By the people, for the people: A real peace plan must eliminate the colonial scaffolding. It should restore Palestinian sovereignty by addressing the central issue – Palestinian statehood – say the writers. — AFP
US President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan offers some constructive proposals on hostages, humanitarian aid, and reconstruction. Yet it is marred by an unmistakable colonial framework: Gaza is to be overseen by Trump himself, with former British prime minister Tony Blair and other outsiders cast as trustees for Palestinian governance, while Palestinian statehood is deferred indefinitely.
This logic is not new. It repeats the century-long Anglo-American approach to Palestine, beginning with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, when the United Kingdom acquired the Mandate over Palestine, and continuing through successive United States interventions, direct and indirect, in the region since 1945.
A real peace plan must eliminate the colonial scaffolding. It should restore Palestinian sovereignty by addressing the central issue: Palestinian statehood. The plan must empower the Palestinian Authority (PA) by establishing that it holds governance from the outset, that economic planning is exclusively in Palestinian hands, that no external “viceroys” intervene, and that a clear and short timeline is set for Israeli withdrawal and full Palestinian sovereignty by the start of 2026.
Palestinians first: Displaced Palestinians fill up their jerrycans with drinking water from mobile cisterns at the Bureij camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip. — Getty images/AFP
What follows is a truly decolonised alternative – a plan that builds on these principles. It retains the practical elements of Trump’s proposal but removes its colonial underpinnings. It places Palestinians, not foreign “trustees”, at the centre of governance and reconstruction.
Crucially, it aligns with international law, including the 2024 ruling of the International Court of Justice, the recent resolution of the United Nations General Assembly (Unga), and the recognition of Palestine by 157 countries around the world.
This revised plan preserves Trump’s core elements related to the release of hostages, the end of fighting, the withdrawal of the Israeli army, emergency humanitarian relief, and the reconstruction of war-torn Palestine, while eliminating the colonial language and baggage.
Revised 20-point plan with no colonial strings attached:
1. Palestine and Israel will be terror-free countries that do not pose a threat to their neighbours.
2. Palestine will be redeveloped for the benefit of the Palestinians, who have suffered more than enough.
3. If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end. Israeli forces will withdraw to the agreed line to prepare for a hostage release. All military operations will end.
4. Within 72 hours of both sides publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.
5. Once all hostages are released, Israel will release life sentence prisoners plus Palestinians who were detained after Oct 7, 2023.
6. Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommissioning their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.
7. Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip. At a minimum, aid quantities will be consistent with what was included in the Jan 19, 2025, agreement regarding humanitarian aid, including rehabilitation of infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage), rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, and entry of necessary equipment to remove rubble and open roads.
8. Entry of aid and its distribution in the Gaza Strip will proceed without interference from the two parties through the UN and its agencies, and the Red Crescent, in addition to other international institutions not associated in any manner with either party. Opening the Rafah crossing in both directions will be subject to the same mechanism implemented under the Jan 19, 2025, agreement.
9. Palestine, and Gaza as an integral part of it, will be governed by the PA. International advisers may support this effort, but sovereignty lies with the Palestinians.
10. The PA, supported by a panel of Arab-region experts and outside experts as may be chosen by the Palestinians, will develop a reconstruction and development plan. Outside proposals may be considered, but economic planning will be Arab-led.
11. A special economic zone may be established by the Palestinians, with tariffs and access rates negotiated by Palestine and partner countries.
12. No one will be forced to leave any sovereign Palestinian territory. Those who wish to leave may do so freely and return freely.
13. Hamas and other factions will have no role in governance. All military and terror infrastructure will be dismantled and decommissioned, verified by independent monitors.
14. Regional partners will guarantee that Hamas and other factions comply, ensuring that Gaza poses no threat to its neighbours or its own people.
15. Arab and international partners, as per the invitation of Palestine, will deploy a temporary International Stabilisation Force (ISF) beginning Nov 1, 2025, to support and train Palestinian security, in consultation with Egypt and Jordan. The ISF will secure borders, protect the population, and facilitate the rapid movement of goods to rebuild Palestine.
16. Israel will neither occupy nor annex Gaza or the West Bank. Israeli forces will fully withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territory by Dec 31, 2025, as the ISF and Palestinian security establish control.
17. If Hamas delays or rejects the proposal, aid and reconstruction will proceed in areas under ISF and PA authority.
18. An interfaith dialogue process will be established to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence between Pales-tinians and Israelis.
19. The State of Palestine will govern its full sovereign territory as of Jan 1, 2026, in line with the Sept 12 resolution of the Unga and the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice.
20. The US will immediately recognise a sovereign state of Palestine, with permanent UN membership, as a peaceful nation living side by side with the state of Israel.
How our plan differs from the Trump plan:
The revised 20-point plan is not radically different in form from Trump’s. It retains provisions for demilitarisation, humanitarian relief, economic reconstruction, and interfaith dialogue. The main difference lies with Palestinian sovereignty and statehood.
> Palestinian sovereignty and statehood: Trump’s version deferred Palestinian statehood to some indefinite future, contingent on reforms and external approval. The decolonised plan sets firm dates: Israel withdraws by Nov 1, 2025, and Palestine assumes full sovereignty by Jan 1, 2026, 126 years since the Treaty of Versailles.
> Colonial oversight removed: Trump’s proposal created a “Board of Peace” chaired by Trump himself, with Blair as a leading member. The decolonised plan eliminates this, recognising that Palestinians require no foreign viceroys. Governance rests with the Palestinians from day one.
> Economic sovereignty: Trump’s plan announced a “Trump Economic Development Plan” to remake Gaza. The decolonised plan leaves economic planning to the Palestinians, supported by Arab experts, with outside proposals considered only at Palestinian discretion.
> End of Anglo-American trusteeship: Trump cast the US as the guarantor and arbiter of the Palestinian future, with the support of the UK. The decolonised plan explicitly ends this 100-year model, affirming Palestinian and Arab leadership.
For more than a century, Palestinians have been subjected to external colonial control: British Mandate rule, US diplomatic dominance, Israeli occupation, and periodic schemes of trusteeship, as in Trump’s new plan.
From the Balfour Declaration to Versailles to Oslo to Trump’s “Board of Peace”, Palestinians have not been treated as sovereign actors. Our plan corrects that and recognises that the Palestinian people are a nation of enormous talents, and highly educated and experienced experts. They don’t need tutelage. They need sovereignty.
Our revised plan affirms that Palestinians, through their own authority, must finally and at long last govern themselves, make their own economic choices, and chart their own destiny. International actors may advise and support them, but they must not impose their will.
The withdrawal of Israel and the recognition of Palestine’s sovereignty must be fixed and non-negotiable milestones.
A real peace plan must be aligned with international law, including the clear-cut rulings of the International Court of Justice and the UN resolutions.
A real peace plan must be aligned with the overwhelming will of the global community that supports the implementation of the two-state solution.
All parties to the peace plan should subscribe to this framework. This is the moment for honesty, global resolve, and moral clarity.
Only practical steps that implement Palestinian sovereignty and statehood will bring lasting peace.
Jeffrey Sachs is director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, United States. He is also president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and a commissioner of the UN Broadband Commission for Development. Sybil Fares is advisor on the Middle East and Africa for the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
This article was first published on Common Dreams, a reader-supported independent news outlet.
