Donald Trump gave an unconventional speech to the UN last week. But while the US president tilted at windmills from the rostrum — “so pathetic and so bad” — his administration used the UN General Assembly meeting to put forward a surprisingly conventional proposal for ending the war in Gaza.
The 21-point plan returns to ideas that have been central to Middle East peace efforts for decades. It reportedly holds out the prospect of a Palestinian state as the end point of the process — an idea that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vehemently rejected.
All of this makes for an awkward backdrop for today’s meeting between Trump and Netanyahu. The White House plan contains many elements Netanyahu and the extreme-right ministers in his cabinet will find very hard to either erase or accept. They include a permanent ceasefire and the creation of a multinational stabilisation force for Gaza — with troops provided by Arab and Muslim nations. This force would help rebuild the territory, leading to self-government for the Palestinians, rather than their mass ejection from Gaza.