Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel arrived in Washington this week for talks with President Trump about ending its war against Hamas. The time for halting the suffering in Gaza is long overdue.
But there is a real opportunity now to do more: to bring about a peace deal in which the rebuilding of Gaza, now a bomb-ravaged moonscape, can begin and the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza can return home.
That opportunity has been made possible by a string of stunning Israeli military victories that have reshaped the Middle East in less than two years. Start with the war in Gaza, in which the Israel Defense Forces has decimated Hamas as a fighting force, though fragments of the group remain.
That was followed by astonishing Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, the Shiite militia and Iranian proxy force in Lebanon, that left the group nearly leaderless and far less lethal. Then came Israel’s 12-day assault on Iran, which killed top Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists, and — with the assistance of the US military — set back its nuclear weapons program, possibly by years.
Taken together, those actions have dramatically weakened Iran, Israel’s most dangerous enemy, and made Israel’s southern and northern borders far more secure than they were on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the current war.
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The question now remains whether Israel’s newfound regional strength, combined with Hamas’s near decapitation, will make the two sides more open to the concessions needed to reach a meaningful cease-fire. It will be up to Trump and his diplomatic team to seize the day by pressuring both sides to reach that agreement.
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The urgency of the endeavor cannot be understated. More than 57,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the war began, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Hospitals have been gutted, leaving the sick and wounded barely treated. Thousands more are starving amid Israeli blockades of humanitarian aid that the Israeli government contends is being stolen by Hamas. The result: The UN has declared Gaza “the hungriest place on Earth.”
What would a bare-bones peace deal look like? Beyond the end of hostilities, it must begin with the return of about 50 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas, including the bodies of at least 27 thought to be dead. And it must involve the creation of some sort of international coalition — probably involving the US and allied Arab states — to effectively and safely deliver an influx of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The obstacles to these modest yet critical goals are not small. Netanyahu’s government is propped up by alliances with far-right parties that have no interest in withdrawing from Gaza and which ultimately seek the full annexation of the West Bank as well. Can the prime minister be convinced to defy their obstinate and misguided vision?
Palestinians, meanwhile, face a leadership vacuum. The decimation of Hamas leaves only the weak and corrupt Palestinian Authority in the West Bank as a voice for the Palestinian people. Can a new leadership emerge, if not in the PA then from some other quarter? And can the remaining members of Hamas be convinced to give up their weapons and depart Gaza for exile in some Arab nation, a likely prerequisite for peace?
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That leaves much to Trump himself. His transactional style of diplomacy and short attention span for complex problems are enough to make even optimists doubtful. But Trump is also in a unique position to accomplish what former president Joe Biden could not.
A Pew Research Center poll in June found that more than 2 in 3 Israelis had confidence in Trump, and that was before US planes bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities. His relationship with Netanyahu is far stronger than the one the Israeli prime minister had with Biden or former president Barack Obama. And perhaps thanks in large part to the Trump family’s business dealings in the Persian Gulf, the president also has strong ties to Saudi and other Persian Gulf leaders.
Of course, the basic agreement we have outlined does not come remotely close to the kind of elusive long-term peace deal the region badly needs. That deal could involve some form of self-determination for the Palestinians in the West Bank as well as Gaza and the recognition of Israel by Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations.
“The idea that there is a deterministic, straight line between where we are now and getting to a serious negotiation to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict … is just fantastical,” Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Diplomacy, told the editorial board.
“This is a process which is going to be incremental,” Miller continued. “It’s going to require new leaders on each side. It’s going to require an American mediator who’s focused, who cares about this issue, and who’s willful and skillful.”
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But the world is not expecting a solution to the centuries-old conflicts of the Middle East any time soon. It is waiting for, indeed demanding, an immediate end to the epic misery of Gaza and the commencement of some kind of plan to raise it out of its current hellscape.
Can Trump be the mediator who brings that more modest deal to fruition, as he claims he wants to be? The moment for him to prove it has arrived.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
