Another Gaza Plan

Much has been made of the Trump plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip and for good reason. It was bold and a new approach to an old problem. But Arab leaders have come with one of their own as we see in a report on it from The Times Of Israel:

Hosting a summit in Cairo on the future of the Gaza Strip, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi stressed on Tuesday that his country’s reconstruction plan would allow Palestinians to remain in the war-torn territory.

They said who would run the area but made it clear that the land will not change hands with to Israel:

He said that independent Palestinian technocrats unaffiliated with Hamas would run the Strip after an end to the war.

“There will be no true peace without the establishment of the Palestinian state,” Sissi said. “It’s time to adopt the launching of a serious and effective political path that leads to a permanent and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause according to the resolutions of international legitimacy.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu already backed the Trump plan which we already know:

The Arab League summit on the territory’s reconstruction came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again gave his full-throated backing to US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate the population of Gaza, calling it “visionary and innovative.”

And this plan is an attempt to have one of their own and resurrect the two-state solution:

Palestinians, along with the Arab world and many allies of Israel and the US, have condemned Trump’s proposal, rejecting any efforts to expel Gazans.

The Egyptian plan, called “Early Recovery, Reconstruction, Development of Gaza,” is based on “preserving the rights, dignity and humanity of the Palestinian people, and on the horizon of a two-state solution.”

Their reasoning assumes that the land isn’t Israel’s any longer:

The Egyptian proposal says it is “illogical” to ignore Palestinians’ desire to remain on their land. It also calls for the continuation of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

The plan conspicuously doesn’t deal with the elephant in the room and that is what to do about Hamas? For their part, Hamas supports the deal as long as they are part of running the place. Trump’s plan very strongly states that Hamas will never be a factor in the rebuilt Gaza Strip. Israel, for its part, states correctly that the Arab summit’s statement and plans are ignoring the reality of the post October 7th world. Trump’s plan does that but these Arab leaders don’t want to be seen or heard supporting Hamas in any form or fashion these days. Behind the scenes I’m certain they are furious with the terrorist group for how they’ve handled things, especially with the hostages, but they hate Israel more.

The Houthi Threat

They’ve been quiet since the ceasefire started, but now they are starting to make noise with the deal falling apart. The Trump administration is ready to handle that threat as we’re told in an article from i24news.tv:

The United States has formally redesignated the Yemeni Houthi movement as a "foreign terrorist organization," according to a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

This announcement is in line with the promise made by President Donald Trump three days after he took office last month. The measure imposes more severe economic sanctions than those applied by Joe Biden's administration to the Iran-aligned group, officially known as Ansar Allah.

The Houthis have been a constant distraction since they decided to support Hamas in their war efforts:

This decision follows the Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and on American warships defending this crucial maritime passage point.

The previous administration lifted the designation, but raised the assignment, but not to the extend Trump’s administration has:

At the beginning of his presidential term in 2021, Biden had removed the terrorist designation applied by Trump during his first term, with the aim of addressing humanitarian concerns in Yemen. Faced with attacks in the Red Sea, Biden had last year designated the group as a "specially designated global terrorist organization". However, his administration had avoided applying the more severe designation of foreign terrorist organization.

This wasn’t a surprising move, but it does come at a time when the terrorists in Yemen are vowing to get active again as we read in an article from the Israel National News:

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, on Friday threatened that the rebels would resume their attacks on Israel if the war in Gaza were to resume.

He went on to note that the entire region is being watched:

"We are constantly monitoring the situation in Gaza and see that the Israeli enemy is evading full commitment to the agreement [with Hamas]. The enemy's evasion of withdrawing from Rafah is a serious violation of the agreement. This is a threat to the Palestinian people and to the Egyptian people, government, and army. We were ready for military intervention when Trump threatened to bring back the war in Gaza if Hamas did not release the hostages," al-Houthi said, as quoted by Ynet.

He also said they’re ready to act now:

Al-Houthi further said, "We must be prepared to act effectively and with force every day, at any time, or in any phase that requires intervention to support the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people, or any nation. We must be ready to confront any attack against our country.”

He then threatened, “We confirm that the resumption of war in Gaza means that the entire entity (Israel), and first and foremost Jaffa, will be under fire. We will intervene and provide support through various military means."

Expect the rebels to once again stir up trouble in the shipping lanes as they did before but also expect a much more aggressive response from the US and other nations who use those lanes. Overall, things are heating up rather than cooling off on all the war fronts.