The person who is most responsible for the attacks on October 7 is Donald Trump. It was Trump who launched the so-called Middle East Peace Plan that allowed for the “unilateral annexation of the Jordan River valley and existing settlements” in the West Bank.
Just as it was Trump who decided to move the US embassy to Jerusalem which effectively recognized the city as Israel’s capital. “Then on March 25, 2019”—according to veteran journalist Joe Lauria—“Trump recognized Israel’s illegal 1981 annexation of Syria’s Golan Heights” in violation of UN Resolution 242. Even Israel’s most ardent supporters, like the New York Times, were aghast at the sheer magnitude of Trump’s giveaway. Here’s what they said in an article in February, 2020:
President Trump on Tuesday unveiled his long-awaited Middle East peace plan with a flourish, releasing a proposal that would give Israel most of what it has sought over decades of conflict while offering the Palestinians the possibility of a state with limited sovereignty. Mr. Trump’s plan would guarantee that Israel would control a unified Jerusalem as its capital and not require it to uproot any of the settlements in the West Bank that have provoked Palestinian outrage and alienated much of the world.…
under the plan, those Palestinians would find themselves virtually encircled by an expanded Israel and living within convoluted borders reminiscent of a gerrymandered congressional district….
the Palestinians…. would not have a standing military and would be required to meet other benchmarks overseen by the Israelis, including a renunciation of violence and the disbandment of militant groups like Hamas…
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority immediately denounced the plan as a “conspiracy deal”unworthy of serious consideration, making the decades-long pursuit of a so-called two-state solution appear more distant than ever. “We say a thousand times over: no, no, no,” Mr. Abbas said on Tuesday in Ramallah, in the West Bank.. Trump Releases Mideast Peace Plan That Strongly Favors Israel, New York Times
Keep in mind, Palestinian leaders were never consulted on the plan that was largely crafted by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his fanatical colleagues. As a result, the final copy is little more than an Israeli wish-list that garners the Trump administration’s blessing while sabotaging any prospect of a two-state solution. As one critic from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said, “Front-loading the annexation (of land in the West Bank) reaffirms the worst fears that this is more an annexation plan than a peace plan.”
Diana Buttu, a former Palestinian Authority spokeswoman, tweeted: “Netanyahu is clear: Trump is the first world leader to say it is alright for Israel to steal land.” NYTimes
President Donald J. Trump, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan signs the Abraham Accords Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020, on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
But the Peace Plan was just the first of Trump’s attempts to torpedo Palestinian aspirations. The second, was Trump’s Abraham Accords that were designed to normalize relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors while marginalizing the Palestinian cause. Prior to the Abraham Accords, (which were the handiwork of Jared Kushner) Arab countries were expected to eschew diplomatic normalization with Israel until Israel had taken steps to comply with the central tenets of the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 which required the following:
1– Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
2– Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194.
3– The acceptance of the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
(After which, the Arab countries would) Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace…. enabling the Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighbourliness and provide future generations with security, stability and prosperity. Arab Peace Initiative 2002
Trump’s Abraham Accords were a way of sidestepping the requirements of the Arab Peace Initiative by consummating bilateral agreements that made no such demands. And the scheme worked, too. From 2000-on, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan all signed the Accords strengthening their economic and diplomatic ties with Israel while gradually integrating Israel into the broader Middle East region. At the same time, Israel continued to settle more Palestinian land on the West Bank while tightening its blockade of Gaza. Bottom line: The Abraham Accords were an effective way to “disappear” the Palestinian issue altogether while exempting Israel of any duty to implement UN resolutions or loosen the grip of its long-term military occupation. Naturally, the Palestinians saw this as an existential threat to their future as a people, a culture and a civilization. This is from an article at Aljazeera:
(The signing of the Abraham Accords) was “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people”, Ahmad Majdalani, social affairs minister in the Palestinian Authority (PA), told AFP news agency.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Bahrain’s decision to normalise relations with Israel “represents a grave harm to the Palestinian cause, and it supports the occupation”.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), based in Ramallah, occupied West Bank, called the normalisation “another treacherous stab to the Palestinian cause”.
