Broad Side CSS Academy

14/07/2026

14/07/2026

14/07/2026

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS VIA DAWN NEWS 📰 🗞️

Abeyance Without Proof by Ahmer Bilal Soofi

1. "Held in abeyance"
Normal: suspended or put on hold
Better: abeyance (legal term — a state of temporary suspension with no defined end; implies limbo, not termination)
اردو: التوا میں رکھنا
Sentence: India has held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance on the strength of allegations it has neither proved nor permitted any forum to examine.

2. "Tantamount to"
Normal: the same as / equivalent to
Better: tantamount to (formal legal phrase — implies moral or legal equivalence without direct identity)
اردو: کے برابر / کے مترادف
Sentence: Denying a civilian the right to legal counsel is tantamount to denying them a fair trial altogether.

3. "Extraneous to"
Normal: not related to / outside the scope of
Better: extraneous to (formal — implies something deliberately introduced that does not belong within the defined subject matter)
اردو: موضوع سے خارج
Sentence: Terrorism allegations are extraneous to a treaty confined to water and hydro works — they cannot legally trigger its suspension.

4. "Baseless assertion in place of proof"
Normal: claiming something without evidence
Better: baseless assertion (legal register — assertion = formal claim; baseless = without evidentiary foundation)
اردو: ثبوت کی جگہ بے بنیاد دعویٰ
Sentence: India has put a baseless assertion in place of proof, relying on disputed facts examined by no competent forum.

5. "Acts at its own peril"
Normal: takes a risk it will have to pay for
Better: acts at its own peril (legal maxim — implies the actor assumes full responsibility for consequences)
اردو: اپنے خطرے پر عمل کرنا
Sentence: A state that suspends treaty obligations on its own unilateral assessment of another's breach acts at its own peril under international law.

6. "Jointly exercised option"
Normal: something both sides must agree to do together
Better: jointly exercised option (treaty language — implies a right that cannot be triggered unilaterally)
اردو: مشترکہ طور پر استعمال کیا جانے والا اختیار
Sentence: Article XII(3) is a jointly exercised option, not an obligation India can invoke independently.

7. "Confessional statement"
Normal: an admission of guilt
Better: confessional statement (legal term — formal admission used as evidence; its absence here exposes India's leap of logic)
اردو: اعترافی بیان
Sentence: Without a confessional statement, named suspect, or cross-border investigation, attributing Pahalgam to Pakistan is legally unsustainable.

8. "Empanelment of a court of arbitration"
Normal: setting up an arbitration court
Better: empanelment (formal legal term — the formal constitution of a panel or court to hear a dispute)
اردو: ثالثی عدالت کی تشکیل
Sentence: Pakistan offered to agree to the urgent empanelment of a court of arbitration — India chose not to join.

9. "Mainstreamed into official narrative"
Normal: became part of the government's official position
Better: mainstreamed (implies something fringe that has been gradually normalised into state policy)
اردو: سرکاری بیانیے کا حصہ بنا دینا
Sentence: BJP and RSS extremist positions, once fringe, have been mainstreamed into India's official foreign policy narrative.

10. "The award speaks for itself"
Normal: the court's decision is clear and needs no explanation
Better: the award speaks for itself (legal phrase — used when a ruling is so unambiguous that comment is unnecessary)
اردو: فیصلہ خود بولتا ہے
Sentence: The Court of Arbitration found India's abeyance has no effect on its competence — the award speaks for itself.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

India put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after the Pahalgam attack. Ahmer Bilal Soofi argues this fails on two independent legal grounds. First, abeyance does not exist in the treaty or in treaty law. The IWT has no suspension clause. Second, India's entire justification rests on disputed facts examined by no court, no multilateral forum, and no bilateral mechanism. Terrorism allegations are also legally extraneous to a treaty confined to water and hydro works. The Court of Arbitration, in its June 2025 award, confirmed it retains full competence regardless of India's abeyance position. India declined to appear.
The award stands.
The writer's conclusion is precise: India has held a 65-year-old water treaty in suspension on the strength of allegations it has neither proved nor permitted any independent forum to examine. The treaty is now being transformed from an engineering document into a political weapon — and the lower riparian bears all the consequences.

14/07/2026

YouTube has deleted our Broadside CSS Academy channel due to some alleged violations. However, our channel was purely committed to free education regarding CSS PMS PCS Exams.

