Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and on Monday Israel released 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and Hamas released the 20 remaining Israeli Hostages.
President Donald Trump touted the deal during a tour of the region, calling it “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.” The ceasefire received bipartisan praise, though voices on the left tended to be more hesitant about the likelihood of lasting peace in the region. There have been reports of violence in the region despite the deal.
A writer for The Guardian (Left bias) argued, “Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza demands atonement from Palestinians for the horrific acts of 7 October, not from Israel for the barbarity that followed… It is riddled with ambiguities, devoid of timetables, arbiters or consequences for inevitable eventual violations. If all goes according to plan – if the deal’s vagueness is not exploited to torpedo it; unavoidable clashes over subsequent phases do not get in the way of the first stage; Arab and Muslim states maintain pressure on the United States and the United States gets Israel to comply – life for Gazans will transition from utter hell to mere nightmare.”
A Washington Examiner (Lean Right) piece read, “The contrast with Democrats, who are largely silent today over the ceasefire they long demanded, could not be more stark… In their zeal to be seen and heard, they naively tethered the Palestinian cause to their patchwork of progressive crusades, from climate activism to identity politics, diluting its gravity and alienating possible allies. They had no vision; they said nothing of value; they achieved nothing. But Trump and his team of adults fused a bold vision of a renewed Middle East with diplomatic savvy. They rolled up their sleeves, got to work, and forged a peace many deemed impossible.”
Batya Ungar-Sargon wrote in the New York Post Opinion (Right), “While American foreign policy throughout the post-war era has relied on endless extensions of our military might and our national wealth, Trump’s stems from relationships he has built to profit the American people — specifically, our working class… Its seeds were sown during Trump’s trip to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia earlier this year, when he secured trillions of dollars in investments in US manufacturing… The deals also secured the trust of these Muslim Gulf nations, treating them as valued and respected partners.”
For the Washington Post (Lean Left) a columnist wrote, “To convert this ceasefire into a lasting peace will require sacrifices that neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya show any indication of making. The war’s end presents an opportunity — as noted by U.S. diplomat Martin Indyk in Foreign Affairs before his death last year — to resurrect the long-dormant two-state solution. But while the Trump peace plan slightly opens the door to Palestinian statehood — it speaks of creating conditions “for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” — both Israel and Hamas appear intent on slamming that door shut.”
