🔗 Share this article

The reprieve brought by the ceasefire in Gaza is substantial. Within Israeli borders, the liberation of the living hostages has led to broad celebration. Across Palestinian territories, festivities are taking place as approximately 2,000 Palestinian inmates begin their release – although anguish lingers due to ambiguity about who is being freed and where they will be sent. Throughout Gaza's northern regions, civilians can now return to dig through rubble for the remains of an approximated 10,000 missing people.

Peace Breakthrough Despite Earlier Odds

Only three weeks ago, the likelihood of a ceasefire looked improbable. Yet it has come into force, and on Monday Donald Trump journeyed from Jerusalem, where he was applauded in the Knesset, to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. There, he joined a high-level peace conference of in excess of 20 world leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer. The diplomatic roadmap launched at that summit is due to be continued at a conference in the UK. The US president, working alongside international partners, successfully brokered this deal take place – regardless of, not due to, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinian Statehood Hopes Tempered by Previous Experiences

Expectations that the deal represents the opening phase toward Palestinian statehood are comprehensible – but, given previous instances, slightly idealistic. It provides no definite route to sovereignty for Palestinians and endangers dividing, for the foreseeable future, Gaza from the West Bank. Furthermore the complete destruction this war has produced. The omission of any schedule for Palestinian self-governance in Mr Trump’s plan undermines vainglorious mentions, in his Knesset speech, to the “historic dawn” of a “age of abundance”.

Donald Trump was unable to refrain from sowing division and personalising the deal in his speech.

In a moment of ease – with the freeing of captives, truce and restart of aid – he chose to recast it as a ethical drama in which he exclusively restored Israel’s dignity after supposed treachery by past US commanders-in-chief Obama and Biden. Notwithstanding the Biden administration previously having tried a comparable agreement: a truce tied to aid delivery and eventual political talks.

Meaningful Agency Essential for Authentic Resolution

A initiative that withholds one side meaningful agency cannot yield sustainable agreement. The truce and aid trucks are to be applauded. But this is not yet political progress. Without processes guaranteeing Palestinian engagement and command over their own institutions, any deal endangers cementing domination under the discourse of peace.

Humanitarian Priorities and Rebuilding Obstacles

Gaza’s people desperately need relief assistance – and nutrition and medication must be the first priority. But reconstruction cannot wait. Amid 60 million tonnes of rubble, Palestinians need assistance restoring homes, schools, healthcare facilities, places of worship and other institutions destroyed by Israel’s invasion. For Gaza’s provisional leadership to thrive, monetary resources must flow quickly and protection voids be remedied.

Like a great deal of Mr Trump’s diplomatic proposal, references to an global peacekeeping unit and a recommended “board of peace” are worryingly ambiguous.

International Support and Potential Developments

Strong worldwide endorsement for the Palestinian Authority, enabling it to succeed Hamas, is perhaps the most hopeful prospect. The enormous suffering of the past two years means the moral case for a settlement to the conflict is possibly more pressing than ever. But while the ceasefire, the repatriation of the hostages and commitment by Hamas to “disarm” Gaza should be accepted as constructive moves, Donald Trump's record offers minimal cause to believe he will deliver – or consider himself obligated to attempt. Immediate respite does not mean that the prospect of a Palestinian state has been advanced.