Trump’s peace plan is everything Israelis dreamed of. But it’s a fantasy | Roy Schwartz

The president's intervention promises a return to normality' - one that appeals to Israelis unconcerned with Gaza's future

• Roy Schwartz is a senior editor and op-ed contributor at Haaretz

It didn't take long before the Gospel of Donald became a message that everyone in Israel could embrace. The 20-point plan to end the ongoing war in Gaza, presented on Monday by the US president, is everything the Israelis had dreamed of - even fantasised about. The hostages will finally return, some to their families, others to their graves. Hamas will be gone, at least as a ruling organisation, and the soldiers will come home. The peace plan" will, supposedly, mean a return to normality.

A brief read-through of the one-page plan might suggest that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his people were involved in phrasing it. At times, it reads more like a list of Israeli demands than diplomatic compromises. Perhaps that's why Netanyahu gave it his blessing rather quickly, which seemed to all but seal the deal. Even then, worth mentioning, his speech offered a slightly different version of the plan from the one in the written document - saying he didn't agree to a Palestinian state or a full military withdrawal.