yasser Al-Zaatreh went further in his description of the plan, calling it “a plan crafted by a devilish mind, seeking to reclaim what the invaders lost during two years of genocide, and opening the door for Netanyahu's dreams of being Churchill, while Israelis see him as the worst leader in their history.”

Al-Zaatreh warned that the acceptance of some Arab and Islamic countries of the plan under pressure from threats or in exchange for “crumbs of promises” will make them bear the burden before their peoples, asserting that “Hamas is not obligated to accept a plan that only leads to its crushing, along with the crushing of the entire Palestinian cause.”

He pointed out that the essence of the plan does not only concern Hamas's weapons but aims to liquidate the entire Palestinian cause, reminding that Trump himself had previously recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli occupation and its sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan, which confirms that “the logic of the plan is far from the path of peace or the two-state solution.”

Al-Zaatreh noted that one of the provisions of the plan (provision 17) states that aid and reconstruction will