Former World Bank official overseeing Middle East operations has expressed skepticism about the prospects of President Donald Trump’s Gaza initiative, warning that it echoes past efforts that ultimately failed to secure meaningful progress toward peace. The official’s remarks come in response to recent endorsements of the plan by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who described Trump’s approach as the best and only viable path to peace.
Following the 1993 Oslo Accords, the World Bank was tasked with advancing development projects in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza. During that period, a variety of proposals were put forward by the US State Department, Israeli leaders, and other stakeholders, including the Jewish diaspora. Initiatives included a divided, access-controlled highway to facilitate movement between Gaza and the West Bank, joint Israeli-Palestinian industrial estates near Gaza’s border to foster cooperation, large-scale housing projects aimed at accommodating Palestinians returning from the diaspora, and agricultural greenhouses intended to boost Gaza’s economy.
While these proposals received overt support from Palestinian leaders, confidential discussions at the highest echelons revealed significant skepticism. Many Palestinians viewed the projects not as genuine efforts toward autonomy but as strategies designed to delay addressing core issues related to Palestinian statehood. Today, most of these development ventures have fallen into disrepair.
Drawing on this historical context, the former World Bank official cautioned that there is little reason to be optimistic about the success of Trump’s so-called Board of Peace. Palestinian distrust, which dates back decades, appears to have deepened rather than diminished, suggesting that new initiatives may face the same challenges as previous attempts.
The debate reflects ongoing differences in how stakeholders perceive peace efforts in Gaza. While some political figures, including Clinton, advocate for current plans as pragmatic steps forward, others recall prior experiences where development incentives did not translate into political breakthroughs, underscoring the complexity underlying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the difficulties in securing lasting peace.