Peace or pipe dream? Huckabee's warning exposes challenges facing Trump's Gaza plan

U.S. President Donald Trump has a bold vision for Gaza but delivering it is proving far more complicated, with a warning from a trusted Trump ally now raising questions about whether the Board of Peace (BoP) has the resources to deliver.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee raised those concerns in a diplomatic cable to State Department leaders, according to an Oct. 22 Politico report. The issue is not whether peace is desirable. It is whether the machinery meant to make it happen is ready.

Huckabee’s concerns center on the International Gaza Support Center, a U.S.-led coordination hub in Israel connecting American, Israeli and international efforts. The Pentagon plans to reduce its staffing there over the coming year, leaving civilians to assume responsibilities currently handled by the military.

That handoff could be especially delicate for intelligence sharing and coordination with the Israel Defense Forces.

“The BoP is working to increase staff, but its ability to cover all functions at the IGSC remains unclear,” Huckabee wrote, according to the report. The ambassador questioned how responsibilities would shift to the State Department and BoP, and what resources were needed to prevent critical operations from falling through the cracks. In other words, who exactly will run the operation once the military steps back?

The Board of Peace is pushing back, saying it’s confident in preparations involving humanitarian assistance, security, governance and reconstruction. Huckabee has also publicly emphasized that Hamas’ failure to disarm is holding up progress.

These questions come at a critical moment. Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan helped secure an October 2025 ceasefire and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.

But its more ambitious goals – including Hamas disarmament, further Israeli withdrawal, Palestinian civilian governance and reconstruction – remain largely unrealized at this point.

Nobody said this would be easy.

The United Nations endorsed the BoP as a transitional administration and an international stabilization force is supposed to help secure Gaza. Yet that force has not deployed and the planned Palestinian governing committee has not entered the territory.

Then there is the money issue. In September, the board announced a $2.45 billion recovery program covering 66 projects. Overall reconstruction needs have been estimated at more than $71 billion over the next decade.

As Ambassador Huckabee raised questions about execution, the Trump team made an intriguing appointment.

This week, Shelley Greenspan, who served as President Joe Biden’s White House liaison to the Jewish community, was appointed to lead the board’s external affairs, including outreach to Congress and Washington think tanks.

Greenspan also worked at the National Security Council and State Department. Her selection underscores an apparent recognition that Gaza’s reconstruction cannot depend solely on Republican support or Trump’s remaining years in office.

Moving forward, even if Washington expands its staff and broadens political support, one question looms large: Is rebuilding Gaza alone enough to create lasting peace?

Journalist Gol Kalev believes the discussion should be much bigger.

Kalev, author of From Survival to Peace: Turning the Assault on Judaism Around and chairman of the Judaism 3.0 think tank, told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that Trump should consider economic transformation well beyond Gaza’s borders.

"Trump and the BoP can solve Gaza through bold new ideas involving the broader Middle East,” Kalev said, pointing to proposals in his book.

His most provocative idea is to build what he calls the “California of the Middle East” near the Iraq-Jordan border.

“This includes building the California of the Middle East along the Iraq-Jordan border – expanding the pie, creating opportunities for prosperity for all residents of the Middle East and, in doing so, moving the defense line of Europe, Israel, Jordan and the Middle East eastward,” Kalev said.

“It is absurd that nearly the entire population of the Middle East is concentrated on a tiny piece of land in the western part of the region, between the Mediterranean and roughly Amman, while there are vast stretches of empty land to the east,” he argued.

“The solution to Gaza may not be pouring good money after bad into Gaza, but transforming the eastern part of the Middle East and creating opportunities for growth – not only for the people of Gaza, but for everyone in the Middle East,” he continued.

Kalev draws an American analogy.

“Just as California was not a solution to overcrowded living conditions in New York, it created opportunities for Americans to build wealth and helped turn America into a superpower,” he said.

The proposal would face enormous challenges but for now, the immediate problem is the one Ambassador Huckabee identified: turning a presidential plan into an operation capable of delivering results.