Best of 2025 - Trump’s mongrel punt |
In the Australian vernacular, a mongrel punt is an erratic kick forward of a football which leaves those participating in the game with an awkward choice between contesting possession (possibly at the cost of broken fingers) and waiting to see where the ball bounces.
A repost from 2 October 2025
The Trump plan is indeed a mongrel.
It offers immediate relief to Palestinians by ending the slaughter in Gaza. And, on the hostage front, it marks the first serious attempt to return to the possibility of a negotiated release of all those who remain alive. In an advance from previous positions enunciated by President Trump, it undertakes to prevent the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and promises there will be no Israeli annexation of the West Bank. But it offers nothing on other Arab demands for a two-state solution, notably integration between Gaza and the West Bank in a Palestinian state, and full Israeli withdrawal.
For both Israel and Hamas, the only thing worse than accepting Trump’s Gaza plan would be rejecting it.
Overwhelmingly, the terms of the plan favour Israel.
In the absence of any provision for US enforcement of the deal, Israel would be left with the ability to interpret, according to its own discretion, the standards and timelines to be met for any Israeli withdrawal, let alone any transfer of authority to the Palestinian Authority.
Absent any US........