Edinburgh , Donald Trump’s Board of Peace published a 15-point roadmap for Gaza in late July in which Hamas would hand its weapons to a committee of Palestinian technocrats, certified by an international verification body, and Israel would withdraw from the strip in phases. After Israel officially rejected the plan on August 9, US envoy Jared Kushner flew to the Egyptian coast to meet Hamas representatives.
A follow-up mechanism was announced by Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, alongside the deal rather than written into it. The guarantors – the US, Egypt and Qatar – were asked only to work towards continued negotiation. Guarantors were given the ability to log issues, but not enforce the agreement. Nobody was appointed to judge when either has happened. However, the phased withdrawal of Israeli troops the roadmap had promised has now been reversed. Verification of this disarmament has also shifted from a multilateral committee to an American general.
On August 17, the Board of Peace assured the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that Israeli forces would not move out of Gaza until disarmament of Hamas was complete.
It said nothing about who sits on the body, including women, who appear in the agreement only in relation to prisoners and hostages. Under the UN resolution, statehood becomes possible once reform of the Palestinian Authority, which was created in 1994 as an interim administration for Gaza and the West Bank, is “faithfully carried out” and redevelopment in Gaza “has advanced”.
