In the unending cycle of violence, contested statehood, religious fault lines, and great-power realignment in the Middle East, a new element has been added—Donald Trump’s self-styled “big and beautiful” 20-point peace plan for Gaza.
Let me say two things upfront: first, the plan is designed to fail upon implementation, if at all it is implemented; second, it undermines Trump’s Abraham Accords, his signature achievement in his first term.
The key takeaway is clear—the situation in the Middle East is unlikely to change anytime soon, and may get much worse before it gets remotely better.
And for those unwilling to hear me out till the end, the essence of the plan is simple: it seeks harmonising Arab consent for Israel’s open-ended control over Gaza…and in that narrow objective at least, it will likely succeed.