But we decided, let the bygones be bygones

We have created New YouTube channel

S*bscr*be for update and free English essay, IR and Current affairs Updates

Link: https://youtu.be/2YRtInLFi2w

14/07/2026

IMPROVE YOUR ARGUMENTATION THROUGH DAWN NEWS 📰 🗞️
DATED 12 JUL 2026

Balochistan Security Crisis by Muhammad Amir Rana

MAIN IDEA OF THE ARTICLE

A fresh wave of violence in Balochistan has once again forced Pakistan's civil and military leadership to reaffirm their commitment to eliminating terrorism. During a high level visit to Quetta, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir declared that the state has reached a mutual and singular decision to eradicate terrorism. But the writer argues that no real change has happened in the state's actual security policy over the past few years, and the growing distance between the state and local civilians is making Balochistan's security situation even more complicated.

STATE ENGAGEMENT VERSUS LOCAL REALITY

While top leadership was meeting in Quetta to discuss implementation of the National Action Plan, a very different and less visible process was happening nearby in the Hanna Urak area. There, local elders formed a jirga and directly negotiated with an armed group holding hostages, and reportedly secured their release without any real involvement from the district administration or provincial government. The abductors claimed to belong to the banned TTP, though this could not be confirmed. This example shows how local communities are sometimes forced to resolve security crises on their own, without effective state support.

STATE'S PATTERN OF REACTING ONLY TO VIOLENCE LEVELS

The writer criticizes the government's usual pattern, whenever violence decreases even slightly, the government claims it has succeeded against terrorism, but whenever violence increases, it blames only external factors. According to the writer, this shows the state has never made any substantial change in its actual security policy in Balochistan over the past several years.

INSURGENT GROUPS ARE ADAPTING, NOT WEAKENING

Baloch insurgent groups have repeatedly shown that they adjust their pace of activity based on their own strategic needs, temporarily slowing down attacks before resuming them with even greater intensity. Because of this, the writer warns that a single month with fewer incidents should not be mistaken as a sign that the conflict is actually declining, it may simply reflect a temporary tactical pause by these groups.

INSURGENCY REMAINS WIDESPREAD AND WELL ORGANIZED

Even though the total number of attacks recently went down, 17 incidents were still reported across 13 different districts, showing that insurgent groups still have the capability to operate simultaneously across a wide and difficult geographic area. In June alone, the banned Balochistan Liberation Army carried out attacks in nine districts, which shows sustained reach rather than any real decline in their activity. This month the group also launched an assault on Chagai district, damaging both public and private property.

MIX OF NEW ASSAULTS AND REVENGE ATTACKS

The insurgent group is increasingly focused on carrying out organized assault operations, but it also continues to carry out what can be described as revenge attacks, especially timed around the death anniversaries of Baloch nationalist and insurgent leaders. The recent Khuzdar attack targeting Shafiq Mengal, a person linked to the PPP who was previously accused of leading an anti-insurgent militia, is described as one such act of revenge by the Majeed Brigade.

INSURGENTS EXPANDING INTO NEW AREAS

One important recent development is the Balochistan Liberation Army's activity in Qilla Abdullah and Pishin, border districts with mostly Pakhtun populations that have historically experienced violence linked to the TTP rather than Baloch nationalist insurgents. The group's attacks there on police posts, weapon seizures, and destruction of security infrastructure represent a significant expansion beyond its traditional areas of operation. The writer says it is still unclear whether this expansion is due to security forces already being overstretched because of the TTP threat, or whether it reflects a deliberate strategy by the insurgents to spread into new regions. In general, when insurgent groups successfully expand into new geographic areas, this usually shows growing confidence and stronger organizational capability, not weakness.

TARGETING ECONOMIC AND INFRASTRUCTURE ASSETS

The selection of targets by these groups follows a clear and consistent strategic logic. Attacks on commercial and industrial assets, such as the destruction of gas tankers on the Pakistan-Iran highway, the killing of a water tanker driver working for the state owned Oil and Gas Development Company, the abduction of another driver, and the assassination of a construction contractor, all seem intended to raise the economic cost of operating in Balochistan. Such actions support the insurgents' narrative that economic activity in the province represents exploitation of Baloch resources, which also discourages outside investment. Similarly, bombing two bridges on national highways disrupted transportation and added extra economic and logistical costs, while the attack on a 220 kV electricity transmission line in Dera Murad Jamali further damaged public confidence in the state's ability to provide basic services and maintain security.

