A source close to the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said on October 1 that Hamas may be conditioned to accept the "20-point plan" proposed by U.S. President Trump to end the conflict in Gaza.

Earlier, it was reported that Trump announced the "20-point plan" and said that Israel, the United States and their Arab partner countries are in unison, and Hamas must accept it or it will be eliminated. However, this plan is "obviously different" from the previous one that reached consensus with a number of Arab and Islamic countries, which are very annoyed by it.

This is a scene of smoke rising after the attack on Gaza City on September 30. Published by Xinhua Agency (Photo by Jill Cohen Magen)

Sources: Israel made major changes, only accepted on condition

Hamas and the relevant Palestinian factions discussed the ¡°20-point plan¡± on October 1 and the next day, sources told Xinhua news agency reporters that Hamas¡¯ possible conditions were that some of the terms of the plan had to be amended, an Israeli withdrawal timetable and guarantees related to Hamas.

He said Hamas demanded that Israel cease its military operations in the Gaza Strip completely and assured that it would not continue airstrikes against the Gaza Strip as it did after a ceasefire agreement with Lebanon in November last year, and that there would be a ¡°concrete timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.¡±

The source said that the "20-point plan" has some positive elements on the surface, but it contains "long-term risks." In his view, the current version is "fundamentally different" from the "Trump 21-Point Middle East Peace Plan" previously proposed by the United States to several Arab and Islamic countries, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made "major revisions" to it.

Palestinian political analyst Hani Masri said the scheme ¡°presents serious risks¡± and provides Israel with ¡°immediate and definite benefits¡± but only a ¡°ambiguous and delayed promise¡± to the Palestinians that the scheme can only be ¡°conditionally accepted¡± or it would ¡°be a new kind of colonialism that undermines the two-state scheme.¡±

On September 29, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. President Trump (right) held talks with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Published by Xinhua Agency (Photo provided by the Israeli Government Information Office)

US media: the problem of the program is heavy, negotiations are threatened to come back from the beginning

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House on September 29. Trump later announced that Netanyahu had agreed to the US's "20-point plan" to end the Gaza conflict. Hamas later confirmed that it had received the plan and would study it in a "serious and positive manner" and formally respond.

On September 30th, the US media reported from informed sources that Trump's "20-point plan" suffered "significant changes" under Netanyahu's intervention, especially in terms of the conditions and timetable for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. This not only annoys the officials of Arab and Islamic countries involved in the previous negotiations, but also means that the relevant negotiations may have to start all over again.

Compared to the ¡°Trump 21 Point Middle East Peace Plan¡± submitted by the US when meeting with leaders of Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and Pakistan on September 23, the ¡°20 Point Plan¡± linked the Israeli withdrawal and Hamas¡¯ disarmament process, and gave Israel a unilateral ¡°veto right¡±.

In view of this, Qatar has tried to persuade the Trump administration to delay the release of the ¡°20 Points Plan¡±, but the White House has insisted on publicity and pressured Arab and Islamic nations to support the change. In this regard, eight foreign ministers such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt issued a joint statement, ¡°welcoming¡± Trump¡¯s announcement of the plan, but did not mention ¡°full support.¡±