Which U.S. president gets credit for the Gaza ceasefire, the one incoming or the one outgoing?
Who cares? Let’s just say both administrations did their part and be done.
What matters is that the people of Gaza get a road to post- Hamas recovery and the Israeli hostages can come home, be reunited with their families and tell their stories. At least the ones who are still alive. In the gruesome business of hostage counting, dead bodies also matter, especially for those of the Jewish faith. No one doubts there will be plenty of those and that all homecomings will be suffused with agony as well as joy.
But the world only spins forward. Decent people on all sides now are praying that the wobbly ceasefire ending this brutal 15-month war is maintained without further loss of life, Israeli or Palestinian.
For all the withering criticism lobbed his way from the administration of President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given up plenty for this deal, releasing many Palestinian prisoners held in Israel and fending off those on his far-right flank who see it as agreeing to something less than the total eradication of Hamas. But that was always more of a symbolic goal than a practical one.
Hamas might not be wiped from the face of the earth but the terrorist organization, not to mention its friends in Hezbollah, is mortally wounded and anyone versed in realpolitik knows that you don’t sacrifice a 95% gain for the last 5% of the journey. In some Israeli minds, an alternative leadership structure should have been in place before any ceasefire but that’s not practical. The high-ranking Israelis we have spoken to are focused on bringing home their hostages. In the end, the likes of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will have to be involved in the reinvesting in, and rebuilding of, Gaza. But the hostage release has to come first and for that a deal must be made with Hamas and the fighting must cease.
The Palestinian people, betrayed by Hamas and treated brutally by Israeli forces, already have watched tens of thousands die around them and communities reduced to rubble. They’ve had more than enough.
Donald Trump and his seemingly effective special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will have a lot more work to do with a fragile agreement that has multiple stages, meaning several opportunities for one party or the other to walk away. The last thing Trump needs is an ongoing war and in that the president-elect’s interests align with everyone outside a group of narrow-minded extremists.
Trump already has begun his victory lap. But the man who prides himself on the mastery of the art of the deal had first better make darn sure this one sticks.
— Chicago Tribune via TNS
