White House says ‘quiet planning’ under way for phase two of Gaza plan
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Trump administration is engaged in “quiet planning … behind the scenes” as it tries to move Israel and Hamas towards phase two of the US president’s Gaza plan.
Leavitt said Washington would make announcements “at the appropriate time” on several elements of Trump’s plan, including the international stabilisation force that will be deployed to the enclave and the so-called “board of peace”.
Expected to be chaired by Trump himself, the “board of peace” is an international body that the US government says will oversee the administration of Gaza as Hamas hands over control of the territory.
The Financial Times reported this week that the UK’s former prime minister, Tony Blair, was dropped from consideration for a role on the board amid widespread condemnation of his possible involvement.
Trump’s Gaza initiative ‘not a peace plan’
Mouin Rabbani, a political analyst and co-editor at Jadaliyya, says it’s critical to note that US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan is not a peace plan or a diplomatic initiative.
“Rather, this is more or less a ceasefire initiative that seeks to end the most active phase of the genocide in Gaza by reducing hostilities and then transferring governance and administration of the Gaza Strip from Palestinians to a foreign body known as the Board of Peace,” he said.
Speaking during a webinar organised by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a US-based think-tank, Rabbani explained that Trump’s push to end the Israeli war emerged due to two main factors.
The first was that Israel “failed” in its effort to expel Palestinians from Gaza and “decisively defeat” Hamas and other Palestinian groups, Rabbani said, and the second was the Israeli attack on Qatar’s capital Doha in September.
“At that point, I think the Gulf states began exercising the leverage and influence that they have on the US to bring this to an end,” he said.
“That is kind of the genesis of this agreement, which I would characterise more as an Israeli initiative presented by the Americans, rather than an American initiative imposed on the Israelis – even as the Israelis were dragged unwillingly into it.”
