Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent critics, is urging the international community to support his plan for Gaza, arguing that despite its flaws it represents the only realistic path towards reconstruction, stability and an eventual political settlement.
In an opinion essay published in the Financial Times on Thursday, Ms Clinton warned that growing international scepticism towards the Trump administration’s 20-point Gaza framework and the Board of Peace initiative risks creating a dangerous “diplomatic paralysis” at a moment when no credible alternative exists.
“There is no alternative framework waiting in the wings,” Ms Clinton wrote. “The 20-point plan is not the one many of us would have drafted, but it remains the only framework backed by sufficient leverage, political engagement and potential resources to move the parties towards implementation.”
The Board of Peace was initially conceived as a mechanism to oversee a ceasefire in Gaza and co-ordinate the enclave’s reconstruction after the war between Israel and Hamas. It grew out of the US President’s 20-point Gaza plan, which the UN Security Council endorsed with a two-year mandate in November last year.
“Without such a plan, the crisis in Gaza will only deteriorate,” she wrote, warning that “with Hamas retaining both political and practical influence over a devastated population through armed actors, local administrative structures, aid distribution networks and access to basic goods and services.”
She added that another generation of children was at risk of growing up amid "rubble, fear and hopelessness".
"There will be no security for Israel. No viable path to Palestinian self-determination,” she said.
Ms Clinton acknowledged that many governments remain wary of the Board of Peace initiative and the Trump administration's Gaza plan, citing concerns over Palestinian governance, political sequencing and reliance on a US-led framework at a time of declining confidence in American leadership.
“Many are understandably sceptical of an approach so closely associated with Donald Trump,” she wrote. “I understand that scepticism and share some of it. Yet if even I, an implacable opponent of President Trump, can accept that this is the best option in a terrible situation, then surely others can, too?”
She urged Europe, regional powers and the broader international community to engage with the plan despite its shortcomings, stating that “disengagement will not produce a more acceptable alternative” and warning that continued inaction would only deepen the crisis in Gaza.
At a UN Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday, UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher echoed Ms Clinton’s warning.
He said conditions in Gaza had improved modestly since the ceasefire, with the rate of denied UN humanitarian missions falling from 31 per cent to 11 per cent.
But Mr Fletcher warned that the gains remained limited and fell short of the broader goals outlined in the Security Council resolution and the 20-point plan.
“The attention of the world has been elsewhere,” he said. “The agreement between the United States and Iran and the hopes for an urgent and vital ceasefire in Lebanon should return this Council’s sustained attention to the reality in Gaza, and to the patient, courageous work that lies ahead.”
He urged Security Council members to throw their full support behind implementation of UN Resolution 2803, including a lasting ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas and the establishment of civilian leadership in Gaza.
