Peter Berkowitz "The terror group’s sudden openness to Trump’s peace plan is the product of his decision to flip the diplomatic script: advancing peace by negotiating with Israel’s Arab neighbors."
. . . "Trump flipped the diplomatic script. If he brings Hamas on board, he will have transformed a seemingly intractable situation into a merely exceptionally difficult one.
"On Friday, President Donald Trump gave Hamas a Sunday deadline to respond to his peace proposal to end the Gaza war. Hours later, the Iran-backed terrorist group replied, agreeing to release all the hostages and enter into negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. At the same time, Hamas stated that hostages will be released only “with the provision of the field conditions necessary for the exchange process.”
"On Friday evening, Trump announced: “Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly. . . this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East.”
"Trump’s ambitious plan provides for, among other things, the prompt release of Israeli hostages; disarming Hamas, demilitarizing the territory, and deradicalizing the population; increased humanitarian aid to, and rebuilding of, Gaza; the formation of a technocratic government; the introduction into Gaza of an “International Stabilization Force”; and reform of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the crucial precondition for launching a “credible pathway” to a Palestinian state.
"It’s not clear to which of the deal’s provisions Hamas has agreed to, or whether this means the end of the war in Gaza. But Trump’s gambit indicates that the war, which would enter its third year on Tuesday, is closer than ever to a turning point. How did this happen?
"Trump’s Middle East diplomacy can appear haphazard and erratic. One day, seemingly off the cuff, he can declare that Gaza’s approximately 2.2 million Palestinians must be moved from the war-ravaged territory in order to clear away tens of thousands of tons of rubble and transform Gaza into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” The next month, he can affirm that nobody will expel Palestinians from Gaza. Yet his ambitious plan to end the Israel-Hamas war and redevelop Gaza consolidated a fundamental transformation of America’s approach to the region, one which he set in motion in his first administration." . . .More...
Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. From 2019 to 2021, he served as director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. State Department. His new book is “Explaining Israel: The Jewish State, the Middle East, and America.”
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