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On Monday, the White House unveiled a 20-point plan to end Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, an announcement that came shortly after President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the Oval Office.
The “deal for peace,” as Trump explained it to reporters at the White House, includes the release of all Israeli hostages within 72 hours, Israel’s “modest withdrawal” from Gaza, and the creation of a new international oversight body, called the Board of Peace, to be headed by Trump and composed of leaders from the Arab world, Israel and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Palestinian Authority, which is led by rivals of Hamas and oversees portions of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, welcomed the announcement and vowed to undertake necessary reforms. Trump said that the war will end if Hamas accepts the plan, but added that Hamas will not play a role in the board or in the future governance of Gaza.
“I’m hearing Hamas wants to get this done,” Trump said. If Hamas rejects the proposal, Trump said he’d given Netanyahu his “full backing to do what you have to do” and “finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.”
Netanyahu said that “Israel will conduct further withdrawals linked to the extent of disarmament and demilitarization, but remain in the security perimeter for the foreseeable future,” adding, “This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. But it will be done.”
Trump said he challenged “the Palestinians to take responsibility for their destiny, because that’s what we’re giving them. We’re giving them responsibility for their destiny.”
Trump’s peace plan comes days after Netanyahu’s speech at the United Nations 80th General Assembly, in which he railed against several Western nations, including the United Kingdom, France and Canada, that recently formally recognized a sovereign Palestinian state. His speech was met with a mass walkout of U.N. delegates.
Reiterating remarks from that speech, Netanyahu on Monday claimed a two-state solution would “be an outcome that would reward terrorism, undermine security, and endanger Israel’s very existence.”
Trump called Netanyahu “a warrior” who “doesn’t know about getting back to a normal way of life,” adding that Israel is “lucky” to have him. For his part, Netanyahu called Trump “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House.”
Neither Trump nor Netanyahu took questions from the media.