Pardon me if I don’t understand what is going on in Gaza and Israel. Of course, anything that stops the war and acts to prevent further incursions is to be welcomed, and maybe the 20 point plan does this, but I sure have a lot of questions. Here are some.

1. The return of live and dead hostages.  It is not clear to me that the bodies of all dead hostages can be retrieved. What then?
2. As a corollary to the first question, it was repeated many times during the early stages of the crisis, at least, that some of the hostages were being held by Islamic Jihad, not by Hamas. How does Islamic Jihad fit into the current situation. Does it still exist? Have hostages? Have arms?
3. What does it mean to disarm Hamas? Does anyone really know who is Hamas and who isn’t? Does this mean destruction of only some sort of war weaponry, or also small hand guns and all? How will that be accomplished?
4. As to Hamas, it also exists outside of Gaza. It is powerful in the West Bank. Will it be allowed to continue to operate there? Will it be allowed to participate in (and probably win) and election there? The West Bank is not covered by the deal.
5. And as to the future, is there to be a Palestinean state, or not? And if there is, why isn’t the West Bank part of the current conversation? How could it not be?
6. Of course, Netanyahu will have a hard time selling a Palestinean state, which most of the world has already recognized. And this plan calls for a state, at least temporarily, headed by a commission headed by, of all people, Donald Trump, with Palestinian technical personnel. Excuse me, but that brings to mind two words: occupation and colonialism. What am I missing?
7. And once this new arrangement is in place, Israel will still control the borders? Since war materiel can be brought in under the guise of construction material, how will the rebuilding really take place? And if Israel is policing the borders and has a dispute with the Trump commission, how will that work?

I know I am seeing the glass half empty, but truth be told, I think it is more empty than that. But we will see. It will be interesting.

Busy day.  Will explain tomorrow.