SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
Today, Hamas said it would dissolve its existing government in Gaza as soon as a Palestinian technocratic committee created by President Trump's peace plan takes over the region. But there's no timeline for when that committee will actually take over. In fact, three months after Trump unveiled his plan, the ceasefire is still stuck in its first phase. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on what's holding things up.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: In Gaza City, the war does not feel like it's over for Saraj al-Najjar (ph). Our producer, Anas Baba, met him at one of the new eateries that's popped up ever since Israel partially eased its blockade.
SARAJ AL-NAJJAR: (Speaking Arabic).
KELEMEN: "We're eating because we haven't eaten like this in a long time," says al-Najjar, a carpenter. "We're craving but also scared of everything. We don't feel like this war has ended."
There's an uneasy feeling among some in Israel, too. Nimrod Novik of the Israel Policy Forum is part of a group of former national security officials dedicated to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
NIMROD NOVIK: Kinetic activity continues. Palestinians are being killed, Israelis, too, on occasion. And Hamas is reasserting itself on the half of Gaza that it controls.
KELEMEN: He believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't want to move the peace process forward. It's an election year, and Netanyahu is beholden to right-wing ministers who would prefer to recolonize Gaza and annex the West Bank. And President Trump's envoys are busy trying to solve other world problems.
LUCY KURTZER-ELLENBOGEN: There's no rush on Israel's part because right now it has the security control it probably feels most comfortable with.
KURTZER-ELLENBOGEN: For Hamas, kicking the can a little bit and buying time is probably something they have no problem with. In the meantime, they can rebuild. They can regroup.
KELEMEN: But Trump's envoys and Arab mediators seem to want to show some progress and are expected this week to announce what President Trump is calling his Board of Peace. They'll also name a group of Palestinian technocrats to administer Gaza, and a former U.N. envoy, Nikolay Mladenov, will be a key player in all of this. Kurtzer-Ellenbogen says Mladenov pulled off something quite rare in the Middle East when he was U.N. envoy. He won the trust of both Israelis and Palestinians. But she says implementing Trump's 20-point plan for Gaza is a mammoth task.
KURTZER-ELLENBOGEN: This is a lot of work to be done by sort of a handful of technocrats and the very talented, certainly, Nikolay Mladenov, who knows this file like the back of his hand. But again, a lot more will need to be done to start seeing anything that looks like meaningful progress on the ground.
KELEMEN: Nimrod Novik agrees, describing the Trump administration's approach in real estate terms.
NOVIK: The administration seems to be prepared to announce the construction of the penthouse without worrying about foundations, ground floor, second floor and everything else that the penthouse is supposed to rest upon.
KELEMEN: The international force for Gaza is still just a vision, he says, pointing out that Arab countries won't send troops if the goal is to confront and disarm Hamas. And he says the Israelis have an unrealistic view about disarmament. In other conflicts around the world, disarmament is a process that takes time, but Netanyahu's government wants that to be a first step. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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