AFGHANISTAN'S ROLE IN THE ONGOING VIOLENCE

Afghanistan plays a central role in the current wave of violence affecting both Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Tensions increased in June after Afghanistan carried out drone attacks inside Balochistan, which led Pakistan to retaliate with strikes against TTP hideouts and safe havens along the Pak-Afghan border, killing several militants and destroying important infrastructure including training facilities, command centres, and ammunition depots. Pakistan also issued formal protests to Afghanistan after investigators found that Afghan nationals were involved in the terrorist attack on a Pakistan Rangers camp in Karachi on June 27. However, the writer clearly states that Afghanistan should not be used as an excuse for the failure of Pakistan's own security policies, which are clearly not working well in either Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and there may be a need to look more deeply into these policies themselves.

FINAL CONCLUSION

The writer concludes that while leadership continues to publicly express strong resolve against terrorism, the real security situation on the ground in Balochistan remains complicated due to a widening gap between the state and local communities, continued adaptability and expansion by insurgent groups, and a security policy that has not meaningfully changed despite years of ongoing violence. The writer suggests that instead of blaming only external factors like Afghanistan, the state needs to seriously reconsider its own security approach in the province.

ARGUMENTS SEPARATED FOR DIFFERENT PAPERS

For Essay Paper
Lasting peace in conflict-affected regions cannot be achieved through repeated declarations of resolve alone; it requires addressing the underlying gap between the state and local communities and consistently revising security policy based on evolving ground realities rather than reacting only to short-term shifts in violence levels.

For Current Affairs Paper
The recent surge in Balochistan Liberation Army attacks across multiple districts, along with its expansion into traditionally TTP-affected areas like Qilla Abdullah and Pishin, indicates growing organizational capability rather than decline, challenging the government's tendency to claim success whenever violence temporarily decreases.

For Pakistan Affairs Paper
Balochistan's security crisis reflects a deeper structural problem, where local communities are sometimes forced to resolve security incidents through their own jirga-based negotiations due to a widening trust gap with the state, showing that military resolve alone cannot substitute for genuine political and administrative engagement with local populations.

For International Relations / Regional Security Paper
Cross-border tensions with Afghanistan, including drone attacks and retaliatory strikes on TTP safe havens, highlight how instability in Afghanistan directly feeds into Pakistan's internal security challenges, though the writer cautions against using this external factor to excuse the failure of Pakistan's own internal security policies.

For Governance / Public Administration Paper
The deliberate targeting of economic and infrastructure assets, such as energy transmission lines, highways and industrial supply chains, by insurgent groups in Balochistan illustrates how security failures directly undermine state legitimacy and discourage investment, linking security governance closely to economic development outcomes in the province.

14/07/2026

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS VIA DAWN NEWS 📰 🗞️
DATED 12 JUL 2026

Easy to kill by Muhammad Ali Siddique

1. "Ad infinitum"
Normal: again and again without end
Better: ad infinitum (Latin — implies endless, numbing repetition that has lost the power to shock)
اردو: بلا انقطاع، لامتناہی طور پر
Sentence: Pakistan's debt crisis has been discussed ad infinitum in policy circles, yet the structural reforms remain unaddressed.

2. "Gradual hardening"
Normal: slowly becoming more extreme
Better: hardening (implies an ideological or moral calcification — softness replaced by rigidity)
اردو: بتدریج سختی اور شدت پسندی
Sentence: The gradual hardening of the Indian political establishment's stance on minorities signals a deeper ideological shift than any single policy.

3. "Brazen-faced declaration"
Normal: a shameless, open statement
Better: brazen-faced (implies audacity without shame — public defiance of norms one knows one is violating)
اردو: بے شرمانہ اعلان
Sentence: The brazen-faced declaration to remain in occupied territory, framed as protecting citizens, is a textbook example of imperial doublespeak.

4. "Diplomatic jugglery"
Normal: clever but dishonest diplomatic maneuvering
Better: diplomatic jugglery (jugglery = deceptive skill; implies an illusion crafted to conceal true intent)
اردو: سفارتی ہاتھ کی صفائی
Sentence: The Balfour Declaration remains history's most consequential act of diplomatic jugglery — a promise made by those with no right to give, to those with no claim to receive.

