Truce in Gaza Offers Substantial Ease, However Trump's Promise of a Golden Age Seems Empty
The respite brought by the halt in hostilities in Gaza is profound. Within Israeli borders, the freeing of surviving detainees has sparked extensive joy. Throughout Gaza and the West Bank, celebrations have commenced as as many as 2,000 Palestinian inmates begin their release – although distress remains due to ambiguity about the identities of those released and where they will be sent. Across northern Gaza, people can at last go back to sift through wreckage for the remains of an estimated 10,000 missing people.
Ceasefire Emergence Despite Previous Doubts
Only three weeks ago, the likelihood of a ceasefire appeared remote. Yet it has been implemented, and on Monday Donald Trump travelled from Jerusalem, where he was applauded in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he attended a prestigious diplomatic gathering of more than 20 world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer. The peace initiative begun there is set to advance at a meeting in the UK. The US president, working alongside international partners, did make this deal happen – despite, not because of, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Dreams of Independence Tempered by Past Precedents
Hopes that the deal represents the opening phase toward Palestinian statehood are understandable – but, given previous instances, rather hopeful. It offers no clear path to sovereignty for Palestinians and risks separating, for the immediate period, Gaza from the West Bank. Then there is the utter devastation this war has caused. The absence of any timeline for Palestinian self-determination in Mr Trump’s plan undermines self-aggrandizing mentions, in his Knesset speech, to the “monumental start” of a “age of abundance”.
The US president could not resist polarising and personalising the deal in his speech.
In a moment of ease – with the freeing of captives, halt in fighting and restart of aid – he opted to reframe it as a morality play in which he solely restored Israel’s honor after supposed disloyalty by past US commanders-in-chief Obama and Biden. This even as the Biden administration previously having tried a analogous arrangement: a truce tied to relief entry and eventual political talks.
Meaningful Agency Essential for Sustainable Agreement
A plan that denies one side meaningful agency cannot produce sustainable agreement. The ceasefire and relief shipments are to be applauded. But this is not currently policy development. Without mechanisms ensuring Palestinian engagement and command over their own institutions, any deal risks freezing oppression under the discourse of peace.
Aid Necessities and Rebuilding Obstacles
Gaza’s people desperately need relief assistance – and nutrition and medication must be the primary focus. But reconstruction should not be postponed. Within 60 million tonnes of rubble, Palestinians need help reconstructing residences, learning institutions, medical centers, places of worship and other establishments destroyed by Israel’s military operation. For Gaza’s interim government to prosper, monetary resources must be disbursed rapidly and protection voids be addressed.
Comparable with much of Mr Trump’s peace plan, mentions to an multinational security contingent and a suggested “peace council” are disturbingly unclear.
Global Backing and Future Prospects
Substantial international support for the Palestinian leadership, permitting it to take over from Hamas, is perhaps the most hopeful possibility. The immense hardship of the recent period means the moral case for a solution to the conflict is possibly more critical than ever. But while the halt in fighting, the return of the captives and vow by Hamas to “demilitarise” Gaza should be acknowledged as positive steps, Donald Trump's track record gives little reason to believe he will deliver – or consider himself obligated to attempt. Temporary ease does not imply that the possibility of a Palestinian state has been moved nearer.
