{"id":126014,"date":"2025-11-21T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=126014"},"modified":"2025-11-20T09:49:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T07:49:04","slug":"22-00-114","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=126014","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s UN victory is a path to a stalemate in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"center alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reunion68.com\/Biuletyn\/img\/jns-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"35%\"><\/a><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #000080;\"><span><strong><a style=\"color: #000080; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/trumps-un-victory-is-a-path-to-a-stalemate-in-gaza\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trump\u2019s UN victory is a path to a stalemate in Gaza<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Jonathan S. Tobin<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<div>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Though Palestinian statehood remains a non-starter, the U.S. scheme is likely to result in part of the coastal enclave remaining in the hands of Hamas, not usher in an era of peace.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/me.jnsi.org\/uploads\/2025\/11\/54934551200_7bac05a32c_o-1320x880.jpg\" width=\"100%\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, delivering remarks at a dinner held in his honor, at the White House, Nov. 18, 2025. Credit: Andrea Hanks\/White House.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">President Donald Trump got his way at the U.N. Security Council on Monday when it&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/un-security-council-unanimously-approves-trump-gaza-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">approved<\/a>&nbsp;his 20-point plan for the future of the Gaza Strip. The&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/media\/accreditation\/pdf\/SCRes3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">resolution<\/a>&nbsp;endorsed the deal that secured a ceasefire in the war that followed the Hamas-led Palestinian Arab terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. With Russia and China abstaining rather than vetoing the measure, Trump received the world body\u2019s endorsement for, among other points, the creation of an International Stabilization Force to police Gaza and a Board of Peace to govern it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The president celebrated the vote in typically hyperbolic fashion,&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/115567457865630938\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declaring<\/a>: \u201cThis will go down as one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations, will lead to further peace all over the world, and is a moment of true historic proportion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Trump is also pleased with the closer relations that he has achieved with Saudi Arabia. The kingdom\u2019s de facto leader, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (known as MBS), arrived in Washington the next day for friendly meetings with Trump, discussing, among other things, a major arms sale, and then a gala state dinner where memories of the hostility of the Biden administration toward Riyadh and its royal family were officially buried.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">But the notion that Trump\u2019s effort to end the war in Gaza will lead to the Saudis joining the Abraham Accords and recognizing Israel could be as fanciful as the chances that Trump\u2019s plan will succeed in transforming Gaza into a prosperous and peaceful place.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Magical thinking<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Had the Security Council rejected the scheme, it would have embarrassed the White House and undermined efforts to maintain the ceasefire-hostage release deal that proved a triumph for American diplomacy. The notion that this is going to lead to peace there or anywhere else, however, isn\u2019t just overoptimistic. It\u2019s divorced from reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The truth is that despite the optimism coming out of Washington about what will happen in Gaza, it\u2019s already painfully obvious that the Trump plan, which now has the U.N.\u2019s seal of approval, isn\u2019t going to achieve the two things that might give peace a chance: the disarmament of Hamas and its surrender of those parts in the Strip where it is still in control.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">That\u2019s not what we\u2019re hearing from the administration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The president and the members of his foreign-policy team continue to insist that Hamas will disarm. They say that one way or the other, the agreement\u2019s utopian scheme for Gaza\u2019s reconstruction, which also hinges on assembling an entirely mythical civil service of non-political Palestinian technocrats, is going to be implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">It may be premature to give up on the plan. After all, the ceasefire went into effect only five weeks ago. The United States has been able to get Indonesia to commit to send troops to join the Gaza force while a number of other nations, including Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Cyprus, Australia, Canada and France, have expressed interest in also participating in some way or helping to finance the scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Still, it\u2019s hard to imagine any of them being willing to do what is necessary to disarm Hamas and evict it from the Strip. None of them wants to be accused of acting as collaborators with the Jewish state. Nor are they likely to be willing to absorb the inevitable casualty toll that goes with seeking to root terrorists out of their remaining tunnel strongholds. To assume otherwise is magical thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">And far from preparing to give up, Hamas and its terrorist allies have used the last several weeks since the shooting stopped to dig in even deeper in those parts of Gaza, including Gaza City, that remain under their control.