Why Palestinians cannot trust a promise from Donald Trump?

In 1982, the Palestine Liberation Organisation agreed to leave Beirut with its weapons, on the basis that an international force would remain in the city and prevent the Israeli army from entering. The PLO withdrew, but the international force soon departed, leaving the defenceless refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila to face a horrific massacre. It was a tragic exchange: weapons for a promise. The promise was broken, and the result was catastrophe.

Today, a similar formula is being put forward under a different guise. US President Donald Trump has announced what he calls a “Global Peace Council” under his leadership. At its core, the plan requires the destruction of Gaza’s tunnels, the removal of its weapons, and the departure of those who carry them, in exchange for vague promises of protection, reconstruction, and development. Once again, the offer is dressed in the language of peace, but it is in fact a demand for surrender.

This proposal arrives in the midst of a genocide against more than two million Palestinians in Gaza. Entire families have been erased, neighbourhoods flattened, and children left traumatised or buried beneath rubble. It is difficult to reconcile such devastating human suffering with the political theatre of new “peace councils” and international promises. Every day that passes adds to the staggering toll of lives lost, and each promise that ignores this reality deepens the sense of betrayal.

The deep concern about Trump’s initiative is not only political but profoundly moral. It is an attempt to repackage the occupation and ongoing siege in a new legal and economic framework. It portrays Israel as the magnanimous victor, while Palestinians are reduced to conditional recipients of basic rights, forever subject to “good behaviour”. The plan speaks of development and aid, but remains silent on freedom, justice, and sovereignty. To speak of rebuilding homes without addressing the reasons they were destroyed is to insult the very people who continue to suffer under bombardment and siege.

History has taught Palestinians a painful lesson: international guarantees, when not rooted in genuine justice, are fragile and fleeting. To place trust in a council chaired by Trump—an administration that has provided political cover, financial backing, and military support to Israel’s crimes—is to repeat the tragic cycle of false promises. No American-led mediation can be credible under such circumstances. Those who lived through Oslo, or who recall the countless donor conferences that offered money instead of freedom, understand that Palestinians have been asked too many times to exchange their most basic rights for uncertain rewards that rarely arrive.

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Moreover, the very structure of the proposed “peace council” reinforces the imbalance. It places Palestinians not as equal partners but as subjects under supervision, their aspirations reduced to benchmarks set by others. This is not the language of justice but the language of control. True peace cannot emerge from a framework that erases accountability for war crimes, ignores the occupation of land, and dismisses the right of return for millions of refugees.

Only the people of Gaza have the right to determine their future. Any initiative that bypasses their free will is not a peace plan but another mechanism to entrench occupation and whitewash its crimes. Genuine peace can only be built on recognition of Palestinian humanity, the ending of the siege, and the dismantling of a system of domination that has caused decades of displacement, dispossession, and despair.

The real priority today is not new councils or conferences. It is to stop the genocide immediately, lift the suffocating siege, hold war criminals accountable, and secure the fundamental national rights of the Palestinian people: freedom, dignity, and self-determination. Anything less is yet another chapter in the long history of broken promises written in Palestinian blood. For every promise made and broken, it is the men, women, and children of Palestine who pay the heaviest price. That tragic reality must not be hidden behind diplomatic manoeuvres or political theatrics.

For readers in the West, the responsibility does not end with awareness. Governments that arm and shield Israel act in the name of their citizens. Silence enables the continuation of these crimes. To demand accountability, to insist on the protection of civilians, and to reject initiatives that disguise occupation as peace are moral obligations. Palestinians deserve not another promise, but genuine justice and freedom.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.