5. "Pales into insignificance"
Normal: becomes unimportant by comparison
Better: pales into insignificance (implies something is so overshadowed it virtually disappears — strong for moral comparisons)
اردو: بے اہمیت ہو کر رہ جانا
Sentence: Any government denial of genocide pales into insignificance when a UN commission has already used the words "genocidal intent."

6. "Genocidal intent"
Normal: the plan to destroy a group of people
Better: genocidal intent (precise legal term under the Genocide Convention — the hardest standard to prove, most damning when applied)
اردو: نسل کشی کا ارادہ
Sentence: The UN Commission of Inquiry found genocidal intent in Israel's systematic targeting of Palestinian children.

7. "Mass infanticide"
Normal: killing large numbers of children
Better: infanticide (killing of infants/children — when prefixed with "mass" becomes one of the most morally loaded phrases in human rights writing)
اردو: بڑے پیمانے پر بچوں کا قتل
Sentence: What the UN described as deliberate targeting of children in Gaza amounts to an act of mass infanticide under any reading of international humanitarian law.

8. "Blood-curdling headlines"
Normal: very shocking, disturbing news
Better: blood-curdling (implies physical horror response — visceral idiom for news so extreme it should produce revulsion)
اردو: خون منجمد کر دینے والی سرخیاں
Sentence: Blood-curdling headlines have become so routine that global audiences no longer register the scale of what is being reported.

9. "Nazification of Israeli thinking"
Normal: Israeli thinking is becoming more extreme and fascist
Better: Nazification (deliberately charged historical analogy — implies the very ideology that justified persecution of Jews is now being replicated)
اردو: اسرائیلی سوچ کا نازی ازم کی طرف سفر
Sentence: The writer argues that the gradual Nazification of Israeli thinking — from statehood ideology to eliminationist war philosophy — is the defining political tragedy of our time.

10. "Shedding non-Zionist blood"
Normal: killing non-Jewish or non-Zionist people
Better: shedding blood (biblical register — implies moral transgression, not just physical killing; "non-Zionist" as qualifier makes it a political, not ethnic, frame)
اردو: غیر صیہونی خون بہانا
Sentence: The writer notes the Israeli leadership's publicly stated pleasure in shedding non-Zionist blood — a statement that required no interpretation, only documentation.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

The writer opens with a literary reference — a line from The Guns of Navarone about not being easy to kill.
He inverts it immediately: in occupied Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, it is easy to kill wherever and whenever Israel wants.
He reads that morning's Dawn.
Three headlines: twenty killed in Lebanon, a journalist killed in Gaza, a Lebanese environmentalist murdered by Israel while protecting sea turtles.
He argues the real story is not the daily death toll but something deeper — the gradual hardening of Israeli war philosophy into something he calls the Nazification of Israeli thinking.
He traces Zionism's early history to show it was not originally anti-Palestinian. It became so.
A UN Commission of Inquiry has now used the words genocidal intent to describe Israel's targeting of Palestinian children.
The Israeli government denied it. The writer's closing is simple: that denial pales into insignificance.
The UN has already named what it is.

14/07/2026

IMPROVE YOUR ARGUMENTATION VIA EXPRESS TRIBUTE NEWS 📰 🗞️
DATED 12 JUL 2026

How Should Pakistan Respond to Indian Terrorism? There's a Way by Fahd Husain

MAIN IDEA OF THE ARTICLE

Pakistan and India remain locked in a hostile relationship, but the writer says the strategic environment has now genuinely changed after last year's conflict, which Pakistan calls Maarka e Haq. Despite this change, many Pakistani strategists and analysts are still stuck in an old, cautious and purely defensive mindset. The writer argues Pakistan must shed this outdated approach and adopt a clear, proactive doctrine that reflects its new strength and confidence, especially in how it responds to Indian sponsored terrorism.

RECENT STATEMENTS BY PAKISTANI LEADERSHIP

This week Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif clearly stated in Quetta that India was sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan, and the Director General of ISPR made similar remarks a day earlier. The writer welcomes this clarity, saying identifying the source of the problem is the first step, but insists a proper action plan must now follow, one that clearly explains what Pakistan will do if India continues using proxies for terrorism inside Pakistan.

