Watch Webinar – A Better Future for Gaza? Challenges, Risks, and Opportunities for the Gaza Roadmap
Click here to read transcript.
Almost three years after the devastating October 7, 2023, attack, the Board of Peace announced that Hamas had agreed to give up its weapons and relinquish any role in Gaza’s governance and security. The achievement of a deal with Hamas was shared by President Donald Trump on July 30, who wrote that “the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza.”
Yet the Board of Peace’s Roadmap for moving to Phase II of Trump’s Comprehensive Plan for Gaza also calls for Israel’s eventual full military withdrawal from the territory. Its text is at best ambiguous as to whether Israel’s phased withdrawals should begin before or after Hamas is completely disarmed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top spokesman said on August 3 that Israel has shared a number of “serious security concerns” with the White House over the agreement. In addition, how the deal will be implemented is far from clear. Hamas under stress has long dangled cooperation in a bid to relieve pressure and gain time, only to breach its commitments. It almost certainly will seek to do so again.
To assess the deal, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, JINSA hosted a webinar featuring JINSA Distinguished Fellow IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror, Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Ahmed Alkhatib, and JINSA Randi & Charles Wax Senior Fellow John Hannah.
JINSA Research Associate, Rena Gabber, moderated the discussion.
IDF MG (ret.) Yaakov Amidror IDF Major General (ret.) Yaakov Amidror is a Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy Distinguished Fellow. General Amidror was formerly the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Israel, as well as the head of the National Security Council, from 2011-2013. |
Ahmed Alkhatib Ahmed Alkhatib is a Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs and leads Realign for Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse and develops a new policy framework for rejuvenated pro-Palestine advocacy. |
John Hannah John Hannah is JINSA’s Randi & Charles Wax Senior Fellow. He served as former Vice President Dick Cheney’s National Security Advisor from 2005-2009 and as Vice President Cheney’s Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East from 2001-2005. |
Rena Gabber Rena Gabber is a Research Associate for JINSA Senior Fellow John Hannah. She formerly worked as a Research Assistant at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, focusing on Arab-Israel relations. |