Peace Without Teeth
Guest article by Michael Cohen.
There’s an old saying: “You can’t build a house on quicksand.” Yet here we are again, watching President Trump do what he does best: declare victory before the game even starts, slap a “mission accomplished” sticker on a still-burning problem, and sell it as the greatest deal in the history of deals. This time, it’s not a real estate pitch or a campaign; it’s something far deadlier. Trump has declared “Phase Two” of his so-called 20-point peace plan for the Middle East has begun, even though Phase One—if we can call it that—is hanging together by little more than rhetoric, wishful thinking, and a shaky ceasefire.
Let’s start with the obvious question: Why the rush? Why declare progress where there’s barely stability? Why pretend that Hamas is ready to disarm when they’re literally executing people in the streets of Gaza as we speak? Because for Trump, optics always outrun outcomes. He’s not driven by results; he’s addicted to the headline. And “Trump Moves to Phase Two of Peace Plan” reads a hell of a lot better than “Hamas Executes 33 Amid Ceasefire Chaos.”
According to Reuters, Hamas has killed at least 33 people since the ceasefire went into effect last week—seven of them dragged into Gaza City square yesterday, bound, forced to their knees, and shot from behind in front of a crowd. That’s not peace. That’s not reconciliation. That’s the raw assertion of control by a militant, terrorist group that’s already filling the power vacuum left behind as Israel steps back. Yet Trump, from the comfort of the White House podium, announces we’re moving into the “next phase” of his peace plan, as if this is a board game and not a war-torn hellscape.
Here’s the hard truth: you don’t rush peace. You build it—slowly, deliberately, on a foundation of accountability, trust, and enforceable structure. Right now, there’s none of that. No international security force on the ground. No apolitical governing body in place. No clear document that defines what “disarmament” even means. Instead, Trump’s team is improvising foreign policy like it’s an episode of The Apprentice: Gaza Edition, with real lives hanging in the balance.
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/peace-without-teeth