President Trump says he’s nearing a deal to end Israel’s assault on Gaza and the return of Israeli hostages and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. On Monday, Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, where he announced a 20-point “peace plan” for the Gaza Strip. Trump said he fully supports Israel’s goal of “destroying Hamas” unless it accepts the proposal. The plan calls for a postwar Gaza authority secured by an international security force that would gradually replace Israeli troops occupying Gaza. It would split the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. It would sideline key Palestinian political figures and would instead be run by an international body called the “Board of Peace” led by Donald Trump.
The board would also include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. That prompted former U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to write, “Tony Blair’s catastrophic decision to invade Iraq cost thousands upon thousands of lives. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the Middle East, let alone Gaza. It is not up to Blair, Trump or Netanyahu to decide the future of Gaza. That is up to the people of Palestine.”