Board of Peace 15-point Gaza ceasefire plan will lead to more war, endanger Israel - opinion

Specifically:

The 15-point plan eliminates the 20-point plan’s requirements to demilitarize Hamas and destroy its tunnels and other terrorist infrastructure – the basic requirements for peace.

Instead, the 15-point plan (Point 8) calls for Hamas to transfer its weapons to itself and its Palestinian brothers and cousins at the so-called National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) – a Palestinian entity consisting of the same Palestinians who pay terrorists to murder Jews, and Hamas terrorists who temporarily remove their uniforms.

Furthermore, the Palestinian NCAG will “store” Hamas’s heavy weapons (rockets, launchers, etc.), weapons, weapons production facilities, tunnels, etc., instead of destroying them; and declares that “no weapons shall be transferred or handed to Israel or non-Palestinian parties.”

In addition, point 9 allows “personal” weapons to be kept according to “Palestinian laws.” In other words, all of Hamas’s weapons and terror infrastructure will continue to be available to Israel’s enemies, who can keep or readily retrieve them from storage to attack innocent Israelis.

Moreover, the 15-point plan conditions even its limited cosmetic transfer of arms on Israeli withdrawal and fulfillment of Israeli and other “commitments.” Hamas has made it clear that it will not implement any weapons-related steps until Israel implements a ceasefire (meaning, does not respond to Hamas’s attacks), withdraws, etc.

All of this rewrites and reverses the initial plan, which contemplated Hamas demilitarization first, prior to any Israeli withdrawals.

The initial 20-point plan stated in point 13 that “All military, terror, and offensive infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon production facilities, will be destroyed and not rebuilt. There will be a process of demilitarization of Gaza under the supervision of independent monitors, which will include placing weapons permanently beyond use through an agreed process of decommissioning.”

The initial 20-point plan (point 16) authorized a longstanding Israeli presence in a security perimeter in Gaza. A security perimeter is absolutely necessary to prevent the October 7 situation of Gaza terrorists massing within a few yards from Israeli communities.

The initial plan thus indicated that Israeli withdrawals would be “save for a security perimeter presence that will remain until Gaza is properly secure from any resurgent terror threat.”

The 15-point plan eliminates any mention of the security perimeter, and instead speaks about “complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” (point 1) and Israel “completing” a phased withdrawal (point 13).

Point one of the initial 20-point plan declared that “Gaza will be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” In addition, to help carry this out, points 18-20 of the initial plan called for dialogue and reforms. Although dialogue and reform are likely inadequate, it was something.

Real deradicalization requires sustained reeducation efforts. Distressingly, the BoP’s 15-point plan makes absolutely no mention of deradicalization, further dooming peace.

The 15-point plan deletes the initial plan’s point 12, that those Gazans “who wish to leave will be free to do so.”

Changes mention that reforms “may” lead to Palestinian statehood into a commitment for a Palestinian (terror) state: the initial 20-point plan (point 19) vaguely mentions that “when the PA reform program is faithfully carried out, the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

The new 15-point plan drastically changed this, and insists that the parties “commit” to “facilitate launching a credible political path that achieves self-determination and Statehood.”

A Palestinian state – especially the non-demilitarized, non-deradicalized one envisioned by the BoP’s 15-point plan – will be a terror state that continues to be committed to Israel’s destruction and the murder of every Jew.

The new 15-point plan (point 2) calls for unilaterally tying Israel’s hands by calling for Israel to “completely, without delay” cease military operations.

By contrast, Hamas is only asked to “complete the cessation of all military operations” – with no timetable mentioned. This enables Hamas to continue its daily attacks on Israeli forces, while insisting that Israel cannot thwart Hamas’s attacks. By contrast, the initial 20-point plan (point 3) called for war to immediately end on all sides.

The new 15-point plan (points 6 and 7) added new provisions (not present in the 20-point plan) calling for NCAG to operate in accordance with, among other things, “Palestinian laws,” and to continue payments to Hamas and Palestinian terrorists.

In sum, the 15-point plan proffered by the Board of Peace is a disaster that enables more terror and more war.