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The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today said that it was “hopeful” that the cycle of war and destruction surrounding Gaza could at last be broken in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s offer for the US to take a lead role in rebuilding Gaza at his meeting with Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu overnight. However, AIJAC also expressed strong concern over any hint that the US President is suggesting forcibly evacuating Gazans from the area.

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “President Trump’s offer for the US to take leadership over the reconstruction of Gaza could be important not only in its own right, but especially if they are part of a larger US effort to rethink and reshape stale old approaches to the region that have led to nothing but repeated cycles of death, destruction and suffering.

“After every past war in Gaza, ceasefires have left Hamas in control there. It has then taken advantage of reconstruction efforts to re-establish its military infrastructure, and then attacked Israel again when it’s ready – leading to it all being destroyed again. What is needed is some of the fresh thinking and willingness to overturn entrenched assumptions that led to the breakthrough Abraham Accords in 2020. Hopefully, President Trump is seeking to provide the sort of fresh approach that is needed, and AIJAC is hopeful this can lead to better outcomes for both Israelis and Palestinians.

“However”, Dr Rubenstein added, “the details of Mr Trump’s proposals are still not fully developed, and some of them are controversial and potentially quite problematic, so we reserve judgement on those propositions until more specifics become available.

“Obviously, Mr Trump’s most controversial idea is in regards to the relocation of Gazans to facilitate rebuilding there – a process that is indeed going to be very complicated and difficult, given the remaining Hamas tunnels as well as booby traps and unexploded ordinance, and Hamas’ tradition of stealing aid. However, any move to forcibly evacuate Gazans – as some of Mr Trump’s comments seem to suggest – should be unthinkable and if that is any part of Mr Trump’s plans, this idea should be dropped immediately.

“On the other hand, his demands that Arab states agree to provide a safe haven for Palestinian refugees from Gaza – who leave voluntarily – during reconstruction, does have merit. These demands greatly increase the pressure on the Arab states to end their destructive past policy of backing the Palestinian ‘cause’ for instrumental reasons, while doing nothing to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people. If the Arab states can be persuaded to stop their long tradition of keeping Palestinians in refugee limbo forever as a weapon against Israel, and actually contribute to helping Palestinians have better lives – both in a future demilitarised Palestinian state and elsewhere – this would go a long way toward overcoming past roadblocks to a lasting peace.

“Furthermore, to the extent that these proposals form part of a recognition that a major and dramatic restructuring and deradicalistion of Palestinian culture and governance – a de-Hamasification, if you will – is needed to finally facilitate a lasting two-state resolution, then these impulses are also positive.

“Mr Trump’s moves to end US funding of the consistently destructive and irreformable UNRWA and withdraw from the hopelessly biased UN Human Rights Council – which has long facilitated and abetted Palestinian rejectionism and intransigence – can also be seen as part and parcel of such transformative efforts. The same can be said about Trump’s promise to resume ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran – which funds, inspires, arms, and provides political patronage to virtually all Palestinian rejectionism and terrorism.

“It’s obviously very early days, much could still go wrong, many details are very unclear – and as noted above, any proposed forcible evacuation of Gazans must be a non-starter. However, aspects of the fresh US approach being flagged by Mr Trump do provide some reason to hope that the current calcified and toxic status quo can finally be overcome, and rapid progress toward peace between Israel and all its neighbours, including the Palestinians, can yet be possible in the not too distant future,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.