Statement adopted by the Executive Bureau of the Fourth Internartional on 27 October 2025
The signing of the Trump plan and its initial implementation raise a series of new questions. This plan is a continuation, in very different forms, of colonial and ethnic cleansing policies, which necessitates continuing with the global movement for the liberation of Palestine.
Regarding the analysis of the plan, it is necessary to avoid two caricatural pitfalls. The first is to formulate an extremist criticism of the situation: the Palestinian signatories are traitors, while this plan is a continuation of genocide. The second is the opposite: the ceasefire is a victory for an unstoppable resistance and will open a new period of counter-offensive.
The reality is somewhere in between, at least for now. Trump’s plan is based on a colonial vision, enshrines a negative balance of power from the point of view of the Palestinian people, and aims to dismantle their capacity for resistance. But the ceasefire, even if it continues colonization and ethnic cleansing, makes it possible to reorient the struggle, a struggle that can only be won if it rejects complicity with the genocidal Zionist entity and revives mass mobilizations.
The Trump plan
Trump’s 20 points are as follows: 1) demilitarization (an area “de-radicalized and free of terrorism”), 2) reconstruction under imperialist domination (Gaza will be “redeveloped”), 3) an end to fighting and the establishment of a ceasefire line, 4) and 5) prisoner exchanges (the 48 “hostages”, dead or alive, in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 detainees since 7 October 2023). 6) Amnesty for Hamas members who abandon the armed struggle. 7) and 8) The arrival of humanitarian aid, the rehabilitation of emergency structures, the opening of the Rafat crossing in both directions and 12) freedom for Palestinians to stay, leave or return. 9) The establishment of a temporary transitional authority, a “technocratic and apolitical Palestinian committee,” directed by a foreign council intended to be headed by Tony Blair. It would organize financing and reconstruction. 10) and 11) A special economic zone with “preferential” customs duties. 13) Hamas and “other factions commit to playing no role in the governance of Gaza”, military infrastructure (including tunnels) must be destroyed and 15) a “temporary international stabilization force, including the US and Arab countries” must be deployed.
Trump’s aim is to establish a favourable military balance of power with the objective of further strengthening his political and economic control over Gaza. All this is taking place in the context of increased settlement activity in the West Bank, Trump’s infamous plans to transform Gaza into a Riviera, and Israel’s attacks on neighbouring countries (Iran, Qatar, expansion of the occupation in Lebanon and Syria, Yemen, etc.).
The plan is fully in line with the United States’ offensive to further establish its domination over the Middle East. In particular, it aims to strengthen the process of “normalization”, i.e. the alignment of Arab countries with the United States, especially the Gulf monarchies, Egypt, Jordan and the new regime in Syria.
They plan to continue ethnic cleansing in the hope that the miserable living conditions caused by destruction and blockade will drive hundreds of thousands of Gazans to leave Palestine, while those who remain will be plunged into semi-slavery by the necessities of rebuilding Gaza.
The United States and Israel hope to put an end to their opposition by destroying the military capabilities of the resistance and through Trump’s call for Netanyahu’s amnesty in the corruption cases against him.
The implementation of the ceasefire
It is far from obvious: 2,000 prisoners have been released, including 250 long-term detainees (157 Fatah, 65 Hamas, 16 Jihad, 11 PFLP, 1 DFLP). There are still 9,000 prisoners, twice as many as at the start of the war. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have returned to their homes (most of which had been completely destroyed).
On Wednesday 15 October, only 173 lorries were authorized by Israel to enter Gaza, out of the 1,800 planned, despite express requests from the UN to speed up this vital aid for the population. The PFLP also recorded 36 violations of the ceasefire by Israel, causing dozens of casualties. This is not to mention the violence and torture committed against prisoners. On 24 October, 41 NGOs denounced the restrictions on humanitarian aid, in particular the blocking of lorries. According to them, the equivalent of $50 million worth of essential goods are being blocked by Israel.
Hamas is leading an armed offensive, supported by the PFLP and Islamic Jihad, against the militias involved in looting humanitarian aid, which are mafia organizations or groups organized or supported by Israel. Some of these militias have retreated with the Israeli occupation army behind the “yellow line”, the half of Gaza occupied by Israel. It is possible, however, that these Hamas operations are allowing it to settle internal political scores, but reliable information is limited.
Israel maintains control over what it calls a “buffer zone” in the east.
The United States and Israel are demanding the total disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian forces, which seems completely impossible for two main reasons: firstly, this disarmament is politically unacceptable because the Palestinians have no guarantees that Israel will respect the ceasefire, as it is known for bending past agreements – not to mention the need, sooner or later, to resume the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, which inevitably involves an armed dimension; secondly, it is impossible to guarantee the safety of Gazans in a devastated region without weapons available to protect humanitarian and food distributions, particularly from mafia and/or pro-Israeli militias.
Why did Trump propose a ceasefire?
