Trump's Peace Plan Is A Reward For Israel's Terrorism And War Crimes
The plan that was designed to grab headlines, not peace
Written by Dominick Skinner | 29 September 2025
The White House has unveiled what it calls a peace plan for Gaza, but let’s be clear from the start, this isn’t diplomacy, it’s a gift from Donald Trump to Benjamin Netanyahu. While Israel has tried to claim that recognition of a Palestinian state is somehow a reward to Hamas, we witnessed the USA offer a reward for the war criminal and the Genocidal state.
The “peace plan” a non-serious document that hasn’t even been formally delivered to Hamas, yet it’s already being piled together with Benjamin Netanyahu’s chilling threat to “finish the job.”
In this context, “the job” means genocide. We must not reward Genocide, but looking at how most of the media have ignored the hypocrisies of this plan, we may already be in that world that has decided Genocide makes you a winner.
I’ve rambled together my break down why this plan is fundamentally flawed, and why it is probably never going to result in peace.
A Terror-Free Zone Under the IDF
Trump’s plan promises Gaza will become a “terror-free zone.” But he doesn’t mean terrorist in what a Palestinian person would understand, despite this purporting to be a plan that aims to allow Palestinians to eventually have this land to live on. Palestinian decisions have been robbed from Palestinians for far too long, and this allows that broken fact to remain true.
The presence of the Israeli military inside Gaza is another factor in the idea of a '‘terror-free zone”, as the national military of Israel is itself a form of terror organisation, especially to the Palestinian people. To claim that occupation troops somehow guarantee freedom from terror is simply insulting.
Calling Genocide a “War”
The plan says the “war” would end immediately upon agreement. Let’s get this straight, this is not a war.
It is an ongoing genocide under occupation. Calling it a war confers a legitimacy that the Israeli campaign does not deserve, has never deserved, and will never deserve. Gaza cannot be both occupied and at war with its occupier. Israel may think it has an opt-out for international law, but it doesn’t, and we can’t pay them the favour of using the terminology of their war crimes when reporting on them.
Hostage Release Without Incentives
Under the plan, Israel would halt operations and begin a staged withdrawal if all hostages were released within 72 hours. If Israel gets all their hostages upfront, it has no incentive to follow through with the withdrawal, and they have broken every agreement signed up until this point. We cannot run with the assumption that they will suddenly start keeping their word two years into a Genocide.
Any credible deal would require a staged, reciprocal release to keep both sides accountable, this is the format that has released the highest number of hostages at this point, let’s rely on that system.
In exchange, Israel would free ‘some’ Palestinian prisoners, specifically women and children, and return remains. But if it’s “all or nothing” for hostages, it has to be “all or nothing” for Palestinian hostages too. Anything less reinforces the same double standard that fuels politics surrounding Israel.
Humanitarian Aid as a Bargaining Chip
Perhaps the most obscene element, in what I would call a case of scumbag diplomacy, humanitarian aid is written into the peace deal as a bargaining chip, rather than being a precondition for Israel to comply with.
Aid should not be part of a deal. It should be a baseline, as it’s a legal obligation under international law. To hold food, water, and medicine hostage in political negotiations is nothing short of madness, and the US president just codified it into a peace deal.
Trump’s Fantastical “Board of Peace”
A so-called Board of Peace, chaired by Trump himself, with international leaders supposedly overseeing Gaza’s reconstruction. Trump, the same man who created a “Department of War,” has no legitimacy here. A man who has called for the murder of 17 Venezuelans in a bullying campaign against the South American country, is not a campion of peace, regardless of how often he repeats it.
Tony Blair might be involved in this transitional authority. I didn’t make a mistake, I actually wrote Tony Blair’s name in a piece about a Gaza peace deal.
Blair, a political ghost haunting the Middle East since the Iraq War, has zero credibility, even less than Trump. His inclusion is laughable and scary to anyone with a knowledge of recent Middle Eastern history.
Palestinian Authority Reform—Why?
The plan says Gaza will be governed by a technocratic Palestinian committee until the Palestinian Authority (PA) is “reformed.” But why is PA reform even in this deal? Gaza is the focus, not Ramallah.
Beyond whether or not PA needs reform, we arrive back at the issue that the politics of the Palestinian territories should be decided by the Palestinian people. Let the democracy loving west show the world how much they truly love that democracy and allow democracy to make a choice.
Economic Zones Without Sovereignty
An economic zone will be created, we are told, to spur growth. But who controls it? If Palestinians don’t, then it’s just another neoliberal trap, an enclave for investors, not a foundation for self-determination. This, I suspect is the financial reimbursement that Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, promised a little over a week ago.
“Voluntary” Displacement
The plan assures that no one will be “forced” to leave Gaza, but that those who wish to can do so freely. This is a dangerous and transparent loophole.
With the right incentives, or the right pressures, “voluntary” quickly becomes coerced displacement. We know that most of the Israeli government have made public statements supporting the idea of mass displacement from Gaza, so why are we rewarding these terrorists with the chance to follow through with their crimes?
Trump Already Doesn’t Believe It
During the announcement, Trump claimed Israel “gave up access to the sea in 2005,” insisting that the Israeli pullback from Gaza robbed them of access to the sea.
The implication is obvious, right? That Israel still considers Gaza’s coast its own, and Trump agrees. They do not see this as a plan that will result in Gaza being a territory owned by the people of Gaza, they see this as a plan that will reward Israel with some extra coastline.
This is not a peace plan. It’s scumbag diplomacy with aid dangled as a reward, true sovereignty denied, and a genocidal military campaign rewarded for committing some of the worst crimes the world has seen in decades. Netanyahu says if Hamas doesn’t accept, Israel will “finish the job,” promising to complete the disgusting Genocide if they are not given this reward.
Gaza under this plan is not an area that will bring peace, because it allows the most violent actors in the area to have full control. Real peace requires justice, accountability, and equal treatment. None of that is found here, and it never has been during the era of Israel.