Cairo: The United Arab Emirates and seven other countries on Sunday condemned Israel's rejection of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in the Gaza Strip. It comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the 15-point plan for Gaza, stating that no military pullout will happen until Hamas is "genuinely" disarmed.
According to Deutsche Welle, Trump's Board of Peace announced last month that it had reached a deal for the complete disarmament of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. The foreign ministers of the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt issued their joint statement as Trump's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Nickolay Mladenov, Trump's Board of Peace envoy for Gaza, were in Egypt for Gaza ceasefire-related talks.
Countries have backed Trump's Gaza peace road map, which was announced last month as a breakthrough on a 15-point road map aimed at ending the war in the Gaza Strip. The plan, drawn up by his Board of Peace, calls for Israeli troops to withdraw as Hamas gives up its weapons. An international stabilization force would then work alongside a new Palestinian police force to secure Gaza.
"Rejecting the Road Map constitutes an explicit refusal to proceed with the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, and directly threatens to derail the extensive efforts exerted by US President Trump to bring an end to the war in Gaza and establish the conditions for lasting peace," the foreign ministers said in their Sunday statement. They added that such rejection confirms that Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing the efforts to bring peace in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
They called on the Board of Peace and the US "to take immediate and concrete measures within its mandate to uphold the integrity of the Comprehensive Plan and prevent any party from obstructing its implementation."
In related developments, a Hamas delegation has joined ceasefire talks in Cairo. Kushner met Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya on Sunday, according to several news agencies citing unnamed sources. Kushner and Mladenov were in Egypt and met with mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey to discuss the implementation of the deal. He is due to meet Netanyahu on Monday.
Hamas, on July 30, avoided using the term "disarmament" but said it would hand over its weapons to a new Palestinian governing body that would govern Gaza under the supervision of the Board of Peace. The group, designated as a terrorist organization by several countries and the EU, called on mediators and the Board of Peace to "compel" Israel to approve the road map for next steps.
Netanyahu previously stated that Israel remained in talks with Washington despite its objections to the peace plan. "They have ideas; some of them are acceptable to us and some are not, and we know how to stand our ground on these matters," said the Israeli prime minister.