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">And that is the basic conundrum that those celebrating with Trump need to acknowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Only Israel has the will or the ability to defeat Hamas. Trump sometimes talks as if he is prepared to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to finish off the terror group. But doing so would blow up the ceasefire and erase Washington\u2019s diplomatic achievement, sending all the countries that have endorsed the Mideast plan running for cover. And that includes his good friend MBS. And so, for all of his tough talk, the threats made by Trump about ensuring Hamas\u2019s surrender are ringing hollow.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Nor is it certain that Netanyahu\u2019s own stirring&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/netanyahu-israel-determined-to-complete-war-after-latest-terror-attack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pledge<\/a>&nbsp;that his government is still committed to the complete defeat of Hamas is credible. One basic fact of Israel\u2019s current security dilemma is that Jerusalem will be reluctant to cross Trump by restarting the war in Gaza without his express permission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">If so, what happens next?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The most likely scenario is that the so-called \u201cyellow line,\u201d which divides the part of Gaza occupied by Israel after a partial withdrawal from the front line at the time of the ceasefire from the portion now held by Hamas, may well become a permanent addition to the lexicon of the Middle East.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">On one side of the line, the U.S.-backed reconstruction plan will, as Washington has already signaled, probably begin to be implemented. And on the other, Hamas will reconstitute the terror state that existed throughout all of Gaza before Oct. 7.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The good news is that compared to the situation prior to the attack on Israel, this scenario is one in which Hamas\u2019s ability to fulfill its vows to go on killing Jews\u2014let alone repeat the Oct. 7 attacks again and again\u2014will be greatly diminished.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The bad news is that it falls far short of achieving one of the two goals of Israel\u2019s post-Oct. 7 war: eradicating Hamas. At best, it merely puts Israel in a somewhat stronger position the next time Hamas is built up enough to resume the fighting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Nor should we expect that the situation will go smoothly in the non-Hamas-controlled part of Gaza. Palestinians are likely exhausted from the price they were made to pay for supporting Hamas\u2019s continued commitment to destroying Israel and achieving the genocide of Israelis. But the expectation that ordinary civilians will be eager to support a non-Hamas government and the U.S. reconstruction effort is wishful thinking. They will also be under great pressure to back a guerrilla campaign against both the Israelis and anyone else sent there to keep the peace.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2018No\u2019 to a Palestinian state<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Like other elements of the plan, such as the unspecified reform of the Palestinian Authority that governs Judea and Samaria as a prerequisite for them participating in the reconstruction of Gaza, the belief that moderate Arab and Muslim governments will sacrifice blood or treasure to ensure the end of Hamas remains a fantasy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">This is not a prescription for peace, but rather, one for a new stalemate between Israel and the United States on one side, with Hamas, which can still count on support from Iran as well as America\u2019s Turkish and Qatari frenemies, on the other.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Does this mean, as some Israelis fear, that what will sooner or later unfold is a scenario in which an independent Palestinian Arab state in Gaza will eventually become a reality? Probably not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">There is language in both the 20-point plan that Netanyahu signed off on several weeks ago, which the Security Council resolution is based on, that speaks of a theoretical future in which a Palestinian state might be created there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">It says that after an unspecified reform of the P.A., and after Gaza is rebuilt and rid of terrorists, \u201cthe conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">That will be interpreted by some as a legally binding obligation to create such a state. Indeed, far-left Israelis and American Jews\u2014like the leaders of the left-wing J Street lobby\u2014are, as they&nbsp;<a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/18\/world\/middleeast\/un-trump-gaza-plan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a><em>&nbsp;The New York Times,<\/em>&nbsp;already fantasizing about Trump imposing a Palestinian state in Gaza, and then doing the same in Judea and Samaria, empowering the same groups that threaten Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">None of that is going to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Great expectations<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The acceptance of Hamas remaining in part of Gaza, as it was before Oct. 7, may be as close to a state as the Palestinians will get. No Israeli government\u2014whether headed by Netanyahu or one of his political opponents\u2014will accept the creation of a sovereign government in any part of Gaza that might have the ability to threaten or invade the Jewish state as the Hamas state did on Oct. 7. And the achievement of the conditions placed on Palestinian statehood in the Trump plan is a possibility so far-fetched as to render it more a matter of science fiction than a policy proposal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Like past generations of Palestinian leaders, the criminals running Hamas and their corrupt counterparts that lead the Fatah Party (which controls the P.A.) remain unwilling and unable to accept statehood under any conditions but Israel\u2019s elimination. As was true in 1948, 1967, 1993, 2000 and 2008, and any other time when they could have compromised and received a state, their only goal remains Israel\u2019s destruction. They don\u2019t want a state next to Israel. They want one instead of it\u2014and that is something they can never have.