WHY PAKISTAN HAS STRUGGLED TO RESPOND EFFECTIVELY

The writer gives two reasons why Pakistan has faltered in dealing with India effectively. First, Pakistan has lacked a consistent long term approach towards India. Second, many Pakistani commentators and analysts remain so attached to the traditional India policy that they are unwilling to question or critique it, even when it clearly needs to evolve.

WHAT CHANGED DURING LAST YEAR'S CONFLICT

According to the writer, one major reason for Pakistan's success in the recent conflict with India was that its response broke away from the old default approach, which always prioritized avoiding escalation at any cost. Instead, Pakistan adopted a new retaliatory approach the writer calls Quid Pro Quo Plus, which set new standards for conventional deterrence, meaning Pakistan responded firmly and proportionately using conventional military force, not just relying on the threat of nuclear weapons.

NEED FOR A CLEAR, UNIFIED DOCTRINE

The writer argues that this new approach should now be turned into one clear, consistent doctrine that applies to all issues with India, including sensitive matters like the Indus Waters Treaty. To support this argument, the writer quotes a senior Pakistani strategist, Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, a key figure connected to Pakistan's nuclear command structure, who explained Pakistan's post conflict doctrine in a May 2025 speech.

KEY POINTS FROM GEN KIDWAI'S SPEECH

Gen Kidwai highlighted that South Asia's strategic environment has entered a new normal, mainly because of a major shift in air power. According to him, the Pakistan Air Force's strong performance in the recent conflict has established Pakistan as the leading air power in South Asia. This shift is important because it strengthens Pakistan's conventional military deterrence, working as a strong addition to, not a replacement for, its nuclear deterrence. The writer also notes the creation of a new Rocket Force Command, meant to further strengthen Pakistan's conventional missile capability, allowing it to strike targets across a wide range without needing to rely on nuclear capable missiles.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED DURING THE MAY 2025 CONFLICT

During the May 2025 conflict, Pakistan's conventional military capability caused serious damage to India. The Pakistan Air Force reportedly outperformed the Indian Air Force, and a strong barrage of Fatah missiles hit Indian military and non civilian targets. At the same time, the writer says Pakistan also identified certain weaknesses during the conflict, which it should have addressed by now, meaning if India attempts another confrontation, Pakistan's response across all military areas is expected to be even stronger.

THE REMAINING PROBLEM, LACK OF CLARITY IN STRATEGIC THINKING

Despite these military gains, the writer argues this alone is not enough to solve Pakistan's larger problem with India, because many Pakistani strategic thinkers remain hesitant to move beyond a purely defensive mindset. According to the writer, too many analysts are still comfortable letting India control the timing and nature of confrontations, meaning Pakistan simply reacts to Indian aggression instead of taking the initiative itself, as seen when India attacked in 2019 and again in 2025, with Pakistan only responding afterward each time.

THE MOST IMPORTANT STATEMENT IN THE ARTICLE

The writer highlights a specific quote from Gen Kidwai's May 2025 speech as extremely significant, where Pakistan clearly stated it reserves the right to respond to any terror attack with conventional military action against identified adversaries, using the same reciprocal logic that India itself has publicly declared as part of its own doctrine. The writer stresses this marks the first time Pakistan has openly said it will not simply wait and absorb attacks, but will act if it determines India is behind terrorism inside Pakistan. He calls this shift an "offensive defence" approach, meaning Pakistan should take the initiative and reserve the right to act on its own terms and timing, rather than only reacting after Indian aggression.

NEW CHALLENGES PAKISTAN STILL FACES

The writer points out that Pakistan is currently dealing with a fresh wave of terrorism, along with India's ongoing projects that could divert water from the Chenab river, and questions whether Pakistan will respond with anything more than statements of condemnation and talk of peaceful legal action, referred to here as lawfare. He notes that Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar has already warned India that diverting Pakistan's water would be considered an act of war, and the Prime Minister has also warned India against sponsoring terrorism.

FINAL CONCLUSION

The writer concludes that Pakistan urgently needs a clear, unified narrative that combines its policy, strategy and military doctrine together, in a way that makes India fully understand the real cost of continuing hostile actions against Pakistan. He believes that a properly communicated new approach may also help push Pakistan's more traditional minded strategists to finally move beyond their old defensive comfort zone and accept the reality of this new strategic environment.

