Donald Trump has finally unveiled what can only be described as the Netanyahu/Dermer plan — a blueprint to impose surrender and entrench the Israeli reality on Gaza, effectively liquidating the Palestinian cause. It comes dressed with the deceptive title of “ending the war” and Trump’s usual flair for grand phrases about historic achievements in peace that simply do not exist.
What makes this plan even more dangerous is not only its Israeli origin but the Arab and Islamic cover it has already received. Trump secured this by meeting with leaders and representatives of eight Arab and Muslim states on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly in New York. During the writing of this article, the foreign ministers of these states even issued a joint statement declaring:
“The ministers affirmed their readiness to cooperate positively and constructively with the United States and the concerned parties to finalise the agreement and ensure its implementation, guaranteeing peace, security, and stability for the peoples of the region.”
Thus, the Netanyahu/Dermer plan has been rebadged as an “Arab and Muslim plan” under the name of President Donald Trump. This places Palestinian resistance in direct confrontation not only with the Zionist entity but also with Arab and Muslim governments — even though the only true confrontation is with the genocidal state of “Israel.”
The plan demands the immediate handover of all Israeli captives within 72 hours, granting the occupation complete freedom to continue its military rampage. Netanyahu is then handed a major political victory at home. After that, no binding timetable or guarantees exist — the only fixed deadline is the delivery of Israeli captives. The withdrawal map secures for “Israel” a buffer zone inside Gaza. Meanwhile, a Palestinian committee — appointed by the United States — would administer the Strip in full coordination with Israel under international supervision led by the US and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
This supervision would guarantee not only the surrender of the resistance and the handover of its weapons, but also the dissolution of its very identity, with demands for Palestinians to apologise to “Israel.” All matters related to withdrawal would remain at Israel’s discretion, contingent on whether it deemed Gaza sufficiently disarmed and the international “trusteeship forces” adequate. In reality, this gives Israel an open license to continue assassinations, bombings, and raids — exactly as it does in Lebanon and Syria.
The plan makes no mention of the Palestinian Authority, meaning the administrative body imposed under US-Israeli guardianship would be stripped of national identity or political project. This is precisely the vision of Israel’s far-right: erasing Palestinian political representation altogether. It is, in effect, the official burial of the Oslo Accords and the creation of a new political reality — one of indefinite international trusteeship with no pathway towards Palestinian self-determination or independence. In fact, Trump openly acknowledged Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state.
Equally telling, the plan avoids any mention of Israel’s ongoing settlement and annexation projects in the West Bank. These are not only being implemented on the ground but also codified in Israeli law, converting settlements from being under military jurisdiction to being fully civilianised annexations — a blatant violation of international law.
For Netanyahu, this plan is an opportunity to reinvent himself before his domestic audience, prolong the war under new pretexts (“disarmament,” “efficiency of international forces,” “compliance of the Palestinian committee”), and absorb global outrage at Israel’s genocidal policies. By framing the plan as a “peace effort,” Israel seeks to rehabilitate its international image. While the resistance has rejected what is essentially a call for its own dissolution, the cover for genocide this time comes from Arab and Muslim capitals. The burden of blame is shifted onto the resistance for refusing a plan designed to erase them and the Palestinian cause itself.
The horrors unleashed upon Gaza, and the miraculous steadfastness of its resistance in the face of genocide, could have been leveraged by Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims to forge a new political reality — one that ended the massacre and strengthened the Palestinian position. Instead, most Arab and Muslim governments waited for the “final blow” against Gaza’s resistance. When Israel failed to achieve this quickly, they rushed to provide it with a political escape route — giving Israel everything it wanted while placing the blame for continued bloodshed on the resistance.
Thus, the tens of thousands of martyrs, the displacement of Gaza’s entire population, the total destruction of the Strip, the steadfastness of its fighters, international legal proceedings, and Israel’s growing isolation — all of it has been turned to Netanyahu’s advantage.
Meanwhile, the official Arab and Islamic stance remains complicit in whitewashing genocide and weaponising resistance steadfastness to serve the Zionist project. Arab media now promotes Trump as the man “imposing peace” on Netanyahu, as though his record since first entering the White House — moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognising it as Israel’s capital, and acknowledging Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights — was not clear evidence that Washington under his leadership is nothing more than an enforcer of Israeli agendas. Shockingly, some intellectuals and writers who once supported the resistance have now joined in marketing Netanyahu’s plan, whether overtly or subtly.
This American-imposed, Israeli-authored, Arab-and-Muslim-covered plan comes at a symbolic moment: the anniversary of the late Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, former Secretary-General of Hezbollah. On this occasion, some Arabs and Muslims insult the very man and movement who stood firmly with Palestinians — until the very end — in a battle that many in the Arab and Muslim world abandoned.
Whatever the outcome of this plan — whether it is implemented or rejected by Hamas, or expanded into broader decision-making frameworks — the responsibility for its consequences lies squarely on those who betrayed Gaza, conspired against its people, and squandered the historic opportunity for Arabs and Muslims to reclaim agency and dignity after decades of absence.
