ANY peace plan for Gaza must treat Palestinians and Israelis as equals, Christian Aid said this week, after the White House published a 20-point plan for the future of Gaza.
Presented by President Trump at a joint press conference with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday, the plan includes interfaith dialogue “to try and change mindsets and narratives of Palestinians and Israelis by emphasising the benefits that can be derived from peace”.
Christian Aid’s head of Middle East policy and advocacy, William Bell, said that the Palestinian people must be “active participants in peace, not bystanders”. He said that a sustainable peace would not be possible until the end of “the occupation of all Palestinian territory, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem”.
He called for “full accountability”, and for Palestinians and Israelis to be “treated as equals”.
Mr Bell welcomed aspects of the plan, including the commitment to interfaith dialogue, the release of hostages, and an immediate ceasefire.
At the time of going to press, the plan had yet to be agreed by Hamas, but reports suggested that the group’s response could be communicated to mediators as early as Wednesday.
On Tuesday, BBC News reported that a senior figure in Hamas expected the group to reject the plan, which would involve their handing over all weapons to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
Under the terms of the peace plan, Hamas will be barred from having any part in the governance of Gaza. Instead, an international “board of peace”, chaired by President Trump and including the former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, would oversee the governance of Gaza “until such time as the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program”.
On unveiling the plan, President Trump said that, if Hamas rejected the proposals, he would give Israel his “full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas”.
The plan suggests that, with a redeveloped Gaza and reformed Palestinian Authority, “the conditions may finally be in place or a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”
Mr Netanyahu, however, rejects the idea of Palestinian statehood. This week, a spokesperson for the Israeli government said that it was “a disgrace for Britain” that the UK Government had recognised Palestine as a state (News, Comment 26 September).
“The Labour Party chooses to embrace Hamas and fully adopt its lies, including the fake genocide campaign,” the spokesperson said. The UK Government’s official position is that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza does not amount to genocide, contrary to the conclusions of a UN commission (News, 19 September) and the International Association of Genocide Scholars (News, 5 September).
The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, took part in a vigil outside the Senedd on Wednesday of last week, calling for peace in the Middle East. The demonstration was organised in conjunction with several faith organisations, including Friends of the Holy Land, Tearfund, and the Roman Catholic aid agency CAFOD.
Archbishop Vann said: “We are here to pray for peace. We are here to urge the Welsh Government, along with the UK Government and governments around the world, to press as hard as they can for a peaceful resolution.”
