LOS ANGELES (OC).–Over two year since the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas killing 1,200 Israelis, taking another 251 hostage, President Donald Trump announced a deal to have the remaining 20 living hostages released next Monday or Tuesday, with the deal getting finalized. Trump told his Cabinet yesterday that the deal marks the beginning of a Gaza future that involves Hamas surrendering power to start a long and costly rebuild of the Mediterranean enclave housing some 2.3 million Palestininians. Where remaining Hamas terrorists go is anyone’s guess but the deal has them relinquishing power to a new interim Palestinian entity to run the Gaza Strip. Trump has worked on a peace in Gaza since taking office but only recently have all the moving parts come together to finally get the elusive deal. Israel will be forced to release thousands of imprisoned Palestinians in exchange for releasing the living hostages.
Always at stake in the Gaza conflict was the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not let up on the war with Hamas until they finally relented to international pressure to leave the Gaza Strip. Arab and European states were reluctant to demand that Hamas leave Gaza, allowing an interim Palestinian government to proceed to reconstruct the decimated seaside territory. Two years of relentless bombing turned the Strip into a rock pile, requiring years of reconstruction, not something Hamas was prepare to do. Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 when they seized the territory in a bloodless coup from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority. Over the last 20 years, Hamas plundered the territory, making billionaires out its former exiled leaders. No one can trust Hamas to manage any of the reconstruction funds headed to the Gaza Strip.
Trump gets a well-deserved triumph in his quest to serve as the peacemaker president, despite difficulty completing the Gaza deal and certainly the Ukraine War. Trump promised when campaigning in 2024 that ending the Ukraine War would be his top priority, hoping his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin could get it done. Ukraine’s 47-year-old President and the European Union had other ideas. Fearing that Putin would move from Ukraine into the EU, the EU backed Zelensky in rejecting Putin’s demands in any peace settlement to trade land-for-peace. With Putin sending Russian fighter jets and drones into Polish and Estonian airspace, the EU is too threatened by Putin to make any compromises on a peace settlement. Trump was within 90% of having a deal that would end the Ukraine War, before Zelensky and the EU rejected surrendering land to Putin.
When it comes to Gaza, Trump has pushed hard for peace, working with Egypt, Qatar and Turkey to complete a deal with Hamas. Hamas has been asked by the EU and Arab States to leave the Gaza Strip, turn it over to a new interim Palestinian government authority. “We are getting the hostages back on Tuesday, Monday or Tuesday, that that’ll be a day of joy,” Trump said, sounding optimistic about finally ending the conflict. When it comes to Ukraine, Trump isn’t as sure of what will happen but also thinks he’s eventually get a deal. Trump said he had plans to fly to Egypt to sign a peace deal, maybe sealing his fate to get his nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. Trump wants to be considered the peace president, ending foreign war around the world. World leaders have praised Trumps efforts to work with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s two-year war with Hamas has leveled the Gaza Strip, with only a handful of Hamas terrorists holed up in Gaza’s labyrinth of military tunnels. Most of Hamas leadership has been killed during the two years of war. Iran no longer has the same influence in the region, fighting a 12 day war with Israel having much of its military infrastructure destroyed. So, with Hamas and Hezbollah no longer the same threat to Israel, Hamas has finally realized that it must turn the Gaza Strip over to a new Palestinian entity. Hamas spent nearly 20 years plundering the Gaza Strip to enrich former leaders at the expense of Palestinians. Even so, Palestinians would continue their fight with Israel believing that Hamas could one day conquer the Jewish State. Netanyahu has been relentless in neutralizing Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas to defend Israel against its enemies.
Getting a peace deal in Gaza is a big deal when you consider the Nobel committee announces its 2026 Peace Prize on Friday. Trump certainly deserves consideration not just for Gaza but his work to settle the conflict between the Congo and Rwanda, India and Pakistan and Nagorno-Karabach between Armenia and Azerbaijan certainly earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Trump still has confidence that he’ll eventually bring the Ukraine War to an end when the EU and Zelensky realize that Russia won’t end the conflict anytime soon. Trump has been relentless in pursuing peace all over the world, believing that the path to global stability is economic prosperity. Only Democrats and the fake news refuse to give Trump any credit for conducting an effective foreign policy built on the premise that war is not the answer. Certainly the Nobel Prize Committee will look carefully at his many accomplishments, not play politics with Trump’s real accomplishments.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
