The initial response to the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement clinched by the Trump administration last week has been rapturous. Palestinians are reveling in the prospect of an end to two years of almost unimaginable brutality and grinding starvation that have decimated every part of the long-suffering people and land. Israelis celebrated the return of 20 living hostages released by Hamas and the chance of an end to international isolation. Enthusiastic crowds in Israel and Egypt showered U.S. President Donald Trump with appreciation.
The initial response to the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement clinched by the Trump administration last week has been rapturous. Palestinians are reveling in the prospect of an end to two years of almost unimaginable brutality and grinding starvation that have decimated every part of the long-suffering people and land. Israelis celebrated the return of 20 living hostages released by Hamas and the chance of an end to international isolation. Enthusiastic crowds in Israel and Egypt showered U.S. President Donald Trump with appreciation.
But it is difficult to share Trump’s optimism that the cease-fire has unlocked a broader transformation of the Middle East—or even that it will survive contact with reality on the ground in Gaza.
The cease-fire agreement lays out a path forward that would, if achieved, see the return of normal life to Gaza, the reconstruction of its infrastructure and economy, and the consolidation of a post-Hamas political order. The deal, remarkably responsive to the concerns of key Arab states, repudiates key hardline Israeli demands, such as the expulsion of Palestinians and the annexation of the West Bank. It promises the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid, without a role for the widely despised Gaza Hu
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