JJP lobbies the EU Embassy, the US Embassy and the Foreign Office on the “Trump Plan”
In the last week of October 2025, JJP wrote to The EU Ambassador to the UK, the Foreign Office (cc to the National Security Adviser) and the US Embassy, requesting meetings to discuss the “Trump Plan” for Gaza. The plan is a combination of positive, negative and confusing. The essential requirement is to keep President Trump engaged and ready to apply pressure on Prime Minster Netanyahu to stop him sabotaging the plan and to ensure it does advance Palestinian self-determination.
Our letter to the EU Embassy is below
His Excellency, Mr. Pedro Serrano 23 October 2025
Ambassador, Embassy of the European Union
Dear Ambassador Serrano,
We are writing to request a meeting to discuss President Trump’s plan for Gaza. It is now essential for the President to remain engaged and to continue applying pressure on Israel. The EEAS should contact the State Department to ensure it remains engaged, as well as the European Commission using its own leverage with the Israeli government.
Three issues require immediate action.
Israel started trying to sabotage the plan within a week of it being announced by refusing to reopen the Rafah Crossing and limiting the entry of aid. It said that was retaliation for Hamas not delivering the bodies of all the deceased hostages, yet the extreme difficulty of finding and extracting the bodies of dead hostages in the rubble Israel has created is well understood. That is why the timeline in the plan for delivery of the bodies was extended from 48 to 72 hours, and subsequently modified again to require “sharing, within the 72 hours, all the information it obtained relating to any remaining deceased hostages” “through an “information-sharing mechanism.”1
Sunday’s crisis was caused by the Israeli army operating “to dismantle terrorist infrastructure” in Rafah, which was clearly a provocative breach of the ceasefire in spirt if not in the letter. Hamas fired on the Israeli troops, killing two. Israel then launched airstrikes which continued into Tuesday. More than 70 were killed – most of whom were civilians, as always.2
It would be cruel beyond measure for Israel to restart its genocidal assault or to continue limiting aid. The EU must use the power at its disposal to stop Israel doing that.
Second, the next essential step in the plan is to provide security through the mooted international stabilisation force. Without it, and the monopoly of force it will provide, there can be no return to some semblance of normal life or even basic reconstruction.
Israel’s activity is making that impossible. It is continuing to arm and protect the gangster Al Shabab clan in Gaza as a counterweight to Hamas, including allowing the clan to steal aid. The extent of Israel’s surreptitious activity was revealed by a Sky News Investigation article on 4 October3 The inevitable result has been gun battles as the two groups fight it out for dominance, and yet more insecurity for the population.
The plan requires Hamas to decommission its weapons, but its fighters cannot realistically be expected to commit suicide by decommissioning while the clan remains armed. The Arab mediator states are putting pressure on Hamas to decommission. President Trump must continue doing the same on the Israeli government to ensure it forces the Al Shabab clan to decommission. The United States owes at least that much to the people of Gaza after doing nothing to stop or even restrain Israel’s genocidal assault.
Third, it is essential to recognise the distinction between the military and civilian wings of Hamas. Civilian officials in Gaza were necessarily members of Hamas. They were not part of the military wing and cannot be held responsible for its actions. Their experience will be essential in recreating services. Banning them would create chaos, just as the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq created chaos by excluding Baath Party members from the post-Saddam administration. The Israeli government would use the chaos as a pretext for expelling the Palestinians.
In all these issues, the Commission should be prepared to reintroduce its proposal for suspension of the free trade and other parts of the EU-Israel Association Agreement if Israel continues trying to sabotage the plan.
The plan is a mixture of the justified and the unjustified.
Crucial parts of the plan are clearly intended to forestall Israeli plans for ethnic cleansing: Palestinians will not be forced to leave Gaza; they will be allowed to leave and to return; Gaza will be redeveloped for their benefit; an international stabilisation force will control security until a new Palestinian police force is trained, thereby keeping Israeli forces out of Gaza; day-to-day governance will be by Palestinians. President Trump will have to be ready to stop Israel sabotaging these developments.
However, the plan unjustifiably gives Israel an effective veto over the timetable for withdrawal of Israeli forces to the perimeter of Gaza, and the quantity of aid that will be allowed to enter Gaza. President Trump should insist those decisions are made by the relevant Commissioners of the Peace Board.
Clauses 18 and 19, about possible future independence, are impossibly vague and demeaning to Palestinians. They should be replaced with a clear commitment to Palestinian statehood.
The Gaza International Transition Authority will include a Palestinian, a senior United Nations Official, and Muslim members to ensure its regional legitimacy. Crucially, it supports “the eventual unifying of all the Palestinian territory under the PA”. However, there is considerable scope for confusion between different parts of the structure.
I hope to hear from you shortly to arrange a meeting.
Arthur Goodman,