Trump’s Gaza Plan calls for the political suicide of Hamas

India reaffirms stand on Palestine without tying itself to US proposals

The anxious wait appears to be over. Militarily pulverised, diplomatically isolated, and politically pressured, Hamas announced on Friday that it will release all Israeli hostages - whether alive or dead - and expressed its willingness to negotiate the finer details of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza Plan. 

Just hours earlier, in his typical ultimatum style, President Trump declared: “An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time. Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.” When even powerful states are apprehensive of the consequences of his anger, can Hamas defy the American President?

The willingness of Hamas to ‘enter’ into talks and to ‘reach’ a final agreement is worlds apart. In the past, several well-intended plans fell by the wayside when both parties could not finalise an agreement. Will President Trump’s Gaza Plan be different from other failed attempts? One has to be cautious.

Earlier, an Israeli commitment not to strike Qatar was included in the Gaza Plan, and the US-Israel-Qatar tripartite agreement on this means that the Gaza Plan has 20 points. In some ways, it represents an improvement over the July New York Declaration, signed by a number of countries.

What is the principal demand of the Gaza Plan? The disarming, dismantling, and political demise of Hamas. This has been the main Israeli demand and has gradually gained support from several Arab and Islamic countries, led by Saudi Arabia. After two long years, the mainstream Arab-Islamic countries are ready to condemn the 7 October attack as terrorism publicly.

The internationally recognised Palestine National Authority (PNA), led by President Mahmoud Abbas, lost effective control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in July 2007. Indeed, the Strip has become a security risk for the Palestinian leadership, which moved permanently to Ramallah in the West Bank in late 2001. Since then, neither Arafat nor Abbas has ever visited the Gaza Strip. Ironic as it sounds, through President Trump’s Gaza Plan, the PNA aims to regain control of the Gaza Strip.

President Trump succeeded in convincing eight Muslim-majority countries - Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the UAE - to back his proposal. Some are natural candidates and have supported and even penned the New York Declaration, co-sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan seems to be the new outsider. Devoid of niceties and elegance, President Trump’s Gaza Plan calls for the political suicide of Hamas; to be successful, the militant group should sign their death warrant! Will the clergy in Pakistan support their government’s position? For decades, Pakistani leaders and religious groups have opposed Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and sought to champion the rejectionist policies of Hamas. At the height of the Oslo Accords, the Pakistani clergy were more Palestinian than Arafat in opposing Jewish-Arab coexistence. Unconditional support for the Trump Plan could be a survival strategy for Pakistani leaders in their campaign against India; will the Pakistani clergy endorse the political suicide of the Islamist Palestinian group, or will they remain more Islamist than Hamas?

Interestingly, India is not a formal signatory to the New York Declaration, but its policies closely align with it. The Declaration’s description of the October 7 attack as terrorism, the legitimacy of the PNA that currently controls the West Bank, and support for a two-state solution all closely align with India. These have been India’s stance since the start of the current wave of violence. While it did not go as far as calling Hamas a terrorist group, despite some murmurs and criticisms, the Indian government strongly condemns the October 7 attack as an act of terrorism. Similarly, despite the unpopularity of the idea with the Netanyahu government, New Delhi did not hesitate to express its support for Israel and Palestine coexisting as two sovereign states living side by side in peace and security. At the same time, India is also aware of the current perspectives of the American and Israeli leadership, and without their clear commitment, the two-state solution will not be achieved.

This is where the New York Declaration, also endorsed by the UN General Assembly last month, differs from the Trump Plan. The former supports the two-state solution and emerged amid the willingness of several Western countries, especially former colonial powers Britain and France, to recognise the State of Palestine.

But the Trump Plan emphasises economic development over political goals. According to the BBC, it states that once the ‘redevelopment’ of the Gaza Strip and the ‘reform programme’ of the PNA are implemented, “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.” In short, under the Trump Plan, statehood is ‘the aspiration,’ not the ‘legitimate right’ of the Palestinian people. Forget about realisation.

This is where India’s advantage becomes clearer. At the multilateral level, India will persist in focusing on issues that are most vital to its national interests, such as terrorism, cross-border infiltration, and the global effort against terror financing. At the same time, it will be less active on issues that are not of immediate or critical interest; for example, its endorsement of the BRICS statement, which aimed to make East Jerusalem the capital of the future Palestinian state. Since the Palestinian state is not imminent, India will continue to uphold its declared position that Jerusalem should be resolved bilaterally through negotiations, without worrying about multilateral statements, even if it is a party to them.

Having not been part of the New York Declaration or subsequent courtship by President Trump, the path for India is clearer and simpler. India will express unequivocal support for the Gaza Plan; call for an early end to the violence; endorse humanitarian relief to the people of the Gaza Strip; contribute financially to any UN-mandated reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip; and continue to advocate for the early realisation of the two-state solution. Can New Delhi ask for more?

(The writer teaches contemporary Middle East at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi)