KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian political and civil-society figures have rejected US president Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, calling it “a war crime disguised as redevelopment.”
The group includes PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar, former Klang MP Charles Santiago, and civil-society figures Chee Yoke Ling, Jismi Johari, and Proffesor Affendi Salleh.
They said the proposal — which links Washington, Israel, former UK prime minister Tony Blair and Western allies — repackages “colonial control as humanitarian reconstruction” and sidelines Palestinians from decisions about their homeland.
“It is the same playbook: destroy, dispossess, then rebuild for profit, all without the participation of the very people whose land has been devastated into rubble,” the signatories said. The group argued that treating Gaza as a development project ignores the root causes of the crisis — decades of occupation, blockade and the denial of Palestinian self-determination — and warned the plan would cement Israeli dominance while turning Gaza into “a laboratory for neoliberal experiments.”
They also underscored that Hamas remains the last legitimately elected authority in Gaza and criticised the use of the October 7, 2023 attack to justify what they described as collective punishment, including bombings of homes, schools and hospitals and the restriction of food and aid — actions they said violate the Geneva Conventions.
The leaders demanded an immediate, permanent ceasefire; lifting of the blockade to permit humanitarian access; and international accountability for alleged war crimes.
They urged recognition of Palestinian political actors in any negotiation, arguing that reconstruction without justice “is a continuation of violence by other means.”
“True reconstruction begins not with foreign contracts and Israeli oversight, but with freedom, accountability and the return of power to the people of Palestine,” they added.
The appeal concluded with a call for world leaders to reject the Trump initiative and instead pursue a political settlement that guarantees Palestinian rights, self-determination and dignity. – October 2, 2025