Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim at Drop Site News break down what President Trump’s 20-point plan, released on Monday, would really mean for Gaza. “The priority is going to be investment… making that money and the kickbacks,” Scahill warns, comparing it to Iraq after 2003, with Tony Blair set to oversee activities. “Colonial powers always used the local population to test out whatever new technologies, new theories, new medicines,” he says.
Palestinian factions largely see Trump’s “peace plan” as a farce. Crafted by Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides with no Palestinian input, it ties food and medicine to Hamas’s surrender and hands Gaza to a foreign “viceroy.” Scahill also notes that Hamas negotiators in Qatar are under a form of house arrest, with very limited access to each other or cell phones and computers. Scahill and Grim also discuss how tech billionaire Larry Ellison, the largest private funder to the IDF who is trying to take over TikTok and CNN, is also a huge funder of Tony Blair’s foundation.
UBAI ABOUDI, [in Ramallah] [email protected], @ubaiaboud
Aboudi is with the Palestinian NGO Network, which responded to Trump’s announcement by emphasizing “that the primary responsibility of the international community, especially the states with influence, is to dismantle, not to manage or rearrange the system of colonialism, genocide and Israeli apartheid regime.” The group stresses that the “Colombian Initiative, presented to the United Nations General Assembly within the framework of the ‘United for Peace’ resolution, remains the meaningful international initiative that provides a practical framework that ensures that the Government of Israel and its allies are obliged to comply with international law.”
[Sam Husseini of IPA noted that the timing of the Trump announcement — just after the Colombian initiative — was similar to Biden claiming that Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire in May/June of 2024. That came just after the International Court of Justice orders of May 24, 2024 demanded Israel stop its attack on Rafah and helped derail implementation of those orders.]
KATHY KELLY, [email protected], @voiceinwild
Kelly is board president of World BEYOND War. She just recently wrote the piece “An Appeal to the Vatican State: Protect the Gaza Sumud Flotilla’s Safe Arrival.”
However, said Kelly, “the Pope has unfortunately sided with the tragically compromised plan crafted by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
She cited the piece “As a Jew, I Sail for Gaza to Help Break the Siege and End a Genocide” by David Adler, who writes: “I joined this flotilla just like any other delegate — to defend humanity, before it is too late. But on Yom Kippur, I am reminded that I am also here because my Jewish heritage demands it.”
Kelly said: The holiest day of the year, in Judaism, begins at nightfall on October 1st — it is the day of atonement, a day of repentance. Pope Leo can make a profound and meaningful embrace of the call for atonement and repentance by choosing to hear from Palestinian voices of people who are alarmed by President Trump’s so-called ‘peace plan.’”
She added: “Regarding the flotilla, we must hope the voice of David Adler, a Jewish member of the flotilla, will reach Pope Leo. Adler asks: How can we atone for what has been committed in our name? How could we possibly take seriously our mandate to ‘heal the world’ when the State of Israel is so determined to destroy it?”
See IPA releases: “U.S. Vets on Flotilla Approaching Gaza” and “Colombia Acting at U.N. to Overcome U.S. Veto on Gaza Genocide.”