Every viable peace proposal must address three issues: How can lives be saved, now, who will run Gaza tomorrow, and how we stop terror from returning. US President Donald Trump’s plan, introduced on Monday, accomplishes all three with clarity and precision. Israel should say yes. So should the other parties.
This proposal has an unmistakable moral core. It guarantees that “within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.” That is not a vague aspiration. It is a deadline tied to an official act. If our highest duty is to bring every Israeli home, then this sentence commands action.
The plan also offers a clean mechanism to stop the warfare while preserving Israel’s security. “If both sides agree to this proposal, the war will immediately end,” it reads. Moreover, during this stage, “battle lines will remain frozen” as Israel “withdraws to the agreed upon line to prepare for a hostage release.”
Ceasing fire without chaos
This is how one ceases fire without creating chaos: Freeze positions, return the kidnapped, then move in stages based on compliance. Israelis who fear a trap should note the sequencing. Palestinians who fear an open-ended occupation should note the commitment to a staged pullback.
On the “day after,” the document places civilian governance in professional hands. “Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee,” supervised by an international “board of peace” chaired by Trump, “with other members and heads of state to be announced, including former UK prime minister Tony Blair.”
Israelis have demanded a credible alternative to Hamas and have doubted the unreformed Palestinian Authority. This bridge does not restore Hamas rule, and it requires reforms before any transfer of power. It is a practical answer to the question that has stalled every serious conversation for a year.
After the live hostages return, the plan provides for an Israeli prisoner release and a remains exchange. Further, it offers an off-ramp option for fighters who choose life over jihad: “Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence and to decommissioning their weapons will be given amnesty.” Others “will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”
Humanitarian relief and reconstruction are the stabilizers that make any ceasefire hold. The document promises that “full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip,” at levels “consistent with what was included in the January 19, 2025, agreement,” prioritizing power, water, sewage, hospitals, bakeries, rubble removal, and open roads, with distribution “without interference from the two parties” through the UN, the Red Crescent, and other neutral institutions. The message is simple: Invest in everyday life so extremists lose their oxygen.
The plan calls for “a Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza,” including “a special economic zone” with “preferred tariff and access rates.” Jobs, predictable roles, and international capital, ergo, will not be delivered as charity.
Just as importantly, the text rejects demographic engineering: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to will be free to do so and free to return.” That line will matter in Washington, in Arab capitals, and in Israeli living rooms. The goal is to move terrorism out and invite stability in.
Implementation is everything
Critics are not wrong in that implementation is everything. But this plan does more than most to anchor promises in mechanisms: A 72-hour hostage clock tied to Israel’s public acceptance of it, a frozen front while terms are met, an international body to enforce standards, and a depoliticized service structure until reforms have been completed.
Our interests are crystal clear: Bring the hostages home, end the war without restoring Hamas rule, prevent an Iranian proxy comeback, and align with partners ready to fund and monitor reconstruction under strict conditions. This document advances all four points. It is not perfect – no negotiated outcome will be. But it is coherent, enforceable, and morally urgent.
The region’s test now is courage. Palestinians deserve a Gaza that is, in the plan’s words, “a deradicalized, terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” Israelis deserve quiet on their border and the return of their sons and daughters. Both are made possible here.
Say it plainly, in Jerusalem, Doha, and every capital that will underwrite and monitor the transition: Seal the deal.