ARGUMENTS SEPARATED FOR DIFFERENT PAPERS

For Essay Paper
A nation's security doctrine must evolve alongside changes in its strategic environment, and Pakistan's shift from a purely defensive posture toward calculated conventional deterrence illustrates how clarity of purpose and consistency of approach are essential for effective national security policy.

For Current Affairs Paper
Pakistan's evolving conventional deterrence doctrine following the May 2025 conflict, including enhanced air power and the establishment of a new Rocket Force Command, reflects a broader shift toward proactive rather than purely reactive engagement with India on issues ranging from terrorism to water disputes.

For Pakistan Affairs Paper
Since 1947 Pakistan's approach toward India has largely prioritized avoiding escalation, but recent developments including Pakistan's declared right to reciprocate terror attacks with conventional responses suggest an important shift toward a more assertive and clearly articulated national security doctrine.

For International Relations / Strategic Studies Paper
The concept of "offensive defence," where a state reserves the right to determine the timing and nature of its response to provocations rather than merely reacting, marks an important theoretical shift in deterrence strategy, and Pakistan's post-2025 doctrine offers a case study in how conventional and nuclear deterrence can be presented as complementary rather than substitutive.

For Defence and Strategic Studies Paper
The reversal of regional air superiority following Pakistan's performance in the May 2025 conflict, combined with the establishment of a dedicated Rocket Force Command, demonstrates how conventional military capability can be developed to expand strategic options without lowering the nuclear threshold, a key consideration in South Asian deterrence stability.

14/07/2026

Thousand-Day War by Maleeha Lodhi
IMPROVE YOUR ARGUMENTATION THROUGH DAWN NEWS 📰 🗞️

MAIN IDEA OF THE ARTICLE

Israel's war on Gaza has now crossed a thousand days, and it continues even after a ceasefire brokered by the US last October. The scale of death and destruction remains massive, but the world's attention has now shifted almost entirely towards the US-Iran conflict, leaving Gaza sidelined and the peace plan stuck in confusion and delay. The writer explains why the Gaza peace process has stalled, and why the chances of real progress currently look very weak.

THE SCALE OF DESTRUCTION IN GAZA

More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, including over 21,000 children, with thousands more still missing. About 80 percent of Gaza has been destroyed, and over 200 journalists have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli army. Israel has also expanded its control over more Gazan territory, ignoring UN warnings that this increases deadly risks for Palestinians.

WHY THE WORLD'S ATTENTION HAS SHIFTED AWAY FROM GAZA

Even though Israeli strikes continue in violation of the ceasefire and the humanitarian crisis remains extremely serious, global attention has moved on, now focused mainly on the US-Iran conflict and related negotiations. Regional powers have also pulled back their attention from Gaza, leaving the peace plan stuck in limbo.

HAMAS TRIES TO REVIVE THE PEACE PROCESS

To bring international attention back to Gaza, Hamas recently announced it would hand over governance of Gaza, which it had run for two decades, to a technocratic committee called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza. This body was originally created in January under President Trump's peace plan and was meant to run Gaza under the supervision of the Board of Peace. According to the plan, this step was supposed to happen alongside a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops, Hamas disarmament, and demilitarization of Gaza, as part of the second phase of Trump's 20-point plan, following an earlier first phase involving an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

WHY NONE OF THIS HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED

Despite this plan, almost nothing has moved forward. The National Committee for Gaza Administration was never given proper resources and remains stuck in Cairo because Israel is blocking its entry into Gaza. The international force meant to help stabilize the region has still not been deployed. The Board of Peace has remained largely inactive and has made little real progress, partly because its official fund has no money. In a controversial move, the Board recently announced that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has no place in the new Gaza, a decision the Palestinian leadership strongly criticized as an attempt to eliminate the entire refugee issue altogether. The Board has also proposed setting up a closed pilot humanitarian zone in southern Gaza for a small number of vetted Palestinians, a plan widely criticized as violating international humanitarian law and effectively representing forced displacement of the population.

HAMAS'S CONDITIONS FOR DISARMAMENT

Hamas says it is willing to give up governance in order to remove any excuse for continued Israeli occupation and aggression, and to expose the actual obstacles blocking progress on the peace plan. However, Hamas has been clear from the beginning that it will only disarm once Israel fulfills its own commitment to withdraw from Gaza and end its occupation. Hamas also insists that a functioning Palestinian civilian administration must be in place before it will even consider disarming, since otherwise there is no legitimate authority to hand its weapons over to.

