Then there is the issue of governance.<\/p>\n
Who will run Gaza, if not Hamas, which came to power after winning Palestinian elections almost exactly 20 years ago?<\/p>\n
Who will provide policing, security, schools, hospitals?<\/p>\n
For more than a year now, there has been the idea that some sort of International Stabilization Force could provide security in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Egypt, Turkey, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as the West Bank-based, Palestinian Authority, have all been suggested as potential countries that would make up this force.<\/p>\n
But none have committed and, again, the detail is unclear.<\/p>\n
Anyone seen as “riding in on the back of Israeli tanks” is likely to meet a frosty reception from Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Under Trump’s peace plan, Gaza will supposedly have three levels of governance.<\/p>\n
As the lowest level, the strip will be run by a new government of technocrats made up of figures from civil society within Gaza.<\/p>\n
The names of its members were announced on Wednesday, with Hamas having agreed to have no role in the government.<\/p>\n
Above that will be an Executive Committee based outside Gaza to oversee the new government’s work.<\/p>\n
It is likely to be made up of non-Palestinians, with former British prime minister Tony Blair said be among those who will sit on the committee.<\/p>\n
Blair is widely distrusted by Palestinians, being seen as too close to Israel, and for his role, alongside former US president George W Bush, in the second Iraq War launched in 2003.<\/p>\n
Finally, above the Executive Committee will be the Board of Peace, with Trump as its chairman.<\/p>\n
The current British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are rumoured to be among the board’s proposed members.<\/p>\n
Many Palestinians say having foreigners in effect running Gaza smacks of colonialism.<\/p>\n
The question is: do they have a choice?<\/p>\n
And all the while, the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains utterly bleak.<\/p>\n
Since the ceasefire was announced last October, more aid has been allowed into the strip, but aid agencies say it is still nowhere near enough.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans remain homeless and are living in makeshift tents.<\/p>\n
The last few months in the region has seen grim winter weather, with torrential rain, high winds and temperatures below 5C (41F).<\/p>\n
Gaza has experienced severe flooding, with buildings collapsing and tents blown away.<\/p>\n
Most children have had little or no education for more than two years.<\/p>\n
What does the future hold for them?<\/p>\n
So, while phase two of the peace plan may seem like progress, there remain many reasons for pessimism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Then there is the issue of governance. Who will run Gaza, if not Hamas, which came to power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-239460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}