There is something intensely moving about the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza. If the conflict has a human face it was not only the beleaguered and starving Palestinians in Gaza but the hidden, subterranean captives held as human pawns in the hands of Hamas for an unimaginable two years. Now, they’re out, beaming. Our sympathies are not so stunted that we cannot feel both for the plight of these wretched prisoners, captured in the horror of the 7th October attack, and now reunited with their families, and for the wretched civilian Palestinian population returning to rubble where their homes used to be. That famous quote from Tacitus about the actions of the Roman army – “ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant”, or, “where they make a wilderness, they call it peace” – comes to mind here.
Today we see too some of the 1700 Palestinian detainees who are being released as well as 250 Palestinian prisoners: their families are celebrating too. But we should, I think, attempt to distinguish between the prisoners who have been convicted of murder and those detainees who were taken prisoner by Israeli forces for no discernible reason. Naturally the prisoners have more value politically for Hamas, but it is the young Palestinian detainees who deserve greater sympathy.
Over all this celebration there presides the large, triumphal figure of Donald Trump. He came down from the presidential plane in Israel holding his fist aloft in a gesture of triumph. And you know what? He deserves it. He deserves his ovation from the Israeli parliament, the Knesset too. Because it’s true what they say: without him, there would have been no deal. You don’t have to agree with all his political programme – and lots of us will have issues with parts of it – to give credit where it’s due: he set out to be a peacemaker, and he has succeeded. Well done, Donald Trump.
And for those who can’t quite forgive him for winning the presidential election, ask yourselves this: how likely is it that Kamala Harris would have pulled off this deal, that it would have been she coming down from that plane with that gesture of triumph? Unlikely, I’d say.
For those who can’t quite forgive him for winning the presidential election, ask yourselves this: how likely is it that Kamala Harris would have pulled off this deal?
Does it even need saying that this peace is fragile and flawed and is only the very beginning of a process, not its culmination? Let me say it anyway: this is just the start. Of course there will be tradeoffs. One of the dealmakers who deserves credit for the peace is Donald Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner, who has close family ties with Benjamin Netanyahu (whose position has been shored up by the hostage release). No doubt Jared will have a stake in some of the lucrative property deals that will emerge from the reconstruction programme in Gaza, but that too is a price worth paying.
There will in fact be an awful lot of tradeoffs if the peace is to last, and some at least of them are being thrashed out in Egypt, at the meeting that its president is presiding over, which Sir Keir Starmer is attending. And one of the most critical is the rapid deployment of a stabilisation force to Gaza which will be made up of Arab forces who can command the support of the local population.
No doubt Donald Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner, will have a stake in the lucrative property deals that will emerge from the reconstruction programme in Gaza, but that is a price worth paying
Two things are important: that they are sent soon, and that their remit, including their capacity to use force, is made clear now. A commitment to training 5,000 Jordanian and Egyptian police to operate in Gaza is not good enough. In the former Yugoslavia, the initial peacekeepers from the EU were derisively known as the ice-cream men, from their incapacity to deal with infractions, and their white uniforms; it was demoralising for them too. There is right now a power vacuum in Gaza which is being filled by Hamas. Specifically it is dealing with “collaborators” by killing them. That has to stop and the powers represented in Egypt – not least its own president – has to power to stop it.
The other critical issue is what amounts to the annexation of parts of the occupied territories by Israeli settlers which has been expedited recently; these settlers are aggressive and expansionist. The extension of Israeli settlements is in fact the biggest single obstacle in the way of a political settlement of the conflict – and these settlers are represented within Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. If Donald Trump and his emissary, Steve Witkoff, can address this fraught issue, then his Nobel peace prize – it already has his name on - is in the bag.
But for now, it’s right that there are celebrations for the release of the hostages in Israel. They will need support over time, in the months and years to come. Roei Shalev, a released hostage, died by suicide just after the second anniversary of the 7th October attacks; the horror of what happened stayed with him and perhaps too the guilt of having survived. Those handed over today are the physical embodiment of the peace deal and even if it turns out to be flawed and incomplete, it’s worth it to have them, and the Palestinian detainees, free.
This is the beginning of the beginning of a peace but it’s still a great day. And credit where it’s due, to Donald Trump.