It is sometimes difficult to understand what determines Trump’s policy. This choice is based on a combination of factors:
1) It was undoubtedly becoming difficult to cope with the increasing military, financial and political cost of the genocide.
2) Global mobilization took on a new dimension with the general strike in Italy – which serves as a model for much trade union thinking – and with the flotillas – which put Israel in a difficult position politically; not to mention the ever-present inspiration for mobilizations such as the march for Gaza, which represent an enormous danger for complicit Arab regimes.
3) The protest movement in Israel, despite its ambiguities and limitations, is also a factor in weakening Netanyahu.
4) Furthermore, the United States and Israel are considering their intervention in the broader Middle East. They are looking to intervene on several fronts: in southern Lebanon, where Israel continues to intervene militarily and occupy new territories; in Syria, where both states are seeking further political concessions from the new HTC government, which is seeking to consolidate its power by all means, including normalization with Israel; and in Iran, where Trump has begun (further to the military intervention of June 2025) to play his favourite game of alternating between threats and seduction with a view to reaching a deal.
The United States’ strategy is to shift the global balance of power and spheres of influence in competition with other major powers, particularly Europe and Russia.
What this means for the solidarity movement
The first thing is to rejoice for the population, which will not suffer the violence of the Zionist state in such a severe, even if temporary, manner. From this point of view, we can highlight the resilience of the people, who have suffered a systematic massacre, the reality of which is still underestimated, and who immediately moved to reclaim their land, refusing a new Nakba. We must express our utmost solidarity with the population, which continues to suffer abuse at the hands of the Zionist army, its mass prison system, and the settlers. This must be done without overestimating the balance of power or glorifying the sacrifices made.
The second, and undoubtedly the most important, is to denounce Trump’s plan. This is not a moral denunciation: we consider that the Palestinian organizations are doing the best they can in a terrible situation and that they obviously have no choice but to accept these ceasefire conditions. But we must support all Palestinian attempts to challenge Trump’s plan, point by point, and denounce the colonial and imperialist nature of this agreement built on ruins and death.
And, in concrete terms, we have a responsibility to fight to make it difficult for the imperialists to achieve their objectives in the coming weeks. A key point is the total rejection of foreign interference in Gaza, i.e. the complete rejection of an imperialist (Western and/or Arab) presence, whether military, economic or administrative. The right to self-determination is non-negotiable; it is up to the Palestinians to organize their society as they wish, and both military troops and settlers must leave.
The end of the most acute form of genocide will bring relief, but also a decline in global mobilization. However, we must not lose sight of the need to build a mass movement to enforce the free and immediate passage of humanitarian aid, obtain compensation for the damage suffered by the population, and reject the continuation of colonisation and ethnic cleansing, as well as the imperialists’ attempt to take economic and military control of Gaza.
We must therefore build new, united mobilizations to change the balance of power.
Alongside this broad, united movement based on immediate demands, we want to help build a more determined organized movement, in direct contact with Palestinians, around slogans that go further:
- Opposition to the presence of foreign occupation troops (especially from our own countries) and to imperialist protectorates; full support for the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people;
- Release of all Palestinian prisoners, in particular by supporting the campaign for the release of Marwan Barghouti, which is being promoted by the international solidarity movement.
- Dismantling of settlements, particularly in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights,
- Denunciation of the blockade, freedom of movement,
- Guarantee the right of return.
- Rejection of the apartheid state. Disarmament of the genocidal regime. Explanation of the liberation of all Palestine, for a free, democratic, egalitarian, secular Palestine, etc.
- Continuing BDS work against all those who collaborate, in particular by fighting for the severing of all relations with Israel, by governments, companies – especially those that contribute to Israel’s armament – FIFA, universities, etc.
We also have more concrete tasks of militant solidarity. These include participating in humanitarian aid, which is a necessity as well as a relatively simple task for people in working-class neighbourhoods who want to show their solidarity. There is also support for the reconstruction of Palestinian organizations, aimed in particular at building mass struggle, with demonstrations and the participation of trade unions, citizens’ organizations and the various parties that make up the Palestinian national movement. The organization of civilian missions in Lebanon, and even in the West Bank, can once again become a way of supporting them.
Continue the struggle
The colonizing war and ethnic cleansing did not begin on 7 October, nor did our international resistance. It is vitally important that we do not lower our guard and that we strengthen our positions. The phase we have just experienced is part of a hardening of the world. This is provoking reactions at the international level in the face of barbarism, the headlong rush of the far right and the collaboration of dictatorial regimes in Arab countries.
In response, hundreds of millions of people have risen up. We affirm our unconditional support for the struggle of the Palestinian people, which is in line with our own vision of the struggle. We participate in denouncing the most glaring aspects of colonization – death, poverty, apartheid, arbitrary imprisonment... – to build a mass movement, while defending and opening up to coordination with the more radical fringes, among young people, in working-class neighbourhoods, among anti-Zionist Jews and by defending the strategic perspective of the liberation of all Palestine, a struggle for emancipation, a regional revolution that will sweep away the imperialist powers.
27 October 2025