[1]
By John Helmer, Moscow
@bears_with [2]
Last week (October 2 [3]) at the Valdai Club conference in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin (lead image, left) responded to a question from an Iranian about the war in Gaza and President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza which had been released two days earlier in Washington.
“About Trump’s Gaza plan,” Putin replied [4], “you know, it will probably come as a surprise to you, but on the whole, Russia is ready to support him. If, of course, as we have to look carefully at the proposals made, it will lead to the final goal, which we have always talked about. Russia has always advocated the creation of two states: Israel and a Palestinian state, starting in 1948 and then in 1974, when the relevant UN Security Council resolution was adopted. And this, in my opinion, is the key to a final solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
Claiming he had not “looked at this proposal so carefully yet”, Putin enumerated his questions: “First: How long will this international administration work? How and to whom will power be transferred later? As far as I understand, this plan outlines the possibility of transferring power to the Palestinian Authority. In my opinion, it would be better, of course, to put everything under the control of President [Mahmoud] Abbas and the current Palestinian administration. It may be difficult for them to resolve the security issues. But so far as I can imagine, my colleagues, with whom I spoke on this topic today, envisage the possibility of transferring control over the Gaza Strip, including to the local militia, to ensure security. Is this bad? In my opinion, this is a good thing.”
“We need to understand, I repeat, how long the international administration will manage there, in what time frame it is supposed to transfer both civil power and security issues, which is very important. And, in my opinion, this should definitely be supported. We are talking about freeing all the hostages held by Hamas, on the one hand, and releasing a significant number of Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Here, too, we need to understand how many Palestinians, whom, and at what time can we release them? And of course, you know, the most important question is: how does Palestine feel about this? That’s exactly what you need to understand. And the countries of the region, the entire Islamic world, and Palestine itself, the Palestinians themselves, including, of course, Hamas… Of course, Israel’s attitude towards this is also important. We don’t know yet either: how did Israel take it? I do not even know of any public statements on this subject, I just did not have time to look at it. But it’s not even public statements that are important, but in fact how the Israeli leadership will treat this, whether it will fulfill everything that the President of the United States has proposed. There are a lot of questions [4].”
Putin was skeptical of the role in a Gaza supervisory authority known as the “Board of Peace” (BOP) proposed by Trump for former UK prime minister Tony Blair. Hinting at Blair’s roles in initiating the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Putin said “he’s not known as a great peacemaker, but I know him personally. Moreover, I visited him, spent the night at his house, we had coffee in our pyjamas in the morning, and so on…He is a man with his own views, but he is an experienced politician. And in general, of course, if his activities, his experience, and his knowledge are directed towards a peaceful course, then he can play some positive role.”
The next day, October 3, the Hamas leadership issued a 5-paragraph reply [5] to Trump.
This was amplified in a detailed response to the Trump plan in a 21-minute interview broadcast by Al-Arabiya [6], the Saudi state television channel based in Riyadh. Osama Hamdan (lead image, right), a veteran Palestinian diplomat, advisor to and spokesman for Hamas, answered each of Putin’s questions, and more.Watch and if need be, turn on the English auto-translate function at the Youtube setting [7].
Hamdan rejects any role for the foreign “board of peace”, proposed by Trump in his plan, and any role as a foreign overseer or viceroy for Blair, whether in his pyjamas or out of them.
This was Trump’s 20-point plan issued on September 29: https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1972726021196562494 [8]
Four days later, on October 3, Trump announced [9]: “As retribution for the October 7th attack on civilization, more than 25,000 Hamas ‘soldiers’ have already been killed. Most of the rest are surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished. As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed. I am asking that all innocent Palestinians immediately leave this area of potentially great future death for safer parts of Gaza. Everyone will be well cared for by those that are waiting to help. Fortunately for Hamas, however, they will be given one last chance! Great, powerful, and very rich Nations of the Middle East, and the surrounding areas beyond, together with the United States of America, have agreed, with Israel signing on, to PEACE, after 3000 years, in the Middle East. THIS DEAL ALSO SPARES THE LIVES OF ALL REMAINING HAMAS FIGHTERS! The details of the document are known to the WORLD, and it is a great one for ALL! We will have PEACE in the Middle East one way or the other. The violence and bloodshed will stop. RELEASES THE HOSTAGES, ALL OF THEM, INCLUDING THE BODIES OF THOSE THAT ARE DEAD, NOW! An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening [October 5] at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time. Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
Trump followed this after seven hours with the claim [10] that “based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
Eighteen hours later he claimed [11] that “Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing in order to give the Hostage release and Peace Deal a chance to be completed. Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off. I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!”
According to Hamdan, Trump’s 72-hour deadline for the hostage and prisoner release parts of the plan to be finalized is too fast to be realistic. He also said: “I believe the Israelis do not want to reach an agreement, and therefore they are trying to use every possible pretext for that if there is seriousness on the American side and a commitment to what was presented in the Trump plan.” — Min 15:40 [7].