Egypt, whose autocratic regime is supposedly a U.S. ally, has drafted a “peace” plan for Gaza that would save Hamas from destruction and reward it for terrorism by granting it a share in a postwar government with the Palestinian Authority.
The plan, reported by the Times of Israel and citing sources in the Saudi media, would proceed in three stages, as follows:
The first stage would be a two-week halt in fighting, extendable to three or four, in exchange for the release of 40 hostages — women, minors and elderly men, especially sick ones.
In return, Israel would release 120 Palestinian security prisoners of the same categories. During this time, hostilities would stop, Israeli tanks would withdraw, and humanitarian aid would enter Gaza.
The second phase would see an Egypt-sponsored “Palestinian national talk” aimed at ending the division between Palestinian factions — mainly the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas terror group — and leading to the formation of a technocratic government in the West Bank and Gaza that would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza and pave the way for Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections.
The third stage would include a comprehensive ceasefire, the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, including soldiers, in return for a to-be-determined number of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails affiliated with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group — including those arrested after October 7 and some convicted of serious terror offenses. In this phase, Israel would withdraw its forces from cities in the Gaza Strip and would allow displaced Gazans from the enclave’s north to return to their homes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin has repeatedly said that Israel will not waver from its goals of eliminating Hamas’s military capability and governing capacity. He has also said that Israel will not allow the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza. The Egyptian plan is therefore a plan for Israel’s effective surrender — just as it is on the verge of destroying Hamas.
However, the plan was not rejected by Israel outright. Moreover, the Times of Israel reported separately that Israel is considering allowing local Hamas leaders, such as Yahya Sinwar, to leave Gaza and go into exile in Qatar.
Egypt’s role in the conflict has come under scrutiny, given the fact that Hamas could only have acquired massive amounts of weaponry if Egypt turned a blind eye to smuggling under the border; and given the fact that Egypt has erected massive barriers on the Gaza border to stop Palestinians from fleeing the conflict.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