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Nor should Americans or Israelis be entirely sanguine about Trump\u2019s optimism about relations with the Saudis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">As much as Trump is right to try and cultivate this alliance, he ought to be listening to Netanyahu and conditioning any major upgrade of Riyadh\u2019s war-making capacity, such as selling it greater numbers of the same high-tech F-35 Jets tht Israel has, on its willingness to make peace with Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">The administration\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d foreign-policy goals include creating a situation where the Saudis will join with the Israelis to oppose Iran and safeguard the West\u2019s interests in the Middle East while the U.S. pivots to Asia to deal with the threat from China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">However, the belief that MBS is interested in exchanging his country\u2019s current close under-the-table relationship with Israel for one involving open recognition, normalization, and the exchange of ambassadors and embassies\u2014as was true for those who joined the 2020 Abraham Accords\u2014has little foundation. He wants Israel and the United States to act as counterweights to the threat that the Saudis still face from Iran, even after its defeat in the 12-day war it fought with Israel and the Americans last summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">But his moderation has its limits. And, as guardian of the holy Islamic cities of Mecca and Medina, even MBS is always going to worry more about angering the Islamist fundamentalists that are part of his nation\u2019s governing elite than he will about pleasing Trump or the Israelis.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Neither peace nor nightmare<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">All of which means that the American plan is neither a pathway to peace nor the nightmare scenario that some on the Israeli right fear it will turn out to be. Sadly, the enormous sacrifices made by Israelis during the two years after Oct. 7 will, barring a dramatic and unlikely acceptance by Trump that his peace plan is a flop, turn out to have not achieved the removal of the deadly threat to their nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Still, by gaining the release of the last hostages being held by Hamas, Trump again earned the gratitude of Israelis. It\u2019s also true that thanks to the successes achieved by the Israel Defense Forces in the war, as well as Trump\u2019s commitment to smashing the Iranian nuclear program, the current strategic equation in Gaza and the region is one in which Israel has been strengthened since Oct. 7, while its enemies are weaker.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">But unless the president is ready to let the war begin again, his plan is looking as if it is just one more waystation on the road to the inevitable next round of fighting between democratic Israel and genocidal Palestinian Islamists.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/me.jnsi.org\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Jonathan-S.-Tobin-480x480.png\" width=\"10%\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em><strong>Jonathan S. Tobin<\/strong> is editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, a senior contributor for The Federalist, a columnist for Newsweek and a contributor to many other publications. He covers the American political scene, foreign policy, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Middle East diplomacy, the Jewish world and the arts. He hosts the JNS \u201cThink Twice\u201d podcast, both the weekly video program and the \u201cJonathan Tobin Daily\u201d program, which are available on all major audio platforms and YouTube. Previously, he was executive editor, then senior online editor and chief political blogger, for Commentary magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger. He has won more than 60 awards for commentary, art criticism and other writing. He appears regularly on television, commenting on politics and foreign policy. Born in New York City, he studied history at Columbia University.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<hr style=\"height: 15px; background: #d0e6fa; width: 100%;\">\n<div id=\"content\" class=\"content-alignment\">\n<div id=\"watch-description\" class=\"yt-uix-button-panel\">\n<div id=\"watch-description-text\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><em>Zawarto\u015b\u0107 publikowanych artyku\u0142\u00f3w i materia\u0142\u00f3w nie reprezentuje pogl\u0105d\u00f3w ani opinii Reunion&#8217;68,<\/em><em><br \/>\nani te\u017c webmastera Blogu Reunion&#8217;68, chyba ze jest to wyra\u017anie zaznaczone.<br \/>\nTwoje uwagi, linki, w\u0142asne artyku\u0142y lub wiadomo\u015bci prze\u015blij na adres:<br \/>\n<\/em><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"mailto:webmaster@reunion68.com\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">webmaster@reunion68.com<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr style=\"width: 100%;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump\u2019s UN victory is a path to a stalemate in Gaza Jonathan S. Tobin Though Palestinian statehood remains a non-starter, the U.S. scheme is likely to result in part of the coastal enclave remaining in the hands of Hamas, not usher in an era of peace. U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Crown Prince and Prime [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[33,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126014"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126035,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126014\/revisions\/126035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}