Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace’s high representative for Gaza, on Tuesday laid out five points intended to ensure the implementation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which calls for the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of the devastated Strip.
During an address to the U.S. Security Council, Mladenov noted that the “Comprehensive Plan,” whose mechanism was not revealed until now, was agreed to by all guarantor states—the United States, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar.
The aim of the plan is to implement the principle of “one authority, one law, and one weapon,” which applies to all armed groups in the Gaza Strip, including the “irregular armed formations that have emerged on the ground,” he continued, alluding to new armed organizations that have been confronting Hamas’s grip on power in the enclave.
• The first point stipulates a simultaneous demilitarization process alongside the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from the eastern part of Gaza.
• The second demands “addressing” weapons such as rockets, heavy munitions, explosive devices and assault rifles, as well as neutralizing tunnels.
“Personal weapons are addressed later, through a registration and collection process,” Mladenov said.
• The third point states that verification of the “decommissioning stages” will be required to launch reconstruction efforts.
• Fourthly, the plan proposes pathways for those affiliated with terrorist groups to reenter “civilian life with dignity,” the envoy added.
• Lastly, Mladenov said that his office maintains the flexibility of the timelines to execute the plan, “because the reality on the ground does not always conform to the timelines on paper.”
As for how the plan benefits Israel, Mladenov said that “Only verified decommissioning, combined with a new professional police force exercising full control over the use of force, and a civilian administration with a stake in stability and focused on reforms, eliminates [the terrorist] threat permanently.”
He added that while some argue that only military force can dismantle the Gazan terrorist groups, “the evidence of the last 20 years says the opposite.”
The high representative for Gaza stressed that any solution to end the conflict requires “a concerted effort to challenge the ideologies that fuel violence” and must be rooted in the recognition of the rights of both peoples.
