Key Points:
- The release of all living hostages and ceasefire is welcome and a source for hope.
- Now, President Trump must prioritize full implementation of 20-point Peace Plan for Gaza.
- More work is needed to ensure lasting security and stability.
- Pressure must be placed on Hamas to uphold commitments already made and agree to disarm.
Now that all the living Israeli hostages have been reunited with their families and the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is largely holding, there is a renewed sense of hope that we can make progress on the rest of the 20-point Peace Plan for Gaza, which can bring lasting security for Israel and greater stability to the entire region. Israel has already agreed to the 20-point plan, and it has widespread international support.
Steady American leadership is now required, as more work is needed to fully realize the opportunities in the plan.
Democrats must be urging President Trump to seize this moment and not lose the opportunity for further progress.
The alternative to making further progress is apparent as Hamas has emerged from the tunnels, is asserting control over territory is maintains, and is killing Gazans who resisted Hamas or cooperated with the IDF.
President Trump cannot simply declare victory, move on and focus on other issues. We need continued dedication and leadership. Now is the time to build on the current momentum.
- First, Hamas must be held accountable for the commitments it already made in the Phase 1 agreement, including returning all the bodies of deceased hostages. Nine deceased hostages have been returned to Israel; 19 remain in Gaza.
- Other elements of Phase 1 have already been implemented or are underway:
- Israel has withdrawn to the agreed-upon “yellow line”
- Humanitarian assistance has surged into Gaza through the UN
- Israel has released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with the agreement.
- Other elements of Phase 1 have already been implemented or are underway:
- Second, the United States must rally the international community to put pressure on Hamas to agree to the entirety of the 20-point plan, including disarmament and the dismantlement of Hamas’s military infrastructure
- This is critical, as we are now seeing Hamas re-assert control in areas it currently governs and killing Gazans. Only then can Israel enjoy lasting security on its southern border, and only then can Palestinians be fully free from Hamas’s reign of terror.
- Lastly, intensive work must commence on implementing the full 20-point plan.
- That includes establishing and deploying the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which will then enable further withdrawal of the IDF, and forming a technocratic committee of Palestinians to oversee day-to-day governing responsibilities in Gaza.
To discuss these priorities, DMFI hosted its latest briefing with David Makovsky, Ziegler Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Dr. Tal Becker, Vice President at the Shalom Hartman Institute.
- On next steps, Makovsky noted “there’s a lot not nailed down.” He said he is concerned about chaos and a vacuum occurring in Gaza, pointing to the fact that officials are telling him that talks over the ISF, which the 20-point Peace Plan calls for, won’t happen for another a month.
- He said: “Usually, agreements are: you agree on all the details, then you announce the deal…. but now you’re dealing with what does it mean when all these details are left open? … And so, I’m very concerned that a lot of things here are left open.”
Both Makovsky and Becker made a case that positive — even miraculous — outcomes are possible.
- As Makovsky said: “the coalition of pragmatists won over the coalition of extremists.”
- Becker added, “the forces of stabilization have amazingly some serious momentum now and serious capacity,” and he pointed to efforts to economically link the Middle East with India and into Europe, normalization with Saudi Arabia, and stabilization in Syria and Lebanon.
But to achieve these positive outcomes, there needs to be a concerted, coordinated effort to implement the entirety of the 20-point Peace Plan:
Becker underscored the need for a plan to achieve these outcomes: “I think it is critical also for Israel to emerge from this moment with a plan for how to improve Israeli-Palestinian relations, as difficult as that may be, stabilize economic prosperity, and so on.”