Palestinians fear the moves by the UAE and Bahrain will weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position that calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries. ‘Stab in the back’: Palestinians condemn Israel-Bahrain deal, Aljazeera
So—as far back as 2020—we can see that Hamas understood they faced a serious threat to their collective survival that had to be countered. That initial reaction evolved into the expansive military operation that was launched on October 7. Here’s how Hamas reacted at the time (2021). This is from News i24:
Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh says ‘We must have an integrated plan to bring down normalization’…. A senior leader in Hamas’ political wing urged on Thursday that the group must fight against the normalization agreements which neighboring states established with Israel.
Last year’s Abraham Accords brought a series of agreements between Israel and other nations in the region, where states agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with the country.
Hamas Political Bureau Charmain Ismail Haniyeh spoke out against the deals during a conference in Istanbul, Turkey, and called to take action to undermine them….“We must have an integrated plan to bring down normalization, which, unfortunately, has taken the character of military and security alliances with some countries,” he announced, according to a press release on Hamas’ website. Hamas calls for ‘plan’ to undermine Israel’s Abraham Accords, i24 News
Not surprisingly, President Joe Biden blabbed the truth about October 7 in a press conference just days after the attacks. His comments have been largely scrubbed by the media, but they can still be found in an article by Politico posted on October 21, 2023. Here’s what he said:
President Joe Biden said that Hamas’ attacks on Israel were intended in part to scuttle the potential normalization of the U.S. ally’s relations with Saudi Arabia.
“One of the reasons Hamas moved on Israel … they knew that I was about to sit down with the Saudis,” Biden said at a campaign event Friday night, according to pool reports. “Guess what? The Saudis wanted to recognize Israel,” the president added…. The normalization push began under former President Donald Trump’s administration and was branded as the Abraham Accords. Biden says Hamas attacks aimed to halt Israel-Saudi Arabia agreement, Politico
Is that an admission that Trump’s normalization policy provoked October 7?
It is.
Hamas saw the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia as the final nail in the coffin of a two-state solution. They understood that once the Saudis normalized relations with Israel—due to security and economic inducements provided by the US—Israel would be free to expand the settlements, strengthen the occupation or even expel the Palestinians from the country altogether. There would be nothing to stop them from asserting control over all the territory from the river to the sea. In short, Trump’s Abraham Accords forced Hamas to concoct a strategy that would be explosive enough to derail Washington’s normalization project. The plan they settled on was October 7. The rest is history. Here’s a brief recap from an article at The Intercept:
The de facto premise behind the accords, initiated under former President Donald Trump and led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, was to “solve” the Israel–Palestine conflict by simply ignoring the Palestinians and treating their conditions as irrelevant. This weekend’s events show that this approach, premised on Palestinian invisibility, has now collapsed. Indeed, t he expectation that Palestinians would simply resign themselves to a slow death, an assumption evidently carried forth by Biden, was never realistic….
Under Biden, the U.S. has devoted little effort to seeking even tactical détente, let alone peace, between Israel and the Palestinians, preferring instead to continue the Trump administration’s approach of ignoring the Palestinians to seek quid pro quo diplomatic deals between Israel and foreign Arab and Muslim countrieswith whom Israel has no direct conflict.
Even as the massive bloodshed began around Gaza this week, with Hamas militants massacring Israeli civilians and Israel apparently indiscriminately bombing the Gaza Strip, the administration has rushed to try and salvage its approach to the region. The New York Times reported on Sunday that top Biden aides were scrambling to “reaffirm their commitment to the idea of potential normalization of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.” This shoddy simulacrum of real diplomacy — which inevitably requires resolving tough differences between enemies — has now collided with horrifying reality in Gaza and southern Israel. Biden Doubled Down on the Abraham Accords — to “Devastating Consequences”, Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept
It doesn’t take a genius to connect the dots linking the Trump Peace Plan, the Abraham Accords and the October 7 attacks. The three are inseparable. Trump’s Zionist-friendly policies have backfired catastrophically triggering a genocide in Gaza and likely plunging the entire Middle East into a regional war.
Trump is every bit as responsible for the ongoing bloodbath as his accomplice, Benjamin Netanyahu.
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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.
Michael Whitney is a renowned geopolitical and social analyst based in Washington State. He initiated his career as an independent citizen-journalist in 2002 with a commitment to honest journalism, social justice and World peace.
He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
Featured image: President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk along the Colonnade, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, back to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Shealah D. Craighead)
