When the leaders of Southeast Asia gathered in Malaysia this week for the 47th ASEAN Summit, their message to the world was unmistakable: they support President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. In a moment that should have demanded moral clarity, ASEAN instead chose political convenience.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, serving as ASEAN chair, praised Trump’s “comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict,” calling it “a glimmer of hope” that diplomacy could prevail even in the world’s most intractable war. It was a curious declaration, given that the plan has already produced neither peace nor justice — and that, even as ASEAN leaders spoke, Israel was bombing Gaza again.

Trump’s 20-point plan, brokered through U.S. mediation, lays out a phased ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. The first stage involves prisoner exchanges and partial Israeli withdrawals from Gaza. Later stages envision reconstruction and a new governing authority that explicitly excludes Hamas. On paper, it reads like a roadmap to stability. In reality, it looks more like a blueprint for control — one that sidelines Palestinian representation and institutionalizes Israel’s dominance under the soothing language of “peace.”

That Southeast Asian leaders, many of whom once championed anti-colonial........

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