Jairam Ramesh flags fundamentally disturbing questions as Modi backs Trump’s Gaza plan

“The Trump peace plan for Gaza raises fundamental and disturbing questions that India cannot ignore,” said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on 1 October, Wednesday, criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alacrity in uncritically endorsing the 20-point proposal.

Modi has welcomed the plan to “appease his good friend President Trump” and in solidarity with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, argued the Congress general secretary. However, Ramesh said, the plan fails to address the aspirations and rights of the Palestinian people.

In a post on X, Ramesh asked pointedly,

• Where are the people of Gaza themselves in the system of governance proposed?

• Where is the roadmap for a full-fledged Palestinian state to come into being?

• How much longer will the US and Israel continue to ignore Palestinian statehood — which has already been recognised by 157 member-countries of the UN, with India having led the way in November 1988?

• Where is the accountability for the genocide that has been carried out in Gaza over the past twenty months?

Jairam Ramesh also criticised Modi for maintaining “complete silence on the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza,” calling it extreme moral cowardice and a total betrayal of all that India has stood for.

Observers have widely criticised the Trump plan as being designed to serve Israel’s interests. While it offers Palestinians a temporary ceasefire and allows them to stay in Gaza, the plan gives them little else.

Hamas would have to demobilise, Gaza would be handed to a transitional governing body headed by Trump and administered by Tony Blair, and an international stabilisation force would control security. Even the Palestinian Authority would have no meaningful say, while Israel retains a “security perimeter” and continues to control key aspects of governance.

An analysis in the Hindu said that Trump’s peace plan for Gaza is anything but a peace plan. It is designed for Israel to meet objectives it failed to achieve militarily even after two years of disastrous war in Gaza. The Hindu is not alone in this.

While it offers a brief respite to Palestinians from Israel’s daily violence in the form of a ceasefire and confirms they will not be forced to leave Gaza— a U-turn from Trump’s earlier statement, which Israel’s far right finds unacceptable — these appear to be the only concessions.

Beyond the ceasefire and the permission to stay, the plan offers nothing substantial to Palestinians.

If Hamas accepts the proposal, it will have to demobilise and hand over Gaza to a transitional governing body controlled by a Board of Peace, headed by Trump and administered by Tony Blair. An international stabilisation force would be deployed for security.

In effect, Gaza would be brought under a new colonial-style administration. Even the Palestinian Authority would have no meaningful role. The Board would control funds, the ISF would manage security, and Israel would retain veto power over all decisions.

Israeli troops would remain, in fact, just around the corner — as the plan allows Israel to retain a “security perimeter”. Netanyahu has reiterated all too recently to the United Nations General Assembly that the IDF will not withdraw and that there will be no Palestinian state.

If implemented, then, the Trump plan — which the POTUS believes is Nobel Peace Prize-worthy — would see Hamas demobilised, Gaza placed under a colonial administration, Israeli troops continuing to occupy parts of Gaza, and no Palestinian state established. Moreover, it would help Israel, isolated globally over genocide allegations, reintegrate into the regional milieu.

World leaders, including Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, have welcomed the plan that analysts say was largely constructed to please Trump and for diplomatic reasons, rather than holding any intrinsic merit.

Many observers remain sceptical that it will ever be fully implemented.

Meanwhile, as Hamas’ response to the proposal is awaited, the Global Sumud Flotilla is on its way to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by sea. And Israel has reportedly already attacked it last night... which rather puts a certain interpretation to Netanyahu’s ‘acceptance’ of the ceasefire proposal.