By the end of February, the first phase of the agreement comes to an end, and the parties — backed by mediators Egypt, Qatar, and the United States — are expected to proceed to the second, more critical phase intended to conclude with a permanent ceasefire and the full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
So far, the deal continues to hold despite all the heated statements and threats made by members of the extremist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the confusion that newly elected US President Donald Trump caused by his bizarre proposal to “take over and own” Gaza by relocating its two million inhabitants to Egypt and Jordan.
Up until Saturday, 15 February, when three more Israeli prisoners held by Hamas were scheduled to be released, there were serious fears that Israel would resume its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas had declared a couple of days earlier that it would delay the release of the three prisoners to protest Israel’s failure to abide by the agreement, both in terms of ignoring the date set to start negotiations on the second phase and preventing the entry of extremely needed humanitarian aid, temporary housing units and tents.
Trump, for his part, had raised the alert level when he repeated his common “all hell is going to break out” warning in case Hamas did not release not just the three prisoners, but “all of them,” contrary to the ceasefire agreement that was negotiated by his own Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Ironically, the US president did not consider any of Israel’s violations of the ceasefire deal, and the continued suffering of Gaza’s two million Palestinians. His bias for Israel enabled him to see only the poor physical condition of three Israeli hostages being released by Hamas, but not the horror stories of torture and food deprivation told by hundreds of Palestinians who were released from Israeli prisons as part of the deal.
After Egypt and Qatar moved to overcome this crisis, wisdom prevailed, and Hamas agreed to continue to release the three hostages as scheduled in return for a commitment from Israel that it would also abide by the agreement and speed up the entry of much needed humanitarian aid and temporary housing units. Up until Al-Ahram Weekly went to print, hundreds of trucks carrying tents and caravan homes continued to line up on the Egyptian side of the border awaiting Israel’s approval to enter Gaza.
Meanwhile, the US Middle East Peace Envoy Witkoff made some encouraging statements confirming his commitment to the second stage of the hostage deal, saying it was “absolutely going to begin,” and that the US president “wants to see” it happening. Trump also stated on Sunday that his deadline on the release of all hostages regardless of the details of the ceasefire deal was mainly a pressure tactic to bring Hamas to continue with their release, and that it was up to Israel to decide what to do next.
This was a clear disappointment to some of the most extremist members of Netanyahu’s government, such as Finance Minister Bezlael Smotrich, who has been repeatedly demanding a return to war to wipe out Gaza, regardless of the fate of the Israeli hostages. It goes without saying that any resumption of the war, especially if it leads to a second wave of massive killing of Palestinians similar to the first 15 months of war, would amount to signing the death certificate to all the remaining Israeli prisoners.
Trump’s top officials, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who started his first trip to the region this week by visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have also expressed openness to look into the plan which Egypt has been working on intensively along with key Arab partners, on the reconstruction of Gaza after the war ends without the need to remove any Palestinians form their homeland.
The Egyptian plan, which is expected to be discussed by key Arab nations in Riyadh ahead of the Arab summit to be hosted by Cairo on 4 March, is the only viable alternative to Trump’s proposal on Gaza. That proposal not only threatened to end Palestinian ambitions for the right to have an independent state, but would also lead to unpredictable regional turmoil and instability.
While working on its plan, Egypt and Arab countries that maintain a close strategic relation with Washington are aware of the urgent need for Palestinians to reach an agreement on the future of Gaza among themselves, settling on the government responsible for the very difficult task of rebuilding the Strip after Israel’s relentless bombing levelled it to the ground. Hamas has expressed openness to accepting a national, non-partisan administration of Gaza, knowing that the huge task of rebuilding Gaza required worldwide support.
Yet, the key obstacle on reaching acceptable arrangements on the future of Gaza remains the Israeli premier, Netanyahu, who insists that he will allow neither Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to be in control of Gaza. This further complicates the effort to proceed to the second stage of the ceasefire agreement and is a determined effort by Netanyahu to come up with new terms that would allow the release of Israeli hostages without full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Such terms would definitely be rejected by Hamas.
While knowing that Trump’s plan on forcibly evacuating Gaza to carry out its reconstruction was simply a non-starter because both Egypt and Jordan vehemently reject any effort to liquidate the Palestinian cause and carry out a second Nakba or Catastrophe, Netanyahu is now praising the proposal and calling for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians.
Yet, such statements by Netanyahu and his extremist ministers will not deter Egypt and other Arab countries from pressing for a genuine plan to end the war in Gaza in coordination with the new Trump administration. The international community will also have an extremely important role to play in support of the reconstruction of Gaza, as well as putting the peace process back on track with the aim of reaching a permanent settlement based on the two-state solution.
Without an independent Palestinian state in which Palestinians live with dignity, no proposals or plans can bring peace to this region, or create conditions to build any “Middle East Riviera.”
* A version of this article appears in print in the 20 February, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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