ISRAEL'S RESPONSE AND CONTINUED EXPANSION IN GAZA

Israel dismissed Hamas's announcement, with its foreign minister calling it merely a trick to avoid disarmament. The Board of Peace acknowledged the announcement but said its assessment would depend on real actions, not promises, and insisted that all weapons in Gaza must eventually come under the control of the new administrative committee. Meanwhile, Israel currently occupies around 60 percent of Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu recently ordered his military to seize 70 percent of the Strip. Israel's Defence Minister also stated Israeli forces would remain indefinitely in what he called security zones inside Gaza, with no clear timetable for withdrawal.

A POSSIBLE WAY TO TEST HAMAS'S SINCERITY

The writer suggests that although Hamas's move may be largely symbolic, it could easily be tested in practice by allowing the 13 member Palestinian technocratic committee, headed by Ali Shaath, to actually enter Gaza and begin managing its day to day governance. However, it is Israel that continues to block this from happening. Talks have taken place in Cairo involving Hamas, the rival Palestinian faction BoP, along with mediators Qatar and Turkiye, but a serious deadlock remains between Hamas and Israel over how to implement the second phase of the peace plan.

FACTORS THAT WILL DETERMINE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The writer identifies several important factors that will shape the future of the Gaza peace process. The most significant is how engaged the Trump administration remains in pushing the Gaza plan forward, but currently, the US is almost entirely focused on the fresh escalation of tensions with Iran, after both sides recently exchanged military strikes and Washington withdrew its earlier license allowing sales of Iranian oil. Trump has declared the ceasefire with Iran over, though he says talks will continue, leaving the fate of the broader US-Iran understanding uncertain. Factors like Trump's own impatience, Iran's harder stance after Ayatollah Khamenei's funeral, and disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz are all adding to rising tensions, and the writer warns the longer the US-Iran standoff continues, the more attention will be diverted away from Gaza.

WHETHER THE US IS SERIOUS ABOUT PRESSURING ISRAEL

Another major question the writer raises is how far the United States is actually willing to push Israel to fulfill its commitments under the peace plan. So far, the US has largely ignored Israel's continued territorial expansion inside Gaza and its ongoing destruction there. American statements have demanded that Hamas disarm, but have said nothing about the near daily Israeli strikes on Gaza, the blocking of humanitarian aid, or the slow pace of Israeli withdrawal. The US has also remained silent as Israel carried out what the writer describes as de facto annexation of the West Bank, deadly military raids, and what she calls ethnic cleansing of Bedouin and herding communities there. With Netanyahu now facing re-election in the fall amid declining public support, the writer suggests he has even less political incentive to push forward with the peace plan.

FINAL CONCLUSION

The writer concludes that these combined developments are steadily weakening any real chance of progress on the Gaza peace plan. She ends on a strong note, saying Palestinians were once again promised peace, but instead have continued to receive only death, destruction, and endless suffering.

ARGUMENTS SEPARATED FOR DIFFERENT PAPERS

For Essay Paper
The Gaza crisis illustrates how prolonged international conflicts often get diplomatically sidelined once global attention shifts to newer geopolitical flashpoints, raising important questions about whether humanitarian suffering can ever receive sustained international commitment independent of shifting power politics.

For Current Affairs Paper
The stalled implementation of the US-brokered Gaza peace plan, worsened by the diversion of American attention toward the escalating US-Iran confrontation, highlights how regional crises compete for great power attention and how such competition can directly affect humanitarian outcomes on the ground.

For International Relations / World Affairs Paper
The unwillingness of the United States to meaningfully pressure Israel to comply with the terms of its own peace plan, despite continued territorial expansion and humanitarian obstruction, raises important questions about the credibility and enforceability of great-power-brokered peace agreements in asymmetric conflicts.

For Current Affairs / Middle East Studies Paper
Hamas's decision to transfer governance to a technocratic administrative body, while continuing to link disarmament to Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of a functioning Palestinian authority, reflects the broader structural deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peace processes, where sequencing disputes over disarmament, withdrawal and governance repeatedly stall implementation.

For Human Rights / International Law Paper
Proposals such as a closed humanitarian zone for vetted Palestinians and the exclusion of UNRWA from Gaza's future administration raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law regarding forced displacement and the erosion of established refugee protection mechanisms.