President Donald Trump announced his Board of Peace’s 15-point plan for demilitarizing Gaza with a triumphant tone, but the officials actually implementing the plan are not taking any victory laps yet.
The 15-point plan is expected to take anywhere between 200 and 350 days to complete, and this new deal is only just getting off the ground. While Hamas has signed onto the plan, the terrorist group has proven to be an unreliable partner in executing joint initiatives in Gaza. Israeli ministers, meanwhile, have signaled dissatisfaction and opposition to the entire process.
“There is no trust. There is only fear and loathing in this environment,” a Board of Peace official told the Washington Examiner, adding that the organization’s staff is “not naively” undertaking the much-anticipated demilitarization campaign.
“We’re not setting ourselves up for failure by trying to do it in one day or in one fell swoop,” the official said. “We are building a pragmatic step by step approach, uh, to somehow get something that’s durable and that’s real.”
The first task on the agenda is setting up and activating the International Verification Committee that will be empowered to adjudicate whether one side has completed its obligation before the other acts. Establishing that committee is expected to take approximately two weeks.
From there, it will be a tit-for-tat incentive system by which Israel and Hamas take action step-by-step — beginning with the retreat of the Israeli militia from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Reuters that his team “insisted to the mediators that Israel must abide by the agreement” during negotiations. Hamas is also demanding that all Israeli attacks cease and greater amounts of food and aid are allowed to enter the region.
That first step may prove to be among the most difficult, as Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has already publicly decried the plan as a “draft agreement” that is “not acceptable to Israel.”
“We’ve gotten strong commitments from Israel. Do they have politics? Yes. Do they have people with different viewpoints in their government? Sure, it’s a vibrant and thriving democracy,” the Board of Peace official told the Washington Examiner. “The whole implementation route is going to be a challenge, but I don’t see Israel as a singular problem in isolation that keeps me up at night.”
The official pointed to an Israeli Cabinet meeting last weekend in which the minister voted to give necessary immunities for an International Stabilization Force to take over military control of Gaza.
“I have an understanding with Israel,” Trump said on Friday during a press conference at Camp David. “Israel helped us, and they’ve been very good. They’ve been very good about it.”
BOARD OF PEACE REACHES AGREEMENT TO DISARM HAMAS IN GAZA, TRUMP SAYS
The official told the Washington Examiner that the process of drafting a Palestinian police force inside Gaza is also underway. The board has received approximately 200,000 applications for the force, which is expected to necessitate 20,000 officers.
The board is hoping for an initial graduating class of 5,000 officers to deploy when the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza is established.