Malaysian politicians, activists condemn Trump 20-point plan to end Gaza war

PETALING JAYA: A group of Malaysian politicians and activists have slammed US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza conflict as an insult to international law, calling on the global community to reject the proposal.

“Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza is nothing short of an insult to international law, to the memory of the tens of thousands killed, and to the Palestinian people who continue to live under siege.

“After being complicit in a genocide, Washington now proposes ‘redevelopment’ together with Israel, Tony Blair, and other Western allies – a grotesque attempt to repackage colonial control as humanitarian reconstruction,” they said in a statement on Thursday (Oct 2).

The statement’s signatories include PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar, Malaysian Humanitarian Aid And Relief President Jismi Johari, and former Klang MP Charles Santiago.

They said the plan goes by the playbook of destroy, dispossess and rebuild for profit without the participation of the people whose land has been devastated into rubble.

“This plan is not about Gaza’s future; it is about cementing Israeli dominance. By excluding Palestinians from decision-making, it strips them of agency in their own homeland, perpetuating the apartheid logic that views them as a demographic problem to be managed, not as a people with rights,” they added.

Trump had unveiled the 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza, which has been accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The group said Trump’s vision, “edited” by Netanyahu, turns Gaza into a laboratory for neo-liberal experiments, dangling “development” and “jobs” while ignoring the root of the crisis caused by Israel’s decades-long military occupation, blockade, and the systematic denial of Palestinian self-determination.

“Equally troubling is the way this plan erases the political reality that Hamas remains the legitimately elected government of Gaza. One may debate Hamas’ governance record, but that does not erase the fact that Palestinians exercised their democratic right to choose their leadership in 2006: a right systematically denied to them since, and with violence inflicted by Israel,” they said.

Instead, the US and its allies invoke the Oct 7, 2023 attack as permanent justification for collective punishment: the bombing of homes, schools, and hospitals, the killing of children, and the starvation of civilians,” they added.

They said these acts flagrantly contravened the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law.

“And yet Trump’s plan offers no accountability, only business opportunities. By framing Gaza as a “security problem” for Israel and a “development opportunity” for outsiders, the plan deliberately sidesteps the core issue: the right of return for refugees, the end of occupation, and the dismantling of apartheid structures,” they said.

The group said the international community must reject this plan outright, adding that genuine peace requires a radical break from the cycle of militarism and profiteering.

“It requires an immediate, permanent ceasefire to end the ongoing genocide; the lifting of the blockade on Gaza beginning with entry of aid by the flotillas and other friendly entities; international accountability for war crimes committed by Israel and its allies; and recognition of Hamas and other Palestinian political actors as legitimate stakeholders in negotiations, whether or not the West approves of them,” they said.

Nothing less than an equitable solution based on the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people is acceptable. To continue denying Palestinians a seat at the table is to guarantee endless bloodshed.”

The only viable solution is rooted in decolonisation and justice: an end to occupation, the dismantling of apartheid systems, and a political settlement that enshrines equal rights, self-determination, and dignity for Palestinians. Anything less is not peace, but a managed cage,” they added.

As he laid out the 20-point proposal to end the war in Gaza, Trump said this was “potentially one of the greatest days ever in civilisation”.

According to reports, the plan calls for the release of the 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained since the start of the war, in exchange for Hamas freeing 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive.