Irrespective of what Hamas’ decides, Trump’s peace plan is a bitter pill to swallow. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Hamas appears to be cornered in an Arab-endorsed, Netanyahu-Trump Gaza “capitulation” plan. A plan designed to deny the Palestinian people their right to resist occupation, including their most basic right of self-determination. A plan that gives Netanyahu what he couldn’t win after two years of unrelenting battle with the people of Gaza.

In this plan for a ceasefire, Palestinians are given the “option” of remaining in or returning to or leaving Gaza. Hamas is to fully disarm. Their military and their “terror infrastructure” must be “decommissioned”. Their fighters and their leadership must be “deradicalised” and then given “amnesty” if they commit to peace and co-existence with Israel. In return, aid will “surge” into Gaza.

“Progressively”, the IDF will begin the process of handing over Gaza to a transitional government run by a committee of Palestinian technocrats that will be monitored by an international transitional body, the “Board of Peace”. This board of Peace will be headed by Trump himself, assisted by former British prime minister Tony Blair. This, according to Trump, will result in Gaza receiving “many thoughtful investment proposals and exciting development ideas,” thanks to son-in-law Jared Kushner and other vultures in waiting.

With Gaza levelled to the ground, and tens of thousands killed, and a people exhausted from death, destruction and hunger, Hamas cannot afford to be seen as adding misery to the genocide perpetrated against them. Hamas is under significant pressure not to appear to reject the plan outright as deadlier consequences could follow from Trump giving Netanyahu the green light to do as he pleases.

The Palestinian people, cognisant of the Lebanese experience, remain cautious and vigilant. Many observers see Trump’s plan as a road filled with booby traps. In Lebanon, the Israelis asked the Americans and the French to negotiate a ceasefire, to which Lebanon agreed to, but only with American and French guarantees. Israel then reneged on the agreement and now remains in at least five points in southern Lebanon. It is expanding with the intent to erase 27 border villages to build Trump’s economic zone. This, while continuing to bomb, destroy and kill Lebanese citizens on a daily basis. In the meantime, the Americans have washed their hands of the agreement, their guarantees and their responsibilities while the French merely echo Lebanese protests.

For the likes of Blair, the plan is “bold and Intelligent”. For the Australian Government: All parties should “engage seriously with the plan and to work to bring its vision into reality without delay". Here, one is left bewildered as to what happened to the Palestinian state Australia just recognised.

So, what do Palestinian Australians think of Trump’s peace plan? This question was put to 10 Palestinian Australians. The following is a summary of responses received.

KG: Trump’s plan is Israel’s plan to end the Palestinian dream of an independent Palestinian state. In general, Trump’s 21-point plan is a new version of the Deal of the Century. We will continue fighting until we get our independent state …

LAR: Trump’s Gaza plan is the work of a devil. Making everyone complicit. Negotiated with everyone except the Palestinians! Majority of Palestinians are not happy with the complicity of Mahmoud Abbas and his gang. This deal gives Israel what it wants and more! I just spoke to a few people in Gaza, they know they are doomed both ways, in their words “we eat shit if we say no to the deal and we eat shit if we say yes”!

HD: Most of the commitments to the Palestinian side are elastic and unreliable. The commitment not to annex the West Bank is mere ink on paper as long as the US and Israel do not recognise an independent Palestinian state. Ultimately, the initiative primarily serves two people: rescuing Netanyahu from his predicament and adding credit to Trump in his effort to get a Nobel Peace Prize.

HG: The plan is not negotiable. Hamas cannot make comments, amendments, or reject any point of the plan. Gaza will be ruled by foreign forces. The plan has made no reference to the future of Gaza nor stated that this plan is a first step toward establishing a viable independent state.

IS: I am fully against the plan as the US and Israel are not parties to be trusted. And to bring in someone like Blair, who is a war criminal and pro-Zionist, as an administrator makes it clear that the plan is to crush the Palestinians. Under international law, the Palestinians have the right to defend themselves by whatever means, if they hand in their weapons, the resistance is finished.

SB: It’s a staged play. Trump and his administration scripted the deal to satisfy every Israeli demand. Netanyahu walks on stage smiling, he doesn’t have to say “no”. Instead, he is cast as the one making concessions, the “co-operative” actor. Meanwhile, the Palestinian is pushed into the corner of the stage, framed as the sole rejecter. The whole performance is designed to make Israel look reasonable and the Palestinians look guilty.

KC: Trump’s decision is despicable, planned by the criminal Zionist killer Blair and Kushner, with Zionist blessing and funded by Arab and Islamic money. I do not believe that giving up the weapons or handing over the tunnels will serve a ceasefire. I see it instead as surrender and the loss of the cause.

AA: Trump’s latest ceasefire initiative is deeply problematic. While it promises massive humanitarian aid, reconstruction and eventually a vague pathway to self-determination, critics argue it offers no guarantee of real sovereignty or justice for Palestinians, not even a mention of the two-state solution, and may further entrench Israeli security control masked by foreign oversight.

BS: I believe “Trump’s Gaza peace plan” is neither fair nor credible. It has no clear timeline, no binding points, and no accountability, leaving the occupation to continue under the false cover of peace. In reality, it amounts to a new colonisation mandate over Palestine, this time led by the US. Like the old British Mandates. It strips Palestinians of sovereignty and replaces justice with control.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.