Truce in Gaza Offers Tangible Respite, However Trump's Pledge of a Golden Age Rings Hollow

The relief following the ceasefire in Gaza is immense. In Israel, the freeing of captives held alive has resulted in broad celebration. Across Palestinian territories, celebrations are taking place as up to 2,000 Palestinian inmates begin their release – though distress persists due to doubt about who is being freed and where they will be sent. Throughout Gaza's northern regions, people can finally go back to sift through wreckage for the bodies of an estimated 10,000 unaccounted-for individuals.

Peace Breakthrough Against Earlier Odds

Just three weeks ago, the probability of a ceasefire looked improbable. Yet it has been implemented, and on Monday Donald Trump travelled from Jerusalem, where he was cheered in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he attended a high-level peace conference of more than 20 world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer. The plan for peace launched at that summit is scheduled to proceed at a conference in the UK. The US president, working alongside international partners, successfully brokered this deal happen – contrary to, not owing to, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Aspirations for Sovereignty Moderated by Past Precedents

Aspirations that the deal marks the first step toward Palestinian statehood are reasonable – but, in light of past occurrences, somewhat optimistic. It lacks a transparent trajectory to sovereignty for Palestinians and threatens separating, for the foreseeable future, Gaza from the West Bank. Furthermore the total ruin this war has produced. The lack of any schedule for Palestinian self-determination in the US initiative gives the lie to boastful mentions, in his Knesset speech, to the “historic dawn” of a “golden age”.

The US president could not help himself sowing division and personalising the deal in his speech.

In a time of respite – with the hostage release, ceasefire and restart of aid – he chose to recast it as a ethical drama in which he solely reinstated Israel’s prestige after purported treachery by past US commanders-in-chief Obama and Biden. This despite the Biden administration previously having attempted a similar deal: a ceasefire tied to aid delivery and future negotiations.

Substantive Control Vital for Sustainable Agreement

A proposal that withholds one side meaningful agency cannot yield legitimate peace. The truce and relief shipments are to be embraced. But this is not currently policy development. Without processes guaranteeing Palestinian participation and control over their own establishments, any deal threatens perpetuating subjugation under the rhetoric of peace.

Humanitarian Priorities and Recovery Hurdles

Gaza’s people urgently require relief assistance – and sustenance and pharmaceuticals must be the primary focus. But reconstruction cannot wait. Among 60 million tonnes of wreckage, Palestinians need assistance restoring homes, schools, healthcare facilities, religious buildings and other institutions destroyed by Israel’s military operation. For Gaza’s transitional administration to succeed, funding must be disbursed rapidly and protection voids be addressed.

Comparable with a great deal of the president's diplomatic proposal, references to an global peacekeeping unit and a proposed “diplomatic committee” are alarmingly vague.

International Support and Future Prospects

Strong worldwide endorsement for the Palestinian leadership, permitting it to replace Hamas, is perhaps the most encouraging prospect. The enormous suffering of the previous 24 months means the ethical argument for a solution to the conflict is potentially more pressing than ever. But while the truce, the homecoming of the detainees and commitment by Hamas to “remove weapons from” Gaza should be acknowledged as constructive moves, the president's track record provides scant basis to have faith he will accomplish – or consider himself obligated to try. Temporary ease should not be interpreted as that the likelihood of a Palestinian state has been moved nearer.